u/TheKid1995

I’m playing through it for the first time and when I enter a new area/mission, I’ll find the nearest save and then immediately bang on the wall a bunch to see if the alien will come for me. If it does, I know I have to be careful. But if it doesn’t, then I know it’s safe and I can sprint all I want without attracting it. It’s especially helpful when there’s lots of working joes, because those mfers are super hard to evade if I can’t sprint.

It also made the San Cristobal Medical section really cool, because I had tested it and found it safe, so when the Alien actually came later in the mission, it made it much more surprising and terrifying.

“Hello!

Thank you again for interviewing this morning. I enjoyed connecting with you all, and look forward to potentially being part of the [SCHOOL NAME] team!

I am emailing to let you know that I have received an offer at another school. Based on the information I got during the interview this morning, I am still very interested in the Special Ed Teacher position and wanted to check in with you before making any decisions, as [SCHOOL NAME] seems like a great fit for me.
I am wondering how far along you are in the hiring process, and if I will be able to hear back sooner whether or not I will be offered the position at [SCHOOL NAME].

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing back from you!”

I’m going into SPED without a teaching license, but my county has a program where upon hiring me, they will get an emergency license from the state and then put me through the licensure program, which should take me about 10 months.

I’m coming from an ABA setting as an Behavior Technician, so I have no experience with the programming side of things, and that will be my biggest learning curve in terms of creating IEP’s (although I will have a mentor teacher to help with that in since I’m doing the state licensure program). All of my experience comes from working directly with moderate to higher needs individuals, most of whom are non-verbal and use AAC, PECS, and/or ASL to communicate. Almost all of my clients have disruptive behaviors on the extreme end such as aggression toward others, self-injurious behavior, etc.

I’ve interviewed at 3 schools. For 2 of them, it sounds like I will be working as a “resource” or “inclusion” person, mostly supporting students in the general ed and doing some pullout groups for students needing extra support. This does not really align with my experience or preference, but it does seem like there will be plenty of support. Both of these schools have in-house curriculum coaches, PLC’s that meet regularly, and Program Placement Specialists to help with paperwork stuff. One of these positions I will be essentially a math teacher for students that are only 1-2 grade levels behind. Math definitely isn’t one of my strengths, but I will be working with a scripted program and as mentioned above, have a curriculum coach to support me. They both have high case loads, 15-25.

The other one sounds like it’s more in line with my experience/expertise and personal preferences. It’s at a SPED-only school leading a self-contained class of moderate to high-needs students. Despite my experience, this one seems a bit more “thrown into the deep end”. I’ll be making my own schedule/curriculum. I have done this previously while teaching in a therapy-based school program before, so it’s not entirely new to me, but still more involved either way. There will almost certainly be medically fragile students in my class (although I will receive training on how to handle them and keep them safe). There isn’t designated paperwork time, it’s just whenever I can find time during the day, likely before students arrive or after they leave. There are PLC’s that meet, and the principal/teachers interviewing me emphasized that the faculty is very much a team and will all be extremely happy to support me. And as I’ll be in the state licensure program, I’ll also have a mentor to lean on as well. My case load will be a maximum of 6, and my classroom will have 2 assistants, plus any paras, speech therapists, or occupational therapists necessary.

I’m definitely leaning toward the job with the higher-needs students if they offer it to me. But I guess I’m a little nervous and feeling kind of imposter syndrome at the massive amount of responsibility I’d be taking on. I really want to be able to support those kiddos as best as I can and create a safe environment for them. What are your thoughts?

I recently drove to Atlanta GA and there was a really cool moment on I-85S (right after you pass exit 86) where you go around a bend and suddenly Atlanta is RIGHT THERE. It was one of the coolest moments on the drive. Which cities also have cool skyline reveals like this?

Especially if I’m making a wooded area of my park. It’s a struggle because if I use just 1 or 2 types of tree, it looks weird and repetitive. But if I have more types of tree, it looks sloppy and disjointed. And choosing the right types of tree is also challenging because some of the different types really clash with each other when you place a bunch.

Also, when creating a scenario, it gives you the option to “scatter” scenery items. Do y’all use this tool? I think the pattern looks weird if I use it.

Anyone have tips?

Going on a road trip to Atlanta this weekend. My phone is giving me two routes:

- I-26 down through Greensville SC and then straight on I-85 to ATL from there.

- US-441 through Franklin NC, Clayton GA, and all the way south toward Gainesville.

US-441 says it will be about 5-10 minutes longer. Out of a 4 hour drive, that’s barely anything, but still a bit longer regardless. But looking at the map, it appears to go through more mountainy and remote areas, which will probably make for a more scenic drive. Anyone done these drives before? Is 441 worth the small bit of extra time it takes?

It’s so cool! 4 inversions, action-packed layout, super intense!

To get to it, to have to go kind of toward the back of the park near Orion in Area 72. It’s inside that big building. They recently replaced the LIM system with LSM’s to make it more reliable, but it’s still a great coaster. All indoors too!

- Do

- Copy

- Copy me

- Copy this

- Do this

- Do same

- Try this

- Follow me

- Do like me

- Do like this

- Do the same

- Repeat after me

- Follow the leader

- Watch and copy

- Watch and repeat

- Copy what I do

- Copy what I’m doing

- Do what I do

- Do as I do

- Do what I’m doing

- Try what I do

- Try what I’m doing

- Do it like me

- Do it like this

- Try it like this

- Do it this way

- Try it this way

- My turn, your turn

- Follow what I do

- Do the same thing

- Do the same as me

- Copy my action(s)

- Do the same thing as me

- Watch. (Do action) Now you try.

- Copy the thing that I do

- Do the same thing that I do

- I’ll do it, then you do it

- Watch what I do, then do it yourself

That’s all I can think of. Feel free to add any more you can think of that I missed. Let’s vary those SD’s and get some generalization!

They always act like they’re delivering some great news like “enjoy your free day off! 😃”

Okay but it’s NOT a free day off because now I don’t get paid. Also, are you going to spot me the gas money I used driving all the way here, and will use driving home? Otherwise I literally paid to go to work.

Plus, on a real day off I would have slept in instead of getting up at the ass crack of dawn to get ready for work.

This shit should be illegal. Or at the very least, my commute time should be counted as on the clock.

I recently moved, and Carowinds is one of my new home parks. I went for the first time last summer.

I’m pretty good at riding coasters defensively usually. I was able to ride Carolina Cyclone without my head touching the restraint even once. But when I went on Vortex, it felt like there was nothing I could do against the ruthless headbanging on every single transition. I came off with a bad headache.

But here’s the thing: despite the headbanging, I loved Vortex’s layout. It was super intense and snappy. The g forces while standing were crazy, and I even got airtime on some transitions, which felt cool standing. I really want to like this ride, but I don’t want to ride it again if it’s just going to beat the fuck out of me. Do any Carowinds vets have any tips on how to minimize pain on Vortex?

Going to take my dog camping for her first time. We live in Appalachia where there’s lots of black bear activity. My plan is to leave after dinner, camp overnight, then return home before breakfast so we don’t have to worry about bringing food and buying/renting a bear canister.

But since it’s her first time, I’m going to give her lots of treats in the tent to help her learn that the tent is a happy place and hopefully lessen any stress or anxiety from sleeping in an unfamiliar area. I plan to make sure she has eaten every single treat before we settle in for the night. Then I will leave the empty treat bag in my car, which will be a 10 minute walk away from our site.

But even if she eats every single treat, will bears still be able to smell that treats were previously in the tent? Should I bring some kind of cleaning product to wipe the inside of the tent down before we go to sleep?

I have also done treat training with her in the tent at home prior to this trip, so even that may have left a lingering smell.

Even if a bear does come around, I’m sure she will bark and scare it away. But I’ve heard stories of some bears in my state that are so desensitized to human presence that they can be really stubborn and tough to scare off.

Thanks in advance

Yesterday my client saw his parents pull up at pick up time through a window. He got excited to go home and shoved me out of the way and eloped from the room we were in and ran to grab his backpack. Not wanting the behavior to be reinforced, I ran in front of him and block him and prompt functional communication “excuse me”. He immediately got really escalated and began crying loudly and aggressing. I realized he was way too emotionally escalated to even have the capacity to mand “excuse me,” but I was in too deep at that point and would be reinforcing his aggression if I let him past me. So I immediately faded the demand and instead gave him a premack “first deep breath, then backpack.” I had to wait him out for about 20 seconds before he paused his behaviors for a moment, then repeated the premack. He took a deep breath and I immediately reinforced saying “good job having a safe body, let’s go get your backpack.”

Another little bit of context is that he had been denied access to YouTube 15 minutes prior. He had since accepted an alternative activity and appeared to be HRE, but I’m certain that he was still not fully emotionally recovered quite yet.

Thinking back on it, idk if I did the right thing. Especially considering he had already had a tantrum from denied access so recently prior to that. From his point of view, I was blocking him from being able to go home. I would have been upset had I been in his shoes. I’m sure it might have even been slightly traumatic for him.

I wonder if maybe I should have let the initial shove slide in that one case and brought it up with my BCBA and then worked harder on functional communication in the future when the stakes aren’t so high for him. I’m sure that one single instance of getting reinforced for shoving someone out of your way wouldn’t completely ruin months of functional communication training. But I’m not a BCBA or psychologist, so I could be totally wrong in that.

If you were in my position, what would you have done? I know that I’ll continue to make mistakes being in a high stress position where I have to make decisions quickly, but I want to make sure those quick decisions are the ones that actually help my clients in the long run.