Week 2 @ Continuum Education and Therapy (pt.1)(plus college visit)

Sunday evening, I drove out to Urbana/Champaign Illinois with my mom for a college visit to the University of Illinois. For a while, Mizzou has been my top choice because I have friends there, and it’s close to home. I’ve been told repeatedly that U of I has great programs and is really high on the list of top colleges in the nation. On one website, UIUC is ranked around 25th in the nation! Despite UIUC having great programs, my anxiety had been pushing me to just go with the easy option: Mizzou, but I felt obligated to visit UIUC as a formality. Over time, I started feeling more and more interested in the school. They have 1000+ student organizations and clubs, and many other impressive stats. 95% of Alumni that provided post-graduation information were either employed or in higher education within six months of graduation, and the average starting salary for graduates of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is nearly $75,000. After my tour, I did a lot more research into the clubs and organizations that the school has to offer, and found nearly a dozen clubs that I would be excited to join.

I haven’t visited Mizzou yet, so I think I will have to schedule a tour for sometime next week so that I can make my decision before May 1.

This week at Continuum, I told Kayla, one of the directors, that I was interested in some of the administrative work that happens at Continuum. After overhearing and seeing some of the stressful situations with insurance, I’m interested in some of the rules and regulations that the staff have to follow. There is an endless pile of paperwork to be done. Today, I spent the morning and most of the afternoon cutting, coloring, and laminating things for learning activities for the kids. It seems like tedious work, but I enjoyed focusing and running through the process of each project.

In the afternoon, I spent more time observing, and I watched as one therapist worked with a child on exposure therapy to basic hygiene tools like a toothbrush, nail clippers, and a hairbrush. These seem like things that are really easy and painless to use, but sometimes they can cause an unpleasant or uncomfortable sensation to kids with autism and sensory sensitivity.