ORES Connections
Working Together for School Success
Spring 2021
In this quarter's newsletter, you will find ideas for fostering family relationships, explore suggestions for reducing every-day anxiety, learn some timely test-taking tips, and discover resources for helping your child strengthen their executive functioning skills. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out to us for more information, resources, support, or to provide feedback. Thank you for your partnership with ORES!
Strong family bonds are important for children and adults for a variety of reasons that are foundational to personal well-being. Family support provides benefits to your physical, emotional, social, and mental health that can't be found anywhere else. The content below provides information on how to build and strengthen family relationships.
Starting the Day off Right!
Promoting the success of your children with 4 simple morning practices
Check out these suggestions for getting everyone outside for some springtime family fun.
Take this checklist along on a spring scavenger hunt or nature walk. See if your family can spot all 20 items!
Staying home for Spring Break? Try a few of these boredom-busters for some family fun at home.
Worries are thoughts, emotions, or images that cause us stress and discomfort. They can be big or small and everyone has them -- They're a normal part of life! Although sometimes our worry can serve as a warning system that alerts us to danger or harm, more often our anxious thoughts "take over" and can make it difficult for us to think clearly, feel regulated, and make calm, smart decisions. Let's talk about some ways that worry can affect us and then look at some strategies to challenge those worries in healthy, helpful ways!
So, how can we challenge these worries?
Click on each picture for helpful information about thought-checking, focusing on what we can control, and calming and coping strategies.
📖 A Little Spot of Worry By Diane Alber READ ALOUD
With spring assessments and SOLs coming up, many students start to feel nervous about test-taking and performance. Here are a few tips and resources to help your child prepare for assessments while reducing test anxiety.
What are Executive Functions?
Some people may describe Executive Function as the brain's "CEO" or the management system of the brain. According to Margaret Dawson, a leading expert on the topic of Executive Functioning (EF), "Executive skills refer to the brain-based, cognitive processes that help us to regulate our behavior, make decisions, and set and achieve goals." These skills underlie many daily functions such as paying attention, organizing, planning and prioritizing, initiating tasks, emotional regulation, and self-monitoring.
Executive skills are not inborn; rather, they begin to develop in childhood and continue until approximately age 25. Although weak executive function is not a diagnosis or formal learning disability, it is common in individuals who think and learn differently, such as those with ADHD. Explore the links and resources below to learn more about what executive functioning is, and how teachers and parents can be instrumental in helping children overcome challenges in executive functioning.
Executive-Function Skills: Important Skills for Childhood Development
Smart but Scattered Kids
This page provides definitions of terms associated with Executive Function, as well as links to helpful books and resources.
Tips for Building Executive Skills
Click this link to learn more about EF skill-building strategies.
Executive function skills are the roots of success | Stephanie Carlson | TEDxMinneapolis
Deficits in executive functioning can impact kids at home and in school in a variety of ways. Children with executive dysfunction may struggle with planning, problem-solving, organization, and time-management. These weaknesses may often be seen as willful misbehavior rather than a lack of executive functioning skill development. The graphic below helps to reframe our interpretation of these deficits.
This video explains more about the details surrounding a diagnosis of ADHD, which is more accurately described as a disorder of self-regulation, rather than solely a lack of attention.
Failing at Normal: An ADHD Success Story | Jessica McCabe | TEDxBratislava
For Further Reading
Executive Functioning read-alouds
Read Aloud: Your Fantastic Elastic Brain | JoAnn Deak, Ph.D.
Bethany Lyle
School Counselor
Email: bethany.lyle@bedford.k12.va.us
Phone: (540) 586-9210
Christine Christmas
School Psychologist
Email: christine.christmas@bedford.k12.va.us
Phone: (540) 586-9210
Worry Warrior materials by Counselor Keri. Also, a big thank you to Kids Haven for providing grief support bags for Bedford County counseling programs. For more information on these resources, please reach out to Bethany Lyle, School Counselor.