I Am Sensing a Pattern

Forgive me if I am repeating the same things over and over, but "that" client is starting to display patterns that I am going to use for developing therapeutic interactions. Basically, "that" client wants me to sing and play my guitar and nothing else. The problem with that?? Every other client in the room wants to play instruments and listen to music recordings! One client hits me when I am singing songs that are not preferred but does not tell me that - just hits me.

We had a good session yesterday. For nineteen minutes.

At the 19 minute mark, I turned on some music. As soon as I put my guitar down, "that" client started to escalate. Please note that nothing was being played at the moment. It wasn't the song, it was putting the guitar down that was the antecedent to the severe behavior of concern that occurred.

Noted.

The problem?

"That" client is not the only client in the group therapy session. I cannot deny the other clients the opportunities that work the best for them to favor "that" client.

So, I have a choice to make. Do I favor "that" client to the detriment of all the others, or do I continue and count on the earsplitting screams that will happen when I put the guitar down??

Neither seems like a good solution to this problem.

I don't see "that" client or the rest of the group until Monday. We are going to watch Pixar shorts on my very old television. It will be interesting to see if "that" client will watch videos.

It's time to get going into the day. Four groups today before setting up a school-wide treasure hunt for the end of the year bash. I have some ideas to get our students moving around the school until they get to eat a treat in my classroom. I would like to get that organized and finished by tomorrow afternoon, so I have a PROJECT!! Hooray! I do better when I have a project. I also have to clean up my office space and move things from the storage room I am losing during summer school that my supervisor STILL hasn't notified me about. I am also heading into a temperature-challenged environment again. I don't know if it will be 60 degrees (F) or 82 degrees - it was both yesterday at different points. I prefer it to be cold than hot, but people came yesterday to "fix" it and didn't. I am frustrated by that detail. Oh well. Time to head out into the world...

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