That is the sound you hear when your kids have a great time, and wear out us out of shape adults (okay, just me). A truly active, fast-paced night with plenty going on, mostly good, some not so good. But, in the end, all worked out, although not without some challenges.
Group began with the kids shopping at Gelson's for their picnic meal; they bought sushi, macaroni, fruit, chicken strips, edamame, mashed potatoes, and drinks. We had the items packed in multiple bags, just so each child could carry something. The athletic equipment we brought along was horseshoes, a soccer ball, badminton rackets and a birdie, and a Frisbee. The park was about 5 blocks away, just enough for some to complain and for everyone to feel as though they had a bit of a "hike." Once we arrived, some initially refused to participate, but eventually all of them did become involved. There were dogs at the park and they seemed friendly, but it is my policy that we stay away from the dogs, so they remain a distractor for the kids to igore, which they did. We stayed at the park for about an hour, then returned to the office for a raffle.
Because we had so many different things going on with different kids (one started off crying, another had a nose bleed at the park), I wound up switching from my usual positive reinforcement approach to a negative reinforcement approach. It was interesting that this quickly increased motivation, but I didn't feel good about using it. An example of negative reinforcement is as follows: "All kids who are in front of me (I was the middle counselor at the time) in the next minute will earn a blue ticket." Several kids who were lagging behind ran to get in front of me. Of course, it didn't last.... once they received the ticket, they began to straggle behind. (That's the main problem with negative reinforcement; it is only good as long as the "deadline" or other situation to avoid is present. When it disappears, so does the student's motivation to change in most cases). With a few I was able to keep them going with positive reinforcement, primarily social praise, but not all.
In one case, I physically moved a child across the crosswalk by placing my arms under their rib cage and walking quickly with them. This occurred because I had prompted this child numerous times to move more quickly and there was no change in his behavior. Interestingly, the change in his walking and staying with the group lasted for a fairly long time after that. I consider this form of intervention to be "last resort" and somewhat extreme. With one other child who kept screaming at the other children, I also used a restrictive approach, yelling very loudly, "I said 'go.'" as they continued to straggle 20-30 feet behind others while screaming. This too followed less restrictive approaches, including reinforcing small bits of behavior, ignoring minor outbursts, and having other children model behavior, be reinforced, then reinforcing the child for modeling. In this case, after I yelled, the child responded by running and catching up with the others. After that, he was in more control of his behavior, less reactive, and generally more cooperative, even smiling. I think it was effective because 1) it comprised perhaps 1-3% of all group interventions; 2) it is brief; 3) I follow through on what I say I am going to do; 4) once it is over, I am looking for positive behaviors to reward, just as per usual.
In two cases I used "prescribing the symptoms" for children who were upset but wanted to eat. I told them they couldn't eat until they calmed down because it might give them a stomach ache. Each child calmed within 30 seconds and their time was uneventful following.
Ironically, the child who came into group crying stabilized the quickest of any of them. I initially tried talking to this child, which was unsuccessful, then switched to just handing him things (e.g., groceries), praising him for getting in and staying in control, and treating him gently but without special consideration.
All of the kids won a prize and everyone's mood had improved by the time we were mid-way through
the park. We tried something different for the raffle tonight: we had our usual ticket strips (see left), but we also handed out "strips of tickets" for the number they earned today. These provided a novel opportunity for them to follow (for some, struggle) with comprehending directions and having to act upon them quickly. They also had to switch "sets" between reading their traditional strips and finding the numbers on the blue tickets. Just having to tear the strips lengthwise so the number groups remained together and asking others for help was a new experience in group for some of the kids. Every eventually did well with this exercise.All of this serves to highlight the critical necessity of evaluating each child's situation and how they respond to lower level, less restrictive approaches, but not being afraid to using a more restrictive approach temporarily if their behavior appears to warrant it, then monitoring for any positive or negative fallout afterward.
Next meeting will combine a group meeting and a parent meeting in the office during the last hour. We have just two group meetings left. All families who are interested in the Summer program should have already contacted Rina. If you have not, please let her know immediately so she can send you the paperwork. We have begun interviewing new kids whose families are interested and will likely fill up in the next two weeks.
That's it. I'm also doing individual audio progress reporting for each child. You will receive those sometime next week.
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