Kids/T(w)een LUNCH Groups

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 8

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Today started off in the office we headed off for our community outing, Laser Tag. The day started with a surprise LUNCH Points Raffle. Interestingly, JW had a certificate in his hand but wasn't attending until we rehearsed it a few times. AC responded right away. However, both wound up participating. This session, it's the teens who have taken more interest in LUNCH Points, overall. Other times it's reversed. As we prepared to watch some short animations, it created an opportunity to review how to check and not block others' view when selecting a seat. We've also been working on simple social skills, such as not standing right up against the door while someone else is in the restroom. MM had a chance to ask others to move their seat rather than crawling under the table to get past. ND appeared very tired (9:35am) and was reminded that he couldn't earn tickets when his head was on the table. Several of the group members earned tickets for quickly and accurately summarizing the videos they saw. Little opportunities for helping them with social language occurred, for example when SW said, "Can I please have the pen there, please?" He was prompted via positive practice to restate and did so successfully. We had the group describe the last animation they saw by summarizing in 30 seconds (DG did it successfully), 15 seconds (MM and SW did it successfully), and then within 10 seconds (EJ, AC did so more succesfully, SG and AJ had more difficulty summarizing). We also worked on what happens when someone tries to answer a question by interrupting or responds too quickly. AJ found the exercise humorous, where, as SW asked for a pen, I responded by quickly handing it to him before he was done, by saying "Now, that's service!" So, that was the first 75 minutes of group today. Time to head off for Laser Tag.

Catching the bus was uneventful, except that ND became upset when asked to sit rather than stand on the bus. This was uncharacteristic for him. Once we figured out that he wanted to sit next to SG and accommodated him, things improved. At Laser Tag, all of the kids were heavily rewarded for "playing together" or just "hanging out" while we waited the short time before the first game began. This was a great example of social modeling working successfully. First EJ and AC were rewarded, then SG and DG. AJ finally noticed that everyone else getting tickets and spontaneously searched for someone to play with, picking JW, who was also rewarded for walking and keeping his arms down. The two games passed quickly and it was impressive to see how they formed teams and strategies and as they played.

We finished up Laser Tag around 12:15pm and headed over to In-'n-Out for lunch. NR was anxious about her food and had a chance to practice asking for things in a calm and polite manner. A truck passed, producing someone loud, but typical, noises and those who were able to state they were not afraid of the truck noise were rewarded. Additionally, JW, ND, and SG all earned tickets for having conversations during lunch, as did SG for spontaneously opening a door as someone passed through and NR for waiting patiently for a water cup from one of the In 'n Out workers.

An example of how many group members need to work on pragmatics were inadvertently demonstrated when I mentioned there would be a surprise visitor coming next Friday. One of the kids asked if it was Kobe Bryant, and I off-handedly replied, "Sure, and President Obama is coming too." To my surprise, several of them began asking if this was true. Such behavior unfortunately will make them ripe targets for merciless teasing or even bullying at school.

Shortly after 1:00pm we waited to catch the bus to return to the office. JW was rewarded for standing next to other kids and also for eye contact while interacting with one of the counselors. AJ spoke in an excessive insulting manner to SW and SW was rewarded for not reacting. Unfortunately AJ escalated by kicking him and was physically removed from the others for a brief period until he could demonstrate that he had regained control. AC and EJ became engrossed in discussing park rides, but also switched when asked by a counselor by their weekend, maintaining this conversation for about five minutes. The bus didn't arrive until nearly 1:20pm and we made it back with just a short amount of time to spare. Full day!

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 7

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Los Encinos State Park

Today was our visit to Los Encinos State Park where (most of them) were videotaped as typical students on a tour, given by Jennifer, the Park Interpretive Specialist. She's really great with the kids, very patient, prompts them to make eye contact, helps them with asking relevant questions. I view it as good practice for taking them on a tour, going to a museum, or similar cultural activities.

Afterwards, she offered the group food to feed the ducks and geese. It was interesting that some of the group members insisted that we pay for it, because it said "25 cents" on the box. Those same members had trouble with the idea that she was giving it to them. It strikes me as an honorable intention on their park... somehow gone wrong, since it creates an opportunity for them to receive something gratis, thank the person, and again, "move on" (I'm a big fan of "moving on" over little things).

One of the group members isolated himself from others and began to play with his Pokmon pedometer. He appeared startled when one of the counselors approached him, saying "Hi ___ come and join the others," he responded by walking away. This sometimes happens with kids who are having trouble figuring out what to say to others or become preoccupied by a gadget. It is also why we request that your kids not bring toys or other objects with them, since they often use it as a vehicle for disconnecting from others.

I had a chance to flex my frisbee skills (which have clearly improved over the course of groups!) and worked with several kids on throwing accurately. This primary involved MM, ND, EJ, and SG and they seemed to have a good time of it.

While still at the park AJ, at one point, said he was surrounded by "idiots." Carli, one of the counselors, immediately gave blue raffle tickets to all of those who did not react to his comment, and did not say anything to AJ. Moments later, they became involved in a discussion about aliens, which AJ seemed to be taking a bit too seriously. However, both AJ and NR worked on problem solving and received raffle tickets for their efforts. AC had problems with body boundaries, appearing to inadvertently push JW over a bit so he could sit down. When JW did not react, he received a blue ticket and AC spontaneously apologized to him.

We went to Octopus, Japanese food, for lunch and it was well-organized, with most kids enjoying what they ordered. Lunch there usually takes a long time, so we are constantly looking out for who is engaged in conversation versus who is isolating. We also had a chance to practice appropriate requesting from the wait staff. Fortunately, most of them were engaged in conversations throughout, plus they either enjoyed their meals or found portions of them that they could eat. We headed back to the office briefly for a little "down time" where we viewed videos of them that would be shown to the parents.

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 6

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Today we a continuation of what we worked on last Friday -- conversational skills and social pragmatics. Typically the kids who more closely match our internalizer profile need assistance with the former (conversational turns, facial expressions, voice volume clarity, and intonation), while those with more externalizer characteristics benefit from the latter (behavioral inhibition, controlling reactions to peers' behavior).

One of the group members was selected to run a "vote" to determine what restaurant we would be going to on Wednesday, when we visit Los Encinos again, this time with video taping for their public service announcement for the California State Parks system. Jennifer, who has been our interpretive specialist guide for the past four year, will be conducting it. Your child will be on camera only if you have signed a release for them to participate. This is not included in our standard release that all parents signed as part of registering their child for the group.

The group also decided they wanted to try Maria's Kitchen today for lunch. One of the things I like about this little exercise is that is involves listening, cooperation, accepting a choice that was not one of their first, and just "moving on." We also discussed the upcoming "surprise raffle" for LUNCH Points, which I told them would be for this upcoming Wednesday or Friday. Yes, by telling them when the "surprise" is, I'm sending a mixed message -- on purpose. Those kids who figured it out earned raffle tickets for doing so. We reviewed LUNCH Points again and all of your kids reviewed their original choices for their main target behavior. This is important! Your job is to log in and give them a certificate or two in between groups. If you select their main target behavior, they receive an additional bonus, which shows up on the certificate. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete the LUNCH Point certificate. If your printer is broken, you can request a receipt, which we will accept or you can use the "Vacation" form. If you have questions, email me. I am also reviewing this during each of the Tuesday night Teleconferences. If you did not respond to our original invitation, contact Stacy and she will re-send it to you. We cannot post this because it is confidential and only for families of group members. Telemeetings will continue until the first Tuesday in August.

We had an early snack today.... they just seemed hungry! Also, we brought it back to the office for them to eat, which gives them a different way to practice neatness, manners, and transitioning. We did more interviews, which we will publish at a future date plus we watched a YouTube video called "Unwelcoming Lunch Groups." It's by a female teen who has apparently produced quite a few of these... some more humorous than others, but she tries to tell a story and it helps me highlight certain conversational principles.

We talked some more about conversations and practiced what makes for interesting speaking. I know I haven't been mentioning specific kids as much, and I'm sorry about that. We're doing so many things with them, that it's almost hard to keep track on an individual basis that I can convert to writing.

After lunch, SG and JW finished up their avatar interview. Also, I took 5 group members into my office along with Sophie, who had been present throughout the day to have them practice making her say "yes" and "no" by offering her a treat. We're trying to create a "library" of her responses to use in a different project.

Wednesday, we're spending the morning at the state park, then head off to Octopus. As always, contact me with any questions or comments.

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 5

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

We had a full group today and everyone seems to be starting off in a calm, organized, and natural manner. I am sorry that the LUNCH Points program has been delayed -- there was some additional programming necessary to complete it. It will be up and running by the weekend. If you haven’t already signed up to receive automatic blogs of groups, go to www.lunchgroups.com, select blogs, and enter your email address.

Today is our first in-office parent meeting, where I will reviewed how kids are doing, plus the general kinds of techniques we are using with them. Next Wednesday will be our first parent dinner, to be held at John O’Groats (check the calendar).
After the initial time today, some of the kids played on the Wii while the rest of the group went into the other room to do an avatar project. One child was the “interviewer” and the other chose an avatar character to become the “interviewee.” I consider this to be one of the most powerful activities we do to help with basic conversational skills. Conversation isn’t just a single skill. You have to think of what you are going to say, say it clearly and with sufficient voice volume for your audience to hear you, adjust the level of informality/formality to fit your listener’s level and the kind of setting you are in, and say it in a straight-forward manner, while avoiding excessive talking.

The first project took the longest because the two students involved (AJ and SW) were having trouble formulating responses “on the spot.” We took a break a little later today, around 10:45am, because we would be having lunch slightly later, due to the parent meeting between 1-2pm. After the break, we returned and completed two more projects prior to heading back over to Gelsons for lunch. This is rare, but it was most convenient given what was planned for today.

Below are three examples of projects involving a total of six group members. They were been edited to emphasize conversational fluidity, clarity, and reciprocal flow. This is a form of video modeling, also known as “feed-forward,” where student hear themselves engaged in more age-appropriate and engaging conversation.

Afterwards, it was off to lunch back over at Gelsons today. We had lunch a bit later than usual, around 12:30pm to have lunch and the Blue and Hero ticket raffles that followed, coincide with the parent meeting. No problems occurred and, judging by the kids’ reactions and behavior following the parent meeting, everyone seemed satisfied with their raffle prize choices.

During the parent meeting, we review the kids’ progress in general, I spoke about specific students and their behavior. Of note, and this may be a first.... WE HAD 100% PARENT ATTENDANCE TODAY! Wow. We reviewed how the web site is organized and where to find information to maximize progress during the program.

The behaviors selected by the kids was reviewed and approved by parents, so this will go live over the weekend. We also reviewed the events next week, including the request from the California State Parks to video-tape the group members as “students” taking a tour at Los Encinos. This will shown to school districts and others who may wish to view and learn about the tours and history at the park (it was nearly closed down in 2008).

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 4

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

We're in full swing now! Today was more of an "office" day. That meant your kids came in, worked as a single group evaluating their third scene of their animation from Monday, then revised and enhanced it. During such activities, I take special care to ensure that each of them adds dialogue, sound effects, participates in reciprocal conversation, or is involved in other elements. Also, it's a wonderful opportunity to help kids who tend to "shout out" responses when others are called upon have multiple opportunities to practice inhibiting and waiting.

We also targeted specific group members, generally following our modeling in externalizers and internalizers (more about that at the upcoming parent meeting). That meant we look for fuller sentences, more emotional expressiveness and higher levels of interaction for some while helping others minimize perceived "slights" from others, accidents, and inhibit impulsive responses.

Lunch was a special event at Tony Romas and we let the kids get dessert, provided they stayed calm and didn't make a big deal out of it. One child was offered fruit as an alternative. Just as the kids were leaving, some adults at the next table stopped me to comment. Here is the video of their statements (edited for brevity only).

Your browser cannot play this video. Learn how to fix this.

Not much else to report. The kids seem pretty comfortable with each other and we're in the process of figuring out what specific behaviors to target for each child.

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 3

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Today was clearly action-packed. The kids and teens were excited about going on our first community outing for laser tag at Ultra Zone. However, before we did that, we continued work on our first animation project, which has been going very smoothly. Meeting in the front room, the group members have been actively involved in creating a three scene animation, which they will see in final form on Wednesday and do a little post-production editing. They also split into two groups, older and younger to "brain-storm," then came back together to share their ideas. It worked surprisingly well.

After the animation is finished, it will go up on YouTube under our channel, "Lunchgroups." Don't worry, as per our policy, no identifying information ever goes up. The credits will consist of their "nicknames" only.

We left the office around 10:30am and headed over to Gelsons for a snack. Our bus came shortly after 11am and we headed into Sherman Oaks to Ultra Zone. The group members were well-behaved on the bus and several conversations ensued. At Ultra Zone, they played two rounds of Laser Tag. All of the kids participated except one, who was reluctant to play. We explained that he did not have to play and he walked around with the Game Master and also with a counselor during both games, looking and seeming more comfortable as time passed. Perhaps he'll play next time, but either way, giving him a chance to observe the other kids having fun and playing seemed more productive that trying to "coax" him into it.

We had also promised the group that they could play in the arcade, but this didn't work out. The first game started a little late and that ran us right into our second scheduled time. Because Ultra Zone typically deals with larger camps at this time of day, we needed to go along with what they had set up. The kids all handled this disappointment quite well and we told them we'd make certain they had a chance to use the arcade next time.

Lunch occurred at The Habit, just a few doors away. We were able to get five tables side-by-side, no easy feat during lunch time, but luck was on our side. Everyone seemed to find something they wanted. By now, it was nearly 1:20pm. We just missed a bus to head back and everyone waited in a patient and orderly manner. By the time our bus arrived, about 1:35pm, everyone poured themselves into their seats. Four group members fell asleep during the ride, an indication of a full day.

This coming Friday will be a parent meeting from 1pm-2pm during which time your kids will eat outdoors and participate in their first raffle. There is NO TELEMEETING THIS WEEK ON TUES. THIS IS A SCHEDULING ERROR.

The LUNCH Points program goes live tomorrow. Be sure to watch the video (see the message on the home page at www.lunchgroups.com. If you have any questions, be sure to be in touch.

Bruce

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Hard to believe this is only the 2nd meeting. So well-behaved.... who are these kids? Sophie showed up today and clearly was a hit with the kids. In fact, she came along to the local Rancho Los Encinos Park, near Balboa and Ventura. We brought frisbees, horseshoes, badminton, some kind of superball, and a velcro target catch game. We purchased duck and geese food for the group; they shared bags of food in three's, which worked out well.

However, before going we began an animation project. First the group brain-stormed about story ideas, which took a little while. Once we moved them away from explosions, aliens, and other interesting but complicated ideas, they settled upon two people trying to figure out what they wished to have for lunch (no, I didn't suggest adding the name). They put together the better part of a couple of scenes, then we headed out after a short stop at Gelsons to pick up snacks to take with us.

Also, we'll be returning to the park in about a week in a half for a park ranger-led tour of the historic adobe structures. "Jennifer" first began giving tours to our group three years ago -- in fact we were her very first tour. Now she has asked if the kids who come would be interested in being filmed as part of a documentary to be shown to schools in an attempt to increase interest and attendance (the park was slated for closure back in 2008 and fortunately survived the "chopping block.") I told her we would be interested, but of course, this requires a separate release beyond what you have already signed. I should be receiving information from the park soon and will forward it on to you. Don't worry, whether or not you sign the release, your child will still be able to participate. We're going to break them up into two groups, those who will be followed by the videographer during the tour and those who will not appear on film. I'll let you know more as I learn about it.

After a little over an hour at the park, we headed out and had lunch at The Stand, just west of Balboa. It was nice because we were able latch onto tables that were at least partially shaded (you are putting sunscreen on your kids, right?), and judging by the lunchtime crowd, this is a pretty popular place to eat. It was enjoyable seeing them conversing and, even now, we're starting to see kids express a preference for sitting next to select peers. Sometimes we'll help facilitate this and other time we'll ask them to stay where they are. After lunch, it was a 15 minute walk back to the office, where they continued working on the animation. Frankly, I didn't plan to spend this much time on it today, but they seemed really interested in working on it and it's a great activity for promoting cooperation, listening, pragmatic language, and handling things if another group member's idea is used. I try to go around and solicit equally from everyone. Sometimes it's a story element, other times dialogue, a sound effect, or in this case, an action the character might do.

Soon it was time to call it a day. I'm always amazed how quickly five hours can pass. On Monday, we'll have our first community outing, Laser Tag at Ultra Zone.

Have a great weekend!

Bruce

Kid/T(w)een Summer Group Session 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Welcome to our first summer 2010 meeting for kids, tweens, and teens (hence t(w)eens)!

First sessions entail a certain degree of organizing, and today's session was no different. It's interesting, and difficult to convey what it looks like as a group of kids start to interact with one another.

We started off today with introductions, then looked at some examples of the new software we'll be using in group. Each of the group members chose nicknames for themselves.

DG - "Sly"
AC - "Goliath"
EJ - "Recycled"
SW - "Phoenix"
JW - "Fly"
ND - "Inferno"
MM - "Miley"
NR - "Jesse"

We talked about some of the kinds of places we go out to eat. Some examples include Tony Romas, Numero Uno, Baja Fresh, Octopus, Chipotle, Uncle Chen's, CPK, Gelson for take out, BBQ and picnics. We've gone to Hamburger Hamlet and to In N' Out Burger. We also talked about things that the group would like to earn, such as gift cards to Target, Best Buy, Game Stop, plus iTunes Gift cards. The group reviewed the kinds of community outings we go on. We talked about mini-golf plus the arcade; the zoo, something I thought the group would be interested in, didn't hold much interest. However, going to City Walk was of interest. At the park the group members said they like to feed ducks and geese, being near the water, throwing Frisbees, and badminton.

This morning, we loosely divided the group into two. The older group members and a couple of younger ones remained in the main room, working on an animation. The younger group members played games, then negotiated with one another to see what else they would do, supervised by two counselors, out in the entry area. Below is the comic they made. Next blog, I will post the narrated movie.

Lunch occurred at Numero Uno and went very smoothly. A few opportunities to work on manners (ND, NR), why ordering pasta and French Fries isn't a good combination (DG), and trying new foods (ND). The others mostly talked with one another. Upon returning to the office around 1pm, some were pretty tired, until videos of Sophie (who will be here on Friday) were shown along with some short animations, which we summarized and discussed briefly. Group ended uneventfully after the raffle system was explained. The majority of the kids had a good time, although parts were probably a bit boring.

Friday we'll head over to the park for a bit and start a new animation project. This coming Monday is our first community outing, for Laser Tag. Be sure to drop off your kids at GELSONS, not anywhere else for all activities.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 Session - 15

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Dear Parents,

Well, tonight was the last night and it was action packed in more ways than none. We had most of the group members present, but we were missing a fair number (four didn’t show). Those who did come had a chance to participate in one last LUNCH points certificate raffle and a gift certificate was given away. Also, they teamed up to play Bananagrams on the floor and it was amazing how quiet it was as they were all trying to make crossword style words from the letters. JH and JC seemed to enjoy having conversations together. EM appeared to enjoy herself and was conversing with CJ and SW. AC and ND round up sitting at their own table and engaged in animated conversations throughout the entire meal at Numero Uno.

After they played Bananagrams, the group was given a choice of three different restaurants to go to tonight. The majority of them wanted to go to Numero Uno’s so that’s where we headed off. Rather than sitting at one large table, they sat at two different adjoining booths with some of the kids as mentioned sitting in pairs by themselves. It worked out very nicely. The majority of them filled out parent certificates of appreciation and some of the kids who initially said they didn’t want to when told they didn’t have to changed their minds and decided to (if your child did not complete one, please don’t be bothered by this. We treat it very much as an optional exercise and my preference that they not be pressured into doing it, but that it be something that is a choice for them). We gave prizes also for the Bananagrams and everybody got an assortment of colored gelled pens and cool looking pencils. But the main point of our last session is as many of the kids said is for it to in fact be the last session. One of the interesting things that happened is some of the kids (MH, CJ, and EM) spontaneously wrote notes or drew pictures to me that were very nice to receive.

So all in all, it was a fitting end to the school year. Other than the very beginning of group, nobody had any significant interfering behaviors and they did what the group is designed to help them do, they visited and talked to one another and just acted like kids. Thank you all for intense but wonderful year of spending time with your kids.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 Session - 14

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Hi Parents,

So one more group to go. Tonight was laser tag and we had thirteen out of our fifteen kids. Everything went pretty smoothly. We did have one episode of one of the kids striking another child. He hit him in the upper lip. Obviously, this is something that is completely unacceptable. I spoke with each of the parents involved and will be following up. This is always something that is hard because I don’t want to deny the opportunity for any child to attend group. But most importantly, I have to think about what feels comfortable for the group as a whole. We have been fortunate in that such events have been extremely rare throughout the history of our groups. When these kinds of things happen, it’s usually with children who either have more limited language or have in general, more difficulty controlling their emotions. Fortunately, the child who was struck handled it in an extremely mature manner. He and I had an opportunity to talk as we walked from Laser Tag to In 'n Out Burger. Other than this serious situation, the evening went smoothly and looked to be enjoyable for the kids.

Parents were really great, getting their kids there on time and picking them up on time. At laser tag, the kids really seemed to enjoy being on teams and the level of friendly competition was evident. They also were getting better at strategies in general and knowing what to do with their “down time” between games. They played two games of laser tag and then we gave them arcade tokens where they played for about fifteen minutes before we headed off to dinner.

Going to someplace like In 'n Out Burger is always an interesting challenge. On the one hand, it’s nice to see them socialize informally at a place that is more likely where they are going to go with friends than to some of the restaurants that we travel to. At the same time, we have less privacy, there are more “strangers,” which means we have to really monitor our supervision and pay extra attention when the kids go to use the restroom.

By the way, just a reminder on our policy on that: When a child goes into the restroom (if it’s a male) I immediately go in for just a moment and usually wash my hands (I wind up with really clean hands throughout the course of the evening) just to check and see if there are any other adults in there. If another adult happens to be in the restroom, I remain either in the restroom or right outside until the child has departed. If there are no other people in the restroom, I wait nearby and then watch to see if anyone enters and then I go back in to wash my hands again. Just thought you’d like to know that because I think that how your children are monitored and supervised when they are in public places is important information for you.

Having your kids going to a fast-food type restaurant is nice because it gives them a chance to order where there’s a bit of pressure, it’s a little too noisy, they have to say it correctly. We try to take correct their order if we hear something being said that we think isn’t what the child meant to say so we give them a chance on the spot to correct it. Tonight that happened with two kids who managed to slip in orders that weren’t exactly what they had hoped or planned to get. So their food was delayed for about 5-10 minutes. Having said that, it went extremely smoothly.

There was one apparently homeless person who lingered near the kids (we moved a couple of kids to create a safe amount of space). What was surprising to me was how little attention any of the kids appeared to pay to this person. It made me nervous because it was an individual who seemed to be interested in hanging around the kids, although nothing happened. I wish, as a group, they would show more awareness and even a little bit of trepidation in such situations. Just something to be aware of and watch out for.

The socializing between the kids was great. When the manager asked if the kids wanted hats, I assumed that they didn’t. (But how wrong was I?) Nearly all of the kids wanted to have one of those paper hats and they appeared to enjoy wearing them. As they walked around cleaning, couple of them told me that they were acting like janitors but I suggested that they were probably management material.

So now we have one more meeting. It will be at the office and that will conclude the program for this school year. Thanks to everyone.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 Session - 13

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 06 May 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Hi Parents,

Now we’re down to the third to last group session for the kids. Next time, we’re going to be doing to a community outing for laser tag and then we have our final meeting in the office, the first week of June. I have to say, once again, your kids really held it together certainly because there was a parent meeting and three different raffles, it was a chaotic evening, but other than some minor problems that were easily resolved by counselors, the evening went smoothly. So first to start with the minor problems. We did have two group members who decided that they thought it would be a good idea to pick a fight with each other and there was a very short amount of light hitting that occurred before it was quickly broken up. I think that each of the group members were surprised that the other person had hit them and it seemed to be very much related to being very impulsive and feeling out of control. The counselors handled it by separating the students and both of them were able to calm down successfully. One of the things that we noticed that happens in general is that when it is a more stressful evening and having the kids barbecue even though that’s a pleasant thing, is a stress. Also, having a parent meeting is a stress. It seems that on these nights, it simply is a more chaotic evening and interfering behaviors are more likely to occur.

Back to the barbecue. We started off going into Gelson’s and the kids really have gotten the idea that they have to occupy one side of the aisle or the other. They’re not as oblivious as they once were about other customers being nearby. They were able to figure out what they wanted and collaborate with one another to make sure that they shared things so we purchased steaks, kosher hot dogs and buns, and an array of sides and some fruit. We also threw in a dessert this time, which we don’t normally do. The kids were well organized, they all carried some of the food back with them, and we barbecued around 5:40 pm just in time for the food to be ready as the parent meeting commenced. The kids sat outside and other than the problems already noted, things went smoothly and there were three raffles. So our blue raffle is where everybody won, in our red ticket raffle, eight prizes were given away, and in our LUNCH points raffle, there were a total of two prizes given away for the three kids who had LUNCH points and were therefore eligible.

The parent meeting was wonderful. We had nearly every parent there and there was just a good amount of discussion. I can’t say we went over critical information, but rather parents simply asked questions about their child’s behaviors, what to do when they have meltdowns, and we addressed these from the perspective of what we do in group. So we talked about things like time away, I talked about positive practice, some of the modeling we do, and making certain that we’re giving them an opportunity to practice more positive behaviors even if it’s for short periods of time. We also talked about something known as habituation where if a child is constantly getting upset at something, you practice it over and over again even encouraging them to get upset and keeping it a little like a social story or scripting. That way by a child doing it repeatedly, they know they’re going to get upset. They tend to learn to have better control over that behavior. And the last thing that I recall we talked about had to do with differential reinforcement. Look this up on the internet and you will find it is a very easy way of reducing unwanted behaviors through reinforcing alternatives.

So as I said, two meetings left, one in the community and then our last session which will occur here around the office. And then we’re done for the year. Thank you very much for being such wonderful participants and I will look forward to seeing you soon.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 Session - 12

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Hi Parents,

Tonight we had a total of thirteen in attendance and Sophie made an appearance today. The group was surprisingly well organized, which, on the one hand should be expected at this point of time, but, on the other hand, is just impressive just because school’s nearly over and it’s getting towards the end of the school year. I am always amazed when they’re able to keep it together as they did.

They came in and Sophie was there and greeted them. The majority of the kids were appropriate with her and many of them had an opportunity to practice giving her commands, watching her sit and lay down. Additionally, I had recently made a video with her as part of a presentation that I had did and it had some humorous moments in it and also Sophie appears to be nodding “yes” and “no” to different questions. They enjoyed it, but true to form they seemed to enjoy it most when she was misbehaving (within acceptable limits, of course).

Because we are getting close to the end of group and we’re doing our progress notes, we had the kids go through “what I liked and what I wish was different.” They were very well organized about this and appeared to appreciate that it was done on an iPad (they also watched the video on the television which was being output from the iPad…technology moves forward).

For dinner, we went off for Chinese food and they were well organized in doing so and tonight was also a LUNCH Points raffle. None of the kids exhibited serious behavior problems tonight. We sent a few out of a few seconds up to a minute here and there, primarily SB and JH and both of them recovered nicely within a minute or two. One of the strategies that appears to work is letting them know that they are about to miss out on the other kids getting some kind of reward. It usually doesn’t seem to matter what the reward is (in our case it is a blue ticket), but that’s something they don’t want to miss on. At the Chinese meal, the kids were a little bit more tame about their food choices than previous groups have been, but I decided not to force them too much or make a big deal so a little more noodles than usual and no Kung Pao chicken and yet they seemed to enjoy themselves and have a good time. KK had plain fish, which he appeared to enjoy along with white rice and the other kids also found other things that they enjoyed as well. The main thing was the ordering to some extent and also the conversation between them which is what we look for most.

At the end of dinner, we did our LUNCH Points raffle and three kids won either a Best Buy card for $10 or a itunes card for $15.

Thunder storms had been predicted and we worried about whether we would get rained on, however luck was on our side and no rain occurred on our walking outing. Parents were on time and the evening ended uneventfully.

We have a parent meeting coming up the first week of May and that will be in the office at 6pm and we will work in one more community outing, which will be the third week of May so be prepared to drive somewhere else for that meeting and the final meeting will be the first week of June.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 Session - 11

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents:

We are getting towards the tail end of things. After tonight’s group, there are a total of four sessions left. For group tonight, we had ten kids out of our total of sixteen, and they had a pretty good time. We originally had planned to BBQ or go to the park, but, because we had a fair number of kids missing, (maybe Spring Break; not exactly sure) we opted for a different activity. Some of the kids continued “The best thing that happened to me in the past year was…” video project that we were working on, while others opted to play at tables outside in a “Guess Who tournament.” This was something that we hadn’t done in a while. Watching them yesterday, I’m sorry that we haven’t done it more frequently. Watching your kids engaged in game strategy, treating each other respectfully, talking back and forth, switching from one child to another, as they had winners and losers, was really an enjoyable experience to observe. For the kids in the video project, the reason for doing this is because it helps produce a benign stressor for them that helps them work on their social skills, emotional flexibility, language and executive functioning. You will see the results of this in our end of group video.

After the games and the video project had ended, (by the way, the kids who finished the video project also had a chance to participate in the games) we went off to dinner. Dinner tonight was Baja Fresh, and we had the kids practice ordering by looking at the server, and, with somewhat less success than I’d like to see, using the word “please” spontaneously. What is nice about Baja Fresh is that the tables are right near one another, and the kids can cluster in groups of threes and fours and eat and interact. That is exactly what occurred.

Overall, a nice evening. We focused, with a couple of kids, particularly ND, on pedestrian safety, and I had a chance to briefly speak with his parents afterward. In general, this is something that all of your kids should be mindful of. Because of the tendency for many of them to have trouble with attention, that places them at increased risk for getting into a pedestrian auto accident. Check the statistics, and you will see that this isn’t something that is an overblown concern. Their pedestrian safety skills need to be even better than kids who don’t have attentional difficulties.

Looking forward to seeing you later in the month. We will have our next parent meeting, our final parent in-office meeting, in the office on May 5th.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Parent Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents:

Tonight was the parent meeting for both groups, and it was reasonably well-attended. We had four parents from the kids’ group and five parents from the teenage group. During the evening, I showed videos of both the kids’ group and the teenage group as to what has been happening throughout the year, and also shared a project that I have been working on with the kids that involves “the best thing that happened to me in the past year was …” We talked about language and how we work in the group with kids on the effectiveness of their verbal communications, and being able to use language as a socialization mechanism.

Additionally, we talked about the role of executive functioning. Parents heard how many of their kids kind of got the instructions wrong, and sometimes had difficulty making their point clearly and succinctly. I reviewed how I work with the kids to have their conversations with a proper amount of detail, rather than excessive degrees that act like a prepositional phrase that goes on and on. Parents remained interested. Their were quite a few questions in general about overall diagnoses, and we talked about those in terms of the functional behaviors that they represent.

Parents asked about the summer group program, and we will be doing our end-of-group surveys in April, with a follow up to occur in June. Overall, as the parent meetings go, it went smoothly. Perhaps the only exception was that, in the buzz of conversation, we sort of forgot to order dinner, and the server didn’t take our orders until 6:45 p.m. The meeting broke up a little bit after 7:30, and parents could still be seen engaged in conversation fifteen minutes later in the parking lot.

We have group later this month, and then next month is our last parent meeting, in the office this May, 5th. There will be a final parent dinner in June. Much too quick!

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 10

noreply@blogger.com (LunchGroups) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents:

Tonight, the kids did a couple of things. Well, they did more than a couple of things. They came into the waiting room, and, rather than them using magazines, I asked everyone to put magazines down, and everybody but two children (KK and SB) complied. We talked about things that they had been doing as they came over from Gelson’s market, and what they had been doing there in the room. Most of the kids received blue tickets for either walking over in a relaxed way, talking with others, talking with staff, listening while others were talking, and other socially appropriate behaviors. Similarly, they earned tickets for having conversations or paying attention while they were in the office. One of the things that happened tonight was that there was simply a lot of laughing and good-natured interaction going on.

We transitioned from the waiting room to the training room, and all of the kids participated in continuing our movie-making exercise. (You may remember that we shot video of several kids describing the best thing they had done during the past year.) Now, those kids who did not participate had an opportunity either to make sound effects, applaud, or otherwise show their appreciation. I also showed them a little bit about video editing and “snipping off” parts of a video that you don’t want to include. The parallel to this, by the way, is to snip out or edit parts of conversation that you would rather not occur.

So, then it was off to our Japanese restaurant, Octopus, where the kids took about ten minutes to get there. One child, JH, arrived at group late and was not in a good mood. I stayed behind with him and another child, AB, who had been using the restroom. JH was socially inappropriate with his language on the way over, and, at one point, walked away from me a few feet and stepped about 1/4 of a foot into the curb as a truck was making a right turn. I immediately yelled at him at the top of my voice to freeze, and he did so and immediately came back to me. He then complied, for the remainder of the trip, with requests that I made, and, when I told him that he could earn hero tickets for controlling himself, at first he didn’t, but then, fairly immediately (within three minutes) calmed down. He also chose to sit at a table by himself, but then eventually joined the others. The rest of the group was tolerant of his behavior, and, for the most part, ignored it.

Many kids displayed appropriate eating, conversation and other behaviors. CJ and EY were sitting near each other, and appeared to enjoy their interaction, as did EM. SB only asked about going home, and whether the food was gluten-free, on a couple of occasions. ND, SW, SB, QM and AJ all appeared to be enjoying their conversations as they banded together. GU gave advice to EM about what to order, and she had a form of Udon. It was very hot, and I showed her how to cool it off, and also how to take out the noodles so it was not so hot for her. Many of the kids tried seaweed for the first time (the paper type that goes around sushi rolls) and many of them said that they enjoyed it. Overall, it was a relaxed, if slightly noisy, interaction. We hurried back, and everybody kept up and followed directions, and appeared to have had a good time.

In all likelihood, we will have next group meeting at either a barbeque or we will go to the park. Thanks for everything. Contact me if you have any questions or comments.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 9

noreply@blogger.com (LunchGroups) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Tonight was a combined kid and parent group. Because last time the presence of siblings proved to be intrusive for the group members, however unintentional, we originally requested that siblings not attend. Of course, that didn’t go as planned. Families informed us that they might not be able to attend if they weren’t able to bring siblings. That’s fine; we try to be accommodating, and it is certainly understandable. So, I assigned one of my staff to wait with the siblings at Gelson’s market in the outdoor area (new fireplace!) while the group members were in the office participating in the raffle. This worked pretty smoothly. A total of four siblings were supervised while they participated, and the kids’ behavior was much less disruptive than was the case last time.

Two group attendees, AB and EY, did not attend tonight, and one family called in. We instituted a new procedure where we allowed “raffle by proxy.” This meant that the one child whom we knew was sick (EY) was able to participate by phone and selected the prize she wanted to have, which she will receive next meeting. A prize was selected by a counselor for the other child (AB), and that will be held for him as well.

The kids participated in a movie project, where they talked about “best thing that happened to me this year…” and described it. You would think that this would have gone simply, but it didn’t. One child (SW) was unhappy that he would not be able to talk about his birthday, an upcoming event. Another child broadened it considerably and thanked his mother for giving birth to him. However, with modeling, positive practice and behavioral rehearsal, the majority of group members effectively participated in this activity. Several opted out and were told that they would be able to participate in sound effects and transitions for the second half of this particular exercise. Whenever possible, I try to make sure that every child feels included, and not every child feels comfortable talking in front of the camera. In any case, it was a good experience for them and seemed to go over well.

Sophie the Samoyed made a return appearance to group, and was both well behaved and well received. She seems to have a natural ability to know which children to go up to and which to leave alone (and the same was true for the parents). She is not disruptive in the meeting; however she can be an “attractive nuisance,” for the children to ignore. This means that the kids need to ignore her presence while they are listening or interacting. Sophie does her part by just sitting or lying down quietly, so it is up to the kids to be able to inhibit and filter their responses.

The group went over to Gelson’s market for dinner, and did their usual shopping, where they have opportunities to share. One child who had started off having a very difficult time (JH) was able to hold it together very well. He was told that he could get the 2 1/2 serving Gatorade if he wanted, but he had to drink only half of it. JH was agreeable to this, and did not present behavioral challenges throughout the remainder of the group session.

The parent meeting commenced promptly at a few minutes after 6:00. We had an excellent turnout; one of our best. We went over kids’ behaviors, talked briefly about LUNCH Points and how only some of the kids are earning them (encouraging all parents to participate in this program) and finally addressed individual parent questions for the remainder of the time. You could barely hear the kids, who were in the adjoining room, participating in the raffle. It made for a very full evening.

We have another parent meeting in two months, and there will be a parent meeting the second week in April, with a final parent dinner in June. Thanks to everyone, and see you at the next group.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 8

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents!

We broke new ground tonight. Your kids had an opportunity to spend a little bit of time in the office (and yes, several of the kids brought in LUNCH Points certificates and had an opportunity to play the Wii). Then we headed off to John O'Groats to the private dining room and spent the remainder of the evening there. In the waiting room, it was interesting to watch how many spectator kids began to converse among themselves and took an interest in watching the 4-6 kids who were involved in playing the Wii. The tone in the waiting room was very quiet, with occassional bursts of enthusiasm, and it was impressive to watch. The kids walked from the office, leaving at about 5:00 pm, and we arrived at John O’Groats at about 5:15 and remained there until 7:00. You might think that is a long time, and I guess it is. But, I wanted them to experience a more formalized dining experience that doesn’t just take up a short period of time and where there aren’t a lot of extra activities throughout. This was 100% successful.

The kids had a choice of ordering off the early bird special, the kids menu or the regular menu. As is our usual practice, they had to use polite manners in ordering, and the server was instructed to simply skip that person if they did not do so, and one of the counselors would explain that they would get a second chance when she came back later. That was consistently effective for the few kids who tended to either “bark” their orders to the servers, or were unacceptably brusque as they ordered. What was most impressive, however, was the number of who kids who spontaneously ordered in a polite and respectful manner. You should be proud of your kids!

As the ordering concluded, I queued up a slide show, letting them see what they had done recently at laser tag. Once again, it was impressive to see how much gentle and integrated conversation occurred as they watched the slide show. They certainly became excited when a particular child saw themselves on the screen, but they also commented on each other. It was really enjoyable to watch.

So, fortunately or unfortunately, for a period of time, there really wasn’t much for myself of the counselors to be doing, because everything was going so smoothly. When dinner arrived, we focused primarily on manners and alternating eating and conversation. A couple of kids ate too quickly for us to catch, and that is something that we will try and monitor more closely in the future. Other kids, due to difficulties with fine and/or gross motor control, tend to hold their silverware “caveman style,” or pick up food (such as French toast with maple syrup) that was really designed to be eaten with a fork and knife. And yes, a couple of your kids did order breakfast for dinner. John O’Groats has a great breakfast.
We ended by showing some animations. One in particular that I had shown previously, which is a gentle alien animation on compromise, was a big hit. The evening ended successfully with parents coming right on the dot at 7:00, and all of the kids being picked up and on their way by 7:05.

Just to let you know, if your child tells us right as we are leaving that they have to use the bathroom, we are going to let them know that they need to come outside, and then that becomes the parents’ responsibility. This is simply pragmatic in nature. We do have enough staff to be able to take kids to the bathroom, but, in reality, when you are on your way somewhere, you want a child to be planning ahead and requesting to use the bathroom before it is time to leave. So we use it as part of a teaching, self-monitoring approach with the kids. In all, it was an extremely easy group to run, and an enjoyable time, I think for your kids, and I think they will be looking forward to a return visit.

See you in March, and remember there is a parent meeting from 6:00-7:00 on March 3 for the group. Please remember, no siblings. -- Bruce

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 7

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents:

The kids’ group tonight was very interesting, and, I would say, went very well. We did kind of a backwards night. We spent, nearly the entire time out of the office. I started off, as I had promised the kids, by taking them for frozen yogurt. In keeping with the idea that we wanted to teach them portion control, we got them infant sizes. Now, infant sizes happen to cost $2.50, so no bargain there, but it was a suitably small portion for them, especially because we were going to continue on and take them to dinner next door at Numero Uno.

A lot of the kids did simply great. One of them, SB, was more in tune with other kids, and responded more easily, and even acknowledged that he had had a bit of a good time. Also, wasn’t as concerned with his diet. Lots and lots of social interaction, and one of the things that we began doing is tracking for our targeted interventions how often we were rewarding certain behaviors for the kids. Several of the kids were interacting in dyads and triads. CJ was playing with two other kids, QM and EM, and she was doing a “double thumb wrestle.” KK was more attentive and began using “please,” more. MH had a chance to practice asking another child to play but doing so politely. JH had trouble being in emotional control, but maintained, by and large. When offered tickets, he at first refused, but then changed his mind and was more accepting of them. DG had a chance to work on gross and fine motor control with spaghetti, and also conversations and jokes.

Dinner was one of the more conversational dinners that we’ve had with the kids. We gave lots of raffle tickets out, and we told them why they were getting them. At times, it was simply a very relaxed evening, and it was amazing to see that there were some fourteen kids who were there (we were missing two), and the group simply interacted quite well. We did a LUNCH Points raffle at the end; only three kids brought them, and, of the three, one of them, JC, repeatedly ignored my prompts that we were about to do the raffle, being so engrossed in his magazine. Finally, I proceeded with just two kids both with initials "SB." They did a coin toss; the coin landed on tails. One child chose a Nerf football and some other objects as his prize. JC, upon learning that he missed it, started to apologize, did not get upset at all, and maintained good emotional control.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 6

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents!

As you know, we were rained out last week. Thanks to so many of you who were able to accommodate and reschedule for tonight. Your kids seemed incredibly excited to come, and I'm happy to say that they just seemed to simply have a good time. None of them displayed unusual behaviors, difficulty listening to the sounds, no problems with the flashing lights. So, that was nice to see. They also engaged in good-natured competition, and they formed different groups within their teams, and simply seemed to enjoy the experience.

After laser tag, we transitioned walking over to Hamburger Hamlet, and the kids sat at two tables in the back. One of the reasons, again, that we do this kind of ordering in different restaurants, is to give them an opportunity to make choice on the menus, to be polite with staff when ordering, and to use good manners in general and enjoy themselves. To that extent, it was pretty successful. Only a couple of kids had any kind of problems, and those were managed using our usual procedures without further incident.

Remember, we will be meeting next week, and then we will be back on our first and third schedule. So, thanks to everyone. It was nice having the outing. -- Bruce

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 5

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents:

Tonight we had a pretty nice turnout. Two kids were unable to make it, so we had a total of fourteen. We accepted one last child, “N,” who got along quite well with the other group members. The kids settled into group without difficulties. Tonight, we used the time to spend more time talking as a group. Mostly we talked about what kinds of things they worked on outside of group. For those who were not earning any LUNCH Points, we talked about how they could go about earning them.

The group then went shopping over at Gelson’s, and that was a pleasant experience. “Controlled pandemonium” is probably the best way to describe it, but they were really generally pretty well behaved. Everyone found something to eat, ranging from turkey to sandwiches to macaroni and cheese, tri-tip; you name it. We always try to allow the kids to choose what they want while at the same time encouraging them to maintain some nutritional balance. Four alumni members helped me set up the waiting room, and we turned it into a dining hall with two tables of seven chairs each.

The parents came in at 6:00, and we had one of the best turnouts ever for the parent meeting. Only one parent was unable to attend, and it may have been our error that we did not email that parent about the meeting. Please do check the calendar on a regular basis as we always have the parent meetings posted. There will be a makeup tele-meeting for any families who were not able to attend this evening and/or families who wish to have a second go at the information that we covered. We reviewed how the website works, the LUNCH Points program and introduced the new vacation/my computer doesn’t work addition to LUNCH Points. We also talked about behavior management strategies. If you have any questions, please go ahead and email me, and I will be happy to answer them.

Our next meeting will not be in the office, but will occur at Laser Tag. We will be sending you detailed information about dropoff and pickup.

I hope you had a good holiday, and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 4

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents:

We had twelve kids tonight, and did sort of a holiday theme. They came in, and we talked about the LUNCH Points program. I showed them what parents need to do, and how the kids can earn raffle tickets when their parents fill them out. They were also reminded that they each have a “secret behavior” that, when they do it, will get them bonus raffle tickets. They were reminded that their parents are not supposed to ask them what the behavior is. So, it is their responsibility to tell their parents what the behaviors are. Parent are you listening? Don’t ask, please. We also spent time talking about what would happen in January; particularly the first parent meeting / raffle for the kids, followed by laser tag at the second meeting in January. They were uniformly excited about this.

At the start of group, the kids watched a short movie, which I took with permission with a new child, “N,” who will be joining the group in January.

The star of the show tonight turned out to be Sophie (the Samoyed). She hadn’t made an appearance in group since the summer, and some of the kids were struck by how much she had grown. Others simply were seeing her for the first time. I was surprised at how calm she was being around all the kids. She simply walked around, and, for the few kids who did not want her to come up, she did not; she just ignored them and walked right by. For other kids who wanted her to spend more time with them, she did her “standing up hug,” but also immediately got down when asked. So, that was nice to see. She remained quite calm given the circumstances.

We went to dinner early tonight. Dinner was at Tony Roma’s. We left shortly after 5:00. It was a good thing, because Tony Roma’s always manages to take longer than I anticipate, even when I anticipate. We finished up at Tony Roma’s at about 6:25, leaving us just enough time to come back to the office, where the kids watched a couple of animations.

If you have any questions about the LUNCH Points program, please view the video tutorial, send an email, or contact us and we will walk you through it over the phone. The behavior bonuses will start shortly. As long as you fill it out at least once or twice a week, that will be plenty.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, and I look forward to seeing you in January, 2010.

--Bruce

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 3

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Hi, Parents:

Tonight can best be described as “action packed.” We had our full group present, including one new group member (new “S”), and the group really rose to the occasion to help him feel comfortable, even though some of his behaviors were not exactly appropriate. He adjusted initially but then became somewhat bored as the other group members were doing animation, working on their projects and enjoying being an audience. However, he came around as the group went on.

We went for Chinese food tonight, and initially some of your kids said they didn’t like Chinese food, but none of them complained about going. (All right, maybe just one or two, but it didn’t last very long.) All of the group members interacted with one another; they were socializing during mealtime; they tried new foods; they respected children who had certain diet restrictions, and most importantly, they simply engaged in conversation.

Prior to dinner, what we did was focus on continuing a project where, in pairs, the kids come up with a joke together, create a comic for that joke that can be anywhere from one to three strip panels, and then read, i.e. narrate, the comic in front of everyone else. We completed three of these tonight, which means that six of the kids had turns to do theirs. As you’ll see when we post that on the web after next group, the majority of the kids are coming up with comics which may or may not be so funny, but some of the kids are coming up with comics that the group absolutely loves. In an exercise like this, it is easy for some moments to be boring for other kids, and working on self-regulation behaviors at these times is very important.

It’s dark now, very dark as we transition, and I have split the group up into two so that there are two counselors monitoring each seven or so kids. It makes the navigation part easier, and, in my opinion, safer. All of the group members are being pedestrian safe; we are not having any challenges in that area.

The thing that we will be focusing on from this point forward is not worrying quite so much about externalizing behaviors, because the majority of kids who exhibit externalizing behaviors are already showing more control and improvement. Instead, we will be focusing more on those internalizing behaviors that are present exclusively in some of your kids, such as shyness, difficulty with conversations and not noticing another person’s feeling state. We will be trying to be more effective in those areas with all of the kids.

Additionally, we started working more on manners tonight; not just eating manners, such as not banging the spoon and fork together or turning the plate upside down, but also working on how you ask for things. Going to Uncle Chen’s is a nice experience because the staff there is very comfortable with the kids, and they are well treated. All in all, a very nice evening; a very busy evening for the counselors and myself. We will be doing audio progress notes after the next group, so towards the end of December you will see you first audio progress notes for the kids. As a reminder, there will be parent meetings in the office the first week in January. More to come about that.

Thanks very much, and happy holidays. -- Bruce

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce (by AS)) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

We had a total of nine kids tonight. The numbers were a little smaller because we had to move the meeting night and also because a couple kids were sick. The group really is settling in very nicely and very quickly. For today’s project, they met in small groups with the counselors and practiced joke telling with one another. They then came into the larger room, and, two at a time, had an opportunity to tell me what the joke was. The joke was then transferred into a comic strip, and at the next meeting, everyone will have a chance to narrate it.

One of the things that is really nice to see is how the kids are really beginning to talk with one another, and some of the kids who were quieter at the first session are now starting to be more outgoing. We are also starting to see a little bit more misbehavior such as kids slumping or sitting sideways in chairs, but that is at a very manageable level.

One of the things that is coming up for many of the kids is manners, such as using their forks properly, knowing how to cut with a knife and trying new foods. Tonight’s foods to try were raw mushrooms and raw broccoli. The kids were told that they could earn a hero ticket for any child who tried these for the first time. Several of them partook in trying out the new foods.

Overall, the tone of the group was relaxed and organized. They crossed the street safely and stayed together as a group. No serious misbehaviors were noted.

There will be a parent teleconference (which will probably have already occurred by the time you read this) tonight; mostly for new parents. Our first parent dinner for both teen and kid parents will be the first Tuesday in December (December 1). The location will be announced in the next week.

The dinner ended uneventfully. However one thing that was interesting to note was the some of the kids became a little bit restless, while other kids were getting a second wind and finishing more of their meals, with many of them continuing to try new vegetables such as broccoli, mushrooms and spinach. They crossed safely but became a little bit restless as they were coming back. We had a chance to implement some of our safety procedures, such as staying away from the curb while walking, standing six feet away while standing at a corner, So, all in all, an enjoyable, uneventful evening. -- Bruce

School Year Kids/Teens 09-10 - Session 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Hi Parents!

Today was our first session for the 2009-2010 School Year Program. We had twelve out of thirteen kids attending. We have a total of four paraprofessional counselors. Some of you may remember Stacy, she worked last School Year. Carli worked during the summer program. We have a returning counselor, Linda and a brand-new counselor, Cyndi. Linda has her Master's in Psychology and Cyndi has been working in Special Ed for the past four years.

Back to the kids. Those who were returning seemed excited to be back, and many of them immediately recognized and said "hi" to one another. It was impressive to see how many of them have grown so much since May, and in one or two cases, even since the summer.

After they were dropped off by parents, we did something brand new. After saying their "goodbyes," we headed into Gelson’s market. The purpose of this was to give them an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the market, but also to help introduce them to quick group decision making. They quickly went past the deli, and some of them wanted some BBQ pizza, so we took one slice and cut it up into appetizer-sized portions. We selected some apples and also a bag of healthier-style popcorn. You would think that getting apples would be simple, but one of the children became a bit upset at the idea that the apples we were getting were not the kind he liked. He handled this disappointment. This is the kind of opportunity that often comes up in group, and we just try to normalize the experience for the kids.

After finishing up at the market, which went smoothly, alumni members each carried back one grocery item to the office, and we settled into the waiting room, where kids quickly looked at magazines. I spoke with them about what would be happening in group and had them go around and learn each other’s names. We then transitioned into the main room, where they were served their snacks, and then we did a Powerpoint together.

The purpose of the PowerPoint (actually Keynote) was for them to begin a simple group exercise where they take turns selecting their nicknames, identifying something they wish to earn during group for the raffles, then specify at least one behavior they wish to work on outside of group.

This took about 45 minutes and all of the kids had a chance to participate. We also watched a couple of animations, then headed off for dinner, tonight was Baja Fresh. Some of the kids were enthusiastic, others balked slightly, but everyone managed to get something to eat and visited with others.

The evening ended uneventfully and all of the kids looked as though they enjoyed themselves.

I have to be in New York the week of our next meeting, so we have changed the time to Tuesday, 11/10. This is a one-time situation. Otherwise, we should be meeting on the first and third Wed of each month. Also, the first Parent Telemeeting is scheduled for Tuesday 11/10, at 8pm. It's mostly for new families, but all are invited. You will each receive invitation links.

See you next time!

Bruce

Summer Session 09 - 12

noreply@blogger.com (Bruce M. Gale, PhD) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Today the kids went to the park and played for a period they been earning many more tickets than before for a range of prosocial behaviors. For example when we went for snack, those kids who chose fruits or other healthy snacks earned' Blue Tickets. For kids who typically never try fruit or other healthy items, they earned red Hero Tickets. After snack they came back and some of them were able to play the Wii after we reviewed their lunch point certificates. One child's parent forgot her LUNCH Points certificate and wanted to know if it would be all right to go back home and retrieve them. As we've discussed, this is a child responsibility. This really is much less about your child earning time on videogame or prize and more about helping them remember to do things that they feel are important. This can easily translate to homework and other types of important tasks were remembering something is crucial. If you help them very little or will take place. Instead they will continue to be dependent upon you to "save the date."

Some of the kids came in to work on animation. We continued working on our original cartoon and he began adding sound effects to it, with different kids taking turns. The reason we work on animation is less about the technology itself and more about paying attention, being able to follow requests the first time, alternating between doing things individually, in pairs, and as a large group on cue without additional prompting reminders. It also involves language tasks such as story generation, following a topic, controlling silliness and other relevant areas.

It is now time for lunch and today we plan to go to a Japanese restaurant, Octopus. We help those who needed assistance order their food and find something more to eat than "just rice." Many of the kids either ordered plain chicken, but a few brave ones either had sushi, California rolls, some tried tempura and other combinations. Perhaps our most challenging situation was the child who only wanted ketchup.

[Sorry... incomplete blog entry]