Dance Moves

So, I've neglected the blog this week. BUT I have been super busy finishing up my internship. So now I'm working on some of the catch-up posts.

On Sunday I got to work and the kids were listening to the radio. Devin loves listening to the radio. He is kinda a weird kid (but aren't they all?). He really has some interesting social skills and can be super aggressive too. His favorite music is Ironmaiden. He also likes to dance to hip hop music, which is pretty amusing to watch. Anyways, back to the story. Missy is with us and she wants me to dance. I say, no, I want to see what you can do. She doesn't like that answer and so I give her my hands and we dance in a circle. Then she stops suddenly and announces: You're turn! Show me your moves! It was all I could do not to laugh right then and there!! And, for those that are wondering, I did not dance that day ;) Maybe next time.

Angelina Ballerina

So remember Missy? I love her. Seriously, she's hilarious. She's given me the nickname of Angelina Ballerina. Why? I have no idea! But she loves it and I think it's cute so we just go with it. It's pretty fun. Today she kept calling me Angelina (without adding the Ballerina part) and the staff kept asking her if she knew my name. Yes, she says in her sassy voice, it's Angelina Ballerina. So we just go with it. It works. And it's super cute!

Rough Night

You know it's been a rough night at work when.....

*all 6 staff members need ice cream and/or chocolate during the nightly meeting

*one staff is willing to go pick up a 12 pack to share

*the nurse has a headache from dealing with kids

*kids are in time out for nearly 2 hours

*physical fights almost break out among the kids

And that's just a few of the things that happened today at work. Luckily I wasn't too involved in the chaos! :)

Nails

So at the RTC doing your nails is a pretty common occurrence. If you work the grave, you're guaranteed time. If you work Saturdays, it almost always happens that at least one of the younger girls asks you to paint her nails. And if you're working in the school and you're bored, it's just something you do.

I unfortunately haven't had the chance to do my nails yet. Which I don't really mind because I'm not much of a fan of colored fingernails (but toenails is a completely different story). Well the polish was all out on Saturday and one of the staff is painting nails.

So then Hank (remember Hank- slap a peer, 10 year old boy Hank) comes up to me and asks in the highest pitch voice he can muster "Can you paint my nails?" I just look at him, eyebrows raised. "Please?" he adds, thinking I hadn't responded because he didn't ask politely. No, I tell him. No. And that was that. Luckily he didn't ask why. Because I'm pretty sure I couldn't have found a nice way to tell him that he was being crazy.

But I definitely laughed to myself! And knew it had to be posted :)

School

Today I was in the North classroom. I'd never worked there before--plenty of times in the South classroom but never the North. It was actually really fun (not to mention that I got to read a ton in my book!). So anyways. The kids have summer school from 9a-12noon. They have reading time, then do editing and math and some comprehension stuff. If they finish their work they are supposed to take out their quiet read book and just read. Well we have one kid who is reading a Goosebumps book. So all of the sudden he raises his hand and asks "What is ganats?" I have a puzzled look on my face and let one of the other staff answer him. ;) She's also confused so she goes over and looks at his book....and laughs. Not ganats....gnats!

It was great. The kids didn't get it. But the staff loved it!

Some explanations

Okay, so I realize I should probably explain a little bit about how things work at the RTC so that some of these posts will make more sense....So here goes...I'll try to explain it all but after being there for 3 months it all just makes sense in my head....

The kids are divided into two groups- the North side and the South side. The North is the older kids; the South is the younger ones. Usually this is age based, but it can also be based on cognitive functioning too. For example, the 12 year old girl that can barely read is programmed on the South with the little kids while the 12 year old that actually acts like a 12 year old is on the North. Sometimes I work on the North; other times I work on the South. I wouldn't say I have a favorite, but there are times when one side is definitely easier than the other. It really just depends on what kids we have. Right now I've been working a lot on the South so I'm excited to switch to the North later this week. And really, no side is better than the other, they are just different. You can do different things with different kids, and part of working is figuring out what you can do on each side.

The kids are all on their own unique programs. First is precautions: Each kid has a precaution- high, moderate or low. This is based on their safety and safe behaviors they show us. When they admit, they are automatically placed on high- which means they can't go outside, to the gym or off-campus. As we get to know them and they show us they can be safe to themselves and others they are moved to moderate (mod) and then to low. On mod they can go to the gym and go outside. Once they get to low they can go off campus!

Each kid also has a behavior level. These include Red/Green, With/Away, Steps and 12x. It seems like a lot to know but it's really not. Red/Green is for the really little kids. Red is bad and Green is good. If they're green they're with the group. Green like go- keep going with that behavior. Red is stop. Stop that behavior. With/Away is similar to Red/Green but a bit more sophisticated. Basically though they can be with the group or away from the group, depending on behavior. Steps is a shortened version of 12x so I'll explain 12x first. Basically their level can change 12 times a day- or every hour. So they can be a 1, 2, 3 or 4. Four is the best and rarely do our kids consistently get 4s--or they'd have no reason to be at the RTC. 3 is good behavior. 2 is a warning stage. 1 means they're sitting out for an hour. With steps it's the same idea but instead of sitting out an hour it's 15 minutes.

Now, in all these programs, the kids can be Red Flagged (RF). That is not a good thing!!! You've got to do something pretty serious to get RF- such as running out of staff sight, destruction of property, etc. Kids on 12x sit out for 3 hours if they are red flagged, everyone else is 1 hour. So it's not fun! You basically sit alone and can't participate in what the group is doing and lose all your privileges. Not cool. Yet surprisingly it happens all the time!!

So that's some of our RTC lingo...hope this helps :)

Meet Missy

I spent way too much time at work this week! But it gave me lots to laugh about as I was thinking about all that happened this week. Here are some of the best ones about one of my favorite (at least for today) kids.

Missy is the cutest 9 year old ever! She looks like she's about 6 and is darling. She was adopted from an orphanage in Haiti maybe a year and a half ago. She's so sassy! It's funny because she's still learning English and one day in art asked "what's a magazine?" But she can have quite the temper and the attitude at times.

Today her primary teachers came up to the RTC to visit her. She had on a very sassy outfit topped with a pink cowgirl had and pink boots. Her primary teachers said "We love your boots!" To which Missy very matter of factly responded "They're not boots." Primary teachers "Oh, well what are they?" Missy "They're cowgirl boots." I love that girl!!!

Later Missy went outside with the rest of the group. One of the number one rules at the RTC is that everyone has to put on sunscreen before we go outside. Usually we have the spray kind so it's easy just to spray all the kids as we get outside, and then give them the lotion kind to rub on their face. Today we didn't have the spray kind. I tell Missy she's got to get her sunscreen on before she goes to the playground, to which she promptly sticks out her arm, palm down. No Missy, I need to stick it in your palm so you can rub it in your arms and your face. To which Missy tells me "But I don't want to. I want you to. I don't want a greasy hand!" LOL. Neither do I!!! But being the awesome staff that I am, I rub it in for her on her arms, but make her do her face.

That girl and her sassiness!! Gotta love it :)