Kid Group Session #7

Hi Parents,

Tonight was a "regular raffle" night. That means ALL of your kids had a chance to win a prize. The way we do this is Rina converts their tickets to a color-coded strip of paper that shows them how many tickets they earned each session (both regular and "hero" tickets) and puts all of the number in sequential order. We have found that this dramatically speeds the amount of time it take them to determine whether or not they are a "winner." Even though every child does win, the order in which they win affects how many different prizes they are able to choose from. So, the kids who win early on have the greatest number of choices, and it dwindles as more and more prizes are handed out.

By the way, they don't just grab a prize and run. Remember the "N" in LUNCH Groups stands for Negotiating and the "C" stand for Communicating. That means they first wait their turn, politely and patiently, then have an opportunity to enter Rina's office to view the available prizes (she really arranges them quite nicely!). They discuss their possible choices with her, not acting too hastily and not taking too long. We strive for a balanced, positive emotional experience, but without them losing control or acting wild.

Once they complete the "transaction," which also requires that they use appropriate language, eye contact, and voice inflection/modulation, they are expected to say "thank you." Okay, we have to work on that a bit more.... not much thanking going on currently. Earlier in the group, I would prompt them to return and say "thanks," but I was conducting a "probe" to see how much spontaneous generalization was occurring. As I said, we'll work on that.

We had dinner at Gelsons, picnic style outdoors, the kids universally seemed to enjoyed that. I video-taped a fair amount during the session and will plan to show some of it at the upcoming parent meeting next session.

So, that's it for now. Behaviors are showing change on our side.... how about on yours? Remember, you are welcome to email me and provide a list of those behaviors you most wish for us to target. We will find a way to introduce them during the group that does not specifically make your child feel targeted, but allows him/her the opportunity to select one of them to be added to the LUNCH Points program.