saturday program

Today I worked at the ARC at the Saturday program from 10 to 3 since I have not been doing the after school program due to spring break. This was my first time working on a Saturday and there was only one girl I knew from the after school program and about 15 kids I've never met before. We did the opening ritual just like at the after school program and then did a craft where we glued different shapes and drew pictures to represent spring. We split into groups with one or two people working with 4 kids each. I worked with Eddie who is also in our class. After that we went to a nearby park. We helped all of the kids get into buses and vans and drove them there as a group. We stayed at the park for 2 hours and the kids had a great time. Jason, a gym teacher at the school, who is really good with the kids took a girl, I'm not sure what her name is out of her wheelchair and carried her up to one of the slides on the play area and took her down the slide with him. It was not as easy as it sounds but he did it twice and she had a great time. A lady who brought her 2 kids was watching all of us with the kids and Jason with the girl on the slide and she started crying and said how good of a job we were all doing and that it made her day to see all of the kids having so much fun. That is why I want to get into this field it makes your day to help these kids and help them have a good day.

arts and crafts with a disabled child

This Tuesday we did arts and crafts with the kids for St. Patricks Day. We had them color in different shapes that they would hang on a big rainbow with ribbons and then decorate with tissue paper. This is a process that will take more then a few days. So last week and this week we just worked on getting the kids to color their 6 shapes. I sat at a table with 5 of the kids and encouraged them to stay focused and color both sides. It sounds easy enough but only 2 of them sat and colored everything while the others would color a little and then get up and walk around until I made them sit back down. They have a short attention span and seem to get distracted easily. They also get aggravated very easily when things are not easy or when things don't go their way. It is harder for a disabled child to share their emotions or express them so they sometimes just start crying, pounding their fists or just walk away. These are things you have to get used to and accept when working with a disabled person. Overall it was a good day and I enjoyed working with the children as always.

Issues at the ARC

Today when I went to the after school program a few of the kids were really bad and not listening to anyone. Two of the boys hit the employees and had to go on time out and one of the girls kept yelling and saying things that were inappropriate and then saying "that's inappropriate!" On Tuesday we had a pizza party for Richa, one of the workers, and a girl who has a learning disability and Prater Willies syndrome could not have the pizza so she starting screaming and crying. She cried for at least an hour and did not calm down until I asked her to play dominoes, her favorite game. The team leader told me not to go near her before that because she needed alone time to calm down. I felt that she needed the company, she didn't do anything wrong. Also I never mentioned it before but there is a blind boy that another younger boy has chosen to take care of everyday and guides him through the hallways and outside. Its very sweet the way he takes care of him and hes a lot younger then the blind boy.

interviews

I asked the following questions to three different employees at the ARC:

1) Job Position
2)What are your responsibilities at the ARC?
3)How do you accomplish the mission statement?

Here are my answers:

Nichole Boileau:
1) Team Leader and One on One
2) Make sure the staff is doing their job and the program is running efficiently. In one on one make sure the child's needs are being met.
3) She accomplishes the mission statement by making sure the kids needs are met, informing parents about programs at the ARC and providing services outside of the ARC such as babysitting.

Debbie Davies:
1) Chief Executive Officer
2) Her job is to make sure the employees follow the mission statement and do not get distracted. She also does hiring for higher up positions and helps with fund raising.
3) She accomplished the mission statement having a passion for giving the members the best lives they can have and she is driven by values not tasks.

Kathi Lentz:
1) Operations Director
2) She oversees seven full time administrators who are responsible for a variety of services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. In my department we have all of the Family Support services,In Home Respite, Saturday Program, Sunday Program, After School Care,Cash Subsidy, Life Skills Tutoring, Recreation, Adult Evening Classes,Real Life Choices, Friday Night Teen Program, summer camp and information and referral service for families. Under the employment portion of my job falls our Adult Training Center and Supported Employment Services. I am also responsible for serving a number of Arc committees and I serve as a member of the advisory board to the Family Support Coalition of NJ.
3) As an agency we work hard to provide people with as many choices as possible. In the past people who lived in residential settings never had the opportunity to participate in decisions about where they lived or who their roommate was. The Arc is making every effort to include people in those decisions. In the employment area we are supporting people to sample different jobs, explore their talents and find a job they like. For example we are working with one woman who wants to start her own greeting card business using her artwork.

Then I spoke with the employees about what my role as an intern is and I was told to observe and learn, interact with the kids and know the children's needs with their different disabilities. I am also responsible for leading the crafts when possible at the after school program. I will also be working with different departments and learning how to do different jobs at the ARC.

I posted the ARC's website in a previous post and that has the mission and goals on it.