​Marita Morones, M.A., a teacher at Mt. Helix Academy in La Mesa, California, shared this picture of the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions reinforcement tree that she has put in her classroom this year.  Marita used lessons and strategies from the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program with her class last year and has done a beautiful job of setting up one of its reinforcement components in her classroom again. 
 
I put up the Growing G.R.E.E.N. tree at the beginning of this school year because I want to create a G.R.E.E.N. atmosphere in my classroom (i.e., grateful, respectful, empathetic, easy going, navigating).  The tree is a constant reminder of what is valued in the classroom.  I refer to the tree throughout the week.  Together the kids and I marvel at how the tree is growing.  When I dispense a leaf, it is usually a public statement as to why the child is receiving a leaf (e.g., Wow! "Johnny" just stated he needed help and "Suzy" stopped her free time activity to help him!  Cool.  That's what I call being a friend!).  --Marita Morones, M.A.

​Maryellen Rooney Moreau is well known by many school-based speech-language pathologists for having developed very useful methodology and materials that help students break down narratives into their component parts so they could be understood.  With Maryellen’s approaches such as the Story Grammar Marker®, students also effectively learn the language involved in summarizing these narratives.   They also learn to develop critical thinking, using tools such as the Critical Thinking Triangle® to gain more awareness about how people are feeling, what they are thinking and what they are planning.  In her recent blog, called Maryellen’s Musings, she shared how her own methodologies related to two articles and a program that she found in her research about trauma-informed programs and trauma-sensitive approaches.  I was honored to find that my Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program was the program she found to be useful as a trauma-informed program and a trauma-sensitive approach.       

​Herb, Joanne and Janis, the G.R.E.E.N. Team of Hein SLP Inc., all took the opportunity to introduce the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program to speech-language pathologists (SLPs) from all over the country who visited our booth at the Annual Convention in Orlando for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Herb also presented a well-attended seminar called Imagine Making the Best Behavior Choices: Teaching Language, Analysis, and Self-Monitoring Skills for Thoughtful Interactions (#1887). He presented the evidence for the different approaches that are integral to the Growing G.R.E.E.N InterActions Program and then explained these approaches for guiding individuals to be more thoughtful in their interactions.  Get the handout to this seminar through the link below.

This past year, I provided weekly treatment with a small group of students in a Transition Class in a San Diego County high school district.  These 18-19-year-old students were involved in vocational training and learning independent living skills.  I used lessons, strategies and activities from my Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program to help the class improve their social skills so they could become successful, active participants within their community.  I presented explicit instruction so they could understand that their actions affected others around them, the others they could consider being on the same Team with them.  The students were guided to generate Common Team Goals and Team Rules collaboratively so they all could feel like they had some "ownership" in the ideas the group chose.  With these Team goals and rules spelled out, it would be clear what kind of behavior was expected and what could be achieved if they all worked together, and thought about how well they were interacting. ​​

 ​We were pleased with the mid-summer turn-out at Herb Hein's presentation of strategies he has developed for improving social behavior. Professionals and parents learned about the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program and how it gets individuals to use language to guide their thoughts and actions, engage in self-control, methodically analyze social situations, set goals and make positive interaction choices with others on their Teams. Mark Wilson, MOT, OTR/L, and Sharon Criger, DPT of FITS (Functional Integrated Therapeutic Services) and their staff were wonderful hosts, providing refreshments and a comfortable space in one of their OT/PT gyms.   The participants appreciated the extensive handout that

​Herb will be at FITS Clinic to share strategies he has developed as part of his Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program, getting individuals getting individuals to develop the understanding and skill to guide their own thoughts and actions "in the moment",  engage in self-control, and  analyze social situations to make the best choices for themselves and their Home, Friendship, and Classroom Teams.

​Through his work with students with ASD, emotional challenges and social language deficits, Herb Hein, of Hein Speech-Language Pathology, Inc, has found that introducing the Team concept and 

In just four months, this nine-year-old named Frank has transformed from acting impulsively, to being able maintain self-control and think about what his best action would be when interacting with others on his Home, Classroom, Friendship and Sports Teams.   In this blog, Frank's mother shares her gratitude about the positive transformation her son has made since being involved in the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program.  Therapeutic approaches allowing for that transformation are also explained.  The program has taught Frank to Think First before acting so he can think about 1) the Team he is with at the moment, 2) what goals he and the Team might want to accomplish, and 3) what mutually beneficial choices of words and actions he might make.   His mother just gave him a "G.R.E.E.N. Action Report" to reinforce him for staying calm and using his words after having to wait for an hour in a doctor's office!  
We initially contacted Hein SLP regarding their new social communication skills intervention, “The Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program,” hoping it would help our son Francisco with his social skills challenges. ​

Club Xcite provides quality, innovative educational services for schools and families in San Diego County seeking personalized academic, social, emotional and behavioral solutions. Club Xcite loves our newly published social skills curriculum!  They will be integrating the key concepts, worksheets and lessons from the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program to use with all students in their Mindful Adventures Summer Camp.  This specialized camp provides opportunities to learn and apply new social and emotional skills in fun and engaging outings with experienced social and executive functioning coaches.  Read more…  
​

A unique, powerful component of the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program is that it explicitly provides powerful words that are thoughts we find in our brain to help us make the best choices for ourselves and the other people in our lives.  Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts are integrated throughout the program's lessons and multisensory activities.  We learn to survey the scene to see who else is on our Home, Classroom, Friendship or Work Teams and consider our Common Team Goals.  We then can read the printed Guided G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts to use "in the moment", reminding us to choose our best words and actions to make positive connection with others.  

One of the most useful strategies of the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program is to develop mutually beneficial Common Team Goals with the people with whom we interact.  We consider that the other people around us are part of our Team, whether it is our Home Team, Classroom Team, Friendship Team, Work Team or even Community Team.  With the others on our Teams, we decide what the Common Team Goals might be and write these down so they can be referred to as often as needed so that our individual actions help to achieve them.