went to work at a kindergarten today (:

the morning session was uneventful, cos it was with normal kids, real cute 3 year olds.

but wow, the afternoon session killed me. hahah, 8 in the morning, and 3 in the afternoon, but the three in the afternoon were all special needs kids. (: (: (: (:


i couldnt help smiling at all the familiar behaviour they displayed (: all the flapping, echolalia, rigidity. haha (:

one of my kids is obsessive abt closing the door, and is mesmerised by the turning of the fan. and he kept repeating 'chopsticks, gosh, that's a big one!'

and another one keeps singing.

oh btw, none of the three are very verbal. one is selectively verbal, like, he can say 'i want marshallow' and the other two dont speak much, if at all.

so its real tough. it's always easier to talk to someone who talks too much, than someone from whom it takes forever to pry their name out of them right? haha

so, there were 2 meltdowns, triggered by each other, and the other kept taking his clothes off. so we really had a tough time.

i think the kids are PL are much more privileged than these kids though, cos PL is much more well equipped, and has all the latest autism strategies, and a great integrated curriculum, plus professional social workers and psychologists.

whereas these kids are kinda like in a resource centre, it's more of helping to relieve their parents of them for a few hours twice a week. the teacher is real young, and she's trained, but doesnt quite have resources there. she tried her best to created a structured classroom, with work systems and all, but it's tough, without the proper support and resources.


but it was a good experience anyway (:
special kids really are special (: and they're always in their own world. haha

oh ya, one kid tried to eat the blackoard duster! i nearly screamed ok.
and one kid, after hauling him to wash his hands, he stuck BOTH hands right into the pot of paint again. i grabbed him and dragged him off to the sink, whereby he proceeded to splash paint and water on me. hahah so cute right.

oh and one kid whacked me on the stomach too, and i got pinched. haha, my fellow teacher got bitten and pinched too.

it brings back all the memories of PL (: which is real awesome (:
luckily i remembered to wear long pants and no dangly earrings (:

and i dug out my visual prompts from PL. but they dont have a proper system here, so visuals arent so effective, but i really dont like using physical prompts so much. it's more tiring to repeatedly visual prompt, but at least they're learning something, if i physical prompt them, chances are they're spacing out and im just moving them around, which is not helpful for them in future.

although... these kids have a pretty high degree of autism, kinda hard for them to ever be independent... but well, we never give up hope!! (:


and i confirmed my job offer from PL for the july period!!!! (:

well, it will never be the same again, but im still looking forward to being back there, with all the lovely kids, and other interns (: