Tuesday I went to an orientation/training day. There are 5 days of district training to teach us the ropes of how we operate within the district. We are also required to attend all 5 days of training. However, I started on the last day of training, meaning I still have 4 days I need to take.
My supervisor, who will be doing another 5-day training session, is waiting until a few more staff members are cleared through the district to start working (took me a week to clear- fingerprints, medical tests, etc). Then I am to attend the first 4 days since I already went to the 5th. Until then, I'm on a temporary assignment at an indoor educational academy in Altadena.
It's been- interesting, but not bad. I'm currently working with high school boys. The academy is a place for the severely emotionally disturbed and teaches elementary through high school. Most of these children come from group homes and have pretty traumatic lives/pasts. My goal during the week was to build a good rapport with the kids without too much intervention just yet. It takes time. But I have developed a good standing with them and I actually enjoy being around them. The teacher for the classroom is great. Gary has expressed concerned for my safety (the first day a boy smashed a glass vase over his arm and the ambulance had to come), but I'm not concerned at all. There are many male aides and some male workers from the mental health department who regularly hang out and assist. I have another interventionist in the classroom with me as well. So nothing to worry about. I occasionally take the boys out of the classroom and chat with them (never completely alone- there are always people around), just to see how they are doing. This especially happens when they're feeling stressed and/or upset and need a break. But this assignment is definitely a new thing as my experience mostly revolves around developmental disorders, primarily autism- not so much ED (emotionally disturbed). I did have a regular ED case with my respite job, but he's young and it's mild since he has an amazing life with a great family, so it's not as bad.
Anyway, I have been assigned as a district-wide interventionist. This means that once the permanent staff to work at the academy are cleared to work and I finish the other 4 days of training, I'll be sent out to work at different schools. I will have 2-3 students at each school, and will provide 30-45 minute sessions with each student- including group exercises, 1:1 social building skills, consulting, Discrete Trial Training, etc-as well as tons of data collection. Between the travel and data collecting, I'll be filling in my 6 hours each day. Even if I don't fill in the 6 hours, I still get paid salary. Which is nice.
So, that's basically it for now, and it really has been great. Traffic to Altadena hasn't been all that bad- it only gets a little congested when there's been an accident. Otherwise, it takes me 30-40 minutes to get there.
Any more updates? Gary and I still haven't made a decision about where to move, but Glendale and Burbank are high on the list, including Studio City. Also, Gary's job has still been going well and I'm super proud of all he does!
We also had a mini vacation and took a trip recently to Orange County. We visited Knotts Berry Farm, went to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure, and a couple weeks before took a trip to the Getty Villa. But that's a different post. Until then, enjoy this photo of my head injury. I was swimming in a friend's pool with a large rock waterfall/slide. Anyway, some of the rocks hover over the pool, forming a little cave. I had been swimming under them (didn't know I was that close), then came up for air- and SLAM. Luckily I didn't knock myself out, though I do believe I'm suffering from a minor concussion.
