Our family went to a grade 5 and 6 production last night at the school which was short plays on Australian History. It was really interesting to watch and I even learnt a few things! Beth played the part of Betty Cuthbert, she ran a race and won, receiving her flowers and medal at the end. She’s such a ham, she loves to entertain. She was very sweet when she came out, she spotted me in the audience and gave me a big smile and a wave. I know it’s not what she’s meant to do but I couldn’t resist waving back, she’s so bloody cute when she does that she makes my heart melt.
Beth and I just got back from another great session at Sensational Kids. She’s been in a terrific mood lately and they noticed how much better regulated she was and how much more relaxed. It seems like it’s all coming together for us. As usual our first session was with Rod the Speech Therapist. We once again did role play with Beth writing and directing a small script based on her experience at Emerson with the boy she calls Bob who she said bullied her the first week. Rod played Bob, I played Beth and Beth played a girl called Nicky who was one of her buddies for the day. Rod asked her to elaborate on what Bob had said after Beth said that he had said to her “Hello, what’s your name?” Beth eventually told us that he had said it several times which clearly annoyed her. Bob had then laughed at her and told her to do her dance (I assume this was because she jumps around) which she then had done for him. She said that he had laughed at her again. We role played this a few times then changed it around a bit. Rod did the bullying still (he played this so well!) and when being mean to me I just said that I had told him my name so I wasn’t going to say it again. When he asked me to dance I said no. This was to show Beth that we don’t have to do everything that everybody tells us. She also said that he had pushed her so I think I’ll get the book that we got when we went to Emerson with the photos of all the kids. That way she can pick him out for me and I can let them know. It’s a hard one though, was he just being annoying to her instead of teasing or did it really go too far? We want to teach her that bullying isn’t ok but we don’t want her to label somebody a bully if they are just being annoying. Beth was very receptive during the session with Rod and alert for the majority of time. Our next session is in the school holidays and I discussed with Rod taking Bill and Bridie with me and having them take part. Bridie wants to go along and I think Bill would enjoy it too, especially if we’re doing role playing again.
We then went in to the big gym and Whiskas (not her real name), the Occupational Therapist met us in there. I chatted with her about Emerson then left them to it. Whiskas reported that they had had a good session and that Beth was happy and relaxed.
I had a nice encounter as we were leaving. A lovely lady stopped me and asked if it was me who wrote this blog. She told me that it was nice to feel that she wasn’t alone and that she enjoyed reading it. Well if you’re reading now, thank you so much, you made my day! It’s lovely to get feedback from people that I don’t know, especially positive feedback!
