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At-Risk Adolescent Protocol Experience
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heartbeats57
Clark Edmond, LCSW
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Feb 17, 2009
Location: Wildomar in So Cal located in the Temecula Valley of Riverside County.
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No. 1 Posted on Feb 23, 2011 4:19 PM
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Hi All,
After returning to Oak Grove Center from a wonderful experience with the at risk adolescent protocol training in Valencia in January I applied some of the elements to working with a class of SED children ages 8-11 years. Yes I realize the protocol was designed for adolescents 14 -18 years, but because of the weekly meeting of this group I'm required to become creative and flexible with our drumming sessions. As such I wanted to see how some aspects of the adolescent protocol would work with this less developmentally developed group.
I have worked with this group all year so naming beats were altered to include more personal “likes” such as "Who is your favorite character in the movies?" I asked the children to provide a "sound track" to a scene they recalled from the movie. The group was then asked to join in with the individual. This was generally enjoyed by all with some difficulties due to negative attention seeking by a couple of members from the outset of the group today. In such instances support staff assists these members for a timeout in the room, but not in the circle. The members then have the opportunity to return to the circle when a polite request to me has been made and appropriate timeout behavior was observed. Firm, but fair limits are always required.
We applied inspirational beats to feelings and the children responded well to this exercises. I provided some additional feeling words on a dry erase board to enhance this process as the children often are limited in feeling words vocabulary.
The children enjoy Entrainment particularly when "call and response” sequences are used. In addition, I allow the children to take turns leading the group in this exercise to empower them and allow them to assume a leadership role.
Wellness exercises and guided imagery help to provide a calming mechanism at the conclusion of the circle. During this portion I teach body awareness and today we discussed how our bodies are affected when we are angry. Many children offered personal thoughts on this topic that were insightful.
In the Finale we reviewed what we had discussed/experienced and how body awareness could be used during moments of anger to Stop, Think, Act and Review (STAR).
The group has its good days and those that are more challenging, but generally they are responsive to the elements of the protocol. These benefits are evidenced in weekly observations of these children as incremental progress in social behavior, cooperation, sharing, self-expression, creativity, enhanced mood states and self disclosure.
I intend to "test drive" the tactile portion of the protocol with this group at our next meeting and will provide an update when time allows.
(Click the picture to view the original one)
Clark Edmond, LCSW, MPH
Novell & Novell Counseling
(951) 694-0695
Founder HeartBeats Drum Circles
Drums & Percussion
(951) 775-0032
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