1/15/14 I spent this first week of spring semester mentally preparing for what I have been calling the

beginning of the end of graduate school. Of course, like everyone else, this semester seems to be the most torturous on our minds so far; for me personally, it is because it is becoming very real. Throughout this program I have been able to soak everything in, study the areas I wasnt as knowledgeable in, and enjoy learning techniques to apply to my job, but this semester it is our job to sit down and think about our professional background, experience, knowledge, and skill within the field in order to carry out our final practicum and senior seminar. I think the thought of being a professional at anything can seem scary because there will certainly be times that we may not always know the answers, but with the resources this program has given, I hope to at least have confidence it what I do each day, knowing it is best practice for children and families. Although there is surely a sense of nervousness, I also feel the most positive about starting a semester I have ever felt. I feel ready to take everything on, and am energized to go full throttle and end this chapter; feeling good about the hard work I put into the last two years of my life!

1/22/14 I am feeling very refreshed and determined after getting off the phone from the conference call to discuss my practicum plan for varying reasons. First, I feel confident in my plan after I had some help choosing the best activities to do within my practicum site. I feel as though each activity was picked for a specific purpose,

and will add to the dynamic of the classroom I am teaching in, provide valuable resources to the center, and further my confidence levels in becoming an early intervention specialist. The new classroom (Busy Bees) I have been a part of for the past couple weeks is a new challenge for me, involving working with children with abuse or neglect, diagnosed with emotional disorders. With this change has also brought other changes including a new team to collaborate with, a new room, a new schedule, and a different technique in addressing disruptive behaviors. Facing all these changes gives me a great opportunity to implement activities such as the ECERS environment assessment, positive support plans, giving a training in an area of my expertise to share knowledge, and adapting the classroom environment and routine. Another reason I became energized after the conference is when we discussed our disgrace in the current early education field in Maine right now. With all of the cuts and budget issues it is evident that everywhere is in a frenzy when it comes to billing and how they will get paid for the services provided, rather than the quality of services being provided, or the family centered aspect of intervention. We discussed the DIR/Floortime model, and the many benefits it could bring to programs and families if it was only given a chance to be understood more and accepted by the department of education/CDS. Families need choice, and currently there is a huge lack of that within our state. Professor Doctoroff said it best when she said people need to get fired up about this kind of stuff, and shes right, we do. I am ready to enter the field with my graduate degree and get others involved. It is

time to start a revelation, a change, and it starts by possessing the energy given to me through my professors; and for that, I am thankful.

1/30/14 Week three has brought up some challenges I believe I will face throughout this semester while applying my practicum plan into the classroom I am currently team-teaching in. Coming from an inclusive preschool classroom, serving children primarily with developmental delays or autism, to a small-specialized program, serving children with emotional disabilities, I have had to do some adjustment in my teaching techniques and approaches. I have a strong belief in the use of positive, relationship-based approaches with children, but in this classroom there is a clinical approach that uses very specific behavior strategies to diminish a problematic behavior, or aggression. While I may see growing as a way of a child expressing anger, a child growling is seen as a pre-cursor in the Busy Bees classroom, and must be addressed immediately, before leading to further aggressive behaviors. The challenge I see trying to alter this more impulsive approach, is the other teachers who have been in the Busy Bees classroom, team-teaching for years, who certainly are not afraid step in if they believe I am not doing enough to control a situation with a child. If I am going to use my practicum plan in this classroom, including offering a training, applying positive behavior approaches, and altering the classroom environment and routine, then I am absolutely going to have to first work on

collaborating with my new team members, and finding a solid middle ground to all work on.

2/10/14 Today was my first practicum visit/observation. The original plan I had in mind was for Sandra Doctoroff to come in and do her initial observation, meet with me, and then sit down with my classroom staff and introduce/discuss the DIR/Floortime method and how we could incorporate and use it in working with our population of children with emotional and behavioral diagnoses. After her initial observation, we mainly discussed the overall energy of the classroom, and how my staff members affect and attitude truly bring an uncomfortable feeling to others, which must be reflected towards how children perceive them, as well as how they work with children. Because of this negative aura in the room, Sandra decided she did not feel comfortable coming to our classroom meeting and discussing positive relationship based techniques, such as Floortime; based on the worry that the staff would not be receptive. While I was a bit embarrassed, to be a part of a classroom that has this stigma attached; not just by Sandra, but by other staff members throughout the Childrens Center, I also felt more driven to do all I can do to inflict positive change.

2/26/14 This week I conducted the Early Childhood Environment Rating ScaleRevised (ECERS-R) in the Busy Bees classroom. I love how comprehensive this

assessment is; not only did it give me the opportunity to assess the physical environment, but also the emotional environment, and outside components such as family involvement and influences from supervisory staff. I have had continuous ideas floating around in my head on how to enhance my primary classroom environment (Busy Bees) such as adding a literacy component; including a book area, adding to the dramatic play area; and organizing it by theme, including more learning (by theme) into daily stations, and changing around the daily schedule. However, by using the ECERS-R I was able to specifically address the needs objectively, taking the scores from each category, and using the numbers to show co-workers where we fall on the scale. Being a younger employee gaining a higher degree in the education field- the only employee at the Childrens Center (who works direct care in the classrooms) to attain a masters degree; I have absolutely felt a degree of jealousy, even hostile attitudes towards some older co-workers who have been at the center a lot longer than I. I almost feel sometimes as though they do not want to see me succeed, which can be extremely discouraging for me at times. For some people, I believe they are scared of change; but in this ever-changing field it is our responsibilities to adapt in order to best serve the children. With this being said, rating scales such as the ECERS-R is a great tool for me to address needs without feeling like I am the one stepping on anyones toes. I am simply delivering information objectively, based on results.

3/17/14

Today I addressed the results from the ECERS-R at our classroom meeting. I was nervous at first, knowing that my co-teachers have been in the Busy Bees classroom for a long time, and have been used to running things a certain way. I was so relieved when I addressed our areas of need, and the girls were attentive, understanding, and responsive. They actually agreed that the classroom should have a learning theme, and the children would benefit and enjoy it. They also admitted the dramatic play area was too un-organized, and confusing with four different themes (kitchen, workshop, baby-dolls, random dress up) and it should be correlated with a specified theme. As a team we also took a look at the classroom schedule and decided it did not make sense to have circle mid-way through our day. We changed it to directly after breakfast, so we could greet the children properly, discuss any changes that may be in our day, and also discuss what our play stations would be that day. I had also brought up adding a literacy component to the classroom, as it was a very low score from the ECERS, and I am a firm believer in using literacy in early education. The team said they would love to add a literacy component with more books and activities if I was up to planning and implementing, which of course I was okay with. While I certainly wish I was not the only employee in my classroom to have the desire and motivation to enhance the education environment for the children, I was relieved, and pleased that my ideas and suggestions were not brushed under the rug, and they chipped in their ideas and thoughts.

3/24/14

On March 19th, I had my second practicum visit and phone conference with Sandra Doctoroff. During her visit, she had noticed a few of the children I had been working with displayed a lot of aggression during their play. We discussed strategies I use when this occurs, and I explained I try a variety of tools such as redirection, labeling emotions while following their play, or modeling different language or actions. Knowing I love DIR/Floortime, Sandy asked me if I had ever tried using any of those strategies with the population of children in the Busy Bees classroom, and while Id like to think I use Floortime in most of my interactions with kids, it had never been a conscious thought of mine to use with children with emotional disorders. Sandy then explained to me Serena Wieders hierarchy of emotional development. In my research on this topic, Wieder explains emotional development is symbolic, and the symbols have many forms such as: words, dress up, toys, drawing, pictures, or movement. All of these forms symbolize experiences, which is crucial to understand as symbolic play and conversation is the safe way to practice, re-enact, understand, and master the full range of emotional ideas, experiences and feelings. I am so excited to discover this foundation to use to help the children I work with build healthy social and emotional development!

4/3/14 This week I evaluated the effectiveness of the positive behavior support plan I implemented for a young boy who has been through a plethora of neglect, trauma, and abuse. Due to his past, he has a lot of challenging behaviors that have been difficult for his teachers and even clinician to address and develop a strategy for.

Because of the difficulty his team has had maintaining an effective strategy for managing his behaviors, I was excited to come up with some positive strategies that I have found to be somewhat successful in the short time I have worked with him. Knowing I was the employee with the least experience in working with children with psychological disorders, I was nervous to give my opinions, but since most providers had been flying by the seat of their pants I figured having some sort of written plan would help. After reviewing it with staff last week, this week I paid close attention to what staff members did to support the plan, and if it made a difference in the childs functioning. It was neat to see staff doing more in regards to preventative measures such as using positive techniques when he was in a regulated state, following his lead when he wanted to express his anger or emotions, being attentive to his needs, and just being there as a safe support system. While managing the more explosive, unpredictable behaviors are still a challenge, I feel confident in the strategies that were implemented, as I observed a lot less time he spent away from the group.

4/9/14 Today was my final practicum visit and observation, as well as a wonderful get together dinner with the entire echo cohort! I absolutely loved being able to get together with all of my classmates. While I am more than grateful for being able to get a masters degree from home, I did miss the face-to-face contact and being able to make personal connections with others. Being at dinner tonight was great because we were able to talk and ask one another questions we typically are not able to do

while in class on adobe. Since almost all of us have different roles and responsibilities in the field of early intervention, it is interesting to hear everybodys stories. Just being at dinner for a couple of hours I learned about things going on at a few CDS sites, new trainings happening, and learned I will be at a training with a few girls at the end of May. While we all carry different roles, early intervention is intertwined throughout the entire state, so it is crucial to establish relationships and make connections with other professionals in the state. I sincerely appreciated the time tonight!

4/16/14 One area of early intervention I rarely get the opportunity to partake in, and research enough is children with physical disabilities. I absolutely adored getting to spend time with two very special kids I used to see every day when I worked in the inclusive classrooms at the center. Sarah* and Gus* (*names changed) are both so full of personality, it was interesting to take a step back and see where their difficulties really lie, and that is in the area of motivation, and emotional barriers. What I really loved was hearing stories about teachers and parents joining forces with the OTs and PT to help out with tricks and useful tips. Certainly the therapists have much more knowledge when it comes to equipment, adapting, and the way the childs body functions, but when a child simply needs motivators from an emotional standpoint, who knows the child better than the teachers and the childs parents? I enjoyed finding different assistive technology- especially the video on the physical therapy professor who designed the adaptive power wheels car. I love this because

the child is able to feel like every other typically developing child without his or her adaptive equipment, promoting independence, self confidence, and adding pure enjoyment into their young lives. I wish more adaptive equipment could take these ideas and create them just like Dr. Galloway did. It goes a long with interest based learning- find something that is motivating and interesting to the child, and the desired learning outcome flourishes.