Saturday, March 03, 2007

my "first job".

i had wanted to blog about my "last day of freedom", which was the 28th of February (why of all months must this be the shortest? :( ), but it being the "last day of freedom", i obviously had to enjoy as much and thus had no time to update. haha! *excuses for procrastination*.

aniwae, i've accepted the job offer and have started work on the first of march @ the centre. omg. i'm like the noobiest person there, and youngest as well. amazingly though, the teachers don't look like their age, they look younger. perhaps working with children make one end up in both extremes, either u end up looking faggardy haggardly stressed out or u end up looking like the passionate, i-have-anti-aging-genes kinda person.

got teased for being a "growing up girl" and a "baby" cos firstly, i wanted ice milo (i felt so bad that a fellow staff treated me on that) and i ordered noodles without chilli. haha :X one of the teachers mentioned that it is a priviledge to be young, well yeah, i agree that it is, cos everyone ages.

aniwae, it really is quite different from the typical childcare setting. lots of adjustments to make, and its demanding with the IEP, thorough lesson plans with all the objectives that can make one google-eyed just by reading through it and of course, data collection. people have been advocating for the childcare people to be viewed as professionals and i already view intervenionists as professionals. the terms they use in their reports, lesson plans and the IEP (mind u they have to state in percentage to what accuracy is a task supposed to be achieved), the theories they learn, how they choose to put it into practice, the learning materials they make and the way in which they present it, making modifications to really suit the needs of the individual child, the neverending perseverence which spurs them on in trying over and over again - it takes not only effort but a heart. i guess that's what keeps some of them in the field for so long and by so long, i mean like.. ever since the association started. anyway, it used to be strictly 1 on 1 when they were self-funded by donations and fund-raising but now that MCYS and NCSS stepped in, we'll be moving towards 1:2 or 1:3 per session. thankfully, i'll only be co-teaching 2 children for a start.

anyway, on my first day, there was a session with the occupational therapist. my first experience of seeing one and seeing what one does. she was so outgoing and she kept trying to engage the child but he was pretty much in a world of his own. he was an amazing kid anyway, being named after a football star, loving all kinds of balls and being able to lengthen his attention span to infinity when watching soccer matches.

yesterday was the first day where i attended a training session. i thought that the trainer was gonna say that autism can be cured cos that's what some people would think. well of course i think otherwise :X i don't know why.. maybe cos its a developmental and neurobiological disorder? its already difficult enough to change the way one behaves and thinks, so to completely cure it, no one could ever be sure~ just like how no one is ever sure for now how autism develops. anyway, i should've known better, if autism could be fully cured by one sure method, why would we be in early intervention working with the children on it for years? also, it really depends on how severe the autism is. if its mild, i suppose the child will be able to live independently when he's older.

it was during the training session that i realised i was being interviewed by big shots :X one was an executive director, and another was the head of the centre. :X!

also, for the first time ever yesterday, i interacted with children who had autism but were high-functioning. amazing, they could speak really well as compared to those in my class whom i think are struggling with speech (the kids in my class r probably younger though age doesn't determine one's functioning level). they also fetched one of the teachers pretend-medicine cos she lost her voice, and then water, and god knows what. they looked so cute being busy (and they looked like they really enjoyed being busy), running from the pretend kitchen to where the teacher was seated at. i really couldn't help but laugh seeing them dart around the room. and in the pretend kitchen, all the chefs were male (o_O!). i'm not being sexist here, but how often do u see a pretend kitchen filled with males? well of course in this case its a good thing! in the usual childcare settings (based on those that i've been to), there's usually one boy or two at the most. probably that's what we see at home as well (though i'm not sure exactly how much now), the papa sitting down and reading newspapers and waiting for the food while mommy cooks and puts everything out on the table.

on wed, there'll be an assessment of the 2 children that i'll be teaching after the school holidays. i'll be sitting in during the assessment, and honestly, i can't wait to see them, cos i can't wait to see and know what they're like. this is so new to me and as much as i feel nervous, i feel excited too.

everyone calls this my first job. but as of now, i don't' evevn know how long i'll be staying so until it is deemed as permanent, then yes i'll call it a first job. btw, mom's gonna stop giving me my allowance and she's absolutely overjoyed that her baby abby has found a job. -.-

its only been 2 days and apparently i'm used to waking up early. i woke up at 6+ today~ so now, i should try to get more shuteye =/ i don't know what's so tiring about observing a class but it is.

it feels like its been a long time since i last caught up with life which includes reading blogs. the last time i had a life was probably v-day (the guys are carnivore are funny, and i'm glad its not one of those WE-JUST-WANNA-CHARGE-YOU-EXORBITANT-PRICES-just-cos-its-v-day kinda places - i love how normal it was), and the CNY visiting time.
bee at 6:53 AM