Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Maggie.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: And I'm Nicole. Welcome to the DAC Dyslexia and Coffee Podcast. We're so happy you could join us. We're both moms and dyslexia interventionists who want to talk about our students and children. What dyslexia is, how it affects our kids, strategies to help and topics related to other learning disabilities will also be covered in this podcast. Parents are not alone, and we want to give voice to the concerns and struggles we are all having.
This is a safe place to learn more about how to help our children grow and succeed in school, in the world. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Hi, everybody.
Welcome to the Dyslexia and Coffee Podcast. We're going to begin this week like we do every week, with the concept of the week. So the concept of the week is our opportunity as practitioners to kind of pull back the curtain a little bit and discuss a topic that we would either be teaching our students or. Or their parents or something that is related directly to the service we provide.
Today's concept of the week is task avoidance.
So task avoidance is a pattern of delaying or resisting, putting off activities you know, you should do.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: So welcome, everybody. We're on episode 66.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: And guess what we're talking about today.
Moving offices. And just generally moving.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Sometimes moving.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: Yeah, Just the concept of moving.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Yes.
So actually, listeners, in real time, today's the day.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: In real time.
We moved one of our office locations within the same office building, thank goodness.
But we moved from a second floor suite to a first floor suite literally today.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: And we're recording this podcast today, so.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: So if we're sleepy, we're just gonna say it out loud.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: That's why it might be a wild ride this one, guys.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So, yes, we're ready to go.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Yeah. And task avoidance. That concept of the week.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: Yes. It's very important not to have. When you're moving.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Yes, yes.
You know, Nicole and I thought this would actually be a really great podcast episode because as we were trying to plan for this move.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Maybe poorly.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: We did have. It did happen, though. It did. First, just going to give us a little pat on the back for the fact that it did happen. We did do the thing.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: We did do the thing.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: We moved from four office spaces to seven individual little office spaces. So that's a lot of work, folks, and a lot of planning.
And as we record this, also, last week was Thanksgiving week, so we are in the throes of the holidays, so why not also move?
[00:03:15] Speaker B: It's what we did last year, too.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Honestly, we did this last year, too.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: That was over the Christmas break. It was.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Remember, it was right before the new year.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:24] Speaker B: That was fun, too.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: Yeah. So why not do it again?
[00:03:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:29] Speaker A: But we thought, you know, this would make such a good episode because as we were trying to plan for the smooth and trying to execute this move, we were really thinking about how actually difficult it is to plan and execute a move and without having dyslexia or adhd.
So think and imagine how much more difficult it would be with managing adhd, managing dyslexia, you know, and then if it's like a personal move, trying to execute that for the whole family.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Correct. And ours wasn't a family. It is our family. It's our team family.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: That we did at move, and everybody came and helped. But think of all the executive functioning tasks that we had to complete. Absolutely. Do this. Right.
Remember that summer podcast episodes when we talked about executive functioning? We got to use all of them. Let me tell you, our brains have been moving a lot today.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: Oh, yes.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: So we had to initiate. Right. Packing everything, all the boxes.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: Deciding which furniture we were going to take and not take, how we were going to get extra furniture for the extra rooms, and then.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Actually start that task and then complete the task without getting distracted and then actually move the things that we had packed.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: That's a lot of steps.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: It's a lot of steps. And.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: The.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: Spatial awareness, too. Right. A lot of our.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Students, and I am raising my hand real high here.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Spatial awareness is not a huge strength of mine, for sure.
So I have a really difficult time picturing, okay, how is it really going to look when it's done?
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: And what kind of furniture is going.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: To fit in each space?
[00:05:53] Speaker A: In each space.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Luckily, one of our team members loves to organize.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. Thanks. Goodness.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: And then another person has a lot of experience moving furniture and decorating, which.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: Again, not my bag.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Because I was.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Just gonna throw things up there and let it land where it landed. And apparently that was not how you should do it.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, and that's another. That's another big thing, too. Right. Managing expectations. Correct. And managing one's own emotions. Exactly.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: When you had frustration, we had frustration tolerance today.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: We sure did.
[00:06:40] Speaker B: Yes, we did. Things did not go smoothly. Let me tell you. Things broke on the way down.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: Our husbands may or may not be speaking to us at this moment in time.
[00:06:51] Speaker B: We may have moved our room, our office, where we're together now. We share one.
We may have Moved things just a few times. Just a few.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Yeah. Because we really didn't know where we wanted it to go.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Their vision of things and our vision of things were exactly aligned.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: And then the other piece. Right. People who had the spot before us left some stuff. And then we needed to figure out how to. What we were going to do with all that stuff. So it's. It's just very. An interesting concept. Right. Of all the different pieces, plus managing that. You know, there's eight people that work out of this office alone.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: And making sure they all have keys. They all have all their stuff together. They all have all their stuff down. And then organized the right way so they can see students on Monday.
[00:07:43] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: You know, there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: There sure was.
There sure was. And then the ongoing. Now that we have moved, managing. Okay. The students we see, they will be coming in on Monday.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: And guess who's going to be dysregulated? Do you remember what that means?
[00:08:04] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness, yes.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: All of them. Because we're not going to be in the same space. Yep.
There is definitely going to be some big emotions, I think, for some of our kiddos.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: And because they loved our space.
I'm not gonna. Some of them actually knew where everything was and would just help themselves sometimes.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: They sure would.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Because, you know, we didn't have a lot of storage up there. So it was kind of in our offices.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: Those supplies now live where they are not going to be allowed.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: For that reason.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yep. And that's gonna be a big change for them.
[00:08:40] Speaker A: It is.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Yeah. And I don't know how they're gon.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: Deal with it, but, you know, we'll deal with it. And you know, we had been in our previous space about five years now.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: And.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Some of the students that I have right now are. I have had them for that long or I have had the sibling for that long.
So it is. It really is a bigger change than maybe it sounds on its face. Right. And kind of giving credit to that of.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: You know, even. Even me, like, oh, wow. Actually, this is a really big change. Even though it's within the same building.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Opening this location was such a big deal for this company.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: It was really the first time we had a true, like, second location where we could have multiple people working out of.
So that was a big step. And now recognizing that we went from literally one practitioner to eight to eight.
[00:09:52] Speaker B: Right.
In a couple years. And that's a lot of people. Right?
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:09:57] Speaker B: And a lot of movement. And you Know. So, yeah, it's been a very interesting.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: Transition.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: So next week we're going to have to use some of our strategies with our students. Right. We're going to have to show them the space. We're going to have to. If we have to, some of our sessions will probably be more.
Helping them get more regulated before we can even start our sessions.
Because honestly, they're not.
They're gonna have to get used to.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: The V space too. And remember, some of the students that we work with, the executive functioning piece of being kind of able to think through, like, oh, I'm dysregulated because we're in a different space. That's not what's really going through their head. They sometimes really can't even express where that might be coming from. Right. And oh, by the way, as previously mentioned, as we record this, it is the throws of the holiday season.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Right. So their schedules are mixed up at school. Right. There's a lot of.
I know our family next week already has our Christmas concert.
There's all sorts of things changing at school where they're doing either they're taking tests, especially the older students are probably taking some exams right now right before the holidays. And then they're gonna have a big break.
And that's all gonna throw them off too.
Yeah, yeah. So we're just gonna throw all that in there and move our location at the same time, which will cause some.
The big emotions.
[00:11:44] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So listeners, please be thinking of us.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: So some things that we could do for our students. Right. We're gonna definitely.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: Do a lot more calming techniques with them next week.
I'm assuming most people will have some fidgets in their room.
There might be more of like an introduction to the space before they get started so that they kind of get used to.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Where things are, what the table looks like. You know, things look a little different because obviously we did move things and we did change things up quite a bit. And.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: You know, they're used to seeing everything in our offices, but now we have a storage area and not everything will have to be there. And that's gonna be hard on us too. Right. Because we're gonna have to remember.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Oh, right.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: This student I use this with and it's not in my office anymore.
[00:12:45] Speaker A: Yep.
It's like even I'm kind of looking at the couple of bookshelves I have in our now shared office between Nicole and I that were in the office I used upstairs. And I did set them up pretty much the same. But as I'm kind of looking at them, I could already tell, you know what? Actually, I think I might have to think about doing things right. So. Like that practice with flexibility.
[00:13:18] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: You know, where.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: The plan I had in place, that was going to be a great plan.
I'm gonna have to kind of have a plan B that I can go to.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: That'S gonna really affect.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: It's gonna affect the kind of flow of what typically happens right here.
So both strategies. Right. For our own regulation and for the regulations of our students.
And then when we do add the parent layer. Exactly. You know, I think.
I think the new space is going to be really enjoyed by all. It's going to be a really good move for us.
But even having in our old space, we did not have a space truly where it was a nice waiting area and, you know.
[00:14:17] Speaker B: Right. And now we have a place for like a parent to do a little work if they need to, in a kid area where they can have some books and coloring books and crayons.
So the siblings that come. So I mean, there's gonna. It's gonna be a big change for everyone.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: So. And we're gonna have to be at least until everybody realizes we've moved downstairs. We're gonna have to remember we might need to go to the hallway and wave people in because we do have signs up. But, you know, sometimes people don't write paum. They don't pay attention. They're talking to somebody else. Yep. You know, so you just have to be very aware of all the changes and kind of work on them.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: We're just gonna have to practice our roll with it skills for.
For a couple of weeks.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Right.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: So.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: I think the things too, that we did to prepare our students was telling them that we were going to do this.
[00:15:25] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Way ahead of time. We kept reminding them during each time they came.
Remember, next week is the week that we're gonna move.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: And kind of making it exciting for them so that even though it's a change, it's gonna dysregulate them.
They're also hopefully excited because we tried to be excited going into it and trying to portray that to them ahead.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Of time, you know, and talk about why it's a good thing.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: That we're moving.
You know, kind of same. I'm along the same lines of like, if we were having to move as a family.
Right, Right. It's that preparation ahead of time and kind of talk about.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: What. What to expect at a. At a high level. You know, we can't prepare them for every single thing.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: Right.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Because that creates rigidity.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: It does.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: But at a high level, you know, this is why it's good for us. And this is why.
This is why it's happening. And it is happening. This is the. When.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: You know, getting. Getting them excited and on board. It was actually kind of cute because one of my students, who I've seen a really long time, and he's a little bit of an older student, he offered to bring some boxes down for me last night. Wasn't that the sweetest?
[00:17:01] Speaker B: That is.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: And, you know, I kind of walked him out anyway. And I said, you know what? Yeah, I would love that, actually.
So I really did take him up on it because that's also a strategy.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: Right?
[00:17:15] Speaker A: Actually, yeah. I actually think it kind of made him feel better that he was kind of a part of the move.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Helping with planning, helping with the getting it started. Yeah, exactly. It was.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: I mean, it was real sweet.
Yeah, it was.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: It was a real sweet thing. Yeah.
So, like, with any big transition, especially with students with executive functioning.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: Concerns that they may have, you know.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Explaining things to them is a really great way to get them to understand why you're doing something, but then also to give them that notice because it does take them a longer time to process, and you want them to have that time to process things ahead of time, because otherwise there's going to be way big emotions and you're not going to be able to get through that.
And you need to be aware of that ahead of time.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. You know, a lot of times, just like we talked about in the Executive.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Functioning summer series. Right. We talked a lot about. Yes, we're talking about this in terms of our children, but we're also having to talk about it for our own selves.
And that is a really important strategy. Making sure we're kind of on top of our own stuff, so to speak.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Which, you know, I don't know. I think I gave myself like a B minus.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: I think our husbands would give us lower.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Oh, our husbands, like I said, may or may not be talking to us.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: But they do love us.
[00:19:15] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: Even if they have to be reminded.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: You know, and that. Honestly.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: Like we talked about in our Executive Functioning summer series. Right. That.
That is a strategy. Right. That repair. Right, right. Okay.
[00:19:34] Speaker A: We were on different pages here.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: Yes, we were.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: And we could repair and move on. At least they have each other.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: They do have each other. They were having a lot of fun, by the way.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: They were.
[00:19:48] Speaker B: Which is actually a good thing. Right. Having another person to kind of help you through things is also a great strategy for big transitions. I mean, even thinking about when your children go from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school, those are huge transitions for them. Yeah. And just thinking about, you know, knowing that they have at least one friend or somebody that they know that they'll be able to talk to.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: Will help that transition a lot.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Yes, for sure. I think if our husbands didn't have each other today.
Oh, boy.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: First of all, we probably wouldn't have gotten as much done either.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: No.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: Because they did a lot.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: No shout out to the husbands. Truly.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: They were.
They were helpful entities in this move today, even if they're not talking to us right now.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: So, anyways, this is going to be a little bit shorter of an episode, I think, just because of the topic.
So, Maggie, is there anything going on beyond dyslexia except for the move?
[00:21:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I think the move obviously takes up such a big.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: Thing in my mind right now.
But we did have Thanksgiving last week. We hosted for the first time, and actually things went very well. That was a big transition for our family.
[00:21:25] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:21:26] Speaker A: We always had Thanksgiving at my grandmother's house, and we did have to sell that house at the end of the summer.
So it was some big emotions.
Some people really.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Struggled with, you know, with that move and with.
With the sale and with the idea of a holiday being in a different environment.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: That was.
That was a.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Tough, but I think went really, really well. And, you know, there's room for new traditions now.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Right.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: So, yeah, that's what's going on with us. What about you, Nicole?
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess I could talk about our Thanksgiving, too, because it became a big emotional.
[00:22:13] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Because you guys had to pivot hard.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: We had to pivot hard. Yeah. We were supposed to go to Iowa to see grandparents, and we had. The day we were gonna leave, it was really bad weather. And the day, that whole weekend come back, it was very bad weather. Lots of snow, freezing wind, rain. All sorts of things were happening at the same time. So we ended up not going anywhere.
By the way, you can't buy a turkey the day before Thanksgiving.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: As it turns out.
[00:22:45] Speaker B: As it turns out, you have to go to a different type of meat or something else because there's no turkey left.
We found that out. So, yeah, there was a lot of big emotions in the house, a lot of disappointment, But I think we all kind of made it through by talking it out. You know, we're gonna plan and try it again.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: And, you know, you can't change the weather, unfortunately.
[00:23:12] Speaker A: I mean, we live in the Midwest.
This is kind of the way it is, and we're kind of in for it. This winter is what it looks like.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: That's what they say. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: They're saying cold, lots of snow. So.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: Like it or not, that's how it rolls. Here we are. We're gonna be flexible about it.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Yes, definitely.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Well, thank you, everybody, for listening.
If you do like our show, please follow us on social media.
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[00:23:56] Speaker B: Thank you.
