33

33.  I started the school year with 13 Kindergarten screenings in hand.   Now I have 33 total from Kinder to 3rd grade.   Sigh.    I'm not sure how I'm going to get all of them done.   I was counting minutes today.    10-15 minutes for the screening, 15-25 minutes for the paperwork, 15-25 minutes for the phone calls and meeting with parents to review.   That's an hour+ for each screening.   Sigh.   

I might just be enjoying conference week.

I can't believe I'm thinking this but it's true.   As the site SLP I have no conferences.   I can attend conferences if the teachers invite me but I didn't throw that out this year.   I'm pretty overwhelmed and figured those who really wanted me would invite me without me announcing my availability.  

We rush, rush, rush to get all our groups in between 8:30 and 1:10 during this week of minimum days but then the afternoons are mine.   I've completed three IEPs these last two days and will get another finished in the next day or two.   I also expect to do some more planning about intervention groups, schedule a bunch of post-screening parent meetings, and, with the help of my assistant, get some organizing done.

I asked my assistant to take a photo or two of me in the shawl I recently finished.    Here they are:

Maybe not the best choice of dress

to go with the photo but at least there is

a similar color palate.

It's such a pretty yarn and pattern. 

I am looking forward to knitting one that

is a bit wider and deeper.

 

Too much talk!

I'm mildly frustrated.   There has been a lot of mostly necessary discussion during the part of the day when I wish to be working without distraction.   I have tests to score and reports to write!

I'm going to try going in to work earlier one day/week.   Hopeful that this will help.  

Paperwork!

I'm not drowning but I don't think it would take much!   Today my assistant and I wrote most of the screening permission slips and distributed them to teachers to send home.   I couldn't face counting them.

Time for another list:

• Score the articulation assessments I've been giving in preschool
• Call parents for date, write, and hold two IEPs
• Screen the referral kids as the permission slips come in and write the reports that day
• do some planning and make copies for the groups that do not have articulation needs
• clear out 1 drawer.   See that, I was going to do one a day, then two a week, now it's a victory if I just get one done.
• make and distribute a minimum day schedule, oh, run it by the AP first
• I'm sure there's more but I don't want to drown myself.

Knitting:   I tried blocking the shawl I just finished (wash, pull into shape, pin and let dry) and it was not a successful shape.    I'm going to give it another soak and try again to see if I can retain more of the butterfly shape.  I had a moth, I think.   It was not flattering to wear.

Books:  I haven't been awake long enough at bedtime to read.  I am managing to get 10-12 books at a time back into their collections on my Kindle.   Maybe once that's done I'll feel like reading again.   The nice thing about re-loading all the books is that I get to see all the titles again. 

We're flying now: life in the speech room

We're getting the routine down at work and the days are flying by.   I am greatly heartened by my assistant's comment that she is loving this job and how every group is different and every day is different.

Here's our typical week:

Monday and Wednesday
8 a.m., non-intensive preschool student(s)
8:35, a group of 5 Ks and 1sts.
9:05, group of one, high needs student
9:35-11:30, preschool, intensive.  Working with students 1:1, 9 in class currently
11:30-12:15 Lunch
12:15-1:35 Screenings, assessments, "office time", 3 days/week assistant pushes in to a K class.
1:35, group of 2nd graders
2:05, group of 2nd graders
2:30, group of 3rd graders.
2:55 dismissal

All of our groups are mixed groups.   I tried to set up the groups to be homogeneous by IEP goals but there are more kids than I have time to see in smaller groups and we have restrictions about when we can take kids out of their classrooms.   It works.

Tuesday and Thursday, the schedule is similar but the groups are all different.  We have no 8 a.m. group and fewer in the intensive preschool class.

On Fridays we have an opening for non-intensive preschool at 8 a.m., then at 8:35 we see our 1:1 high needs student.    After that it's off to preschool for two hours, lunch and then the afternoon is dedicated to non-intensive preschoolers.  

I'm overwhelmed with Kinder and 1st grade screening requests right now and even have a few for 2nd graders and one for a 3rd grader.  yikes!   I'll keep plugging away at them.  

Off the loom!

Being without internet for a couple days has been good for my knitting.  I've also listened to 3/4 of an audio book and look forward to finishing that, too. 

Newly cast off and not yet blocked:

I have finally started my speech and language screenings at schools.  I've got quite the pile of them but I think they'll go quickly.    My assistant is enjoying the newness of this job and that it's different almost everyday.  I'm glad.  I'm not quite to enjoying it all yet but it will come.

Knitting along.....

We're into clue 5 of the Mystery Shawl Loom-along.  This is our last knitting clue.  The following one will be about finishing and blocking (wetting or steaming and shaping). 

Here is the shawl after finishing clue 4.  

Jury Duty!

Bleh.   I'm having to drive 45 minutes north to an outlying court.   And, that's all I'm allowed to say.   Hopefully we'll be finished tomorrow. 

She's back!

My assistant is home from China!  She was on a mission trip for a month and I've missed her so much these last two weeks.   I am thrilled to have her back.

The Potato Head activity was a big, big hit.  I had my assistant use it as a get to know you activity.  It went very well.  She had fun and the kids loved it.   I should have taken my camera in for photos but I left it at home just in case I had to report for jury duty after lunch.

I didn't have to report it today but I do have to go in at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow.  This smacks of "we're seating a jury and ran out of potential jurors" to me.   I've enjoyed jury duty in the past but I surely don't have time for it right now at work.  I'll have such piles of paperwork to come back to.

Prayers for not getting put on a jury tomorrow!!!

Mr. Potato Head and Friends

What a haul!   I found another whole set of Potato Head toys at another Walgreen's store.  I have Mr. and Mrs., Rock/Pop Star, Mermaid, Princess, and Pirate Potato Heads.  So looking forward to using them.

Hand student a "head" and he or she needs to 

request body parts and accessories. 

All fits nicely in a big bin.

 

Storage Bin

 

Shawl update, 50%

I can't tell what it's going to look like yet!  It's harder to get a good photo using the infinity loom.   Photos people have posted who are using circle looms or single rakes it's easier to see where it's going.  Just as fun not to know.  This is the pattern available at Ravelry.com: Artist's Palette Shawl  It's by Renee Van Hoy and here is her blog.

I might need to hit a couple more stores this afternoon.  The two on the left are at Target for $7.99 each.  That's the usual price.  The ones that I want more of are at Walgreens, 3@$13.  These are great for language therapy: