School Time 9/16 - Jobs and Workplaces

School time was a go, good, direct eye confirmation when I asked if she was interested. I told Becca I wanted to go over some stuff from before, so we reviewed seasons. I would talk about each season again. She looked at them all and payed attention, but wasn't much in the mood to answer questions. First I asked her which season we season we went back to school, Spring or Fall. She picked Fall. Then I asked her which season we make snowmen in, Winter or Summer. She picked Summer. I said that would be silly, the sun would melt the snowmen. She kind of smiled and then looked at Winter. Last I asked her which season the leaves changed, Fall or Spring. She wouldn't pick on, she kept looking away. I said I guess that was an easy one since it had a picture on the card, I held up Fall. I asked if she wanted to learn about something else and she said yes.

Next I said I wanted to talk about jobs that different people have, and I asked if she wanted to learn about that. She said yes. I said first we needed to learn about the places people worked. I talked about how people all have different jobs so they can take care of their families. I listed lots of different things that people do, and I talked about my job and how mommy's job is to stay home and take care of the kids (and that if she didn't then it would be someone else's job to be a babysitter for the kids). t showed her, one by one, pictures of a School, a Farm, a Post Office and a Hospital. I talked about each one, the people that worked there, what kind of things happened there, etc. She would look at each picture for a minute and then look away. I attached each picture to her clear communication board. By the time I finished she was started to have some coughs and be less engaged, so we played a hand motion game to try to get her back in focus.

Then I asked if she wanted to play a matching game. She said yes. I reminded her what each of the four job locations were, and then I held up a doctor and asked if she knew what that was a picture of. She looked at me to say yes. I said yep, it's a doctor. I asked her where the doctor works. She immediately looked at the hospital and then back at me. I said yes, the doctor works at the hospital, and attached it to the hospital picture. Then I held up a mailman but she wouldn't look at the mailman, she kept looking at all the job locations. So I pulled those out of the way until she looked at the mailman (I did this with all of the pictures after this, too). I said that was a picture of a mailman, and asked where the mailman worked, and she immediately looked up at the post office and then back at me. Then I held up a farmer and asked where the farmer worked. She immediately looked down at the farm and then back at me. Then I held up a teacher and asked if she knew what it was a picture of. She said yes. I said yep, it's a teacher. I asked if she knew where the teacher worked, and she immediately looked at the school and then back at me. Then I held up a bus and asked if she knew what that was a picture of. She said yes, and I said yep, it's a bus. I asked her if she knew where the bus driver worked, and she immediately looked at the school and back at me. I commented on how impressed I was with how quickly she was answering these questions, she was really nailing it. After this it was more like usual, a little bit of delay or sometimes a longer delay before answering.

I said next I wanted to do a hard one. I held up a stethoscope picture and asked if she knew what it was. She didn't say yes. I told her it was medical equipment, something doctors use. I asked her where she might find a stethoscope. She wouldn't look at any option, and she had a bit of coughing. I eventually said I guess I gave it away by saying it was a doctor's tool, and then she looked over at the hospital. We did another hand game to try to help her focus. She liked the hand games a lot today.

Then I held up a girl farmer (the other one was a boy) and asked if she knew where this person worked. She looked at all the options and then looked a long time at the farm, but not back at me, then up at the post office. I said I wasn't sure what she picked because she didn't look up at me. After a little bit she looked at the farm and then at me. I said that was right, and attached the other farmer. I said I had another hard one, and held up a picture of a mailbox. I asked Becca if she knew what it was, and she kept looking at the picture. I said it was a mailbox, with a letter sticking out of it. I asked her if she knew which place our letters got taken to. After a minute she looked up at the post office and then back at me. I said that was right, and we attached the picture to the post office.

I held up a pig and asked Becca if she knew what it was. She said yes. I said yep, it's a pig. I asked her if she knew where a pig might go. She looked quickly at the farm and back at me. I said that was right and attached the pig to the farm.

We kept going with additional roles and items. For janitor she looked at the hospital and then at the school. For librarian she looked all around but wouldn't pick anywhere. I told her the librarian works at the school. Then I talked about the library and how that's another place people work, even though it wasn't one of our pictures, and maybe that's what Becca was looking for.

I held up a couple more pictures, of a classroom aide, a principal, and a lunchroom worker and talked about how they all work at the school too.

Side note: I can't remember the question, but I asked Becca something that she wanted to say no to. She looked right at me for a split second and then away, very intentionally. I was impressed with that response and told her so.