Surprise! Another volunteer group showed up Saturday night-- and we thought no more would be coming...how silly of us. However, because the children have not participated in our group sessions for two weeks due to Iulia's vacation I decided to nix them for this week. My outlook in working alongside the group started out positive but slowly began to fade as the week progressed. While I was still able to conduct the anger management sessions with Iulia and the computer lessons with the little kiddos, my one-on-one/two-on-one time with the children suffered greatly. Not to mention we were forced to push back the final "review" meeting for the caregivers to Monday (which means poorer attendance because two of them will be on vacation next week before the school year begins). With so many children returning from Italy this past week and already trying to reintegrate I'm not convinced having this volunteer group was the best for them (i.e. being shuffled from activity to activity after enjoying the freedoms of being in a small family setting). Plus, a couple noticeably regressed from the progress we had made with them after returning from their trip to Italy, which is obviously frustrating (probably due to the difficulty of the transition). I cannot stress enough the importance of consistency for these children!
On Tuesday I conducted my last lesson plan with the caregivers-- it's hard to believe! We talked about different ways we regulate our senses without being aware of it, and how some of these might be useful to teach children who struggle to do this independently (or use less appropriate strategies). Then I gave them therapy tools and ideas for sensory regulation before the children do homework or quiet activities. Many are similar to those I gave related to behaviors (which makes remembering them easier), but some of the new ones can definitely benefit the children. While I think they appreciated learning these sensory techniques, I also believe they are glad to be done with the meetings. However, I will be recommending that they continue to meet on a weekly basis (with Iulia) to discuss with each other specific strategies/techniques that work with specific children, ask/answer any questions that arose, and gain more information related to topics of interest. These meetings will be more informal but also very beneficial; and they might help them integrate the strategies more and increase consistency of responding to the children. On Monday we have our "wrap-up"/"review" meeting where I will give outcome/feedback surveys, tie-up a lot of loose ends, and address any pressing concerns.
For the anger management sessions this week Iulia and I first reviewed the strategies discussed from two weeks ago and inquired whether the children had used them. "I forgot" or "I didn't need to" were common excuses from the children, while others cited specific examples of when they utilized them. Through the week I reminded several of them to use the techniques in various situations which I believe was useful for them recognizing when they might need to calm themselves down. I also observed a couple use some of the strategies without them being aware that they did it. The more practice (and more comfortable) the children get in using the strategies will obviously benefit them more. After this review we had them play the "Good Decisions Game"-- a game I created where each scenario has two choices to make. Once the child made a choice he/she moved to the corresponding response where the scenario continued. At the end of a series of choices the child found out how his/her day turned out based on all the decisions made. Finally we had them watch a powerful YouTube video on the consequences of bullying, which I believe positively affected each of them in some way. Many of them noted at the conclusion of the video that they didn't want to be the bully, they wanted to be the person who helped the child being bullied. Sometimes I think children (and adults) aren't aware of what they look like when they perform certain actions; this was a good way of illustrating how their anger can impact others.
A huge success for the week came yesterday when Iulia and I installed the educational games on the children's computer. It finally has a sound driver (thanks to Iulia's technological skills) to run the programs and for the children to listen to music. Iulia hopes to make a weekly schedule for using the computer; I suggested creating a check-out system for the CDs. The older girls played a couple of the games last night and listened to some of the music I put on the computer; this morning they excitedly told me how much fun the games are and how much they enjoy the songs. They are eager to play the other games that require a CD. Thank you to those who donated money-- with which I bought several of the computer games-- and to those who donated educational computer games. Know that you brought smiles to many children!
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