Erin’s Law, or Illinois Public Act 097-1147, requires public schools to provide child sexual abuse prevention education for children in prekindergarten through twelfth grades. District 25 began providing instruction in compliance with Erin’s Law during the 2015-16 school year. Age appropriate instruction, delivered by the school social worker, helps students recognize unsafe situations, keep themselves safe, and understand how to respond to unsafe situations.
At the Early Childhood level, Erin's Law presentations happen in the classrooms in late January. We specifically talk about the following concepts:
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In this article, Katie Hurley, therapist and parenting expert, shares 10 Strategies to Help Your Anxious Child in the Moment. Not only are these strategies tried and true, they were recommended by kids! The very best kind of recommendation.
Tags: Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Regulation. Daylight Savings is happening this weekend. On Sunday, November 4th, 2:00 AM will magically transform back to 1:00 AM to the delight of people without young children everywhere. Meanwhile, parents of young children will anxiously cross their fingers that this will only mess things up for a few days at most.
Of course there is the obvious time and sleep shift which can have it's own huge impact (read more about that here: www.parents.com/kids/sleep/tips/daylight-saving-time/ ), Over-tiredness can lead to cranky toddlers and kids (and grown ups too!) which can snowball into frustration and difficulties self-regulating throughout the house. Make sure you pay attention to your child's cues (and your own) and head to bed a little earlier than the clock dictates if needed. Daylight Savings also cuts some after-work/school sunlight hours out of the equation. Add that to the change in weather and it sure is tricky to get outside for fresh air and some gross motor activities, not to mention burning off some of that energy! Try to come up with ways to get some physical activity in as often as you can. Maybe sign up for swim lessons, see about a nearby open gym for young children (like Mt. Prospect's Rec Plex Play Place), or turn your home into an obstacle course (pillow forts, taking puzzle pieces up the stairs one at a time to put them in a puzzle waiting at the top, etc). Maybe try some silly animal yoga as a family at home (make up the moves!) or a nightly dance party before dinner. Keep in mind that fewer hours of sunlight can also impact some sensitive individuals on a more emotional level too (lower energy level, reluctance to leave the house, difficulty listening and concentrating, etc). Try to stay tuned to your child and be sure to schedule in some extra snuggles and books when needed. Books are an incredible way to teach lessons and spark conversations and ideas with little ones. Because books can be so impactful there is even a term - bibliotherapy - for using them as a way to help spark growth and change in a therapeutic setting. It can be hard to find books that you want to spend precious minutes on (or that you would be willing to read over and over and over again!). Below are some picture books that I like and why I like them for young kids (all of these books are available at the AHML library):
Family Fun
presented by D25 Early Childhood Team September 14, 2018 @ 10:00am January 18, 2019 @ 10:00am October 12, 2018 @ 1:30pm February 15, 2019 @ 1:30pm November 16, 2018 @ 10:00am April 26, 2019 @ 1:30 Come explore early childhood with your child! This monthly interactive event will provide parents with hands-on experiences encouraging language, social emotional, functional, fine motor, pre-academic, gross motor development. Families will learn through play by sharing some of the daily activities that are part of our curriculum. Early Childhood team members will facilitate the activities and share helpful tips on ways that parents can generalize these skills to the home environment. Helping Young Children Manage Anxiety presented by Nicole Miller, D25 Early Childhood Social Worker October 18, 2018 @ 1:00pm and 6:00pm Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time. We cannot eliminate anxiety but we can help children learn how to manage it. This presentation will provide parents with information about different types of anxiety and research-based strategies on how they can help their children. Participants will receive helpful tips and tricks along with with references on emotional skill development. Teach Me What to Do ~ Strategies for Better Behavior presented by Gina Musielski, StarNet Family Resource Specialist November 27, 2018 @ 6:00pm Many parents find themselves struggling with the challenging behavior of their young child periodically. This presentation will help parents think about the whys behind behavior and provide effective strategies based on the Pyramid Model to teach skills for social emotional competency. Parents will be given tips for positive motivation, tools to build their child’s ‘emotional literacy’, and practical tips to develop better behavior. Parents will receive helpful handouts to reference as well as useful resources on positive behavior. Early Childhood to Kindergarten Transition presented by Diane Kaffka, D25 Early Childhood Coordinator January 8, 2019 @ 9:15am, 1:00pm and 6:00pm Transitions are easier when families understand the process. This presentation will help participants understand the kindergarten transition process including the timeline, continuum of kindergarten supports in D25, how to be an active member in the transition process, and to understand the components of a kindergarten IEP. Parents will come away from this workshop with a better understanding of what to expect as their children move on to kindergarten. I Can Do It Myself! Teaching Skills for Independence Early presented by Gina Musielski, StarNet Family Resource Specialist March 6, 2019 @ 9:15am From the moment their children are born, parents are teaching. Whether spoken or not, the sincere hope of every parent is to raise responsible, independent, young adults by the time they are old enough to leave the nest. When a child has special needs, parents may find themselves being more protective, and may find themselves holding back to wait for the time when their child is ‘ready’. Yet, these key life skills can have great influence on other skills learning. In this workshop we’ll talk about the importance of starting early- to promote self-esteem and motivation for independence, and we’ll share activities and strategies for developing skills for independence in young children. Encouraging Language Development presented by D25 Early Childhood Speech Language Pathologists April 16, 2019 @ 9:15am and 1:00pm Come have a conversation with our speech language pathologists! This presentation will provide parents with ideas on how to encourage language development. We’ll discuss many ways families can promote language develop in their daily activities. Participants will receive helpful tip sheets and resources for language development activities. In this article, Rick Hanson and Forest Hanson share lots of information about resiliency - where it comes from and how to cultivate it...
"Though it’s not a quick fix, you can change your brain for the better by working it the same way you would work a muscle. As you become more resilient in the face of life’s challenges, you move toward greater well-being and away from stress, worry, frustration, and hurt." Tags: Emotional Regulation, Emotional Intelligene, Parenting Listening is an important and lifelong skill. Being a good listener makes us better friends, parents, children, siblings, students, and partners. It can be tempting to think that listening only requires our ears but in order to truly listen, we need our whole body!
“Whole Body Listening” helps us remember the essential parts of our body required for truly hearing someone else’s message. We practice with our “eyes looking, ears listening, mouth quiet, brain thinking, and body still.” Sometimes it can be funny to see how important each of these parts of the body are to listening. For example, have you tried reading a picture book with your eyes closed? You sure miss a lot of clues, not to mention wonderful illustrations. Have you ever tried to listen to a favorite show while you or someone else was talking? It can be really hard to hear. Having our brain thinking about the message someone else is giving us is also a crucial part of listening. It’s amazing how much we can learn when we listen with our whole bodies. Listening skills are so important and like every skill, they require practice and modeling. If we want our children to listen to us, then we must take the time to model and truly listen to them when they have something important to share as well. We must model listening to each other in front of them as well. Happy listening and learning! Tags: Self-Regulation, Social Skills Play is vital to the development of language, problem solving, social skills, emotional regulation, and executive functioning. The benefits of play are many but the time that many children spend engrossed in play is dwindling. In fact, play is so vital to healthy child development that some pediatricians have started writing prescriptions for play!
You can read more about the benefits of play here: www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/08/31/642567651/5-proven-benefits-of-play?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180831 Anxiety is a normal part of life; we all feel anxious from time to time. It is an uncomfortable feeling, for kids and grown ups alike. When extreme, anxiety can be overwhelming.
Intense anxiety can lead to racing thoughts, shortened breath, accelerated heart rate, and feelings of panic or despair. Lecturing oneself or others, saying that there “is no reason to be anxious,” or to simply “stop being anxious” does not help. Anxiety is rarely logical so trying to argue with it does not always work. We can’t make anxious feelings simply go away but we can learn how to manage them better so we feel more in control. The ability to regulate one’s emotions is developmental and it takes a lot of practice. Kids and grown ups alike can benefit from consistent practice in calming strong feelings like anxiety. When we are calm, we are better listeners, better problem solvers, and we are generally happier. Modeling calming strategies when you feel nervous or worried, or when a small problem arises, can help your child internalize these strategies for their own use. Practicing when your child feels calm and relaxed is important too. Play charades where everyone acts out a different coping strategy and the “audience” has to guess which one you used. Show a character in a book or in a movie how to calm down when worried or anxious too. Slow deep breaths: Breath in through your nose for 3-4 counts, hold the breath for 1-2 counts, and then let the air out slowly through your mouth for 3-4 counts. Do this at least 3 times or as many times as you need. You can imagine you are smelling a lovely rose or delicious soup and then blowing carefully on hot soup to cool it down. Slow deep breaths calm our heart and brain and help relax our muscles. This in turn helps relax our worried thoughts. It’s much harder for your brain to be anxious when your body is relaxed. Distracting your brain You can do this by engaging in a fun or distracting activity like dancing or doing a puzzle so your brain doesn’t have enough room to keep thinking about your worried thoughts. Size of the problem Problems can be BIG, medium, or little. Our reaction size should match the problem size. Sometimes it helps to list out different problems because it makes it easier to compare our current problem. BIG problems require assistance to solve and may take several weeks or longer to resolve (ex: tornado, fire, broken leg, etc.) Medium problems sometimes require help and can usually be resolved in a few days or have little long term impact (ex: flu, argument with a friend, etc.) Little problems can usually be solved on our own and don’t impact us for more than a couple of hours or a day (ex: broken pencil, no dessert, didn’t get to be first in line, had to wait to play with a toy, etc.). Talking Talking to others can sometimes help us feel less worried. They can remind us to use our strategies or help us get through something that feels like a big problem. Tags: Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Regulation It can be hard for parents to watch their children fail and struggle with the intense emotions that failure can bring. It would be nice if we could protect our children from failure and uncomfortable feelings but they will experience both throughout their lives. Protecting them now means robbing them of opportunities to develop skills to competently manage these emotions as they get older and the mistakes and failures become more significant.
The more opportunities your child has to recover from small failures and disappointments now, the easier it will be for them to handle these emotions gracefully in elementary, middle, high school and even adulthood. Don’t always let your child pick the game or movie. Don’t always let your child go first and do not always let them win. It may feel overwhelming to both of you at first but know the you are helping them grow and mature with your support and guidance. And, no promises but maybe it will help make those teenage years a little easier too. Tags: Emotional Regulation, Self-Esteem, Self-Regulation |
AuthorMiss Nicole is the Social Worker for the Early Childhood Program in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Categories
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