Job Update

Yesterday I attended the workshop at the AAC center. The workshop was mostly hands-on and we spent most of the time making a few low-tech devices that can be used to provide additional visual aids in the classroom. They are very useful for SPED kids but they can be used in many ways to keep all kids in the classroom on task and focused. It was a good workshop and it was great to reconnect with other professionals. I joked with the presenter (D, the woman I used to work with) that it was like spending a day doing SPED Scrapbooking because we spent a lot of time cutting, pasting, taping, and assembling pages! LOL

I got to spend a little time re-acquainting myself with some software that I haven't used in a while. It was nice to know that I could still navigate my way around some of the programs after just a bit of help getting started. I also spent some time browsing the internet and finding useful information on some websites that were provided in our packet. All in all, it was a good day and a good reintroduction to the world of AAC and Speech-Language Pathology.

While I was there I was able to talk to two of the three members of the current AAC team and get more information about the possibility of working for them. Right now things are a bit chaotic and uncertain and the two women who are doing the evaluations are solidly booked and they have had to turn clients away because they don't have the manpower. The structure of the center has changed since I left and it appears that the center has moved from being more autonomous with their own director to being a part of the SPED department and having no true leadership. The three of them are pretty much running things on their own and have very little time for prep and organization. I am actually amazed by what they do get done given their situation. And the additional stress of having one of the team members going through chemotherapy just makes things that much more difficult.

I do wonder if I want to dig any deeper into this job opportunity or not but at the same time I know that I would be working with a few of the very best AAC professionals in the area. It was also a bit more encouraging to hear them say that they want to take me on and "mentor" me so that I can learn the protocols and processes from the ground up. They do not plan to just take me on and overwhelm me by throwing me out there and expecting me to figure it out on my own.

The current stumbling block is in actually getting me hired. With no true "Director" in their center they have to go to the SPED Director for hiring and budgetary decisions. So, the next step is to contact her. It was suggested that *I* contact her about this issue which, honestly, feels a bit odd to me. But, I've decided to forge ahead and make the call at some point today. I will just initiate contact and see where it goes from there. I am going to keep my mind open and see if this is something that I really want to do right now or not. There are plenty of obvious negatives that I can see (disorganization and leadership being the biggest and most challenging), but if I want to get into AAC as a specialty I feel this is the place to get the experience and these are the women to be my mentors because they really know what they are doing and they have been doing it together for about 15 years. So, there are many potentially very positive aspects for me professionally -- if I can survive a bit of chaos in the (hopefully) short term.

For now I am going to move forward with plans to work for them and have already arranged for childcare on Thursdays (which also just happens to be the day they do all their evaluations). I just need to find out if the SPED Director will approve hiring another team member - it seems crazy to me that they would not approve it because the team so desperately needs some additional help but it's all related to budgetary issues (grrrr). For the last few years they have been operating with a 2-person evaluation team. Hiring (and training) me would mean that for the short-term they will be paying for a 3-person evaluation team which will significantly affect their bottom line until I was trained enough to be more on my own and able to work as part of a 2-person evaluation team.

There is a lot more that I could go into but it's all so very confusing and convoluted (as if this whole mess hasn't been confusing enough for those of you reading out there!). So, just know that I'm still moving forward on the job front issue and I'm not giving up hope just yet.

As an aside I will say that I was rather disappointed that I didn't even get a "sorry for not returning your calls" from K when I saw her at the center yesterday. She seemed very surprised and happy to see me but there was no mention of the fact that she IGNORED me for the last three weeks. I get that she is busy. I do. But I also find her lack of communication very unprofessional - mainly because she was the one who initiated contact and then didn't even have the courtesy to direct me to the right person or even send me a brief note to let me know that my messages were received. I obviously won't be working with or for her now that she is not a part of the AAC team so I am not going to let that experience deter me from pursuing this job opportunity.