Testing the Limits

I've begun my student teaching at a school in Smithfield. It's an elementary school that begins with kindergartners and goes through the second grade. Total student enrollment? 500 Kiddos! It's a pretty large school, and my supervisor says that after I finish at the end of the semester they're going to have to hire a couple of Speech Aids or another Speech-Language Pathologist if they hope to be able to treat all of the students in her school.

As it is, we don't even have time for lunch. Every now and then we have a 5 minute break during which we hurriedly wolf down lunch, head to the restroom, or grab a quick drink of water. I love it. It's fun to be so involved with the kids, having a steady stream of work to do and working like crazy. Generally I enjoy my down time, but when I'm at school, I just can't wait for the next kid or group to show up.

One challenge with working in the schools, however, is that the language and speech groups that I am working with are testing their limits. The first few days I was there I watched them come in, sit down quietly, and work with the Mrs McWhorter, but now they have switched over to me for their instruction, and these same little angels are falling out of chairs, hiding under tables, and insisting that they have to have a drink or use the restroom, or they just won't be able to make it!

It's pretty entertaining. This past Thursday I was sitting next to one little boy and he was rocking his chair side to side. Mrs. McWhorter and I were working with the group as a whole, and I had successfully tuned him out (I'm good at that, compliments of Mom's genes) when all of the sudden he flew half a foot to the side with his arms flailing helplessly in the air and his feet successfully kicking me right on my shin. He landed completely sprawled out on the floor. The startled expression on his face was priceless. Fortunately, I managed to check my laughter and gently remind him that this is why rocking our chairs is against the rules: "we can get hurt..." -I'm not hurt!- he replied... "and [envision me rubbing my bruised shin] we can hurt other people..." Oh what fun! Who needs TV when your working with elementary kids?
I have one client at the clinic on campus, too. She is absolutely adorable. I'm working on fluency with her because she has a pretty significant stutter (along with language and speech difficulties as well, poor kid), and so far she has been an absolute delight to work with. My supervisor told me that she's never talked so much before. Generally she's been very shy/quiet/reserved, but that hasn't seemed to be an issue as of yet.