Oh, Dear. It's Been Some Time...

I haven't written since Wednesday this week. I seem to be falling into a pattern of not writing as much, but I want to write more. I'm just not doing it. I have no reason other than just not feeling like writing in the mornings lately. There's not much going on that is different from other seasons in my life, but writing still just feels like too much right now.

I am trying really hard to figure some things out. I am tired. My body is doing strange things - gotta love perimenopause. I feel like I am stagnating yet again. I have lots of ideas, but absolutely no impetus to follow through on those ideas.

Does anyone else have this existence?

Okay. That's enough self-pity. Time to get started with something more productive.

I spent some time on Tuesday laminating things for music therapy. I have been spending lots of time at work making things for other people, so it was nice to have some time to just sit and laminate things for my use rather than giving things away. I have some files to print off and laminate for a new binder of communication choices. I also want to make a new file of leisure options to keep in my music therapy room so I can ask my students what they like to do and what they don't like to do.

My students have used my I Want to Eat file to the point where it is disintegrating with every touch at the moment. (By the way, these files are my own work - if you choose to purchase this digital file, I get some of the money. Once you have downloaded the file, it is yours to use as many times as you want. There are LOTS of free visuals on TPT [what used to be Teachers Pay Teachers] and membership is free.) I am getting ready to introduce them to my Animal Choice Board file. I keep them in a binder so I can pull out communication themes when I need them. The nice thing about all of this is that I can also use bits and pieces of the file for specific songs. I can isolate all baked goods if we are singing about going to the bakery - or veggies if we are singing about going to the produce department. You get the idea!

So, I would like the next communication binder project to include places to go and leisure options for my clients. I have some of those choices in my Summer Tic-Tac-Toe file, so I will be able to cull some of those pictures for a new collection of communication choice cards.

The problem with using icons for communication is that there is no way that I will EVER have all the pictures that my clients need to communicate every thought that they have to express. EVER! So, I go from feeling proud of my options to frustration that I still don't have every option available for my clients. The only thing to do, though, is to keep going. So, I keep making things to help my clients tell me about their preferences and choices.