BEE Buddy Volunteer Programme,
BEE Education Limited & Hong Kong PHAB Association
About The Programme
Logo of BEE Education Limited
Logo of Hong Kong PHAB Association
My role: volunteer (BEE buddy)
To plan and organize playful activity sessions for SEN children aged 7-10
Experience Description
In this 2-month programme, I cooperated with other BEE buddies to plan for eight service sessions targetting young children with ADHD or SpLD. The sessions, which were all designed with playful and educational activities, aimed at inspiring those children to accept themselves and spend quality time with their family members.
I engaged in the brainstorming of game design, created activity materials, hosted some of the games and matched one-to-one with a girl to support her along the way.
Copy of [BEE] BEE Pilot Program - Session Plan - Summer 2022.docx2022_Bee Booklet_V2.pdf
Cultivating self-acceptance
The first four sessions are mainly for guiding children to discover their learning styles, accept personal strengths and weaknesses, and work with peers to complement each other. Most of our games turned out to be attractive and enjoyable. However, in one game which required children to describe their strengths and praise themselves with strength medals, many of them hesitated and even felt ashamed to do so.
To find out the reason, we talked to the kids and discovered the heart-breaking fact that, as so-called "low achievers" in class, they lost self-confidence and didn't dare to view themselves positively. Knowing the underlying cause, we tried to explain the meaning of different strengths. By matching the terms with shining characteristics children demonstrated in previous activities, we proved that they actually deserve those medals and that academic achievements are never the only way of evaluating a person.
Creating a positive family atmosphere
Children's family members were invited to attend our last four sessions. In our mini-workshops, parents were introduced to some positive communication techniques and things they could do to spend quality family time. They were then allowed to practice those skills by completing small tasks together with their kids.
Understanding a theory is much easier than applying it. Such feeling was shared by most parents, who found it challenging to always respond actively to their children. But they persisted in practising those techniques and that eventually paid off. In the final session, a family that was always in conflict became able to work together harmoniously. It was also affecting to see all the parents trying their best to praise their kids and guide them patiently to express their ideas.
Analysis & Reflection
Achieved GELOs: Application, Expression, Awareness, and Engagement
As a student majoring in education and psychology, it's good that I could apply what I learnt in this practical experience. For example, based on my prior knowledge about the common characteristics of children with ADHD, I used a paperboard to list out core rules in the activities to catch their attention. I also tried to cultivate growth mindsets in children by praising them with tokens whenever they made enough effort to reach the goal (Application). Nonetheless, being a host of some activities also made me realize my weakness in speaking Cantonese fluently. It was also hard for me to come up with interesting ideas when I planned the games with other buddies.
This experience enabled me to make relatively notable contributions to supporting SEN families in society (Engagement). It allowed me to deliver inspiring messages to the children that they all deserve to be appreciated and can make changes by building on their strengths (Expression). What's more, the experience also revealed how school achievement and family support may affect the self-evaluation of children with SEN, which reminded the importance of positive communication with such students and cooperation with parents (Awareness).
On the other hand, however, our activities created a context that was too ideal for those special kids. Although in relaxing games we never cared about children's academic ability, we still cannot deny its importance at schools, where children spend most of their time learning and living every day. So next step, I planned to explore the impact of their special needs from a more realistic perspective.