With Barbara still out, things have been a bit hectic. We just started our classrooms “push
ins” where we work with an entire class to help students master socialization
skills, so
currently I’m running three small groups AND facilitating three classroom push
in programs. I wish I could say
everything was going well with both Ryan and Mary in group, but we’re
experiencing a few setbacks.
Ryan has been acting out in group lately. He tends to gravitates towards strong willed,
outspoken male figures, probably due to the lack of a strong male figure in his
household. In this case, Ryan has
started to follow the negative
behavior of another group member who is older and much bigger than he is. Specifically he inappropriately mocks other
students within the group and does not follow direction.
I’m
trying to make Ryan aware of his behavior through a role model technique. Two
people will act out a skit in which one person influences the other to do
something which has negative consequences. The goal is for Ryan to notice the
poor behavior in the skit and recognize it in his own actions. Ryan and I also speak after each group
session about his behavior. I try to verbally encourage Ryan and praise him for
his strengths. By reinforcing his
positive actions he will slowly decrease his negative actions.
As
for Mary, after observing her behavior through the group process it seems she may
need individual counseling as well. When
she speaks her thoughts are often unclear and off topic. I have tried calling on her more often and
encouraging participation so I can gain a better understanding of her social
skills. The other day, she got up to
speak to the entire group but just stood there silently with her hands wrapped
around her body and looking defensive.
When I questioned her, she expressed that she wanted to leave and felt discomfort
due to the ethnic composition of the group.
To address her concerns, I refocused the group to discuss
multiculturalism. We openly discussed
similarities and differences between races and ethnicities. I wanted Mary to feel more comfortable in
her surroundings, but also wanted to address the topic as a group, in case
other students had similar feelings. I’m
scheduled to speak with Mary’s mother to discuss Mary’s reaction and behavior
to better understand the source of her feelings.
The nature of our
work is not linear; there are days of great success and sometimes some bumps in
the road. Ryan was doing so well at the
end of last year, but seems to have gone back to some of his poor
behaviors. After working closer with
Mary it seems that her social issues are much deeper than I originally
anticipated. What’s important is that we’re able to see these behaviors and
understand the source and figure out how to help.
