Kid Group Session #2

We had 7 participants tonight and I think, overall, a number of nice things occurred. We should have had 11 and I'm a bit concerned, since usually we rarely are missing more than 1-2 kids. Hopefully this will sort itself out soon, since it affects our ability to keep things balanced and to pay attention to how the kids are progressing.

They started off the evening with all of the kids participating in passing and sharing a single remote for bowling. It went smoother than you might think and they were talking and enjoying themselves. We stopped the game prematurely (remember, there are disappointments in life) and they all tolerated that, some more successfully than others, and entered the main room. We have continued to refine the seating arrangement and it seems to work well for them.

The newest member, an 11 year old girl, participated in choosing a nickname, something to earn, and something to change which helped bring her up to the level with the other kids. One child who had been experiencing difficulty making a decision about what to work on, initially had a hard time, but did successfully make a decision (and earned a "hero" ticket for his efforts).

Project Time: The group completed a cartoon project, which will be narrated and animated and will be posted at this location. However, to see what they created, look below. The group completed this, from start to finish, in about 20 minutes. A couple of time I asked kids who were being disruptive to leave the room. They stayed in the waiting room for about 2 minutes, then were given the opportunity to return.

Afterwards, it was off to Numero Uno. The walk over was uneventful and I was surprised how much casual conversation occurred.

The kids ordered efficiently, with a couple of them being skipped over for not ordering politely. All around every child continued to earn our "blue tickets" for prosocial behaviors, with some kids earning "hero" tickets for more difficult behaviors. No significant problems occurred at dinner and everyone seemed to enjoy their food.

The only problem we encountered was upon our return. One of the group members began taunting another, and this occurred right in the middle of crossing Ventura Blvd., an unacceptable safety violation. When it was apparent that child was not calming down and focusing more on his behavior, I had him and a peer remain behind and practiced calming down for a few minutes. This was effective and both kids were able to return back to Gelsons without displaying the kinds of interfering behaviors that had just been observed (frankly I think one of them was tired and this was a trigger).

Group ended on a positive note. The one child who brought a toy went with their parent to retrieve it after pickup. All parents were great, from what I could see, at positively greeting their children without asking "how did it go?"

We missed those of you who were not able to attend and look forward to seeing you at the next meeting. This will be a combined group/parent meeting, occurring the first week in November.

The LUNCH Points program will start by the end of this week and everyone will receive notice. Unfortunately, some kids will not be able to participate because of not attending, but we will include as many as we possibly can. See you the first week in November!