SNAP Journal

**My buddys real name is protected for privacy reasons

October 6, 2016
Tonight was the night I was assigned my special needs buddy, Sarah**. She told me all about
how she is a cheerleader and how she moved here from Georgia over the summer. A lot of
people have a hard time understanding what she is saying because she has speech apraxia,
but for the most part, I feel confident working with her. I grew up with siblings and an uncle who
have trouble with speech, so this is familiar territory for me. I hope to be able to help her in the
ways she needs.

This months theme is Dress and Appearance. In our individual class, we talked about the
clothes we choose to wear and the way we choose to present ourselves. We then had a fashion
show and had fun taking videos of everyone strutting their stuff.

October 13, 2016

We had a guest speaker come and speak to the whole group. He loves to collect rocks and
knows a lot about them, so he taught us about different types of rocks. Then we went around to
stations and collected one of each type of rock he taught us about. While I was walking around
with Sarah, she told me all about her schools musical she will be performing in. Shes playing a
part in The Little Mermaid, and she was super excited when I asked if she wanted me to come
see her perform. I cant wait to watch her!

October 27, 2016

We had a Halloween dance. Everyone dressed up in costumes and had a fantastic time dancing
in Congo lines and eating refreshments. Sarah dressed up as a pumpkin and I dressed as a
scarecrow. I had face paint on and I wonder if that was a mistake. I think it may have made
Sarah feel uncomfortable. I was sure to not do any scary face makeup, though I think it still may
have freaked her out a little. She didnt seem as connected to me as usual.

November 3, 2016
Sarah couldnt come to SNAP tonight because she was performing in her schools The Little
Mermaid musical, so I went and watched her perform instead. She was a singing, dancing fish.

As I watched her perform, I could tell that she had some issues with looking out into the crowd.
She clearly loved being up on stage performing, but she couldnt bring herself to make eye
contact with anyone.

After her performance, I met up with her and her mother, congratulated her, and gave her
flowers. She seemed somewhat sidetracked and nervous to talk to me. Once Sarah left to go
change, her mom told me that it doesnt seem like me coming to see her is a big deal to her but
that shell be talking about this for weeks. Thats all I needed to hear.
November 10, 2016
Tonight, we had game rotations. We started off by playing volleyball with balloons. This is what
Sarah seemed to enjoy the most. She wasnt shy to run up and hit the balloons over the net! We
then tied ends of scarves to donate to people in need. Sarah was quite independent when it
came to tying the knots for the scarves. She couldnt quite figure out how to do it, but she
wanted to do it on her own, regardless. We then made cards for our parents, expressing our
gratitude for them. Sarah wrote Laura on hers and drew a picture of her standing beside her
mother. Lastly, we played bowling. There were long tables lain sideways, creating lanes, empty
bottles for the pins, and basketballs as the bowling balls. Sarah didnt seem to enjoy this as
muchmaybe because all eyes were on her and she had a difficult time putting a lot of force
behind the ball.

November 17, 2016

As a combined activity, our groups performed puppet shows. My group wanted to be clever.
Instead of creating puppets and putting on a show with them like every other group, we
ourselves were the puppets and puppeteers. Sarah was a puppeteer, steering a puppet, and I
stood behind her to help.

Tonight Sarah seemed somewhat distant and uncomfortable. She brought me cookies and a
card as a thank you for watching her perform, but that was about the only interaction she had
with me. She seemed nervous to be around me and talk to me. I believe that perhaps Sarah
isnt used to having someone spend time with her outside of school, and I had just gone to
watch her perform in her musical. Maybe shes not sure how to respond to having someone go
out of their way to be a friend to her. I want her to feel comfortable around me and to be able to
enjoy herself when shes with me, knowing that I will always be there for her. I think that
spending more time with Sarah outside of SNAP might build a stronger bond and friendship
between us.

December 1, 2016
In honor of it being the Christmas season, this months theme is Christmas. As our own class,
we read Christmas stories and wrote Christmas cards to our families. Sarah still seemed to be
somewhat uncomfortable around me. She independently wrote her mother a Christmas card
that said, Merry Christmas I love you Laura. I thought it was funny that Sarah addressed her
mother by her first name, rather than calling her Mom.

January 12, 2017

Tonight we did another round of game rotations. First, we made necklaces from string and fruit
loops. Sarah made a pattern with hers out of her school colors. Next, we played a sort of
musical chairs but with hoola hoops. They were set around the floor in a circle, everyone
walked between them, and when the music stopped, everyone rushed to stand inside one.
We then played another game. In a room, there was a line drawn down the middle of the floor
with masking tape, dividing the boundaries for each team. Girls stood on one side of the line
while the boys stood on the other side. A pile of foam blocks were set in the center of the room.
When the timer started, everyone began kicking and/or throwing the blocks to the opposite side
of the room. Whichever team ended with the least amount of blocks on their side won. Sarah
seemed to enjoy this rotation the most. She spent her time laughing and involved in throwing
the blocks to the boys side.

Bingo was the final game we played tonight. Sarah didnt seem very interested in the game. She
kept gazing off and didnt even notice when she had gotten a space. I had to tell her each time.
She never won a game and didnt seem too thrilled about the fact.

January 19, 2017

Tonight, we had a special guest speaker, Martin Frey. He was just about the coolest person
ever!!!! Him and his family are extremely adventurous, and they bond over going on trips
together. Martin has sailed the seven seas, climbed the seven peaks, and done so much more.
His theme for the night was What is your Everest? He has a daughter who is completely
disabled. She cannot talk, feed herself, or stand. Her disability is one of their familys Everests.
His message was that all we need in life to conquer our Everest is the right attitude.

It was a very good lesson, but Sarah didnt interact with me at all tonight. I sat next to her while
listening to the speaker, but she made sure to keep her back to me. Each time I even looked her
way, she turned farther from me. When I was walking her to her car, I asked her where her
favorite place to eat is. She said Chick-fil-A. I asked her if she would like to go with me
sometime and she said yes. She seemed to loosen up a little after that.

February 9, 2017
Tonight we had a Valentines dance. Sarah came and danced, but she didnt seem comfortable
dancing with me. She kept wandering around, finding other people to dance with, always turning
her back to me. She didnt talk to me until the dance was over and she suddenly seemed really
excited to talk to me.

February 17, 2017

Tonight we began planning for our Road Show performance, which we will do sometime within
the next month. My class is performing to the song Trashin the Camp from the movie Tarzan.
We are going to dress up as elephants and gorillas and act out the movie scene. I was
impressed with Sarahs participation tonight. My leaders asked for volunteers on a few
accounts, and Sarah stepped up and gave her preferences. She didnt seem afraid to
participate tonight, and I was extremely proud of her and her efforts.

February 20, 2017

Today I took Sarah to Chick-fil-A. She seemed extremely grateful and excited to spend time with
me, unlike the last time I spent genuine time outside of SNAP with her. She had just gotten back
from cheerleading for a basketball game and was all excited to talk about that. This was also the
first time I recall her making eye contact with me and speaking to me while fully looking at me.
I wondered if she was going to order her own food or if she would have me speak for her, but
she walked right up to the register and ordered her food. I had to translate what she was saying
a few times, but I was extremely impressed and proud at her bravery.

February 23, 2017

Tonight was the talent show for our special needs buddies. Buddies got up and danced, sang,
and even told jokes for their talents. The counselors and I asked Sarah a few times if she
wanted to perform anything, but she declined every time.
I had thought that Sarah may have wanted to get up and perform something because I know
she enjoys dancing, cheering, and singing. Maybe because this was a spur of the moment type
thing, she felt too anxious to participate.

March 2, 2017
Tonight we practiced for our Road Show performance which we will be putting on next week.
Sarah wasnt extremely interactive tonight, plus she left early. She kept checking her phone to
see how much longer until it was time for her to leave. Maybe she was anxious to get out of
SNAP, or maybe she was anxious to go play basketball. One or the other.

March 9, 2017
Tonight was the Road Show dress rehearsal. It was somewhat chaotic because we ran through
the whole show twice. Sarah got here late and didnt interact much. She laughed at some other
groups performances, but that was about all.

March 16, 2017

Tonight was the big night for the Road Show! Sarah didnt talk much because the whole night,
we were either performing or watching performances. She did do well performing and seemed
to enjoy herself while we were up on stage dancing around.

March 23, 2017

Tonight a group came and taught us several dances. Sarah did not seem happy to be there at
all. She distanced herself from me and didnt dance most of the time. My counselors noticed this
and, during a partner song, made her dance with me. I could tell that this was the last thing on
the planet she wanted to do. Every time I took her arm to swing her around, she rolled her eyes
and huffed.

March 30, 2017

Sarah came late tonight, and we had a class activity game we played. She was only there for
about the last 20 minutes and she didnt participate or talk to me much. She did enjoy the after
class snacks, though -- apples and caramel.
April 13, 2017
First thing tonight, I brought Sarah a gift. I had just gotten back from Mexico, and her birthday
had been earlier the past month, so I gave her a handbag from Mexico. This seemed to both
surprise her and mean a lot to her. She was extremely enthusiastic after she had received her
gift. She talked to me a lot all night and was overall very excited.
We had a potato derby tonight. Sarah was excited to decorate and race her own potato. She got
last place every time she raced and I could tell that this hurt her. After a few failed attempts at
racing, she went off and spent the rest of the night with her friends from school.