Ever wonder what happens in Rex Groups? Ever wanted to sign up, but held off because you didn’t know what to expect? Then this Behind the Scenes post series is for you.
Since we kicked off our School-Age and Pre-teen/Teen Groups with strong enrollment last month, we’re taking this opportunity to give you an inside look into each week at Groups.
In the School Age Group, Week 4 featured a discussion of social conversation skills and rules. We covered paying attention to one another, asking follow-up questions, sharing limited facts, and staying on topic.
In week 5, we’ll be discussing anger and frustration, managing transitions, and introducing coping skills to use when anger arises.
In the School Age Parent Group, we introduced the topic of tantrums vs. meltdowns. Specifically, we talked about the difference between the two, as well as the relationship between the episodes and the body’s stress response.
Parents were asked to report on their use of communication strategies from prior weeks, discussing how they had coached their children on social skills and emotional intelligence skills.
In week 5, we’ll be covering the stages of meltdowns and reviewing the distinct parent intervention strategies appropriate for each stage. We’ll be drawing from the research of Brenda Smith Myles, one of the world’s leading experts on autism. Her most recent book is Understanding the Hidden Curriculum.
In the Pre-Teen/Teen Group, our Week 4 feeling of the week last week was anger, and our social skill was how to apologize. We also introduced a new calming strategy involving the use of touch.
In the Pre-Teen/Teen Parent Group, Week 4 involved discussing how to help children learn to apologize appropriately.
Parents had divergent perspectives, as there are some kids who apologize for everything, and some kids who never want to apologize, perhaps because there’s a perception that apologizing can put one in an approval-seeking position.
One question that came up was: what if in order to apologize, children have to feel like they’re “all bad”? (Of course children wouldn’t want to apologize in that case!) We had a lively, fascinating discussion with a variety of different viewpoints included.
What About Other Groups?
Earlier this month we announced dates for our next Adult Group. We’ll be scheduling more Group dates soon – we’re particularly excited about a new School-Age Group with a Spanish-language Parent Group! – so be sure to subscribe via email for the latest updates.
~ The Project Rex team
