Year End Counseling Update
May 2022
Hello Families!
Empathy
Identifying the Feelings of Others
- facial expressions
- body language
- the situation that is occurring
We practiced this skill quite a bit. We also talked about how we can respond to others once we know how they are feeling.
All grades enjoyed clips from the movie Inside Out as we explored various feelings.
Identifying Our Feelings
Essentially, we learned that our amygdala (the barking dog) is the emotional center of our brain. The barking dog is important because he warns us when there is danger - a bear in the woods :) However, we also discussed that sometimes our dog starts barking for reasons that aren't dangerous - mom tells us to get up for school, our siblings are doing something to annoy us, or someone said something unkind. Students also learned that the pre-frontal cortex (the wise owl) in our brain is the part that helps us to make good decisions, have empathy and solve problems. We discussed how sometimes when our barking dog takes over, it scares away the wise owl. At this point we know that we have 'flipped our lid' or that we are 'flooded' with too much 'emotion' and we aren't going to make the best choices.
We also discussed how we feel different emotions in our bodies: sweating, heart racing, nervous stomach, tight muscles and so on. Students learned to 'scale' their feelings (0-10) and to recognize the signs their bodies give them when they get in the range of a 6-8 so they can start using their calming strategies.
What Next?
Tools
Resources for Parents
I have a few books that I have read that I will share here.
As always, if I can ever be of any help to your child or your family, please reach out. I'm looking forward to the 22-23 school year! Enjoy some long summer days - see you soon!
Why Smart Kids Worry
Why does my child seem to worry so much?
Being the parent of a smart child is great—until your son or daughter starts asking whether global warming is real, if you are going to die, and what will happen if they don't get into college. Kids who are advanced intellectually often let their imaginations ruin wild and experience fears beyond their years. So what can you do to help?
In Why Smart Kids Worry, Allison Edwards guides you through the mental and emotional process of where your child's fears come from and why they are so hard to move past. Edwards focuses on how to parent a child who is both smart and anxious and brings her years of experience as a therapist to give you the answers to questions such as:
•How do smart kids think differently?
•Should I let my child watch the nightly news on TV?
•How do I answer questions about terrorists, hurricanes, and other scary subjects?
Edwards's fifteen specially designed tools for helping smart kids manage their fears will help you and your child work together to help him or her to become more relaxed and worry-free
Anxious Kids Anxious Parents
How do you manage a child who gets stomachaches every school morning, who refuses after-school activities, or who is trapped in the bathroom with compulsive washing? Children like these put a palpable strain on frustrated, helpless parents and teachers. And there is no escaping the problem: One in every five kids suffers from a diagnosable anxiety disorder.
Unfortunately, when parents or professionals offer help in traditional ways, they unknowingly reinforce a child's worry and avoidance. From their success with hundreds of organizations, schools, and families, Reid Wilson, PhD, and Lynn Lyons, LICSW, share their unconventional approach of stepping into uncertainty in a way that is currently unfamiliar but infinitely successful. Using current research and contemporary examples, the book exposes the most common anxiety-enhancing patterns—including reassurance, accommodation, avoidance, and poor problem solving—and offers a concrete plan with 7 key principles that foster change. And, since new research reveals how anxious parents typically make for anxious children, the book offers exercises and techniques to change both the children's and the parental patterns of thinking and behaving.
This book challenges our basic instincts about how to help fearful kids and will serve as the antidote for an anxious nation of kids and their parents.
Flooded: A Brain Based Guide to Help Children Regulate Emotions
When your brain perceives danger, your body and mind will go instantly into one of three modes-flight, fight, or freeze. Your heart races, your body tenses up, your hands shake, and your emotions take over rational thought.
You've entered The Flood Zone.
When children experience The Flood Zone, their behavior changes. They yell, bite, or run away. They withdraw and lose concentration. They blame and lie. In this state, children are unable to be rational, regulated, or otherwise compliant. Even the most motivated child (or adult) with the greatest coping strategies won't be able to identify or manage their emotions in The Flood Zone.
In Flooded, counselor and bestselling author, Allison Edwards explains how parents, teachers, and counselors can identify when children have entered The Flood Zone. She also offers suggestions for teaching children (and adults!) how to regain control of their emotions.
In this book, you'll get:
- An overview of how the brain interacts with emotions
- Understanding of the role of trauma in emotional health
- Explanation of why children can't respond rationally in stressful circumstances
- Techniques for teaching children how to regulate emotions
- Suggestions for setting up your classroom or office to improve emotional awareness
- Strategies for improving interactions with children at school and home
As educators, parents, and professionals, we need to teach children and teens how to identify their emotions, learn what triggers those feelings, and provide strategies to manage their feelings in a healthy way. This book explains how.