There is always a child that comes into this world with an invisible sign saying “I have been here before.” There childlike wisdom, mannerisms, and things they say and do, inevitably leads us to say, “this kid has been here before.” I had one such student!!!
I knew my first year with Dee was going to be a challenging one. She was coming to me with major behaviors and challenges. According to her IEP, Dee had processing delays and needed time to comprehend what was being asked of her. What I soon learned was that she was coming to me with a major personality and skills way beyond her five years. She was the smallest of my students, but the most feisty. She was the youngest of the group, yet the bossiest. I found out the hard way that she could manipulate a computer mouse and find programs on the computer I did not know existed! Dee would watch everything I did, and then follow behind me and repeat the same actions. She always had a quick yes response when it was something she wanted to do, and a slow, drop to the ground, “I don’t understand,” no response when it came time to do something she didn’t want to do. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that Dee was pretty doggone smart. But, it wasn’t until Halloween that I saw just how smart she was.
Dee loves the sweets. Especially if it’s a cupcake topped a mile high with icing, or cookies smothered in icing and sprinkles. On this particular day, the classroom was all decked out in anticipation for a party. It was the beginning of the day, so we were taking our students to the bathroom and setting up our groups in preparation for the morning activities and lunchtime festivities. The kitchen table was filled with cupcakes and cookies. Dee had already brought me into the kitchen to show me what she wanted. She went directly to the package of sugar cookies, iced with orange frosting, and loaded with black and white sprinkles.
“You want those cookies?” Shaking her head yes, she proceeds to try and open the package.
“No, sweetie pie,’ I told her, ‘you have to wait for lunch time, then you can have a cookie.”
It took me a couple of more times to redirect her and get her out of the kitchen, but I was able to without a fuss or a fight. Having already been to the potty, I close the partition to the kitchen, and set Dee up with her favorite activity at her table and went to the bathroom to get my other student off the potty. As Mary, my para-educator, leaves the bathroom, I hear her telling Dee to come out of the kitchen. More talk follows as I am getting my other girl off the potty. The next thing Cecilia and I know is that we hear Mary say to Dee, “you stay right here and wait for Ms. Terri.”
Coming in the bathroom, Mary tells me that I will not believe what “my girl” just did. Of course, curiosity leads me to ask Mary what Dee did. Mary proceeds to tell me that she went into the kitchen, opened up the package of cookies, and took two of them, one in each hand. I am always amazed at how quickly our kids can move when motivated. “Just that quick?” “Um-huh. But that’s not the funniest part.” Chuckling, Mary tells me that she tells Dee that she heard me tell her she had to wait until lunchtime to have a cookie. Standing there with a cookie in each hand, Dee shakes her head no.
“Dee, give me the cookies please.” Again, she shakes her head no.
“Dee, give Ms. Mary the cookies please.” Again, a shake of the head no.
“Ok, “Dee, if you don’t give me those two cookies, you will not get any for lunch.”
“And you know what that little girl did. She took the first cookie and licked it from the bottom to the top, then proceeded to turn to the other cookie and lick it from bottom to top!”
“She did what!?!?!?”
“Yes, you heard me right, she licked both cookies right there in front of me!”
Well, needless to say, we three fell out laughing. I was flabbergasted. How would a five year old know to lick a cookie in order to keep it? But, even more so, how would a five-year-old, with a severe disability, know to lick a cookie to keep it? I could not believe what I had just heard. My little girl knew enough to know that if she licked the cookies, the cookies were hers to keep!
“Where is she now?”
“In the kitchen waiting on you. I told her to stand there and wait for you.”
And, sure enough, when I come out of the bathroom, still laughing of course, my little girl is standing in the kitchen, in the same spot where Mary left her, holding onto two cookies, one in each hand, waiting for me.
“You know what little girl, you are something else!” Shaking her head yes, she points to her lunch tray. “Yes, I am going to put your cookies on your lunch tray. But you’re still going to have to wait for lunch to have one!”