Wacky Wednesday!

7:00 AM: KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! A strange old man hand delivers my car tags. States that they were in his mailbox two weeks ago and that he had come by every day since at different times trying to catch me. I was never home, go figure.

8:00 AM: Drive to work through clouds. No really, there were clouds--everywhere!

8:30 AM: Thank Jesus for the breathtaking sight as I top a hill with valleys on both sides with the end of the clouds also in view, floating over the valleys like a canopy of cotton.

9:15 AM: Nonverbal client throws glasses in floor in an attempt to tell me he's mad that I asked him to sit back down so he wouldn't fall.

10:20 AM: Very verbal client tells me that the reason he had to come to the nursing home was this: he'd heard that I worked there and that the torture of speech therapy was actually "quite pleasurable torture".

11:00 AM: Client with developmental disability beats me at Scrabble even though I played the longest word: "blouse".

12:30 PM: Coworker comes into breakroom and threatens to stab me with fork if I eat his food. Then tells me I am allowed one spoonful of his potatoes if I replace it with cheese from my macaroni.

1:55 PM: Client tells me that he hates to break it to me, but there's no way I'll get him to function like he did when he was 30. Then, he proceeds to be the first client I've had at this facility who thanks me for all my hard work and dedication to his well-being.

4:30 PM: Nursing home resident at another place stops me in the hall and tells me I'm a sweetheart and need to be the speech therapist seeing her neice. Said resident was a client of mine when I was a student and refused therapy 3 times in a row.

5:00 PM: Long term client who I have grown very fond of gets swallow study results back--YAY! Diet upgrade to more "real" food/drinks! WOOHOO!

6:30 PM: Run around like a blindfolded turkey on Thanksgiving  morning in preparation for the evening's Awana meeting while trying to read over my lines for the message time lesson.

6:45 PM: Try to compose myself as the Sparks director walks in disguised as "Professor Spark"--complete with lab coat and spiky hair.

9:00 PM: Drive home with a smile on my face and a heart full of love for the darling little Sparkies I have been blessed to get to know.

That's what she said.

Me: (leaving Starbucks with Heather) "I guess we are going to this fleamarket over here because I am unconsciously driving that direction."

Heather: "Don't you mean subcionsciously?"

Me: "Umm, yeah...unconcious/subconscious...same thing..."

Sensory Issues

After all my experience with children (and adults!) with sensory issues, my "sensory kids," I realize that I have a few sensory issues of my own. I didn't really give it much thought until one of my supervisors pointed out one the other day. That sensory issue is...CHALK!

Ever since, I've noticed several others. Here's a few of them:

TOUCH:
* Microsuede stuff couches are made of. I can't stand to touch it with my bare skin. It's sticky!
* Fleece. It's kind of itchy.
* Sand in my toes.
* Slimy food textures
* Grainy or chalky food textures
* Does being a claustraphobic (spelling?) in large groups of people count?

SOUND:
* Chalk on a chalkboard, even when it isn't screeching
* Metal on metal/ceramic (you can completely immobilize me by scraping a fork across a plate)

Weird things I do to relax without thinking about it ("self-stimming"):
* Run my hands through beans, flour, water, and other things.
* Chew on, not eat, weird things (like: plastic, straws, gum wrappers, fingernails).
* Press the back of my hand against hard surfaces.

So, now that you have a glimpse of my weirdness, how about sharing some of your own unique ticks?