Usefulness

Last week, a friend found out that her niece was diagnosed with Aspergers, a condition that is usually described as "high-functioning" autism.

I'm not an expert on autism at all, but based on my somewhat limited knowledge, for kids with Aspergers, the main interventions are in behavior - intellectually, the kids are usually at or above the level of their peers, and it is in terms of behaviors that their special needs are manifested in the classroom. And I DO know a fair bit about behavior management and the steps that go into the creation of an effective series of interventions.

Basically, I was able to talk to a friend about what I knew about the process and what steps should be taken to make sure the child would be able to function effectively (for my friends who know SPED jargon, FBA, BIP, lather, rinse, repeat). I also was able to suggest a few interventions that might be useful, based on what I had heard about the student.

This, on top of talking with a few friends about the basics of behavior management (function of the behavior, how is it being reinforced, blahblahblah) reminded me that I know stuff. That sounds silly. Basically, it reminded me that even though most of my day is spent trying to make a textbook interesting or communicating via charades and short sentences, there is stuff about this teaching gig I know a bit about, and I miss feeling like what I'm doing is useful. Don't know where I'm going with that, but there you have it.

Oh, and even though I think I'm being teased, I've gotten a bunch of folks to start using *person-first language when taking about their students with special needs. My professors would be proud. (Yes, I know it means the same thing, and yes I know it is pedantic and annoying, but it IS different, so there. *flounce*)


* person-first language means that when you are talking about people with special needs, you say the person before you say the disability. So you would say, "my student with special needs" rather than "my special needs kid." If nothing else you have to _think_ about the fact that they are a person before you talk about their disability.

In other news, I went climbing again this weekend, and even though I still feel like I'm struggling and cursing up the wall, I'm doing better. I still chicken out if I think I'm going to miss a move, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable with a less-than-tight belay, and learned how to clip as part of my prep for lead climbing. Also, the only time I feel this week was when I was working on an overhanging start (at the end of the day). This is progress.