Recent circumstances has brought Cedric’s needs to target
these specific social skills (particulars on next post). The first topic –
Respecting Others - is pretty much a given. Cedric is constantly having
arguments with people – young, old, authority figures – anyone. And though most
of the time, he actually makes a point, he has often been unable to get that
across especially when things get heated up already. He often loses his temper.
I know kids with AS aren’t socially adept but when it comes to this. He notices
even the slightest change in the tone of your voice or your eyebrows. He is
highly sensitive and reactive to people pointing at him, frowning and of course
hurting him. Its like in those moments it doesn’t matter who you are, where you
are and when it is happening. When he loses his temper, he just does and all
that can really be done is wait for him to calm down and get back to his
harmless self. More like an issue of anger management though i’m taking it to
Respecting Others as I believe Respect
has to be given to those who deserve it whether he is in a state of anger or
not.
The Rule Police was brought by what occurred when he last
played Technika. A Rule Police is someone who constantly reminds you of the
rules. You might not immediately get what’s wrong with that but when you
really think about it, they’re actually pretty annoying. They’re what we call
sumbungero, choo-choo, pabida, epal – I’m sure you’ve met one of these at least
once in your lives. Unfortunately, Cedric does not realize that he has been this person at times. To him when he acts like a Rule Police, he's actually doing everyone a favor - which of course he does, just at the expense of his name. We have to understand that Cedric and all other Rule Policemen have good intentions yet it is important to learn when it is appropriate to tell on people. Well, I guess to maintain social harmony?
Materials:
Colored Pens
Scratch Paper
Small Containers
I started with explaining what a Rule Police was, why it’s
not exactly nice to be one inspite of it sounding good. I had to make sure this
was well understood by all of them as the whole point wouldn’t make sense if
this wasn’t clear. I immediately saw the shift in Cedric’s facial expression
when I was explaining this – he knew what this was about.
Then, the exceptions to the rule.
Role-playing is always fun. Made use of this. I constantly
was the Rule Police and I made Mek, Cassy and Cedie act out situations where I’d
tell on them. Here’s a couple to name some.
- - If someone is chewing gum in school, which is breaking a school rule
- - If someone is drawing when the teacher tells everyone to read a book
Afterwards, they would talk about how they feel towards me
telling on them. It was often annoyed or irritated. I’d reiterate that to
further emphasize the impression being a rule police leaves on people.
Quiz Game. They made their own animal sounds as buzzers and
would have to make that sound first before answering. The player with most
points wins. Again, i gave out situations and ask if they should or should not
be a rule police at that moment. Why or why not? Cedric got 5 points while Mek
and Cassy only got 1 point each. It sure was fun hearing their “meow”, “baaa”,
and “meeeeh”.
Finally, sorting of Dos and Dont’s in respecting others.
Each had to pick one and decide where to put it. They all explained
why it belonged in the category. Throughout the session, the exceptions to the ‘Dont
be a Rule Police’ rule was constantly reviewed.
Targets were reached and were indeed clear to Cedric.
Now
the tricky part is getting to apply it into actual situations. Will follow up
by joining him the next time he plays Technika. *crossed fingers*
No comments:
Post a Comment