Psyched About School

As we all know, October is National Bullying Prevention Month.  Each year, we talk about this topic with our students and discuss ways they can help prevent bullying.  As teachers and support staff, most of us view our role as supporting positive behaviors in students.  But have you ever stopped to think about what each one of us can do with our own actions to foster an environment of kindness in our schools?  When I came across this article from weareteachers.com, I started to think about the powerful role models we are to our students and what a tremendous impact we have on their attitudes and actions. This article gives 49 simple ideas for creating a positive environment in our schools. 49 Ways to Create a Tidal Wave of Kindness in Schools

The book Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew  by Ellen Notbohm provides a wonderful insight into the life of a child with Autism. This book is describes ten characteristics that help illuminate - not define - children with autism. It provides thought-provoking discussion on communication issues, social processing skills, and the critical role that adult perspectives play in guiding the child with autism to a meaningful, self-sufficient, productive life. If you'd like to  learn more, the Autism Speaks website has provided an abbreviated version from the book  at this link.

We wanted to pass along  this article  about a creative option for engaging students in the writing process known as BoomWriter .  Research tells us that more technology has not necessarily translated into improved writing skills for most students.  In fact, Ken Haynes, the BoomWriter co-founder suggests that "the negative effects of excess screen time and shorter attention spans due to social media are corroborated by recent studies that show only a quarter of American high school students are proficient in writing assessments, and one out of five have 'below basic' writing skills." Here is Mr. Haynes' description of  BoomWriter from the article linked above: After a teacher signs up for free, here’s how BoomWriter works. 1.  Teachers provide a prompt, story start, problem to solve, or single directive for all their students to read and respond to. 2.  Each student writes and submits his/her entry for review and feedback from the teacher.   3.  Once all

As one of the seven psychologists in this district who received the additional training required to conduct evaluations for Traumatic Brain Injury, I'm always interested in new research on this topic.  In case you missed it,  this article  from The New York Times  summarizes information from a recent student from Boston University on youth football.  While we know that many of our students in WS/FCS are exceptional athletes and that sports can be an important part of the school and community, this study highlights some risks that may associated with contact sports at a young age. The researchers studied 214 former American football players who are now all in their 50s.  The participants completed telephone-administered cognitive tests and online measures of depression, behavioral regulation, apathy and executive functioning (e.g., initiating activity, problem-solving, planning and organization, etc.).  The researchers then compared the results of former players who started playin

Since October is National Bullying Prevention Month, here's a situation to consider.  A town in New York state, North Tonawanda, has created an anti-bullying law. The new law went into  effect on October 1 st .   The law requires parents of minors found bullying other minors to pay a fine. In addition, parents may face possible jail time. The North Tonawanda City Council passed the law in hopes that it will put a stop to bullying. What do you think about the new law? Does this go too far?  To learn more about the North Tonawanda bullying law, click here:   NY Bullying Law

Throwing chairs, destroying the room, hiding under tables. These are some behaviors you may encounter this year, if you haven’t already. While we hope to prevent a situation from rising to this level, it sometimes happens. For some students, negative emotion feels so intense that they cannot think rationally. If they could, they would understand that there are better ways to solve their problems.  What triggers this level of reaction may be different for each student. For some, it may be conflict with peers. For others, it may be an overload of frustrating school work. Regardless of the cause, your reaction is crucial in restoring the classroom, and the student, to a safe level. The Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) provides international training on managing potentially dangerous behaviors. They have created a list of their top 10 tips for de-escalating these behaviors. I have outlined them here, and linked to the page on their site containing original PowerPoint. CPI's Top 10 S

I was recently reading a report from ABC of NC, a community partner that has been referenced in our blog posts in the past.  Included in the "Recommendations" section of that report is a reference to a resource from the Autism Speaks website, entitled  The 100-Day Kit for Newly Diagnosed Families of School-Age Children .  If your child is diagnosed before the age of 4, Autism Speaks has a toolkit for that, as well. Family members can download this free resource from the link above.  Autism Speaks created it with the goal to "make the best possible use of the 100 days following their child's diagnosis of autism."  Families whose children have been diagnosed in the last 6 months are also eligible to request a complimentary hard copy of the 100 Day Kit by calling 888-AUTISM2 (888-288-4762) to speak with an Autism Response Team Coordinator. The kit includes helpful information for navigating what may be unfamiliar territory for the family.  There is information

We provided a number of resources in our original blog posting on  Helping Children Manage Distress .  Unfortunately, current events have us revisiting this topic yet again.  It's important to remember that educators can reinforce students’ sense of security by making classrooms predictable and welcoming, enabling students to process their reactions to events, providing access to mental health supports as needed, and connecting families with other available resources, when needed.  Additional resources that may be helpful for families and teachers include the following: Talking to Children about Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers   This resource from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) can also be downloaded in a variety of languages. Helping Children Cope with Terrorism: Tips for Families and Educators   This NASP resource can also be downloaded in multiple languages. Most children and youth are resilient and will cope well with the support and carin

When I awoke this morning to the tragedy out of Las Vegas, I felt my own stress level start to rise in what has become an all too familiar occurrence. Even as an adult, I have trouble understanding the violence that is happening in the world around us.  For children, these feelings are even more difficult to process.  Each time we post recommendations on how to support children in times of distress, we hope we never have to do it again.  Although it is not easy to navigate these conversations with our children, this post from last September provides some helpful guidelines. Crisis Response

What is DACA? DACA is an acronym used for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This law was enacted in 2012 under the Obama Administration. This act protects eligible immigrant youth who came to the United States as children from deportation for two years and and allows them access to a work permit. Applicants to the DACA program pay a fee and must renew their application after two years. The Current State of DACA On September 5 th , the current administration announced a phase-out of the program. All initial applications sent after September 5 th will not be accepted. The Department of Homeland Security is allowing a six-month window in which it will consider renewal requests before the program phases out in March 2018. After the six-month period is over, no renewal requests will be processed. Dispelling Myths…. ·          DACA originated from an act signed into law under the administration of George W. Bush. The act was called the Development, Relief and