Kid Group Session #9

Hi Parents,

Tonight was interesting and, I must say, a little hectic at times. We were not as consistent as usual in responding and I processed through why that might have occurred. Interestingly, in part it was related to many of the students, especially the one who tend to be a bit quieter, opening more more. A lot of positive socializing occurred and it was an active, occasionally overly loud group. No major tantrums, almost reminded me of what a school situation look like.

We began the avatar "joke-telling" project and that went well. Many of your kids had many, many LUNCH Group certificates, some as many as 11 of them. We allowed 8 kids to play the Wii, breaking into teams. In hindsight, I think I made an error in allowing that but I didn't to leave out kids who were really excited to have earned certificates and wanted to play. Next time, I think I'll limit it to four, regardless, and maybe switch off during the group.

Some of the kids, mostly the boys, were, at times, verbally inappropriate with one of the girls and, also, we were not as proactive on that as I would like to have been. I checked in with staff, made some adjustments in how to respond when that happens, and I think we'll be much better prepared if it occurs again. The other girl and one of the boys however "stood up" to this inappropriate behavior. I will address this over the next two sessions in group. The main thing that didn't happen, that I want to occur next time, was having them spend more time practicing positive behaviors right after a problems occurs.

Working on the avatars went very well. I'll show the set up at a parent meeting, because it is difficult to describe. In essence the child has a chance to select the avatar character they wish to become. Next, we calibrate the system by having them "smile," "acti angry," blink their eyes, and "open their mouth." Aside from being a compliance task they never refuse, it helps them focus on their own behavior. Their back is to the TV showing the avatar in motion, so they don't see it until they are done telling their joke. The small "audience" in the room claps together as a way of saying, "action" and cheers the person on after they finish telling the joke. Some of the kids who tend to be quieter were more outgoing today, and that was nice. Additionally, for kids with more attentional problems, it is a useful attentional task.

The kids tolerated a lot of changes tonight as we progressed through the group. Even though some of them showed slight and episodic overreactions, they were short-lived and of extremely mild intensity. Going out to eat went well and there was quite a bit of socializing occurring. ONe of the kids inadvertently wound up with one of the staff's dinner.... that was interesting but worked out in the end.

Next meeting is off to Laser Tag and all of you should have received detailed instructions thins evening.

In two weeks (the night before group) we will again be having Chinese food. Some of you complained about the service, so I visited the restaurant and spoke to them. They are now under new ownership and the person I've known there promised things would be better and back to normal. So we're going to try it again, more info to follow.

So that's it for now. The group is full at this point and we will not be taking on any new students. Feel free to email me if you have questions or comments.