Process recording
Client: Client A
Intern: Becca
Date: 2/13/11
Location: Social Work Interns office
Pre-engagement:
For this session with Client A I looked into more activities that I could do that would engage him in more physical activities. I also looked into more things that could be done to help with him with focusing.
Narrative:
Client A came into the office today very hyper. He ran down the hall straight into the office without waiting of his mother to follow him. We started out he session by playing Jenga. A game where Client A is able to build either different structures or play the way the game is intended to be played. While playing Jenga Client A tells me about a fight that he had with his brother this morning in which his brother scratched him and he scratched his brother. I asked him what happened and he said that his brother just scratched him for no reason. We continued to play Jenga until the tower got knocked over and Client Adecided that he wanted to build a house instead with the Jenga pieces. After we finished playing Jenga we played Candyland for a little while. I won the first game and then Client A won the second one.
Since client A was being so hyper today I had to reinform him about the reward system that we have. I told him that everytime he broke one of the rules that we came up with he would lose 5 points. If he lost enough points he would not get a sticker at the end of the day that would be added on to his sticker chart. I reminded him that he was working towards a toy robot. After we had the conversation about the toy robot things started to get back on track during our session. He also gets extra points if he behaves during the session. I reminded him that every time he does something good such as waiting to speak until I am done speaking or waiting his turn while playing a game he got extra points. Which in turn allowed him to get an extra sticker at the end of the session to take home with him.
After we were done playing the board games we played a freezing game where each of us has to make the funniest face and freeze with out funny faces. The first way we played was to see who could hold their funny face for the longest. After we did it that way we decided to try and play it for a certain amount of time. First we tried to hold our funny poses for 20 seconds. After we got 20 seconds Scottie wanted to try and do it for 40 seconds. He didn’t make 40 seconds of standing still but he tried.
Since client A was able to get and keep enough of his points during his session he was able to get a sticker to take home as well as a sticker to add to his chart to work towards the toy robot.
Rebecca, this is a very nice way of using rewards to encourage good behavior, while also playing games that teach "stillness". That funny face freeze game sounds like a riot, and a good way to express anger without hurting anybody. It also sounds like you have a very nice relationship with the young man.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I would suggest is that you don't overlook opportunities to intersperse Virginia Axeline style play therapy when the opportunity presents itself. For example, when you were playing Jenga and he decided he wanted to build a house, you could have investigated why he wanted to change activities. MAYBE he was going to build a house where he and his bother had the fight and re-enact it for you, or maybe you could have nudged him in that direction. For kids, replaying an emotional situation is the equivalent of "verbal processing" in adults. Or maybe he just wanted to build a house and knock it over.