::sigh:: So on Friday we gave an optional "explore a career path" essay to the trainees to make up some time lost to rain. Only two people turned anything in. One is pretty much exactly what I was looking for, and shows evidence of some research.

The other is hand-copied from two different websites. Very, VERY obviously. And there's no segue, or any kind of "I want to do this and this is the education I would need," or anything. Just a bunch of crap from a business plan consultants webpage (he wrote the name of the company at the top, and everything! helloooo?!?) and a bunch of crap from a site about what business majors can do.

::sigh:: Further complicating matters is the fact that this trainee seems to have some mental limitations, possibly resulting from a head injury? Plagiarizing doesn't seem like his style; he's very eager to please and forthright. IDK. I guess we'll talk to him about it tomorrow and see if he cops to it, or find out how he understood the assignment. And depending on his answers, maybe give him an hour (out of a potential four).

{{{Erin}}}

Smonster, good luck with that.

Teppy, feel better.

Tea:

Trudy, tons of surgery~ma for you.

Tomorrow I have an intake appointment with a dietician, Wednesday my first PT appointment, and Thursday the follow up with the hematologist. I'm working on not going into complete panic mode.

smonster, depending on his education background, he may NOT have been taught very well how to write. And sometimes plagiarism is not as well taught as you might assume.

Esp. if he has had TBI, it very well may be that he simply thought you wanted him to present you with simple info.

Writing skills are one of the hardest things to teach, and well-meaning kids have turned in stuff that was paraphrased, but not cited, HUGE quotes unconnected by transitions or much original writing, etc. I've learned to give assessments of what kids think plagiarism is before teaching it, because until they are taught, they think they have done a good research job by simply presenting info back to you: "I looked some stuff up; here is what I found, YAY ME, assignment done."

It's not just quotes. It's 100% copied, word for word.

I'll start by asking him to explain how he understood the assignment, and see what he says. Unfortunately I was unable to give them a printout of the assignment, and just went over what I wanted verbally. I recognize that there's a possibility he misunderstood, or remembered wrong later, or something.

Bipolar, I can deal. ADHD, I can deal somewhat. TBI? No fricking clue.

That's a good strategy, smonster. I am hardly an expert, but I've worked with two students with TBI -- here's some decent info on it: [link]

With the usual "don't like recommending anti-Ds/everyone is differen/blah-de-blah-cakes..."

Mine is frikkin' CHEAP. So if Nortriptyline (Pamelor) works for you its about twelve bucks a month (at my current dose).

smonster, look at veterans organizations for information on how to deal with TBI in young adults. A lot of the wounded vets coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered TBI.

NIH has a good place to start with basic information: [link]

The Washington Post had a good multimedia piece on TBI late last year: [link]

Erin, I'm sorry this Monday has sucked large, hairy rhinoceros balls, but I'm glad you have meds to get you through.

My experience was that the generic didn't work at all, however. So if anyone takes the generic and finds it not helping, it's worth switching to the Real Thing if you can. Wellbutrin did me more good than any other AD I ever tried.

I feel blessed that generics seem to work reasonably well for me. It also is a source of great ponderment that we humans react so differently to stuff.

...okay, who's tried to kick their own ass after reading this? Be honest.

I sure as hell didn't. But I am in awe of those who can. And attempting to picture this in my head will keep me busy and amused for a good while.

Most generics seem to work fine for me, except certain manufactuer's brand of Ambien, but I've just ask which formula a script has in stock before I buy.

Ok, I have to go to bed. But thanks for all the support and info, guys.