Not Home, CPI Training

This has been one crazy week! I felt so bad for poor Nikolai. I don't know if it was this hectic schedule that caused him to be in such a fussy mood, or the teething that he is experiencing, or just not feeling well.

Monday was not a normal day for me. I had to be in early for my second ever IEP meeting (which started late because the mom was late) and of course set back the teacher a little bit. But, it seemed to have gone fairly well. I now have to schedule one for AIMs week and I am not looking forward to that. Yuck!

At least it wasn't too bad a day for Nikolai, normal for him. He got to spend time with his Grandma and he enjoys having time with her. But, the rest of my workdays was not that great. Add to it the horrible wind that was going on and bringing up all the allergens and bringing in the smoke from the fires going on all around.

I had CPI (non-violent crisis prevention) training this week after school until 6 which meant that I wasn't going to be getting home until 6:30/7pm! That is so late compared to my normal 1/1:30. I tried to alleviate too much stress (but maybe I made it worse?) by going home in the middle of my day. I think I needed to be home to see my son. I only did that Tuesday and Wednesday though.

Wednesday, Brandon said that Nikolai was walking around the house crying and calling for me. So sad. I didn't go home Thursday (I thought it might help things a little) and I felt like I was going to cry during training, and I had a test to take that day! Yipes!

So, CPI training... Non-Violent Crisis Prevention... What is that?!? It is personal safety maneuvers without causing harm or damage to the attacker (in my case would be a student) and holding techniques in case they get to that point of physical harm to others or themselves. I sure hope that I do not need to actually use a hold on a person! How crazy that this was mandatory for all special education teachers. Honestly, is this something that I want to be doing if I have to learn these things?

Anyway. It was actually quite interesting and I wish I did get to go through this sooner. It goes over simple blocking and breaking arm grabs and bites (I have had students that bite). I had a student that would pretend to be Wolverene with pencils (who had happened to pop an excercise ball at one point in time), and I was scared I was going to end up with one point down in my hand or arm or something. I am glad it never got to that, and not like CPI could have helped me with a pencil, but at least if he ever became violent, I might have had something I could use to protect myself.

I was thinking about this position. To need training like this is scary. At least most of the kids I deal with just have learning disabilities like dyslexia. Usually their behavior does not involve some form of physical acting out. But I do have a couple of students with emotional disabilities. They have a bigger chance of acting out, but have not yet. I hope it stays this way. The principal told me to keep an eye out for this job posting. It was only a year end position and I guess he wants me to re-apply for it.

And, I have some pictures of Nikolai attempting to feed himself with a fork (but that is a whole other post and I need to go through them first). Until next time, hope I don't need to use any restraints on kids.