Today is our second session and an alumni member joined and we also had one group member out today due to illness. The group is clearly starting to gel and the group members are being very cooperative in allowing us to target various behaviors that are associated with inattention, executive functioning, minor repetitive behaviors, and difficulty summarizing information. We started off the session by looking at a couple of animation samples using a program that I’ve used for years called Hollywood. The group played with it a little bit by telling one of the counselors, Stasi, to input various actions for the characters and they tried to create a story. However, the resulting story was fairly rambling and disjointed.
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I used this as an opportunity to talk about story development and how plots are created. The group appeared to show some interest in this. We used various examples, but what was most appealing was when I took a short animation, called Alien Blip (see below), and broke it up into various sequences and had them give me very short sentences explaining what occurred. After watching the movie, they generated a synopsis of what occurred.
We also introduced, in full force, two of our three raffle systems: blue tickets and hero tickets. TF earned the very first hero ticket when another group member had difficulty understanding him, asked him to repeat himself, and he did so calm and effortlessly, and more clearly. We talked momentarily how this might be a particular challenge for TF and indicated that that’s what people earn hero tickets for. Other individuals earned tickets for controlling behaviors, relaxing more, and in particular, one group member previously in the day had agreed to “give up” his fanny pack which he then decided to leave in our office. We also used this as an opportunity to talk about teasing and sarcasm and how there are different kinds of teasing (teasing that doesn’t hurt feelings and is playful, teasing that does hurt feelings, and teasing that is excessive). It was then time for lunch and they had previously decided that they wanted to go to Numero Uno, a local Italian restaurant. Lunch was uneventful, except that they all appeared to engage in varying levels of conversation which was monitored (loosely, so as not to intrude) by counselors, with occasional raffle tickets awarded.
We returned from lunch and immediately began to work on an animation project. I guided the group through the process, by which we first come up with a topic idea, then evaluate whether or not we can get it done. It's interesting... many of the teens have good basic language skills, but areas such as the subtleties of humor are difficult for them. Also, this is a very subjective topic and what I think is funny is not likely to excite them. Still, I like to use it as an exercise in working cooperatively as a team. We began putting together story ideas and two members came up with the ones below:
A guy trying to order a pizza, but the pizza man can’t understand him and keeps getting it wrong. (JV)
Albert Einstein's great, great, great, great, grandson meets Benjamin Franklin’s great, great, great, great, grandson. They talk about how great their famous ancestors were and how they could become famous because of them. (KV)
Without judging the merits of one versus the other (the group liked both), we discussed, given that we had 30 minutes to complete the entire exercise (okay, really 45 minutes, but I didn't tell them that), which one should we select for now.... The group decided to go with the more simple plot line by JV. We moved into the other room where the computer containing the Hollywood program was set up.
Below is what resulted from their collaborative efforts, albeit, with some guidance from me.
It was interesting to watch as some group members skipped over important "pieces" of conversation, but were reception to revisiting and including them as we developed the movie. Also, matching facial expressions, controlling what one might say to a server that is reasonable, and distinguishing between "humor" and "silliness" were all part of this 45 minute exercise.
On Tuesday, we are having our first community outing. Drop off is still, and is always, at Gelsons during the summer group. We'll head off shortly after our arrival. After mini-golf, we'll walk to the Galleria for lunch (takes only about 8 minutes), then return for our 2:00pm pickup.
