When I Think About My Work Day

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The students I work with are extremely challenging with their behaviors. We manage it with a variety of picture schedules, and tons of structure, and lots of rewards. I am mentally exhausted by the end of the day, and I usually only have one student I work with, or two at the most. Four students, four staff for our classroom. It occurred to me last night that if I am exhausted, and I understand what is going on, they must be much more so and really have no idea what things are all about. For instance, the young man I am with this week has a "cue" card that tells him to check his picture schedule for each task. I carry a clip board with picture icons of everything on the schedule outside of the room. There is a different cue card for inside the room tasks and a wall with pictures on it. Then, being part of a regular school, we always have changes in our schedule and routine. For instance, this is National School Lunch Week and we have done different things with our clothes, like "crazy hat day" on Monday. Silly Sock Day, Pajama Day, etc. Wow! and our specific students have no clue, really about all of this. Add to that they often have issues where they cannot sleep at night. So, at the end of the day, I am tired. I know what I have done, and I hopefully have helped my kiddos keep it together while at school and do some learning. At the end of their day. . . they must be exhausted, and very stressed. Hopefully they have absorbed some new experiences, and been comforted by some routine as well. Do they understand? I am not sure. It is more like they bounce from line to line of their schedule and survive until their bus arrives and they retreat to junk food and television and the presence of their parent or care giver and the abandon of not being expected to do much of anything, except to just "be". My image is of the aquatics center associated with the school district.