Psyched About School

How many times have you told your child to "calm down?" This article provides a breakdown of specific activities that can help your child calm down based on their age.  Psychotherapist Amy Morin, who has a new book out called 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don't Do, says that children need to be able to control their tempers in order to succeed in life.  Being able to deal with stress, anger, frustration and anxiety requires a specific set of skills.  Not all children just inherently "know" these skills; sometimes we have to directly teach our children how to calm down.   Morin shares some visualization tactics in her book to help children learn to regulate their own emotions.  Here are some examples: Preschool : "Stop and Smell the Pizza" teaches young children that slow, deep breaths can relax the body and reduce anger. School Age : "Change the Channel" provides a task for children to keep their hands busy and also provides a ...

School Psychologists are often called upon to assist when our students experience thoughts of suicide or have been hospitalized for suicidal ideation.  This happens more frequently than any of us would like. I had the opportunity recently to speak to the faculty at my high school about suicide prevention and intervention, including common warning signs.  This article from the Child-Mind Institute provides an excellent overview of some of the more typical "red flags" for teen suicide, including recent losses, substance abuse, bullying, and access to lethal means. Not only does the article provide risk factors, but it also addresses some of the "protective factors," or things that can help mitigate risk for suicide.  These include good problem-solving abilities, strong connections to others, and access to service/supports for any physical, mental or substance abuse needs.  Although we may not always have the power to erase any of those risk factors from a child...

This article from the Edutopia website was written by Dr. Lori Desautels, Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Butler University.  Dr. Desautels provides four strategies to help educators make connections with those students who may be dealing with emotional disturbances.  She notes that "Students who struggle with emotional disturbances are some of our most vulnerable, but when we can create predictable and consistent supports for them, their inner resilience can shine." The first strategy includes the use of Brain-Based Learning Centers where student can go to calm down, if needed.  We love that this method involves teaching students about their brains, which increase self-awareness and self-regulation.  Dr. Desautels suggests an “amygdala first aid station,” a “hippocampus area,” and a “prefrontal cortex area.” Personalized Check-In Notes are the second strategy, which involves quick and simple personalized communication throughout the day....

This isn't a topic that we often post about, because schools are statistically still some of the safest places to be in this day and age.  However, several of us recently completed the PREPaRE1 and PREPaRE2 trainings offered by the Department of Psychological Services, which has us thinking about school safety and crisis prevention and intervention. The PREPaRE trainings were developed by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), together with leading national experts in school crisis prevention and response.  (By the way, we would absolutely encourage all school administrators to register for the next session of PREPaRE1 training, if you haven't already completed it.)  PREPaRE1 is a 1-day workshop that provides a "broad overview of the school crisis team's roles and responsibilities, with a special emphasis on crisis prevention and preparedness."  PREPaRE2 is a 2-day workshop that "provides a specific examination of the school-based mental ...

There has been an increase in the amount of research we've been seeing over the past few years related to trauma.  As School Psychologists, we are often called upon to help our schools, parents and students better understand the effects of trauma on learning.  This perspective shift essentially boils down to changing from a "What's wrong with you?" approach to a "What happened to you?" approach. It is important to understand that learning can be a challenge for children who have experienced trauma.  We found this article entitled " 10 Things About Childhood Trauma Every Teacher Needs to Know " to contain simple, easy advice.  If you are interested, the article also includes the link to this short video (1:15) from the The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC):

We wanted to pass along an opportunity to learn more about mindfulness in the school setting.  You may have read some of our previous blog posts about mindfulness, including the potential positive outcomes for both academic and behavioral growth.  The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction has provided us with  this memo  to register for a free Technical Assistance Webinar on the topic of mindfulness.  The deadline for registration will be January 19th , so please sign up soon if you're interested.  Here are the details: DATE: Monday, February 5, 2018 TIME: 11:00am-12:30pm Areas addressed: - Overview of Mindfulness - Existing Research - Implementing Mindfulness Practices - Relevant Resources - Next Steps

How many of you parents out there have been asked by pediatricians or school personnel about when your child met various developmental milestones?  Those can be tough to remember as your child gets older - especially if you have more than one.  Well, thanks to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), now there's an app for that! The CDC's  Milestone Tracker app  was developed not only to help parents easily access that information when their children are older, but also to encourage early intervention if parents notice that the child is not meeting typical milestones.  The free app was developed by the CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early” program and contributors from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.  It is available for both iOS and Android devices.  Here are some of the app's features from the CDC's website: " Add a Child – enter personalized information about your child or multiple children Milestone Tracker – track your chil...

School Psychologists are often called upon to work with our teachers and Intervention Support Teams (ISTs) on developing plans to help children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) find more success in the classroom.  We wanted to pass along  this article  from ChildMind.org entitled "What’s ADHD (and What’s Not) in the Classroom," which provides an overview of behaviors that you might observe in a student with ADHD.  However, the author also cautions that "not every high-energy or impulsive child has ADHD." The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) published a free resource entitled  ADHD: A Primer for Parents and Educators  that provides more information on symptoms, types, diagnosis and intervention.  Some of the interventions discussed by NASP include token economies, self-monitoring, social skills training, organizational skills instruction, and consistent communication between home and school. If you have a child...

We are always interested in new approaches to learning - for our students and for ourselves as adult learners.  When I came across  this article  from the Edutopia website, I was impressed by this "outside of the box" thinking.  As educators, we all participate in ongoing professional development activities, whether those are provided by the school system or if we independently pursue skill development outside of the school setting.  I loved the suggestions in this article for including student input in professional development activities.  Before even reading through the article, one of the thoughts I had was that this approach could increase "buy-in" from students as partners in the learning process.  It also sets the stage for students to see first-hand that learning is a life-long endeavor, not something that we stop doing when we graduate from high school or college.  Whether input is gained from students via interviews or surveys, this cou...