Re-entry, Phase 1 - Complete!

I survived the first day back to work - unscathed, no less. And feeling pretty good overall.

Rick was left in charge of the morning "launch" of the girls - R and A to school and E to grandma's for the day. I headed out about 7:45am and got to work just after 8:00am. I was the first to arrive so I had to sit on my hands for a few minutes and try to quell the feelings of inadequacy and angst that tend to surface on moments such as this - returning to work in an area of the field in which I really WANT to be an expert but feel completely lacking...particularly after a three-year hiatus from working in the real world.

The team PT arrived on the scene not long after I did and we started the day by reviewing the student file for the morning's evaluation. The SLP and the team's administrative assistant showed up a short while later and we got to work prepping for the evaluation. This team has worked together for the last 15 or so years and so I'm sure it can be hard to integrate a new member into the group. But, to their credit, I felt completely welcomed and embraced by all of them. The fact that I wasn't a complete stranger helped, I'm sure. After all, I had worked with them for about six months while I was pregnant with E. So, they threw me immediately into the mix and allowed me to feel like I was a productive part of the team while at the same time never leaving me to feel like I was "out on a limb" unprepared. I certainly hit the ground running. I got to set up some of the equipment - including the TechSpeak voiced output device and the new (and way cool!) DynaVox voiced output device - and even did a quick laminating job (...for this they pay me the big bucks!). We were under the gun to get the evaluation materials prepped for a 10:30am evaluation and managed to do so by the skin of our teeth. I have a feeling that much of this team's operations are handled in this way (go! go! go!) so I'm going to have to get used to it.

The evaluation lasted for almost two hours and after all the prep we ended up having to shift gears shortly into the evaluation. He was much more capable than we anticipated from reading the scant information in the file. However, I think we were able to give the family some good short-term recommendations as well as some thoughts on his future needs as his symbolic language skills develop. My primary job on this evaluation was the watch and take copious notes so that we could write up the report once it was over.

We finished up and sent the family on their way with notes and various suggestions and got to work on writing up the report. The team is given one day of work for each evaluation - from preparation and evaluation to report-writing and editing. It can be done but it's another example of how the atmosphere is just Go! Go! Go!

The SLP had to leave almost immediately to get to an appointment at the regional hospital for a chemotherapy treatment. Unorthodox as it might seem, I was asked if I would be willing to (although it was made clear that I absolutely did not have to) meet the SLP at the hospital where we could set up her laptop and write our 'communication' portion of the report. She generally sits there for two or so hours receiving the drugs and she really just felt she could get the report done at the same time. Talk about dedication! So, that's what I did. I drove the 20 minutes south to the cancer center (my biggest fear being that I would get lost and I had neglected to bring my cell phone along with me...) and we spent a couple of hours writing up the report. Talk about an unusual first day on the job!

On my way back through town I dropped my employment paperwork off and finally got to meet the SPED Administrator who never seemed to be in the office or able to return phone calls. She apologized for her lack of contact and promised that she was not trying to avoid me. We made an appointment to meet to "discuss employment" - whatever that means...heck I'd just had my first day, right? Although, I suppose I still do not quite know what my employment status will be. It could be that I will be an employee of the company or, because I'm essentially going to work per diem, it might be that they hire me under the guise of "consultant" which is how they paid me for my last gig. Hopefully, I'll get some clear answers next Thursday.

I got home about 4:45pm and grandma was here with the two younger girls. R was off at art class and Rick was scheduled to pick her up at 5:30 and bring her home in time for dinner. The next order of business was to figure out that eternal question: "What's for dinner?" I enlisted A to be my kitchen helper and after scrounging through the fridge we decided on chicken and broccoli alfredo over penne pasta (except that I had to put the cheese sauce on the side and serve A's dinner with spaghetti sauce instead).

I'm scheduled to go back for another evaluation next Thursday and there is the chance that I can follow along with the SLP on one or more of her consults next week - I'm waiting to hear back from her on that so I can arrange childcare. She sent me a nice note this morning thanking me for hanging out with her at the hospital and helping to get the report written. And she expressed how happy she is to have me on board and helping me to become another AAC consultant.

I'd have to say the feeling is mutual.