Lego Group

Lego Group.  Hmmmmm.  After all the anticipation to get started, Son has been less than enthused with it.  Two weeks ago when I picked him up, he said he wasn't going back.  That's what YOU think, I thought to myself.

We always go to Burger King after group for dinner and talk about group and school.  So he knows the routine and we talked, I mean he really opened up to me about group and his feelings.  I was SO proud of him for THAT!

He told me what happened (a little skewed from the story I the group leader told me later :)  Basically, he was upset that this Lego group wasn't happening the same way the Lego group worked in his old school.  BUT, that was more individual therapy and THIS Lego group is more about GROUP.   He maintained that the leader didn't know what she was doing.  That she didn't know how to run a Lego group.

He also was upset that he asked several (he said ALL) of the kids to build the project he wanted and NO ONE even answered him (imagine this being said with lots of pre-teen angst).  The group leader emailed me that he asked maybe 2 kids and they did respond but they didn't want to build what Son wanted.  So Son went and sat by himself instead of being flexible and going to another group.  

Things I suggested to Son to think about before the next group is that the other Lego group was to help him learn a completely different skill set, that this group is to learn how to work with LOTS of kids, not just one other.  He needs to try to be more flexible and learn to go with the flow, something that I know is VERY hard for AS kids.  He needs to have patience with the other kids in the group because they are there to learn the same skills as him and they might not know HOW to respond to his request to build.  And last and most importantly, that he needs to go to the next group thinking about how much fun he is going to have and not about how disappointed he was with group before.

I also let the leader know all this to find out the complete story as well as to help her learn about Son.  She was thrilled to get the info and made some changes to the group for this week. Son went in excited to be there and had a wonderful time. 

My concern for this week was that he was working with only one other kid.  Just like the old Lego group.  BUT, I am not saying anything yet.  I am going to assume that the leader will shuffle the kids around and that Son will have a chance to work in a larger group next week.  And if he doesn't then I will suggest to the leader to shuffle him around.

Overall, I am pleased with Lego Group and with the leaders of the group.  The newest leader is the teacher that helped to diagnose Son in the first grade.  So she knows him and how to get him to work.  This is a good thing!

I have a couple of posts in the can this week and I will try to get around to check out what you've been up to!