Special Olympics

Let me make this short and sweet: an entire bowling alley filled to the brim with students with any and all types of special needs all bowling at the same time = chaos :)  But such a joyful chaos it was!  My kiddos had a blast (until L had a minor meltdown and had to be carried away from the lanes screaming... by me...) and I got to see some of my FAVORITE kiddos from student teaching :) My sweet Gabby just warmed my heart, asking me to come back to Kinawa and never leave!  Dominyc and Caleb were there, too, and I got to chat with them a little bit!  I can't believe how much kids can grow up over the summer!


Today I was Specially Educated in realizing that I am learning more and more every day on how to provide a safe, constructive learning environment for my kids, even amongst the chaos of bowling :)  When L had his mini meltdown and had to be carried away, I was able to talk him down and sit with him quietly for about a half hour while the rest of them finished their bowling.  He was so overstimulated and tired of bowling, and couldn't fathom the idea that we had to wait for the bus to pick us up, that we couldn't just appear back at school and take a break O:)  Once I got him calmed down enough, he was able to explain everything he was thinking, and I even convinced him to go sit by the rest of my kiddos and eat some crackers.  Problem averted!  Next goal: teach him to self-sooth BEFORE hitting the meltdown stage :) May take a few years, but it will be worth all the struggle to get there.

I was able to create a safe environment for L to vent APPROPRIATELY and recover from the situation on a happy note.  He even sat with me on the bus :)  Once back at school, I had planned easy, relaxing activities because I knew they would all be so overstimulated from bowling, and it proved to be a good idea.  Aside from R trying to manipulate the system (wanting to go to recess with BOTH my class and his Gen Ed class as well as going to my Library time slot, thus missing all of science and social studies with Gen Ed), we got all of the kiddos where they were supposed to be safely and without much fuss.  R did cry a bit when he realized that his devious plans were not going to work, but we're taking it one step at a time :)

Whew! Bowling = done. It was fun, but exhausting