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Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions is a complete program developed by Herb Hein for teaching social communication skills. Participants learn to identify positive vs. negative behaviors and work towards Personal and Common Team Goals. It includes an InterActive Lesson Book, an instructor's manual called The Guide's Guide, a book of visual strategies called Wise Action Tools, a music CD called Songs for Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts and an InterActive Toolbox stocked with manipulative items to engage and reinforce the learner.
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Is it possible to help change the actions of children so they are more polite, thoughtful in their actions, and sensitive to others?
Can they be encouraged to think before they act in order to take positive steps to connect with others?
Can they be taught to make decisions that are mutually beneficial for their Home, School and Friendship TEAMS?
Can they be taught appropriate ways to communicate and interact with others?
With the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program, the answer is "yes" to all of these questions.
Can they be encouraged to think before they act in order to take positive steps to connect with others?
Can they be taught to make decisions that are mutually beneficial for their Home, School and Friendship TEAMS?
Can they be taught appropriate ways to communicate and interact with others?
With the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program, the answer is "yes" to all of these questions.
What is Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions?
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions® is a new social literacy program for guiding young people to act like they are part of a TEAM, no matter who they are with. It explicitly teaches how to be a team member who takes action for the common good, to meet Common Team Goals. This engaging team-connecting program has been developed and successfully used in upper elementary and middle school classes, and also has been found to be effective in improving social behavior in some high school classes and adult transition programs. It provides explicit lessons, scripts, visual strategies and practice opportunities for students with social language disorders and/or emotional challenges. Its lessons are useful to present to any student who can benefit from explicit instruction regarding how to be metacognitive before acting, to be able to Think First to make a mutually beneficial action choice before speaking and acting in social situations. Developed by Herb Hein, MMSc, CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist with over 40 years of experience in the field, the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program fills the need for an effective way to get individuals to make life better for themselves and the other people in their lives. This program has been developed to foster social analysis skills and pro-social behavior in individuals with emotional and pragmatic language challenges. However, the program's concepts and integrative activities, including its explicit instruction regarding how to have respectful conversations, has been found to be effective with participants from the general population to help them improve their social skills. The target population for this program is upper elementary and middle school students, but high school students and students in transition programs have also learned to act more prosocial and G.R.E.E.N. by having been involved in this program. Some lessons and approaches of the program have been used successfully with primary grade students as well.
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions creator: Herb Hein, MMSc, CCC-SLP
"Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions® is the name of the materials I have developed to improve the social skills of my clients and students. It also is a philosophy that guides my own life and the choices I make in my daily interactions with others on my own Teams. In our modern civilization, there often is little emphasis placed on the best ways to communicate with others, but we all have some responsibility to make our experiences with other people better instead of worse. With the gift of our human brains, we have the power to make things better for us and those around us if we choose to do so. It is my hope that this program will help you guide participants to feel more comfortable, skilled and powerful when choosing actions that make their situations better. It was absolutely amazing to see students who had rarely exhibited pro-social behavior eagerly acting out the G.R.E.E.N. Scenes in this program, and then starting to exhibit the positive social behaviors spontaneously! I believe that more attention should be placed on reinforcing newer, positive behaviors than in attending to negative ones. The Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions program elicits personal responsibility by increasing the participants' awareness that they each have a powerful brain with which they can make wise choices that can positively affect any Team they are on." ~ Herb Hein, MMSc, CCC-SLP
How does it work?
Participants learn to Think First, analyze the situation, and then say or do things that other team members would consider to be helpful, pro-social and G.R.E.E.N. Depending upon the situation, they learn to express basic greetings, say something supportive, seek more information, respectfully share a different point of view, or navigate through the process of complex compromising. They learn to be "G.R.E.E.N. for the Team" with actions that are Grateful, Respectful, Empathetic, Easygoing, and Navigating.
What's Included?
The Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Social Literacy Program® includes an Interactive Lesson Book, The Guide's Guide instructor's manual, the book of visual strategies called Wise Action Tools, and an Interactive Toolbox stocked with manipulative and motivating materials including the music CD "Songs for Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts®".
Interactive Lesson Book
The Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions-Interactive Lesson Book provides over 400 pages of social skill lessons, scripts, visual strategies, and songs. The Interactive Lesson Book provides opportunities for participants to learn to do the following:
The Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions-Interactive Lesson Book provides over 400 pages of social skill lessons, scripts, visual strategies, and songs. The Interactive Lesson Book provides opportunities for participants to learn to do the following:
- draw their own pictures related to lesson topics and G.R.E.E.N. Scenes they can act in
- underline key words and choose answers when analyzing interactive scenarios. These activities help students discriminate between positive vs. negative actions and learn about related pro-social vocabulary & concepts
- write Personal & Common Team Goals
- track G.R.E.E.N. action behaviors
- write their own Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts®
- make civilized choices with a choice organizer
- choose best positive actions
- change scenes to make them G.R.E.E.N.
- write their own G.R.E.E.N. scenes
- write and draw their transformations
- track topics and engage in cooperative conversations
- sing the lyrics to the Songs for Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts®
CD - and more.
The Guide's Guide instructor's manual
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions-The Guide's Guide is intended for teachers, therapists or parents who will be Guides for the participants as they journey through the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program. This guidebook is meant to help the Guide understand the purpose and key concepts of the program, the suggested approaches for effective instruction and positive behavior change, as well as how to best use the presented materials. By following approaches that have been successful for classroom instruction as well as individual instruction, the Guide and the participants get to experience improvements in social functioning, first in structured activities, and then in real-life situations. With The Guide's Guide, teachers and therapists can effectively use the program materials to help others learn the skills necessary for acting increasingly more G.R.E.E.N.: Grateful, Respectful, Empathetic, Easygoing and Navigating.
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions-The Guide's Guide is intended for teachers, therapists or parents who will be Guides for the participants as they journey through the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program. This guidebook is meant to help the Guide understand the purpose and key concepts of the program, the suggested approaches for effective instruction and positive behavior change, as well as how to best use the presented materials. By following approaches that have been successful for classroom instruction as well as individual instruction, the Guide and the participants get to experience improvements in social functioning, first in structured activities, and then in real-life situations. With The Guide's Guide, teachers and therapists can effectively use the program materials to help others learn the skills necessary for acting increasingly more G.R.E.E.N.: Grateful, Respectful, Empathetic, Easygoing and Navigating.
Wise Action Tools
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions-Wise Action Tools includes all of the visual strategies that are utilized in the program. The book can lay with inner margins wide enough for ease of copying for instructional sessions with participants. These interactive worksheets relate to the lessons and concepts presented in The InterActive Lesson Book and allow for individualized guidance and instruction in:
*self-calming
*analyzing/surveying the social scene
*self-evaluation
*goal setting
*making positive, civilized choices for the Team
*choosing to use Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® (brain-shaped guiding affirmations)
*making transformations in behavior
*tracking pro-social (G.R.E.E.N. )behavior
*choosing conversational topics
*taking conversational turns
*making compromises
and much more
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions-Wise Action Tools includes all of the visual strategies that are utilized in the program. The book can lay with inner margins wide enough for ease of copying for instructional sessions with participants. These interactive worksheets relate to the lessons and concepts presented in The InterActive Lesson Book and allow for individualized guidance and instruction in:
*self-calming
*analyzing/surveying the social scene
*self-evaluation
*goal setting
*making positive, civilized choices for the Team
*choosing to use Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® (brain-shaped guiding affirmations)
*making transformations in behavior
*tracking pro-social (G.R.E.E.N. )behavior
*choosing conversational topics
*taking conversational turns
*making compromises
and much more
The Interactive Toolbox
The Toolbox includes a variety of engaging items used to focus, direct and motivate program participants. The hands-on items, visual aids and positive reinforcement tools in the Toolbox dramatically improve results and make the program even more enjoyable, engaging and effective. The Toolbox includes:
The Toolbox includes a variety of engaging items used to focus, direct and motivate program participants. The hands-on items, visual aids and positive reinforcement tools in the Toolbox dramatically improve results and make the program even more enjoyable, engaging and effective. The Toolbox includes:
- 'G.R.E.E.N. Scene' Clapboard - for motivating performances & improved "takes" of G.R.E.E.N. scenes
- G.R.E.E.N. Token Trackers - bag of 100 plastic tokens
- G.R.E.E.N. Token Tracker Pad - pad (30 sheets) to use with Tokens in reinforcing target behaviors
- Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® Printed Affirmation Cards - set of 36 printed, brain-shaped flash cards to help facilitate prosocial interactions
- Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® Blank Affirmation Cards - A sticky pad of blank, brain-shaped Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts for writing personally relevant, powerful affirmations
- Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® Fidget Brain - a brain-shaped squeezable toy: one of the self-calming strategies presented in the program
- G.R.E.E.N. Action Report Cards - pad (50 sheets) for giving participants written reinforcement for pro-social behaviors
- Songs for Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts CD- 12 original songs related to lessons in the program, written and sung by the author, to guide and inspire participants
1 G.R.E.E.N. Scene movie-style Clapboard.
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100 Green Token Trackers
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30 Token Tracker Cards
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25 Blank Affirmations on Sticky Pad
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36 Printed Affirmation flashcards
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1 Fidget Brain
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50 GREEN Action Report Cards
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Songs for Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® CD
Written by singer-songwriter and speech-language pathologist, Herb Hein, this CD provides 12 songs related to lessons in the program to promote pro-social behavior. Each song is designed to guide and inspire participants in the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions® Social Literacy Program. Songs for Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® teaches many of the program’s main concepts and provides inspiring lyrics and musical energy that can move participants to learn and grow in positive ways. Learn more & listen.
Written by singer-songwriter and speech-language pathologist, Herb Hein, this CD provides 12 songs related to lessons in the program to promote pro-social behavior. Each song is designed to guide and inspire participants in the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions® Social Literacy Program. Songs for Guiding G.R.E.E.N. Thoughts® teaches many of the program’s main concepts and provides inspiring lyrics and musical energy that can move participants to learn and grow in positive ways. Learn more & listen.
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Workshops
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Workshops are available for your school or clinic. These workshop training sessions are led by program-creator Herb Hein and guide you in effectively administering the dynamic Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions social skills program. You'll learn everything you need to implement this engaging and powerful program with a wide range of participants by knowing how to use the workbook with its interactive lessons and visual strategies called Wise Action Tools, and how to make the most of the motivating and reinforcing manipulative materials included in the InterActive Toolbox. For costs, details and scheduling, contact us.
The Underlying Theories and Concepts From Which this Program was Developed
The Preface and the Introduction of the instructor's manual of the program called The Guide's Guide include explanation of the published theories and programs with which the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program is aligned.
In the Preface, you can find that this program was born when Herb was working with students with emotional challenges and learning about Ross Greene's Collaborative Problem Solving Approach in The Explosive Child. He bounced off of Dr. Greene's collaborative approach, focusing on the concept of always being part of a Team in our interactions. From there, he added explicit instruction of the vocabulary that he found students needed to understand in order to self-monitor their ability to make positive interaction choices.
In the Introduction, you can read Herb's explanation regarding how the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program utilizes theories from cognitive behavioral therapy. Participants are guided throughout the program that they have the power to use their brain to find the words to change their thoughts so they can change their actions and make better choices. You can also see that Herb's program is in alignment with concepts from a classic anger management book called When Anger Hurts by Matthew McKay, Ph.D., Peter D. Rogers, Ph.D. and Judith McKay, RN. You can also see the support for the idea of the power of positive thought in Rick Hanson's book called Buddha's Brain.
In the Preface, you can find that this program was born when Herb was working with students with emotional challenges and learning about Ross Greene's Collaborative Problem Solving Approach in The Explosive Child. He bounced off of Dr. Greene's collaborative approach, focusing on the concept of always being part of a Team in our interactions. From there, he added explicit instruction of the vocabulary that he found students needed to understand in order to self-monitor their ability to make positive interaction choices.
In the Introduction, you can read Herb's explanation regarding how the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program utilizes theories from cognitive behavioral therapy. Participants are guided throughout the program that they have the power to use their brain to find the words to change their thoughts so they can change their actions and make better choices. You can also see that Herb's program is in alignment with concepts from a classic anger management book called When Anger Hurts by Matthew McKay, Ph.D., Peter D. Rogers, Ph.D. and Judith McKay, RN. You can also see the support for the idea of the power of positive thought in Rick Hanson's book called Buddha's Brain.
Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions Program Reviews
"Working with Herb on the Growing G.R.E.E.N. Interactions in the classroom was a fun and interactive way to teach our students about social skills and social communication. His approach to social communication is very helpful for all students regardless of primary diagnosis (i.e. ASD, ADHD, PTSD, Mood Disorder, ODD, etc). Growing G.R.E.E.N. Interactions approaches communication using framework from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It helps the student understand the processes behind specific interactions and the reasons why talking about the feelings of yourself and the feelings of others is important. It teaches kids how our behaviors do impact and affect the feelings, thoughts and actions of those around us. Herb's approach is to help the students understand that everyone works as a team and how we all affect each other. I think this is a much needed aspect of social skills training. I highly recommend that SLP's, counselors, social workers, OT's, teachers and therapists use his curriculum in any school across the world. " ~ Arielle Lugn, M.A., PPS
"It has truly been a pleasure to have a collaborative relationship with Herb as he developed the G.R.E.E.N. approach. It has been enjoyable to watch the children learn and implement an approach that allows for proper expression of complex relation building ideas. The concepts and tools developed created a common language for all children and adults that opened successful positive communication where once there was an environment of closed and negative thoughts."
-Mark Wilson, OTR, Occupational Therapist
"The Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterActions program provides students with the opportunity to develop perspective-taking skills and to practice pro-social responses through role-play activities. The students in my class really enjoy the feeling of acting on stage. There are roles for everyone, including being the director, scene writers, movie characters, and audience members. The role-play activities provide students with the opportunity to practice new coping skills in a safe environment. There is nothing more enjoyable than to hear a student learn to use a response during the Growing G.R.E.E.N. InterAction program and generalize it to a real life situation."
-Rosanne Lewton, Special Education Teacher
The Growing G.R.E.E.N. Interactions Program is highly interactive and effective. It addresses the “How To” of teaching social skills to clients. The lessons demonstrate how the choices clients make affect others in all situations. As a Speech Pathologist in private practice at least 50% of my clients have deficits in social/pragmatic and social emotional regulation skills. I have experienced success using the Growing Green Program with students ranging in ages from 5 to 25 years old. The worksheets included are time saving and well thought out. I especially like the worksheets on goal setting, self calming strategies, the volume chart and the conversation rating scale. I highly recommend The Growing G.R.E.E.N. Interactions Program.
Ingrid Wolfer Exerjian, M.A., CCC
Speech/Language Pathologist
Ingrid Wolfer Exerjian, M.A., CCC
Speech/Language Pathologist
Hey Herb,
We have completed three lessons in the Growing G.R.E.E.N. curriculum and we are ecstatic with our results! Our students- a group of learning challenged high school freshman- are truly buying in. The program sets the scene and gives our kiddos perspective- why do we care about our behavior? Well, we care about our teams and we care about our civilization! We are currently in the process of setting individual goals centered on social behavior and social communication for each student in the group.
The program utilizes a multi-sensory approach to learning and is relatable to all of our students. The tools in the toolbox seamlessly integrate into the lessons and help give our kids an opportunity to test out and practice the communication behavior that is being targeted. My favorite part of the program is it not only teaches appropriate communication and social behavior, but its worksheets also provide a platform for individualized support. It really answers the “why” component. Social skills programs I have used in the past have been superficial and have targeted the outward behavior, but Growing G.R.E.E.N. really helps kiddos understand why they want to develop and maintain positive relationships with peers, family, and all members of civilization! The built-in reinforcement system is great for generalizing these skills- our students are excited when they receive their G.R.E.E.N. Action Reports! We are already observing positive changes in our students’ social behavior!
I look forward to using these tools for years to come!
Thanks again Herb!
-Katie Sargent, SLP in Grossmont Union High School District, El Cajon, California
We have completed three lessons in the Growing G.R.E.E.N. curriculum and we are ecstatic with our results! Our students- a group of learning challenged high school freshman- are truly buying in. The program sets the scene and gives our kiddos perspective- why do we care about our behavior? Well, we care about our teams and we care about our civilization! We are currently in the process of setting individual goals centered on social behavior and social communication for each student in the group.
The program utilizes a multi-sensory approach to learning and is relatable to all of our students. The tools in the toolbox seamlessly integrate into the lessons and help give our kids an opportunity to test out and practice the communication behavior that is being targeted. My favorite part of the program is it not only teaches appropriate communication and social behavior, but its worksheets also provide a platform for individualized support. It really answers the “why” component. Social skills programs I have used in the past have been superficial and have targeted the outward behavior, but Growing G.R.E.E.N. really helps kiddos understand why they want to develop and maintain positive relationships with peers, family, and all members of civilization! The built-in reinforcement system is great for generalizing these skills- our students are excited when they receive their G.R.E.E.N. Action Reports! We are already observing positive changes in our students’ social behavior!
I look forward to using these tools for years to come!
Thanks again Herb!
-Katie Sargent, SLP in Grossmont Union High School District, El Cajon, California
The G.R.E.E.N. has been a good social skills program for most of my Adult Transition (ages 18-21) student population. The students that are able to read and write enjoy the lessons taught. They are getting a better understanding of how to deal with others in “logical” ways, which in the curriculum means that the decisions they make in their interactions should benefit all those involved, and should benefit the team. This is having the benefit of helping them to better understand what is expected of them in real world situations. The students particularly enjoy acting out the scenes in front of the class. For these reasons, I would highly recommend the G.R.E.E.N. program for those students in High School and adult Transition Programs for the purpose of enhancing social skill development.
David Pinson
Transition Teacher, Grossmont Union High School District, El Cajon, California
David Pinson
Transition Teacher, Grossmont Union High School District, El Cajon, California
"Herb isn't only a speech-language pathologist, he is a life-coach for children such as mine, making them feel alive and important in the world. He is a master of his craft who has developed a deeply effective, communication process for helping our children become alive with a capacity for full self-expression. Herb has given my child a sense of "self" and helped her be a part of our team family. My daughter has matured in his care at an amazing and immediate rate. The impact has been tremendous. She comes home now, very alert, comfortable in her own skin and ready to participate with the family. I have never seen this level of progress. As a parent knowing Herb for many years, I'm very familiar with his integrity and success in the science/art of connecting emotionally in order to bring out willpower and motivation in his clients. He has brought our daughter to a higher level of self-identity and self-confidence never seen before. More power to you Herb and continued success."
-Sylvia Campa, parent of Annette Rodriguez, a young artist with ASD
-Sylvia Campa, parent of Annette Rodriguez, a young artist with ASD