Welcome to the Projects Page
This section is devoted to highlighting the projects completed by the kids and teens in each of my two intensive summer groups. Their are multiple purposes for having them create projects. It mimics an academic activity, as they need to pay attention, remain quiet or engage in quiet talking with a neighbor, raise their hand to answer questions, and create some form of essay material (in the form of a story line), and not become overstimulated when we are using captivating technology. Even having them record their voices is an opportunity to work on voice tone, modulation, inflection, prosody, and volume.This page will likely change formats over the next month as I tweak the best way to navigate it.
Thanks for your interest!
Dr. Gale
July 9, 2009
07-08-09 - Summer Kid Group
This is their first project. Initially, they attempted to work on a panel cartoon, but appeared overwhelmed by the choices. When they were done, they had created a project none of them could describe or make sense of (they combined the ocean, toilets in a restroom, and an office interior). After lunch, we attacked it again. The result appears below. During the next group session, they will narrate it and create a movie.
07-09-09 - Summer Teen Group
The teens put together a strip comic, similar to the Kid Group's one above. However, there were some important differences. The Kid Group's project was set up just as an introductory exercise to expose them to group thinking and collaboration. In the Teen Group, it arose as a result of a simple, yet important comment by one of the group members to the staff. It begin with something like, "Can I ask you a question I think you should....", at which point he began to provide unsolicited (and perhaps unwanted) advice at a time the one of the counselors was engaged in an activity and trying to get something done quickly and efficiently. In other words, he was, nicely and with genuine interest, interrupting an existing activity. He had no concept that this was being intrusive and might not be welcomed. (This is a common behavior for individuals with ADHD and Asperger's). I used the situation have the group understand what a "Pretend Question" involves (simply another way of working on self-monitoring and behavioral inhibition, executive functioning skills, combined with social pragmatics (being aware this isn't a good time to interrupt).
07-24-09 - Summer Kid Group
The kid LUNCH Groups program continued putting together their first project. Now they created titles, made an introductory description, selected some sound effects, synchronized their narration to the pictures, and reviewed the entire project. Nearly everyone in the group had an opportunity to participate. Some were the voiceovers, others choose backgrounds, dialogue, music, and title effects.