Good evening all. Hope everyone has had a productive day. It's cold and windy, with a few raindrops coming down. I am already out of my work clothes and into something comfortable - I'm even going to make some soup for dinner.
In psych world news I am working with a student at one of my schools who has sort of captured my heart. This student, calling him/her Jamie, has survived some pretty horrific abuse, and the last few years has fortunately, been removed from that situation and is residing with a "forever" family. You would like to think that this stable forever family would be able to help Jamie totally erase past hurts, but you know, as wonderful as the situation is now, that just isn't going to happen. Jamie continues to require therapy and counseling as he/she recuperates, and much support from educators to obtain success not only academically, but socially. Jamie has not ever been able to accept a peer as a friend in all his/her years of school. Jamie does not socialize with others on the playground, and does not attend parties or sleepovers. Jamie does best when he/she is seated apart from the group, by his/her own choice. The interesting thing is that Jamie has somewhat bonded with his/her teacher, and with the adults in the school who are providing services. Jamie and I have become fast friends the last few days and today as I walked to my office with him/her, the conversation revolved around a favorite TV show punctuated with smiles and "Guess what!"
I will say that our session together was frustrating for Jamie in some ways because of how I was working with him/her, but growth the last couple of years has taken place and I see no reason why it cannot continue. However, when I look into Jamie's eyes, I can't help but see a damaged child, and one who will need to continue to work hard at his/her own recovery, but one who must have caring adults to help facilitate that. The resources are there and I'm hopeful for good outcomes. Life dictates that when Jamie goes to middle school I will lose contact with him/her but Jamie will be a student I won't soon forget. There are other students in my "hall of fame" that I haven't forgotten - students I've worked with many years ago in this job who are now some in high school. I've been doing this work for 8 years - and in fact, a 5th grader I would have had my first year would have most likely graduated high school last year. Wow oh wow.
And in humorous news, I was sitting with about 5 kindergarten students around a table working on writing sentences. The conversation turned to age, and they all were happy to tell me they were "this many" (holding up 5 fingers). I said, "I'm very old, much more than 5". One dear little boy with a cowlick and a shining face looked up and said, "My grandma is very old. Like you." Pause. "But", he went on to say, "she has different skin than yours." Pause. I said, "Different?" He said, "Yeah. It's ....pause....it's not the same KIND of skin you have."
Pause. I just let it go - some things you just don't want to know. Gotta love those 5 year olds!
No comments:
Post a Comment