1.5.10-1.7.10

            For
three days I attended the Gateway-Longview orientation. During those three days
we were trained in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) training. This
included learning how to talk to kids in crisis, how to prevent kids from going
into a full crisis, and how to deal with kids in crisis. Throughout the
training we did role-plays to practice different techniques. Many of the
role-plays required the “children” to throw a crisis and others to use
techniques that we had been talking about. This was difficult because it is
easier to talk about how you would handle a situation than actually being in
it. Along with role-plays we practiced restraints. We practiced the single
person basket hold, the standing hold and practicing walking, and the
two-person restraint. The single person hold is generally not allowed in NY but
Gateway has an exemption because of the type of facility it is.

1.20.10

            As
a new employee of Gateway-Longview, I was required to do an observation of the
different schools, except the Residential, which I had already experienced. I
started in the 6^th grade, and that age group is difficult in general
because of how different developmentally they can be. Boys can be matured to
look older, and others still may lag behind and look like kids in elementary
school. This age is also prone to attitude and behavioral problems, and at
Gateway it seems to add a more explosive quality to kids.

            The
second part of my day was spent in a first grade classroom. These kids are intimidating
to me as I am used to dealing with older youths, and with them it is easier to
sense when a crisis is about to happen. The young kids, age 6 or 7, are on a
hair-trigger. One boy was working really well on a worksheet, and suddenly on
the last problem, he began screaming, crying, throwing papers, and finally
barricaded himself under a desk while kicking and screaming. Another
six-year-old when told what he was supposed to do, bolted for the hallway,
after being brought back in, the teachers used a distraction technique by
counting with him to 100, by 35 he was distracted and calm.

            The
end of my day was spent with the Changing Attitudes and Behaviors (CAB). These
kids are the more violent and sexual offenders.

1.22.10

            Today
I was subbing in a first/second grade classroom as a teacher aide. The
classroom had two kids that were on one-to-one aides, one for learning reasons,
and the other for behavioral reasons. One boy had speech difficulties and
severe problems with self-regulation. At home this boy is spoiled, and is
allowed to have his way. At school he has to follow other’s rules and he has
difficulty with that. In many situations throughout the day he became visibly
frustrated, and was unable to express his frustration with words. At the end of
the day he became violent towards one teacher and was throwing items around the
room, and could not express why he was mad. In one act of fury he threw a
pencil at an aide and it almost hit her eye, had she not been wearing glasses.
The Aide wished to pursue and In-School-Suspension for this boy. Because there
is no procedure for In School Suspension for the elementary kids we had to
decide if this action was above and beyond his baseline. We decided that it
was, with the help of his counselor and the principal.

1.25.10

            Today
I was in the fourth grade. This class was five boys and one girl. The classroom
chemistry wasn’t very good. There seemed to be problems whenever a particular
boy was in the classroom. He was hyper and disrupted and just added to the
general disturbance of the other students, most of whom had a hard time
ignoring him.

            Many
of the problems that arose in this class were due to the kid’s inabilities to
ignore other kid’s behaviors. The boys seemed to have a particularly hard time
with this. They act and talk tough, which I believe is modeling of behaviors
that they learn at home. They know that they should ignore other kids but are
incapable because that hadn’t been what they’ve learned all their lives.

            Today
was also my first experience with diffusing a situation. I used my TCI training
to separate and help calm down one boy who attacked another boy.

            Later
in the day the kids attended group. Group at this age level is teaching the
kids social skills like teamwork. Only three of our kids were able to attend
this group, the others were still out of program. In groups like this the kids
are able to talk about skills but they have a hard time actually using these
skills.

1.27.10

            Today
was spent in the 8^th grade. 8^th grade has never been an
age group that I enjoy. Especially girls at this age, they are either nice or
have attitude. Due to the weather many of the kids were absent, so the day was
rather subdued. The homeroom class that I was with had some difficult issues.
None of them really seemed to have hyperactivity problems, like some of the
younger classes I’ve been in. They seem to have defiance issues, but whether
that is a regular behavior because they are at the onset of the teen years or
because of an oppositional disorder, I am unsure.

            In
the afternoon after the day-school kids had been dismissed I went down to the
Residential Education wing and sat in on a Buzz meeting. These are meetings for
updates on behaviors that the kids may be having due to court dates or home
visits coming up, relationships that have developed, relationships that may
have ended, and kids that have problems with each other. We also were updated
on kids that were going to be discharged soon. I had never attended one of
these meetings but they were very helpful for identifying possible problems
before they start, like what kids to keep away from each other, or knowing why
a kid may be having a bad day.

Gateway
Feb. 1
Today I was with the Changing Attitudes and Behaviors program (CAB). This
program is for youths who are at a higher risk of AWOL, or have committed more
serious offenses and are placed at Gateway. The program is run very similarly
to the residential program although behaviors in the school can result in lack
of privileges in the cottages easier than in the residential program.

Classroom composition constantly has to be monitored in CAB
because these kida are much more volatile than the other classrooms. They are
constantly joking and making fun of each other, many of them can only take it
for so long, or there is one comment that just sets them off. In the CAB
classrooms the desks are spaced out so that the students aren’t too near each
other as that is another issue that can escalate tempers.

Feb 8
Today I was in PE. All of the Residential classes were on self-containment. The
teachers and teacher’s aides can decide if the students are having trouble
keeping under control or aren’t getting along with other classes. Many of the
students had been in and out of time out, which was an additional factor to
putting them in self-containment.

Relationships between the students have too be monitored
carefully, whether a new couple has formed or they have just broke up. As I’ve
gotten to know the students more, I see the relationships more clearly. Break-ups
are considerably more difficult because many of the kids already have emotional
disturbances.

I had the class of CAB girls today. They were very
interesting because they seemed to get along better than the normal classrooms.
I had been with them previously in a classroom setting, and they were very
helpful to each other. They worked well in a group and didn’t seem to have any
significant problems with each other.

Feb 10
Today I was in the kindergarten classroom. ADHD is a huge problem, and if the
kids don't take their meds it is very noticeable. Most of the day is spent with
these kids in a hold trying to calm them down. There was one child in
particular that has trouble keeping calm, he has a one to one aide.

Some kids are easily distracted and other can stay on track
and use ignoring skills. But, that only lasts for so long. There was one child
who was the leader of most of the distractions and all the kids like to follow
him, because he is the “cool” kid. This same kid is also very proficient in
math and that is the only time in the day when he is well behaved.

The language is absolutely shocking. At 5 they are familiar
with different drugs curse words and talking about sex and rape. The two aides
warned me that the language is shocking, and that they are still shocked on a
daily basis of some of the things that these kids say. There is no sense of
quiet in this classroom and the kids can only come together and work for a few
minutes at a time.

Feb 12
Today I was in 8th grade science, and I have been in this class before. The
circumstances that we started the day were much better than last time. Although
one of the girls was very upset when she found out that her schedule was
different than what she thought it was going to be. These kids are very easily
irritated with a change in a usual schedule. They depend on that schedule and
variances are not accepted lightly. Valentines day kept everyone in a good
mood. Only one kids was frozen because he had not completed work.

I have started to notice more and more that these kids are
noticeably tolerant with diversity. It is very interesting to see the level of
tolerance and acceptance that these kids have. In Residential there was a boy
who identified with the female gender, but he still had to live in the male
cottages. The boys that he lived with seemed ok with it. In this 8^th
grade classroom there is a boy who had a stroke and he has some physical
differences and the students don’t treat him any differently.

Feb.24

Today I was in residential, and it is the first day that
I’ve been there since my internship last semester. Last week the kids had
mid-winter break. For some of the students that is a great opportunity to go
home see friends and family, for others it is only more frustrating because
they aren’t allowed to go home. One student in particular is almost at his one
year mark and has been home once for a day-visit. As of late this student in
particular has been deteriorating. He is increasingly depressed and he is
easily distracted and very lethargic. He also had another episode of self-harm,
which hasn’t happened in a while.

Today I also participated in the weekly BUZZ meetings. These
meetings are for the residential staff to get together and discuss the
different things going on with the students. These meetings are especially
helpful when there are new kids coming in. They also talk about relationships
that have developed or finished, as these can be problem points when changing
classes or students that are in the same classes as each other. One topic was
about two students who were dating but the male of the pair was cheating on the
female. She was not taking it well and was acting out in school because of it.
Other behaviors that have to be monitored are the new students. There is one student
in particular who has gang ties and has to be monitored closely. There is
another new student in a different class, and one student in that class, who
has a past of molestation and is a closeted gay has been acting differently
toward and may have a crush on. This sounds harmless but interactions have to
be monitored between students, especially with the kids who have sexual abuse
in their backgrounds.

Feb. 26

Today I was in the same classroom as Wednesday, in
residential. Today was one of my favorite student’s discharge day. He was in
the class that I was originally with during my first internship and I have seen
a lot of progress with him. He is the first student that I’ve seen be
discharged that I have faith that he’ll do ok. Many of the students that get
discharged don’t have a very good situation to go home to. This student is
fortunate to have a really great foster family and has a lot of positive things
that will help him transition back.

Today there was a Black History month activity that took up
much of the afternoon. The kids enjoyed this but keeping all the kids together
just results in a lot of noise and negative behaviors seem to escalate.

Mar. 3

Today I was in CAB. I have been with class a few times
before, and I’m getting consistently more familiar with them. I find that it is
easier to control the classroom and relate to the students the more that you
interact with them. I have come to understand how to deal with these students,
and I find it a lot different than some of the other classrooms. A majority of
them are just attention seekers and if you’re willing to just talk with them
they respond well to you later. My students were rather absorbed in reading
because Gateway is doing a reading program for the month of March in conjunction
with March Madness. Basketball is a passion for many of the youths and they
enjoy earning the prizes and being in the competition for their own March
madness tourney at the end of the month.

Mar. 10

Today I was in for the teacher I interned with last semester.
All the students that I started with are no longer in that class but the
students that are now in there I get have a good relationship with. One student
has been consistently going deteriorating behaviorally and emotionally. He
found out last semester that his mother was filing for termination of her
parental rights, and he has no other foster or home visit situation. He has
been significantly more depressed and has continued self-harming behaviors. He
has to be carefully monitored at school.

Another student, not in my classroom, found out this week
that the foster family that was interested in him, is no longer interested.
Surprisingly he has been dealing with it rather well. I have seen a lot of
progress from this particular student in the program and hope that a better
foster situation is figured out for him.

Mar. 12

I was in the same classroom today and as I discovered in the
CAB classroom it is significantly easier to manage a classroom when you
understand and get to know the students. There are two students that I have had
problems with, one is severely ADHD, and the other I believe has a problem with
women in authority. The student with ADHD I have come to discover becomes
disruptive when he is bored. When I kept him busy he seemed to be better. I
also have established that I’m fair and he respects that now. On Wednesday I
had to send him to timeout and we had a talk and came to an understanding with
each other.

The other student was in timeout all day and
I believe he and I will probably not come to any understanding. He is the only
student at Gateway that I make sure to stay at least and arms length away.