Full Circle

My computer has not been letting me log on for the longest time. My internship ended yesterday and the experience from last summer and this summer have come full circle! There are new interns taking over right now which is the same thing that happened last year. The kids have been having a really hard time adjusting to this because since they are children with mostly Autism or Aspergers, they have a very difficult time adjusting to change. The last few weeks of my internship really helped me affirm that I do want to work with this population of children and be the teacher that really helps these students grow. My last science lessons went very well and we ended all of our science lessons with a bang which was very exciting for everyone involved. We started off all making tornadoes in a bottle with glitter, soap, and water. They really enjoyed this because it was very hands-on and they got to really see how science can be in action. Next we used a black light to see what different thing would glow under a black light. We first put the black light up to white paper to watch what happens when it glows. Next we put the black light up to regular water and nothing happened, then we put it up to tonic water and it glowed very brightly. We talked about the differences between tap water and tonic water and why tonic water was glowing. We then painted out white papers with vaseline and lemon juice, the students loved this because they got to paint with their fingers and really explore what they felt like (so this was also them getting overt their sensory issues). We then put the black light up to the paper and it glowed which really excited the students. We took a movement a break at this time and the students got to explore different things that were glowing under the black light. Our last experiment we went outside and this was probably my favorite experiment because of the results and also because the students were extremely excited about it, based on their amazing reactions. The experiment was a classic one and something that every child should see. The Diet Coke Geyser. I luckily that day thought ahead and got the geyser tube from the store so the experiment went a lot more smoothly. The reaction from the students was honestly amazing when the geyser shot up a good seven or more feet in the air.

This internship taught me so much more about the world of Applied Behavioral Analysis, but also so much more about myself. I learned how much patience I have in certain situations, how to handle situations when students are reacting to things, and how to really work with children with vastly different personalities. Now that I am back at Linfield, I really do miss the kids I worked with and I am very happy that this internship was able to further show me that I want to do 1-on-1 therapy sessions and hopefully teach in an ABA behavioral/social skills classroom.