Wearing masks

 Here is a great video that came out from Sesame Street about Julia needing to wear a mask:

Life is Crazy but kids don't have feel that way.

 Several parents have talked to me about how behaviors are increasing and kids don't seem themselves right now. I know I don't feel myself right now either.  Right now life is full of chaos. I keep hearing that this is the new normal but the reality is there is nothing normal about all the big things going on in the world.  

Here's what kids need and especially kids who struggle to speak and express themselves.  They need routines and things they can depend on. Such as brushing teeth at the same time, knowing where their things are, knowing what lunch will be and having visuals to go with these things help. 

Please remember that even if your kid is unable to speak they still know that things are different and weird and they need to know why? Kids may be wondering why are some kids at school, and I am not. They may be wondering why they have to stay home when mom says it is just a cold. They may wonder why aren't I hugging my grandparents or why are people asking me to wear a mask.  

Take some time to talk to your kids and explain in a kid friendly way what is happening. what you believe and how your family is dealing with things. We talk at school often about world events. A few years ago, I had one student was very upset because a big hurricane was coming. He didn't understand that the hurricane was far away.  We, also, talked about what people were doing to prepare for the hurricane so he would see that his parents weren't doing those things so it was okay.

Please let me know if I can help and if there are any resources you could use. 

If you haven't checked out Sesame Streets resource pages. There are lots of resources for parents there to help guide you through these tough times. 

https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/routines/

Zones of Regulation

 Parents,

We are using the Zones of Regulation to help kids recognize their feelings. Identifying feelings is hard and the Zones make it a little easier for kids to know where they are and what to do about it. The whole idea is to let kids determine their feelings and let them know their are things they can do about it. Think about it this way- it is okay to feel angry. It is not okay to hit someone because of it. So in order to do something about the anger kids can think about how they can move themselves from red to green. Do they need to talk about it. Do they need to distract themselves by jumping up and down or do they need to calm themselves down by taking 3 deep breathes.  This idea that they have control often helps them to not aggressively act out because their is something that they can do about it. It is important 

Here are some resources for you to use with your kiddo:

Click here for a Social story explaining how the Zones work