I am going to write up front that this blog is not for the faint of heart! But I wanted to share because this is my world as a special education teacher of students with severe disabilities. This is what I, and teachers like me, have to deal with. Like any job, there is the good and there is the bad. I have shared a lot of the good, now I am going to share the bad!
Toileting is a big part of my academic program. Teaching my students to communicate the need to go to the bathroom, and sitting them on adaptive potty chairs is all part of the toileting process. Some students get it, while others do not. For some parents, toileting is important, while, for others, it is not.
The type of toileting chair used is contingent on the student’s needs and their behaviors. Some students sit on the toilet with adaptive equipment to help with sitting and proper positioning, while others use stand-alone toilet chairs with buckets or ones that sit over a toilet. Toileting trays are used for support as well as a barrier from access to the bucket. I know my students who engage in inappropriate behaviors, but… unfortunately, there is always a first!
It was the last day of summer school, and for two of my students, it would be there last day with me. Both of my girls were promoting to bigger and better things, and one, Leelee, decided to go out with a big, big bang. The morning had started out like it always does, toileting first thing and breakfast. Now Leelee sits on the potty without any problems. For four years, without any problems! She is consistent about urinating and having bowel movements, especially first thing in the morning. My para had just checked on her, and could tell that she was just beginning to have a bowel movement, so decided to give her about five more minutes before taking her off of the potty. Leelee sits on a stand-along potty chair with a bucket.
After about five minutes, my para goes back into the bathroom to get her off, when at the bathroom door, I hear, ‘Oh my God!!!” followed by gagging throwing up sounds (the kind that the actor Martin Lawrence likes to make in his movies), and her backing away from the bathroom door. I look at my para and instinctively knew somebody had done something really, really gross. Getting up from my chair, I start walking towards the bathroom. I ask her who is it? “Leelee.” I didn’t ask what she did, because I had a sneaky suspicion I knew. The para gagging and making the throw up sounds was my clue. And, just as I suspected, I was right!
When I get to the bathroom door, I see the bucket on the floor, and I see my girl with poop everywhere! And I mean, literally, everywhere!!! The tray, her face, her hands, her hair, the chair, and her clothes. For some odd reason, on this particular day, she decided to pull the bucket out and paint. Needless to say I was shocked. Shock very quickly turned to me fussing at her as I gloved up and got everything ready to clean her up. And boy did she get an earful as I washed her, her hair, her clothes, her chair, and her tray. At one point I asked her why, and she leaned into me with her beautiful brown eyes and smiled. Was that her way of telling me she wanted to make sure she would be missed!!!!!