Catching up!

Life, as always, has been incredibly insane.  Things with my sister seem to be going in this revolving circle of doctors not knowing what to do.  Now we are going to be referred back to GA, which despite all the hectic mess Charlotte created, I consider a blessing.  There is nothing like being in your comfort zone when it comes to risky cases like my sis.  I love you Dee!

On another note, I have been feeling lately that I am in a daze.  Stress, I suppose causes such things.  I literally have felt like I'm having an out of body experience where I am watching myself work every day, but I'm not there.  I clearly have been in a great need of a break with no stress and no thinking involved.  Thank God I was snowed in for two days in the mountains.  That helped alot, but I still can't wait til Christmas.

The past couple of weeks I have been doing some Christmas songs, duh.  I am a Christian.  I celebrate Jesus' birth, Christmas!  However, I have realized the importance of understanding and implementing some of the other holiday traditions around the world.  I may not agree with a lot of these holiday traditions, but I can at least understand what is going on in the world.  When planning for sessions or classroom activities consider holidays around the world and how to teach your students about them.  If interested, check out the Dreydl game.  (I am unsure of the spelling because I have seen it so many ways).

What you'll need:
Dreydl (found at wal-mart or similar stores)
Stones (we used clear round stones)
The dreydl song =) (I'm almost positive this is a Hap Palmer song)
Pot- or something to hold other stones

Each side of the Dreydl has a picture: Gimmel, Hey, Shin, and Nun. These words all represent a task in the game.
      Shin: player places one stone in the pot
      Nun: player collects nothing
      Hey: player takes half the pot
      Gimmel: player takes all in the pot
Each student recieves 6 stones
Give each student a chance to spin the dreydl  (sing dreydl song as spinning).  When the dreydl stops and lands on a picture, allow the student to look at the picture and determine what they need to do.

Santa Counting Song  Please check this song out! It is completely ridiculous, but I love it!  I haven't used this song yet (tomorrow).  I used boardmaker to make 20 gifts of different colors.  My plan is to sing the song and give each student a chance to count up to a particular number.  The chords in the song are very simple: Key: A: A E D (and literally it keeps repeating)

This is what I have for now! "Smore" I hope this makes you smile =)

"It's a great day in the mornin'! It's gonna be a great day!"

Today was a fabulous day.  I have two classes on Friday, SNK (special needs kindergarten) and SNP (special needs pre-school).  The SNK's are CRRRRAZY.  For real! They are all over the place all the time.  Today my supervisor was going to be getting in to the class late because she was flying in from Chicago, Oprah show none the less.  This meant that I was given the chance to start the class and do a few activities with them.  These kids have horrible impulse control issues.  They are up and down and in and out.  If there is any other way to be in a chair, they'll figure it out!  With these kinds of kids you have to be at it all the time. Don't stop! It makes it worse.  However, I did great because I was able to handle "crowd control" and carry out a pretty good first half of the session if I do say so myself. =)

What made this day great took place in my SNP class.  I'm not sure if I mentioned in a previous blog, but I have 3 little boys in this class.  Two of them are non-verbal.  One of the non-verbal boys is on the verge of talking.  My supervisor and I have been discussing how we know it's coming.  He will be talking before this year is over.  When I sing with him and request him to say something, you can just see his brain working.  His little mouth starts moving like he is trying to say something.  Today I was doing "10 Little Turkeys" and after each verse one of the boys had to pull a turkey from the board and count the remaining turkeys.  My little cutie patootie said "ONE!" as clear as day.  I about fell out in the floor.  It was so incredible.  His teacher said earlier in the day he had said two colors very clearly as well.  It is so awesome to see the students making progress.  That is such a milestone for the student....and myself!

Thanksgiving Activities

Thanksgiving is the theme in the schools for the next two weeks.  I'm all turkied out already!  Here are a few ideas for you to get tired of ;-)

The all time famous "Turkey in the Straw"- What can you NOT do with this song?!?

Try a structured movement activity.  I found this to be the most engaging with my middle school and elementary groups.  My goal was to simply have the students imitate my movements. 

Another way you can use this song is for a rhythm activity, obviously this needs to be with higher functioning kids.  Use thanksgiving words to connect to rhythms.  Examples below:

Another activity for turkey day is, not sure of the exact title, the Thanksgiving song.  These are the lyrics:

Turkey on the platter

Gravy in the bowl

Bread in the basket 

*Clap* Bless my soul!

This can be used as a chant or song.  Sing/ chant through a couple of times.  Start a discussion on what the students like to eat at their thanksgiving meal.  For example, I would say "I like to eat sweet potatoes."  The next part chant:

Thanksgiving dinner!

What should we eat?

Tasia will bring the sweet potatoes 

and we'll bring the meat!

As you can see, it's a great way to get students to express themselves.  For those non-verbal kids, and even some of the verbal ones, use pictures of different types of foods for them to pick and choose.  This has been a great activity for me this week!  

Hope you all enjoy!

What a wonderful world

Sing it Louis!  I love this song and it is a fabulous activity to use in Music Therapy sessions.  This song is a great song for signing.  I picked out simple words with simple signs.  For example, trees, green, red, roses.  Very simple.  I also have found that aslpro.com is an excellent resource.  If you can't understand picture demonstrations of signs, this site has videos.  So, check it out!

Funny story for the day:
Today was a very rainy day.  My supervisor had her boots on.  One student said, "I...like...your...big...booty" LOL  We think he was trying to say I like your boots, but that's what came out. haha.

Do it with grace

So, yesterday (Monday) I was having a blast with one of my high school groups. I was doing a song called "Thankful" by Jonny Lang. We were learning sign language for select words in the song. One of the words was "Breath" but one student kept saying "Breast". No matter how many times I tried to correct her she kept saying "breast". Finally, all the students caught on to what she was saying and everyone started to laugh, including myself and my supervisor. Shortly after this, the stool I was sitting in shattered beneath me. Some how I managed to remain in the seated position in mid air. haha. The class didn't know whether to laugh or see if I was ok. My supervisor said "You handled that with such grace" to which I replied "Trust me. If you fall, trip, and break things as much as me you have to learn to be graceful." Such an exciting way to start off the week.

A stressful week.

Greetings followers.  My good friend shared a brutally honest fact with me today. She said, "Tasia, you are slacking on your blog".  haha. So true.  I'll try my best to do better.  


This past week was so stressful.  When I get stressed I typically try to ignore it and I am usually successful.  However, my mind ignores the stress but my body embraces it.  I get an incessant twitch in my right eye. Then I get this weird swollen taste bud bump on the tip of my tongue.  Not to mention, I just want to eat and sleep. I've managed to keep my eating healthy through the week, but what can you do about a twitchy eye and a bumpy tongue?  I really think a few days at the beach would cure my problems.  


Something extraordinary happened last week.  In an earlier blog I may have mentioned a high school student, higher functioning, who zeroed in on me.  He clearly did not like me and was constantly in a bad mood.  I sincerely don't know what happened, but a couple of weeks ago he came in to the session in a great mood.  (I'm thinking it was the Thriller dancing that made him happy because he loves to dance and is great at it).  The next week I saw him in the hallway and he talked to me and wanted to know all about music class that day, "Are we having music today? What are we going to do? " etc, etc.  His attitude towards me completely changed.  It is amazing.   Last week he came in to class in a bad mood, but I've learned how to tap in to his emotions and find what he needs.  All he needs is for someone to be interested IN him.  He needs someone to help and be patient with him.  I plan on continuing polishing the student/therapist relationship.  I can't wait to see how things turn out when this is all said and done.  


Speaking of high school, my higher functioning class is currently writing their own personalized rap.  After the words have been composed they are going to use Garageband to lay down a beat and rap!  They will love it!  This past week we finished most of the rap songs.  Two of my students in particular wrote a couple of lines that I wanted to share.  My creative student in the class wrote "I am me and I am you".  The sweety in the class wrote, "I might be scared but I'm not afraid".  These simple little lines, in my opinion, are so deep and meaningful.  Then you have the kid who writes "I like to rap T.I.".  haha. I can't wait for the students to finish this project.   


Incredible things are happening during this internship.  Looking back on myself when I started my undergrad in Music Therapy and looking at me now, I am quite proud of how much I've grown.  This internship is preparing me for what I have wanted to do my entire life: to help others using music, my passion.  

So tired...but so worth it!

My favorite class on Monday is a high functioning high school class.  They are so awesome.  One of my students said "Miss Tasia, you have the purtiest smile that I have ever seen".  Haha. I love these kids.  The same student asked me if I was voting and I told him I wasn't down here because I was from out of town.   He apparently didn't like that answer because he simply turned around and walked off hahaha.  

This week a lot of the Pre-K and Elementary classes have been using an apple theme.   My favorite activity is one that involves sensory stimulation.  I'm using two different colored apples, red and green. Visually, they see the different colors of apples.  I know that there are also yellow colored apples that you can use.  For touch, the students get to feel the apples and explore the smooth or rough skin of the apples.  For smell, I bought a macintosh apple liquid scent from wal-mart.  It is a very strong apple smell.  Lastly, and my favorite, for taste I used sour apple spray candy.  The faces these kids made were priceless.  It's such a great activity.  It also helps a lot of these kids with expressive language.  Not every kid likes sour candy!  Remember, anytime you use any thing that involves food, make sure there are no allergies! 

Alakazamakazoo!

Hap Palmer...sounds so 70's and so outdated.  But, with all seriousness he does have some great music!  This above video is a great activity for the kiddos around Halloween time.  One of my supervisors uses this song as a simple movement activity.  My favorite way that I've observed is with scarves, or I suppose anything with colors.  Each student has a different colored scarf. During the ingredients part of the song, you sing "Put in the [color] and put in the [color] stir them in my witches brew".  The student then places their color scarf into a pot or bag of "ingredients".  This works on the student's attention span because they have to concentrate to listen for their color.  Obviously, it can also be an academic activity to simply learn the colors.  Thank you Hap Palmer!

Another great activity to help improve fine motor skills and to provide sensory experiences is by using the parachute with balloons.  I saw this done in one of my high school groups.  My supervisor used a large parachute and white balloons as ghosts.  I'm not sure what song she used, but I'm using the "Ghostbuster's" theme song.

Those are just a couple of Halloween ideas.  Hope you enjoy.  I'll have more up later this week!

When you're in God's will....

My internship is flying by.  It amazes me.  I love my internship.  I love the kids I work with throughout this experience.  My supervisors are so amazing.  I couldn't ask for better people to work with.  They all encourage me.  I get tons of positive feedback on my plans, and great constructive criticism.  Today one of the teachers of a class I work with came up to me and said "Tasia, you are doing such a great job.  The kids love you.  They love all your activities and you keep them engaged.  You are doing so wonderful."  Maybe I'm tooting my own horn, but hey I've worked hard to hear that!  Now, I know I'm not perfect and I won't always have great days, but I know that this is what I was born to do!  God created me just for this purpose.  


A long time ago, before I even decided to get a music degree I always knew I wanted to help people AND I always knew I would somehow or another end up in GA.  God opened door after door for me and look where I am today.  I am doing what I love to do.  I'm singing, my favorite thing ever, and I'm hanging out with kids who I can help.  Folks, it doesn't get any sweeter than this.  Speaking of sweetness,  there is a high school kid that told me "I like you".  I was doing a relaxation activity and he was so zoned in to it that his feelings came spilling out!  My supervisor and I couldn't do anything but laugh after we left that session. 


I really wish I could put in to words how I feel about my career.  It's so amazing.  I can not wait to get a job and start making money.  haha! I love what I do, but working for free sucks big time!  However, I do know that God will ALWAYS provide for me no matter what. 


Halloween session plans are so much fun.  Here is an awesome, awesome activity (if you're willing to spend a few bucks). 


What you will need: 
Black foam board
Orange construction paper
Velcro
Hot Glue Gun
LED small Christmas lights (I bought mine from Walmart for $7)


First you need to cut out your pumpkin.  You may want a box cutter to cut out your eyes, nose and mouth.  However, when you cut out the features you can't use them to velcro back on to the Jack-o-Lantern because it has to be bigger.  You can use them as a size guide to see how much bigger you need to cut your features.  I also highly recommend laminating all of the pieces that way you can use it over and over again. 

I added small pieces of velcro to the features so that the kids can pull the features off as if they are carving the pumpkin.  
Next hot glue some of the foam board scraps to the pumpkin.  It gives it a 3D looks plus lifts it up to make room for the LED lights.  After you have all of this hot glued, remove the features to place the lights....

It's so awesome, right? haha.  All I did was use a knife to punch small holes in each feature and then pushed the lights through.  I then put velcro on the battery pack on the back of my board.  You can then remove the lights for other activities.  


I suppose you can use any pumpkin carving song with this visual.  I used "I'm a Pumpkin" to the tune of "I'm a Nut".  You should be able to find the lyrics online.  If not, let me know and I will definitely send them your way!  Hope you enjoy!

Assessments

You notice the first three letters in the word "assessment"....that's where it causes the most pain. haha.  This week I've been working on simply deciding which assessment to use on 3 different students I've chosen.  For some odd reason, I pick 3 completely different diagnosis.  This means 3 completely different assessments.  I guess the practice is good, right?

For all of you music therapist out there I recommend the Westplate.  It is user friendly.  However, it is out of print because it is so popular.  Go find an older therapist who has a copy! It is worth looking over.

I have been making some pretty adorable visuals for my sessions, if I do say so myself.

This particular activity I wrote a little song for my purpose.  There are 10 different color leaves.  The students meet my friend "Willow" and she asks for help putting her leaves back on.  My song lyrics were:

My leaves are falling, falling down

My leaves are falling all around

My leaves are falling, falling down

Will you help me put them back?

I would provide the chords, but it's really just a chant.  It is appropriate for elementary aged kids, obviously.  However, it was suggested by a supervisor to change the lyrics to make it more hip and then it could be appropriate for low functioning MS or HS kids.  

There are 5 acorns and 1 squirrel.  I did not write this song.  It is a piggy back that I found from the internet:

Five Little Acorsn (tune: 5 little ducks)

5 little acorns swaying in a tree

Hanging from a branch as high as can be.

Along came the wind and blew one away.

Four little acorns were left to sway.

Continue through song counting down to one...last verse:

Down came a squirrel from high in the tree

Searching for food as fast as can be

He saw those acorns small and round

And hid them in a hole that he dug in the ground

Slacker!

Sorry I've slacked off and haven't kept my blog up to date!  This internship is keeping me very busy and making me sleepy!  However, I love it and I am so thankful for this opportunity.

This week I've had the opportunity to hang out with my "kiddos" in music therapy sessions.  It is such an eye-opener to watch these kids out of music and then in music.  There is such a huge contrast!  One student, who sincerely almost brought tears to my eyes, amazed me in the session.  When I saw her outside of music she was almost disoriented from reality, talking non-stop about nothing at all, and was very sensitive to sound.  But, when I saw her in music she was the happiest child alive.  She opened her mouth and I have never heard such an amazing voice.  She sang with such passion.  She added trills and slides and harmonizations to everything the MT was singing.  I was in complete shock!  She is so good, it wouldn't surprise me to hear her on the radio one day!  I love the power of music.

I have a higher-functioning group, aka they're mainly behavioral.  Long story short, one student continued to give me the evil eye through out the entire session and told me "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" (Funny thing is I was in the corner minding my own business).  The assistant was a woman and she eventually had to put him in "time out"  because of his bad behavior and I over heard her say that he was going to learn how to respect women.  So, he's going to be surprised when he finds out I'm not a push-over.  I feel bad for these kids who come from terrible lifestyles and have to play the hand they are dealt.  It's tough, but my therapist finds ways to get these kids to express themselves appropriately.

Next week I start leading one activity in each of my groups.  This means I have 21 activities next week!  My weekend won't be as relaxing as I had hoped.

On a side note, I just want to say, I'm so incredibly thankful for my friends.  The real ones.

The things kids do...

You may want to bypass this first paragraph because it's going to be all about me missing Jeremy. haha! I love Jeremy with all of my heart.  He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I seriously do not know what I'd do without him.  I'm incredibly emotional.  I think about how much I miss him and I get all teary eyed.  I would say this is ridiculous, but the truth is when you love someone as much as I love him, it makes sense to be so crazy emotional about it all. I even wrote us a song for this entire experience.  I'm a smitten kitten, for sure! I get to see him this weekend and I absolutely can not wait!  

Ok, now I'll get to the real reason you guys are reading this, my internship! This week involved more observations.  However, I'm hanging out with all the kids that I get to work with for the next 7 months.  I love them all!  I saw high school kiddos yesterday and I fell in absolute love with one class.  They are seniors and clearly the coolest kids around.  A couple of them told me that I was "perfect" and I could do nothing but laugh.  They are going to be so much fun! 

Today, I hung out with all the elementary kids! Oh my goodness. Let me stick them in my pocket again please!  I have the cutest down syndrome kindergartner!  He is one of those that he is so cute you don't want to enforce the rules because all you want to do is hug him!  He pulled his chair and plopped it almost right on top of mine.  I knew at that point I was cool enough for him.  I saw a couple of other kids that are going to be fun and super challenging.   Warning: this next story may gross you out so skip the next few sentences if you have a weak tummy.  I went to a low functioning kindergarten class and this little boy gave a whole new meaning to picking your nose.  This kid straight up stuck his tongue all up in his nose!  The teachers were talking about it and I just thought hum, no way.  Then he did it in front of me and I didn't know if I was supposed to be grossed out or calling America's Got Talent? haha Maybe America's Funniest Home Videos would be a better choice.  

In an older elementary group, there was an AU girl and she was a big girl.  Not fat, just big.  I was trying to talk to her and this other boy.  Well, I must have done something she didn't like because her hands went straight around my throat.  I started feeling pressure and somehow or another I was able to get her hands off of my neck and keep the peace with her and everyone around me. I learned something at Queens working with my on campus client after all!  

I absolutely love what I do.  I'm so thankful God placed me in this internship.  It is going to be an awesome journey!  

LAMOTION

Sorry I didn't get around to talking about my day yesterday!  It was great, of course.

I saw a high school group in the morning.  These kids were all EBD (emotional behavioral).  Some of those kids were really chemically imbalanced, if you will.  The Music Therapist said she's seen them for 3 weeks now.  I did notice a lot of good things during the session.  First of all, they did a drumming activity where EVERYONE was given a chance to play.  It was really interesting that some of the guys thought drums were so not cool.  There were some rivalries in the class.  When one was asked to play the drum, and he was the only one who didn't, he responded with "That is so degrading.  The only way I'm playing that thing is if I'm hitting 'so-n-so' on the face".  It's really kind of scary around troubled teens.  The MT was very sweet and somewhat stern, but I felt she needed to correct these behaviors in a different manner.  I know that if I was working with those kids I would definitely have to show them I am tougher than I look.  The drumming was very effective because it allowed each student to play the therapist's drum.  However, the students had to pretend their desks were drums to learn technique. Desk surfaces and drum heads are completely different and that will make it difficult to transition in the next week when drums are available.  Oh the joys of low budget schools!  From what I've seen thus far, it is crucial to be creative in this field and realize that you make do and improvise A LOT!

The next school from yesterday consisted of mainly AU, EBD, and MID (mild intellectual disability).  With the AU and MID kids the therapist used great activities.  She did a rhythm of your name activity.  Each student had sticks to play the rhythms of names.  When their name came up, they student was allowed to play their own name rhythm on the drum.  That hits some academic and self-expression goals.    The next class was a group of EBD middle school boys.  It was quite funny because one kid tried so hard to intimidate my co-intern and I by giving us the stare down when we walked in to the room.  I just laughed it off, inside of course.  The activity in this group was a soundtrack for your life.  The kids had to pick a first song memory, childhood song, song of your parents, and song of now.  Each student was allowed to research each song on the computer.  Next week they will present and play their soundtrack project to their peers.  Great way to self-express.

Today, I had the honor of watching my primary supervisor in action.  She is completely awesome and everything that I want to be like in a therapist.   She had a movement activity using the "Seven Jumps" and the kids just loved it!  It is a learning how to wait song because they have to anticipate certain sounds in the song to coordinate them with the correct movements.  I don't know if I've ever seen happier children.  This therapist uses a schedule board with picture cards for activities during the session.  After each activity one child places the activity picture card in an "All Done" box and rings the "All Done" gong.  Awesome idea!  I will most definitely be picking her brain for more great ideas!

The second observation of the day was with AU elementary kids.  The only thing that shocked me about this observation was the relaxation activity that the therapist used.  I would never think to do that with this age group and population.  The older group did not respond well to the activity.  They were all about putting the lotion on their hands, but not so much being quiet and relaxing.  The Pre-K kids LOVED it and completely surrendered to relaxation.  One of the little boys in the group refers to this activity as "Lamotion".  haha So, I am now coining that phrase for relaxation with lotion.  The kids love smelling the lotion and rubbing it on their hands and arms.  By the end of this activity, the kids were so calm. They transitioned straight in to the goodbye leaving the students in a pleasant mood for their teachers.  I will definitely consider using this in my future sessions!

Tomorrow, my co-interns and I will be observing other principle therapies.  I'm looking forward to that!  After tomorrow, I'm headed to my home town for the weekend!  I can't believe my first week is over.  It's been so awesome.  I am so thankful God placed me in this internship.

It all went UP HILL after 7 am

Today I just couldn't get moving.  I woke up at 6am and was on slow mode.  It was ok that I was moving slow because I allow for such things in my schedule.  However, I can't account for other mishaps. I needed to pick up my co-intern at 6:45 and I didn't walk out of the house until 6:35.  When I did walk out the door I noticed that my aunt's Jeep was parked behind me so I rushed in to the house to find her keys (which is usually a challenge), rushed back outside and moved her car.  That took all of 5 minutes.  So, I was freaking out because I HATE TO BE LATE!  I finally get to the road where I turn to pick up my co-intern and even with GPS, I take a wrong turn.  Luckily,  I made it there at 6:50.  I was starting to get nervous because I didn't know how long it was going to take to get to the school or how bad traffic was going to be at this time.  I began typing the address in to the GPS to only discover that the GPS did not recognize the city name.  What? Still, I was calm because I have a built in NAV system in my Jeep, I just don't trust it.  Guess what? My Jeep's NAV system didn't recognize it either. Now, I'm freaking out.  My co-intern suggested just typing in the address without the city name as a search and of course it found the school, but under a different city name. (Don't worry it was the correct address, weird huh?) My story doesn't end here.  Next, I was still a bit flustered from all that.  I came close to running a stop sign in front of a guy leaving his drive-way.  So, he kindly waved the bird at me.  Lovely.  Then I spilled my chai tea on me, not ONCE, but TWICE.  Yes, twice.  What a morning.  After all of that, we somehow managed to make it to the school 30 minutes before the session began.

The sessions were great. Both supervisors were very different.  I saw the supervisor that scared me when I met her. After watching her, I think it's going to be fine.  Today I saw Pre-K kids and they were just absolutely precious.  The first group consisted of 4 of the cutest little boys.  One would answer a question and respond with a funny joke and they all had to repeat the joke as if it were their own.  I wanted to just take them all with me!  The music therapist did some sensory stimulation activities. For sight she used a Top that lit up, sound she used a plastic tube that you pull to make the noise (i'm not sure what it's called), for touch she used a soft feather boa, and finally for taste she used spray candy: sour apple and strawberry.  Oh my goodness the faces they made! =)  Too cute.  I got a lot of great ideas for session plans from this supervisor.  My co-intern and I try to take notes, if we are not being utilized for the session, in order to steal some plans.  In this particular class, I was able to watch OT in action before the music therapy session began.  That was interesting to watch.  Friday the interns will be observing all other principle therapies.  It gave me a chance to think about things I should look for that I can adapt in my music therapy sessions.

The second supervisor I saw worked with middle school aged kids.  The first group we saw consisted of EBD kids (emotional and behavior disorders).  They were awesome kids, just troubled.  This group was very different.  The music therapist used lyric analysis type activities.  One of her great ideas was using skewers for impulse control.  They break very, very easily so if the kids start abusing the skewers they don't get to play because they are broken!  Plus, it was an awesome way for self-expression because the desks have different textures which adds for a cool sound.  The next class was with an AU student.  The interaction was phenomenal!  The MT used extra-large rubber bands to engage the student to watch, listen, follow directions, and stretch the body.  I was nervous that I would get an eye put out by a rubber band, but the student kept it together!  The student was given simple directives and always responded.  It's so wonderful when everything goes like you want it to go! I know it's not always going to be that way.

Its nice that my day ended so much better than it began.  I suppose it really wasn't as bad as I thought, but it felt like it at the time!  Tomorrow is another south county day.  UGH...bring on the traffic!

Well that's not how I would do it...

Today was day one of observations. Awesome!  My co-intern and I were welcomed to Atlanta by getting stuck in traffic because...well it's Atlanta and there was an accident.  We were 5 minutes late, but luckily the first class we were observing was late as well! I'm thankful for understanding supervisors.  They know the traffic and only want us there in one piece, even if we're late.  But if worse comes to worse...I'll just camp out at whatever school I'm supposed to be at for the next day.

I saw great activities that I can use in my sessions.  I really enjoyed the first supervisor.  She is so talented and reminds me a lot of my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Faith, who made a huge impact on my life!  She had some down time between activities, which is bad!  She was aware of that and explained why you don't want that to happen, but she was having ipod issues.  So, it was nice to see that even a professional has her off days!  The only bad thing I could say about the first observation of the day is this:  there was no sanitizing instruments between classes.  I feel sick already.

The second observation of the day was completely different.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  I did pick up a few ideas that I could adapt.  There was so much down time between activities and it was not by accident or because of an ipod malfunction.  It was simply just because.  My professor from Queens would have torn this therapist a part, piece by piece.  Just so you know, as Jeremy would say, during this internship I will be working with a lot of kids with Autism from mild, moderate, to severe/profound.  So, in this session there were some mild kids, but they were still pretty low functioning.  They played a game where they chose "simple" questions from a basket and they had to try to read the question.  Well, these were questions like "Do you have a favorite song? If so, what is it?, In what state were you born?, Do you have a favorite instrument, etc"  They actually became worse.  These questions can be difficult for normal functioning individuals.  Not only that, but there was poor behavioral management in the group.  I was very disappointed in this observation.  No doubt this supervisor is qualified for the job and knows more about it than I, but... "well that's not how I would do it".

Day 2 of observations starts way too early! =)

Officially an intern.

Today was my first day as an intern!  I had no reason to be nervous because after all, first days are full of paperwork, introductions, and a whole mess of food that I should not have eaten.  I love my co-interns.  Ironically, 3 of us are all living in the same area.  The other intern is about an hour away.  Poor girl has a horrible commute.

My supervisors are crazzzzzy!  I'm so excited about my primary supervisor.  I loved her when I had my interview and I prayed deep down that I would get her!  Thank you God!  I have 3 other supervisors, one which includes the intern director.  She is totally awesome.  I'm a little nervous about one of my supervisors.  She wasn't at my interview so I never really got a "feel" for her.  I have this gut feeling she and I may not mesh as well as my other supervisors.  I know things like that happen, but I just want everything to go smoothly.  I believe the supervisors are going to be one of the biggest challenges in this internship.  All of my supervisors are different, which means they each will have very different therapy styles.  However, that is also a plus because I can take what I love from each supervisor and apply it to my personal style.  We had lunch with the supervisors today, all 12 of them.  They are so crazy, for real.  When they all get together they talk and talk and talk and eat and eat and eat.  They talk about their students.  Sometimes they even make fun of them, but not in a bad way but an "oh they are so precious" kind of way.  I loved it!  The interns just sat and laughed at the supervisors all during lunch.  I suppose we can call this Observation 1.  haha!

This internship is going to be ROUGH.  I'm going to be physically, mentally, and at times emotionally DRAINED.  There are so many things that I have to accomplish over the next 7 months.  Papers, book reports, assessments, plans...on and on it goes.  As I was looking through my notebook and facing that fact that I will have no life whatsoever these next 7 months, I was actually thankful.  I know that when this is all said and done with I will leave this experience being fully prepared in my field.  I will be proud of my accomplishments and proud of who I have become.  Plus, if I can help one child I know that I will have accomplished so much.  I'm so thankful that God has called me to do this.

On a funny note, I also learned today that apparently Music Therapy Department Chairs are ALL a little scatterbrained at times.  haha. Oh how it made me miss Dr. E.

Dear Diary....or should I say Blog?

Tomorrow is the "big day".  My internship begins.  I'm currently feeling every possible emotion: excitement, fear, joy, sadness, etc.  Wrap that up in a deep fried panic attack.  Then again, that may be all because of the chocolate covered coffee beans I just ate?  I know it's all going to be "fantastic" as my dear friend Natalie would say, but I can't help but feel this way.  


On another note, I would like to send out a shout out to my Aunt Sheri for putting up with me for the next 7 months.  THANK YOU!!!  I'm super thankful for this ridiculously HUGE bed that I will collapse in to over these next several months =)


Anyways, back to my internship.  I am so looking forward to getting to know my fellow interns.  I really do enjoy making new friends.  I do feel like these few people I will meet may just become close friends.  After all, we are all embarking on the same journey.  Maybe not hand in hand, but definitely heart to heart.  I may begin counting down the days until it's finished.  Is that bad?  


I miss my soul mate already.  It's crazy how you can take people for granted when you see them every day.  I would love to be around him.  Tonight I just sat on the phone and made him listen to me breathe, lol.  I didn't want to hang up because I knew he was on the other end of the phone.  He thinks I'm so goofy, but I can't help it.  It's just my child-like nature.  I can not wait until I am through with my internship and he and I can start "makin' plans" haha!  Well,  he IS the man God has for me so we might as well tie the knot. Besides, I love him way too much to not be with him forever.


I know I ramble a lot, but at least you can see what it's like in this head of mine during this entire experience.  Thanks for all of you who are and will be praying for me.  I love you all.  

It's just Thursday

Today something strange happened to me.  I realized that, no matter what age,  (certain) men are still complete horn dogs and look at women like they are just pieces of meat. Now, the realization of this fact is not the strange occurrence of the day, but what happened to me this morning at the gym...

First let me give you some background. I've been going to the gym in the mornings for a few months.  One morning I met this old white man with white hair.  Clearly, the amount of time he had been working out in the gym wasn't paying off because he still looked like he was hiding a few beach balls under his shirt.  This old gentleman decided to confront me one day while working out. ( Let me just stop here and say that I could write a book on the STUPID things men use as conversation starters).  He comes up to me and tells me how impressed he is with the ipod pocket built in to my shirt.  He thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Me being a polite person simply just thanked him and hoped he would go on. NO! He keeps talking to me like we've known each other for years.  He talks about this and that.  My gosh. I must have a sign on my forehead that reads "Please tell me all about you. I'm dying to know". Then he tells me that he is a pastor at a church.

Ever since then I've tried to avoid him.  Well, this morning I was not successful.  He corners me.  (Now it's imperative for my story that you keep in mind he told me he was a pastor, a man of God).  So, he corners me and tells me, after eye raping me, that I was "looking good" and my body "figure" was looking really nice, all the while looking me up and down.  "Shoot me now", those were my exact thoughts.  I have grown accustomed to dirty men and their ways.  It has always been the dirty minded filthy looking men that say crap like that.  This time I was just so appalled that this PASTOR said that to me.  I'm pretty sure if I didn't love God already that I would stay far away from church after that!

You  know every time something like this happens to me I just sit back and thank GOD that I have a man who is old fashioned in the fact that he still treats women with respect.  It is so sad that in today's society treating women with respect has become a thing of the past.  I hate to see what men will be like in 5 years.