Hello all!
6 years is a long time. A lot can happen in six years, and a lot happened indeed. Let's recap.
Six years ago I started working with my district's EC program. Since then we've more than doubled the size of the program and added tuition-based peers. I very much enjoy this age group. I spent my first few years delving into the world of Core Vocabulary. I finished a certification in Assistive Technology.
Then five years ago, my personal life took an unexpected turn. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In the five years, I've been lucky to have very few relapses and the disease appears to be holding steady. My lasting symptoms impact my hands (constant feeling of pins & needles and some dexterity issues that slow my typing) and left leg. By no means do I recommend getting MS, but since my body did insist, this version is the best-case scenario.
So I kept working and learning to adapt to my job and new life while trying to avoid stress (which exacerbates my symptoms). Three years ago we welcomed a son into this world (he'll be 3 this week!) and in July 2019 my daughter decided to join us 6.5 weeks before her due date, resulting in a 2+ week NICU stay. Don't worry, though. At her last doctor's check-up she was weighing in at the 75th percentile for both height and weight, and her doctor declared her caught up and meeting all milestones. Apparently, I wasn't crazy when I thought COVID snacking was hitting us all hard during shelter-in-place!
As much as I hate to admit it, I am high risk due to my autoimmune condition. So we spent a quiet summer at home. During the school year, my parents watch my kids during the day, which is wonderful and great for everyone. I love the relationships my kids have with their grandparents. But they are also older and in the high-risk category, so we're pretty cautious about our community engagements. We took a few trips to the zoo this summer, but it was all outdoors and well distanced.
My district decided at the 11th hour to go remote due to cost concerns at the middle school and high school levels and new guidelines from the state department of health. So we are doing remote preschool using Google Meets and teletherapy around that. Of course 2 days into the year, my laptop died a horrible death and I lost everything since my last backup at the beginning of 2018 school year. But I've done more and more on Google in recent years, so rebuilding my clipart library will likely be the hardest part. We are one week into the year with students, and I start seeing kids this week. In the spring, we did everything asynchronously with parent consults as requested. So the world of teletherapy is relatively new to me. Last week I fell down the rabbit hole of using PowerPoint backgrounds with Zoom. More to come on that soon, I hope.
Reinventing my therapy services has reinvigorated my creative juices in a way that I haven't felt for a long time. For a while after my diagnosis and with having 2 young kids at home, I made new materials, but I was really just getting the job done (or half done because I never had the time!). It feels good to be creating again.
Of course, this year will be full of challenges. We are already talking about bringing some of our kids back before the rest of the student population, which is an added level of stress. Part of me worries that if I plan more than a week out, it will be all for naught. It's my last before I'm fully vested in my state's retirement system. So I don't know what next year will bring. I've dreamed of a switch in environments for a few reasons. But right now I have to take it day by day. And on this day, I dusted off this little blog and shared a lot out there that even people who work with me daily don't necessarily know about me.
