Summer Session 09 - 12

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]

Summer Session 09 - 11

Kid blog entry-Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Today was a community outing day. We started off in the office for about an hour and worked on creating PowerPoint type animation (actually Keynote) by adding pictures drawn by one of the group members combined with jokes told by pairs of group members. The kids also had a chance to play the Wii (about seven of them) and we held two raffles. The first was a Hero Ticket raffle and we gave away eight prizes. Aside from the fact that the raffle is an enjoyable opportunity to win prizes, it also allows us to work on feelings of disappointment and monitoring, when there is no motivation. What I mean by the last part is that the the kids are expected to continue monitoring their tickets and numbers to see if they won, even after they may have won a prize. This helps the raffle process move along smoothly.

Around 10:35 AM we went out to catch a bus and headed off for an early lunch, arriving around 11:10 AM. Today we ate at Hamburger Hamlet and nearly all of the kids ordered lunches, mostly their mini burgers. There's quite a bit of socializing which is always nice to see. I made a special point of talking to the kids about eating more slowly because some of them have a tendency to consume their meals fairly quickly. Afterwards we headed off to Ultrasound for two games of laser tag. All of the kids commented that they had been looking forward to this and seemed to enjoy themselves. We came back on 1:45 PM bus arriving back to the office at approximately 2:05 PM. This allow just enough time for the kids to collect their items and also for us to have two lunch points raffles.

There were very few behavior problems occurring today. One child, "J," became fearful at the start of laser tag as he had when we went previously. He did not become upset initially, but rather after he asked me to "stay right by my side," and I reminded him that I promised that I would keep them safe while he was in there. It was at this point that he became upset in insisting that someone had to be right next to him. I felt that reinforcing that behavior, especially when he had enjoyed himself immensely the previous time after he had come down from becoming upset, would be taking a step backwards. He then approached another staff and made the same request. It was interesting to watch that after he entered the room, within one minute he was off running around playing laser tag with other kids and had completely lost interest in me. (Clearly, my presence wasn't as important as it initially indicated). I think it's important to recognize that many times kids become fearful and while it is important to provide reassurance, is also helpful to recognize that this can be a learning opportunity to teach them what is safe versus unsafe. A child who is acting as though an environment is unsafe is likely to maintain dependency upon others and, left unchecked, these behaviors can easily carry into adolescence or even adulthood.

The second problem involves one of the children, "J," who had forgotten to bring a replacement plan for the one that he had broken purposely on Monday. I asked him to describe to the group what the problem was asked for their input. Several members felt that he should not be able to participate in any activities today, clearly a much harsher consequence than I would have ever considered. We decided then he would have an opportunity to participate in the raffle today, provided he agreed to bring in to replacement pens on Friday. He was reminded that this was his responsibility, not his parents and the pens did not have to be new, just in working order. Later in the day, as we were waiting for the bus return home, another child picked up a penny that had been lying in the dirt, mixed in with trash. I instructed that child to put it back down. Moments later, "J" took the opportunity to pick up the penny that that child had put back. I informed him that the penny had now become his reward rather than the opportunity to participate in the final LUNCH Points raffle today. Situations like that are difficult, because when you have a child who is seeking negative attention, as "J" did at different points throughout the day, consequences are rarely an effective solution. Rather, prosocial teaching opportunities are preferred. Since however, we were at the end of the day, and "J" has also encountered trouble at lunchtime purposely burping and earlier purposely making "farting sounds," it seemed appropriate to use at least some kind of limited consequence. This also brings up one of the potential disadvantages of a short-term program. Since "J" has only recently escalated his frequency of these negative attention-getting behaviors, there is an insufficient amount of time left in the program to work on that more effectively. It generally makes sense not to make too big a deal or focus too much on negative behaviors especially at the end of the group program, but rather to leave it for another opportunity, whether it is through our program or elsewhere.

In general the group appeared positive and enthusiastic and several of the kids continue to ask what we would be doing Friday which we told them we would explain on Friday. That's it for today.

Summer Session 09 - 10

Kid blog entry-Monday, July 27, 2009

This begins our last week of the intensive summer program for kids. Today is mostly an in office day because, on Wednesday, we will be headed off to laser tag for a second time. Friday is mostly a “wrap up” day. We will have completed all of our raffles earlier in the week and we mostly spend the day on “end of group” activities. Sometimes the kids have emotional reactions to group closure and I have found that staying close to the office, with the exception of having lunch nearby, seems to be most productive.

Today’s session included working on a new type of animation where the entire group had an opportunity to participate. It will be posted later this week because there are some publishing tricks I need to perform to get it up on the web. Most of the kids did find today, except three had increased levels of externalizing behaviors.

We started the day off by serving breakfast to your kids. I had announced this at the parent meeting the previous Friday and most of the families knew about this. It should also have been posted on our calendar and I’m sorry that I neglected to do that. In any case we served them pancakes (yes I made them from scratch at home the night before and refrigerated them), bananas and blueberries, turkey bacon, dry cereal, and orange juice. One child does not eat dairy and so, for him, I made a special nondairy version of the pancakes (surprisingly good!). I’ve never seen 40 pancakes disappear so quickly as they did into the mouths of your children. What was especially nice was that we saw a level of conversational interaction that simply normally is never seen early in the morning when they first arrive.

After breakfast we began our Hollywood High animation project. Initially, some of the kids were out in the waiting room playing the Wii, having earned them through their LUNCH Points. The others remained in the training room and I demonstrated how this new type of animation works. Actually, it’s a very old program that will not run on Windows Vista and will not run on the new version of Mac OS. Despite that, it is a quick and robust method for having your kids pay attention to story lines, conversations, emotional expressions, and simply being creative. The story that developed turned into a classroom teacher who speaks with an unidentified individual as the two of them relate what they did during the summer. It’s a bit silly, but it held your kids’ attention for nearly 2 hours during the day today as they put it together, working on it before and then finishing it up after lunch. I especially liked the fact that we were able to have two kids generate entirely different endings for the story, and the group was able to blend them together to create one integrated ending.

Lunch today occurred at Chipotle, and nearby Mexican restaurant. Your kids learned a valuable skill today, unintentionally. Apparently the question, “is it spicy?” Is important to ask. Some of the main entrées are not spicy while others are. One of the things I like best about this particular restaurant is that they have an area, which for our group, turns into a “conversational pit.” Watching your kids just having a bite to eat and sitting around talking with one another is extremely rewarding.

After lunch we finished up the animation, made chocolate dairy and nondairy milkshakes for the kids, and had our final Blue Ticket raffle, and called it a day.

I did mention that there were problems with three kids. One child, “J,” had started off having a rough day and chose to express himself by purposely breaking our sign-in pen. when he was asked about this, "J" said that he had been angry. I acknowledged his feelings and explained that being angry did not give him the right to damage our property. Initially he seemed to have little interest in trying to resolve this and made little eye contact, something that is not uncommon for children who have just behaved in an oppositional or defiant manner. I told him that the pen which he had broken had now become his reward since he didn't appear to have any interest in discussing the matter further. He looked somewhat surprised, and asked him if he cared about receiving that is the reward as opposed to participating in the upcoming Blue Ticket raffle, which would be held later in the day. He indicated that he "didn't care" and I said that that was fine and just keep the pen and return to group. Parents and others often assume that when a child says "I don't care" they actually mean it. I've found that it's best to us than they really do care but not to confront them at that point in time. In the case of "J," my plans to let him sit with this information for a few hours until the time of the raffle and then to reapproach him. In fact, later when it was time for the raffle and I informed him that currently has reward was the broken pen and once again asked "do you care?" I received a different reply. This time "J" said "I do care." Obviously the pen itself was irrelevant and this was much more about the level of antisocial behavior that needed to be addressed. The plan that we came up with was that "J" would take responsibility for bringing in a replacement pen on Wednesday in return for participating in today's raffle. Those of you out there who are strict behaviorists probably feel that I have things a little backwards. However for me to behavior that I was rewarding was a child's acknowledgment that they had done something that was unacceptable and I felt the "J's" statement to this effect was significant.

The second child, another "J" had a meltdown in the morning, after staff asked him to place his toys that had been in his pocket and found their way onto the desk, in the adjoining office. He became inconsolable over these two pieces of plastic and, when I could not calm him down in the office, I took him outside. He began making negative statements saying that he did not deserve to be in group and he did not deserve to participate in the raffle. I had made no mention of taking any of these things away from him and chose to verbally punish him for making these negative statements. Early on in group when he was making frequent negative statements I initially tried to be supportive, which caused the frequency and intensity of them to skyrocket. Ignoring the statements does not appear to work as they have a self reinforcing quality. Verbal punishment has been effective in creating "teachable moments" and providing an opportunity for him to say something more positive and/or neutral about himself or the situation. This one did not resolve as easily as previous ones and it was necessary to give him an actual "timeout," Something I almost never do. I had a counselor remain with him and placed him in a seated position outside that, while not uncomfortable, did not provide him with additional reinforcement. They were both instructed that, when he was calm enough to return, he was welcome to come back into the group. After approximately 10 minutes when he did not comment down, I let him know that we were about to do "a surprise" and I was sorry he was probably going to miss it because he was so agitated. At that point "J" began screaming "I don't want to miss the surprise." I reminded him that the only way he would have access to the surprise was to be calm and in control of his emotions. Within two minutes he had completely calmed down and was able to return to the program. He participated without incident for the rest of the day.

The third child, "A," had his meltdown during lunchtime just as we were about to order. As with the second "J," I was unable to calm him down quickly in the restaurant environment as I had on previous occasions. I asked him to go outside and he refused. At this point I picked him up and carried him outside, something that he did not like but my purpose was to quickly move him into a different environment so he could begin the process of calming down and begin collecting himself. Because he was outside closed to traffic I lightly held his wrist. He did not want this to occur and began to struggle and I explained to him that it was not an option to have me not holding his wrist as long as he was agitated and outside near traffic. I explained to him that I was worried about him and wanted him to calm down and, once he regained control, he was welcome to return and join the group as well's order his lunch. within a couple of minutes he calmed down and was able to return to the restaurant. It almost went smoothly after that, however he was ordering his food in a way that bordered on "ordering around" the staff behind the counter. We use positive practice, which he found mildly frustrating but complied, to have him order in a way that was more respectful.

The rest of the day went smoothly and, as I alluded to earlier, we did a Blue Ticket raffle, where each of the kids had an opportunity to win a prize. That pretty much covers today.

Summer Session 09

Hi Parents,

No, you didn't miss a previous blog, I'm just a little behind in trying to catch up. This recounts what we did on Wednesday, when we had a great time on a community outing. We took the bus to Sherman Oaks and spent time at Ultra Zone, where the kids played two games of laser tag. Because our scheduled time wasn't until noon, we had an early lunch at In and Out Burger. All of the kids found something he, with one essentially having the burger equivalent of a grilled cheese sandwich. A couple of kids had wanted to find "healthier alternatives," and we offered to take them to a nearby minimart. But, when he came down to it they opted for burgers as well.

One of the reasons for taking your kids to laser tag is because there will be many birthday party opportunities coming up that will likely involve this particular activity. Additionally, it provides us with an opportunity to help your children work on behavioral and emotional control in a situation that, for some is overstimulating, and for others is unpleasant. One child in particular, "J," was terrified of going in. This is always a tough clinical decision for me because I never want to force a child to do something but, at the same time, I also don't want to miss an opportunity to help them cope more effectively with phobic-level fears. In the case of J, I made a decision that I would require him to go in for just a few minutes. Easier said than done. He screamed, he protested, you would have thought that I was torturing him. This behavior lasted approximately 3 minutes. Then he calmed down, began to search for other kids to shoot with his laser (by the way they are not lasers and the lights cannot harm the children; they are infrared beams which is the same kind used on remote control devices). J stayed near me, which was just fine. By the second game, he began to separate from me and was playing on his own with other kids. This is an example of one of the positive benefits of using the controlled environment setting we have within the LUNCH Groups program.

The rest of the kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly, except for one girl "E," who was having a very hard time. She misperceived other children pointing their lasers at her and became angry when this occurred. I had assigned one of the counselors to remain close to her and she and the counselor stayed together throughout the laser tag experience. During the first game we asked her to wear a vest, in the hopes that she would desensitize. However, when it became apparent that that was not a good strategy, during the second game we just asked her to walk around, not wearing a vest. This worked better.

The bus ride to and from was uneventful and your kids were well behaved, in fact the bus driver spontaneously commented how much better behaved they were than most of the riders he encountered.

All in all, a long, tiring, and fun time for all.

Bruce

Summer Session 09 - 5

Today was laser tag! We started off in the office and worked just to talk a bit and review what would occur. The original plan had been to head off to laser tag in Sherman Oaks then have lunch at Hamburger Hamlet. As it turned out, they preferred In N' Out nearby, so we had one laser tag game, went to lunch, then returned for a second game. It all went extremely smoothly and they appeared to have good time. Going to laser tag represent a highly stimulating experience for some and can be a bit frightening for others. None of the kids had a significant challenge and no one seemed bothered by the noises, dark environment, or flashing lights.

Lunch went smoothly. Juggling orders for 14 teens would seem a challenge, but the group cooperated so well together that it went very smoothly. In the early sessions, I had the counselor interspersed with the kids. But now, they sit on the side or at the end and just "rabbit punch prompt" as needed. This form of prompting (my term for it) means they go over, facilitate the opportunity for a desired behavior to occur, then get out of the way. Same for reinforcement, which is typically social praise or in the form of a ticket (we just tell them and check it off on our clipboard when we're out of the office.)

The bus ride to and from went smoothly as well. Nearly all of the kids were socializing and, even though a couple had never ridden a public bus before and expressed some trepidation, no problems arose. The wait for the bus on the way back (came right away on the way there) was considerably, perhaps 20 minutes, and some of the teens showed more signs of impatience, which addressed with them. Upon returning to the office, there was just enough time for them to get water and head out for the pickup.

Definitely a busy, hectic, fun day!

Bruce

Summer Session 09 - 4

Today was "Park Day." We started off by purchasing snacks at Gelsons for them to take to a local park. After a short stop in the office to pick up supplies (Frisbee, horseshoes, badminton rackets, soccer ball) we took a 10 minute walk to Libbitt Park, just north of Ventura Blvd. Except for 1-2 kids, all of them engaged in a variety of physical play activities, which they mostly structured themselves. I worked with them on a little bit of soccer (my years of soccer coaching paid off) and on how to throw Frisbees (it's all in the wrist action, you know!).

Lunch occurred at California Pizza Kitchen and went extremely smoothly. Just to make you aware, whenever a child needs to use the restroom (that seems to happen a lot), I go in and make certain the environment is safe. Depending, I either wait if other adults are present, or wait outside if your child is the only one there. The counselors do the same for the girls in the group.

At this point, we're looking for quick decision-making when ordering, compromising, and social interaction. Most of the kids had "kid's meals" and I supplemented by ordering a couple of extra pizzas and a full salad, which a couple of kids earn Hero Tickets for trying.

We came back after lunch and conducted our first "blue ticket" raffle. Everyone wins in this one, however there are limitations on the number of certain prizes (e.g., Slinkys) so those who win earlier have more choices. The process of "winning" is an exercise in itself. The kids receive color-coded strips with all of the tickets sorted in numerical order. This makes it much easier than poking through a pile of tickets to see if they won. We call out the last 3 digits of the number, and paying attention certainly matters. We give extra attention to those kids who might have any learning challenges to help guide them through what to do. Once they win, they either go into the other room where a counselor is seated with prizes on the desk. Or, if another child is already in there, they wait in the magazine room until it is their turn. Interestingly, if a child becomes too absorbed in their magazine, they might miss their turn as another child goes in. We allow this to occur, then remind them to pay attention to when it is their turn.

Once in the room, they can ask questions about the different prizes (robot spiders, slinkys, gift cards for $10 to different stores, etc) and can choose 2 small prizes or 1 bigger one. Acknowledging the counselor's "Congratulations!" is important. We're not so concerned with what they say, just that it be context-relevant and that they show some body orientation toward the counselor as they respond.

The LUNCH Points program is now up and running. Consult the web site, http://www.lunchgroups.com, or email me if you have any questions.

Bruce

Summer Session 09 - 3

The kids are starting to show more group cohesion and we've been able to successfully work with the majority of those who display oppositional or less/non-compliant behavior. Typically Positive Practice is the method we use. This is where we have them "back up the the tape" of what they just did and demonstrate the behavior in a more positive way. We also make use of both the "blue tickets" and "hero tickets." Blue tickets are given whenever a child exhibits a positive behavior that we want to see occur more often. Hero tickets are given for behaviors that require more motivation and effort.

As for group today, it was certainly a bit hectic, but there was quite a bit going on. We started off by shopping at Gelsons for frozen fruit to make our own smoothies (I purchased a high powered blender to do the job). Practically all of them them tried it and they generally gave it a "thumbs up" (frozen strawberries, mango, apple juice, and little orange sherbet). Lunch slightly delayed to coincide with the parent meeting from 1:15pm-2:15pm. The kids worked on more of their first project, creating voices. They also watched a cartoon about negotiating, which I will be discussing with them at a future date (two aliens try to change colors on Earth then compromise).

The parent meeting was audio-recorded and a link will be sent to families next week to access it. We mostly covered what strategies parents need to employ to support the program and plan for generalization of gains. Major areas included: types of consequences used, an explanation of how to prompt and remind kids, use of social rather than tangible reinforcement, and avoiding any "promises for being good in group." We also reviewed the LUNCH Points program, which is our home/community behavior generalization system and this will go live over the weekend.

While the parents met, the kids were outside with four counselors (Rina provided backup) eating what they had purchased at Gelsons then played games, before coming inside for more activities. The only disruption, ironically, where the kids who were not part of group who accompanied their parents and waited in the waiting room during the meeting. It's hard to juggle and, that proved to be one additional distraction, but overall, we were able to cover what we needed.

There will be a parent dinner for both groups next Tuesday and another parent meeting, just for the Kids' Group in two weeks. Consult the calendar. Teleconferences have not presently been scheduled, but if you wish to review how to use the web site or need assistance with other technology, email us and I will set one up.

Have a great weekend!

Bruce

Summer Session 09 - 2

Our second meeting went extremely well, especially considering that two children were having some personal matters ongoing that could have easily impacted their emotional functioning. As it turned out, both participated and we made special provisions to make some individual time available as needed. Today involved the kids working on their first project (click on "Current Projects" under our "Group Project" page) and taking a walk to Michael Jackson's parents' house, which is just up the street from my office.

As it turned out, it was a good time to go because they were in the process of taking down the blockade which has been diverting traffic since he passed away. The kids had been asking about this since the first group, since they were able to see people walking up and down the street. We stopped in for a quick "walking snack" at Gelsons; most of them selected fruit (which the produce staff kindly washed for them). Next, they walked the long block up from Ventura to the house. After they read the signs and saw what was there, they met with a news reporter who spoke to them a little about her job and posed for pictures with them. (Not my idea, the group asked her and she graciously obliged). We will print out pictures of those who participated.

About the only thing that has come up which is really minor overall is that, we have one child who speaks very negatively about himself and I'm searching for the proper intervention to help with that. And, we have another child who displays behaviors at times that stand out or make him appear unusual and we're figuring out the best way to address that. Otherwise the group is showing cohesion, interest and doing quite well.

They are showing excellent ability to be organized and work on emotional control. Many of the kids are earning hero tickets because they are interested in trying new activities. We will be talking more about the LUNCH points program, which is designed to facilitate home and community behavior generalization.

The drop-off today was smooth. Thanks parents! All of the kids were picked up within just a few minutes of the planned time. Remember.... Parent Meeting this Friday from 1:15pm-2:15pm in the office.

Summer Session 09 - 1

Hi Parents!

Today we had 14 kids come for the first summer session. I have to tell you.... they were simply GREAT! Usually group members do not follow directions this well until a few sessions into the program, but not your kids. Since it's the first day, we're getting to know them all and they're getting to know each other.

The day began with them learning each others' names, followed by them choosing nicknames, talked about different restaurants they liked, and different kinds of prizes they wanted to earn in the upcoming raffles.

We also went to Gelsons for our snack around 10:20am and stayed there for 1/2 hour. Returning to the office, we took a poll about healthy and less healthy snacks. You will seeing more about this in a future blog. Before we knew it, lunch time rolled around and the group chose to go to Numero Uno, a 3 minute walk. It was at the restaurant we encountered some of our first problems (very mild though). Some kids couldn't make a food choice, some spilled their drinks, and others used the bathroom frequently. One child pinched and briefly went to a different table, then returned after what"seemed like 20 seconds" (so he said, but really it was closer to five minutes). Most of them used "please and thank you" spontaneously and, in general, the three other counselors rated their behavior as "good."

We returned and they helped me write this entry (won't be doing that everytime!) and we talked about what kinds things they were willing to change to earn even more tickets, both in group and outside of group. It was a little boring for them, until we began talking about where they wish to go for the community outings and what behaviors they wished to change. One of the counselors gave me feedback that she thought it may have caused a loss of momentum (spent about 20 minutes) and I think she was right. My interest and intention was to see how well they recalled details as a group and, to this end, it was a useful exercise for me.

The day ended reasonably uneventfully, although a few things occurred that are worth mentioning. First, a couple of the group members, who had been stable and essentially "fine" throughout the day, became a bit emotional. My strategy for that is to try to help them get back into control pretty quickly, and both did, taking less than 4 minutes for each.

The other thing that occurred had to do with parent pickups. It really helps us if parents are either waiting at the white metal barrier at the southwest end of Gelsons. Coming to get your child or motioning for them to come to you makes it hard for us to keep track of everyone and get the necessary parent signouts. So please, help us out on this one!

Looking forward to Wednesday!

Bruce