The Duke

 Janie Haugen-McLane Series: 20 Years  1 Response »
Feb 202012
 

by Janie Haugen-McLane, Co-Founder PCI Education

Many years ago while working with adult students with intellectual disabilities, I decided to make a game board, just for fun. The idea: to get everyone engaged in a fun, social-group activity that would foster age-appropriate on-topic conversation.

The students knew how to talk but often wanted to go over the same information, repeatedly. It was time for a creative solution.

My husband, Jeff and I went to local-area flea markets in search of old game boards. After covering the first of the boards in white contact paper, I drew squares, each with a different question. The first game was titled: “Just for Fun.”

In each of the squares I wrote questions for the students to answer, hoping I might learn more about the students as they learned about each other. The questions concerned fun sports to play, funny stories that make people laugh, a favorite hobby, fun board games that students play and various other recreational topics.

One question: “If you could be any movie star, who would you choose to be?” The first student, who just happened to be red-headed and loved to watch classic “I Love Lucy” reruns, landed on that square and answered, “I would be Lucille Ball; she is so funny.”

The group was having a ball!  Well, everyone but Herman. An older, gruff-talking man with seldom a kind word for anyone, Herman later landed on the movie star square. After listening to the question, he looked directly at me, squinted his eyes and growled out in his sandpaper voice, “I would be The Duke; do you know who that is?” I smiled and said, “Do you mean John Wayne?”  He leaned back in his wheelchair, smiled and broke the silence with loud laughter. The whole group sat there stunned in silence. You see, none of us had ever seen him smile or heard him laugh.  I believe Herman had even surprised himself.

Herman had helped me discover that some people do have smiles inside… the smiles and laughter just need an escape route.  That day a spark was ignited, a spark that led to the writing of PCI’s Life Skills Series of games about living in the real world.

Question of the Week: Tell PCI about a fun, innovative teaching solution you have used to encourage a student to participate in class. Please use the first name “only” of the student, for privacy reasons.  We look forward to hearing about your experience!

A Moment of Insight

 Janie Haugen-McLane Series: 20 Years, PCI Company Culture, Special Education Classroom  1 Response »
May 022011
 

by Janie Haugen-McLane, Co-Founder PCI Education (as told to Denise Jacks)
(Third in a Series: 20+ Years Building PCI Education)

 

Me:      “Janie”  . . . “JANIE?”

Janie:   “Yes”

M:        “Sorry to interrupt but, I need to get a blog post from you.  You know, about the process of starting PCI.  It’s a follow-up to the one about your first experience in the classroom.”

J:          “I can’t right now, I’m working on the Life Skills Games.  On a deadline.”

M:        “Aren’t those the products you started PCI Education with 20 years ago?”

J:          “Yes, actually. We’re refreshing the games, they need updating to today’s world.”

M:        “Cool.  Well, why did you create the games to begin with?”

J:          “Well, at the time, I was working in group homes with adults with intellectual disabilities and needed a way to get them to remember and follow the rules.”

M:        “Hmmm, seems simple enough.”

J:          “Not really! There were like a bazillion rules that staff and people that lived there had to follow.”

M:        “Ohhh, I see.”

J:          “Right, and that’s why four games turned into 16 games!”

M:        “So, why a game?

J:          “It was a fun way to get everyone at the group home to remember the rules without having to tell them over and over.  They enjoyed playing the games and it gave them reinforcement and reward for following the steps and remembering the tasks they needed to carry out.”

M:        “Well, I guess I better let you get back to your work”

J:          “Okay”

M:        “Thanks for the blog post, Janie”

J:          “Huh?”

 Posted by at 11:02 am

The Lucky Hat – Students with special needs keep our hearts

 Janie Haugen-McLane Series: 20 Years, Special Needs Community  5 Responses »
Mar 312011
 

by Janie Haugen-McLane, Co-Founder PCI Education
(Second in a Series: 20+ Years Building PCI Education)

There will always be certain students whom you  remember fondly. For me, the first was Russell M. in my classroom in Houston, Texas, 1987.  In order to save money (in a tough economy), a teacher who resigned from the campus… “adults with special needs,” was not replaced.

All the teachers had to draw names from a hat to get four new students. I had only been there a few weeks and didn’t know any students other than the ones in my classroom.  I drew the name, Russell M. and was quite surprised when a long-term teacher looked at me and with wide-eyes exclaimed, “Whew, I’m glad I didn’t get him.”  That was a little scary to say the least.

I was nervous the next morning anxious to see my students when the door opened wide and they blew in.  One student stopped dead still, looked over at me, and said, “A princess!” Here was this tall, early 30ish handsome man with an impish grin from ear to ear. He held out a hand to shake and said with the slightest lisp, “I’m Russell. You are pretty.”

We were crazy about each other right from the start. In fact, he became a little too infatuated with me so I had my big, burly husband, Jeff, come visit the classroom and Russell “fell” for him too! While on business trips, Jeff began sending Russell postcards from all over the country—it was the perfect win-win solution. After each trip, Russell would ask my husband if he saw any “grrrrs,” their secret word for pretty girls and when not out of town Jeff would often take off work early to come visit with Russell – some time for man talk.

In March of that year, Jeff sent a bunch of daffodils, King Alfreds, for my birthday.  I told Russell that since I was a little girl, I had called them Buttercups because yellow was my favorite color… he never forgot that conversation. Even years later, Russell would talk to me or write me  and mention my favorite flowers.  Of course, he always called them Buttercups. How I loved him, his mischievous almost shy smile, and his entertaining stories.

I met Russell’s parents and we all became friends. When my husband decided to start a bio-tech company in San Antonio in 1988, the hardest part was leaving Russell and the other students in my class. We all cried and Russell said, “I’ll be over to see you, don’t you worry.”

And you know what? His family did come to San Antonio in their motor-home and we had a wonderful time. Russell is one of the bright lights in my life.

I thank God everyday for allowing me the honor of drawing Russell’s name from that hat. It turned out to be my lucky hat. Sometimes things just fall into place, and Russell fell into the center of my heart. I miss him greatly!

Question of the Week: Who was that first student who stole your heart and made you love teaching? Please use the first name and last initial for privacy reasons. PCI and I would love to hear your experience.

Come on board with PCI and blog your story to the world.

 

___________________________________________________________________________

Janie McLane Co-Founder PCI Education

 

Janie McLane Co-Founder PCI Education

Janie Haugen-McLane, creator of PCI’s flagship product, the best-selling Life Skills Programs, Series I and II, draws on her years of teaching to develop real-world, innovative educational products. She has conceived of and developed more than 95% of PCI’s proprietary products and has attracted a number of nationally recognized authors to PCI.