https://positivepsychology.com/ai-therapy

By 1966, we saw the beginning of artificial intelligence in psychology, with the early chatbot Eliza convincing patients they were conversing with a real therapist (Weizenbaum, 1976; Mullins, 2005).

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/07/psychology-embracing-ai

Great overview one of my favorite introductory articles about AI in Psy

https://www.counseling.org/resources/research-reports/artificial-intelligence-counseling/recommendations-for-client-use-and-caution-of-artificial-intelligence

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-congress-consider-two-new-bills-artificial-intelligence-2023-06-08/ “One would require the U.S. government to be transparent when using AI to interact with people and another would establish an office to determine if the United States is remaining competitive in the latest technologies.”

https://www.reuters.com/technology/stalled-eu-ai-act-talks-set-resume-2023-12-08

“The agreement bans cognitive behavioural manipulation, the untargeted scrapping of facial images from the internet or CCTV footage, social scoring and biometric categorisation systems to infer political, religious, philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation and race.”

Artificial Intelligence in Psychology Applications

As learning tool

Scoring protocols, generating reports, reviewing insurance claims

In lieu of live therapist

As therapy prosthetic- Centaur model; extension, elaboration, intervention brainstormer, as quality control for choosing research based interventions, notetaking automation, has been used effectively to treat sleep problems and chronic pain management

Problems– can be unpredictable and unsafe, privacy, may or may not remember previous sessions with a patient, misinformation.

            “Rogue chatbots” have professed their love to users and discriminated against users based on gender, age, disability, and sexually harassed minors.

            Spreading malware and obtaining private or sensitive information.

Has been used to create deep fakes, groom, and abuse.

          Can result in people using AI as a tool to begin treating people like tools as well.

AI character lineup

Siri

Alexa

Chatgpt, GPT3- https://chat.openai.com/g/g-CYjbmE387-social-story-weaver Flavur6!!!!!

DALL-E 2

Bing AI

Perplexity

Cursor

Micorsoft copilot

Google gemini

Claude

Wysa- CBT for anxiety and chronic pain, can be used as supplement to give reminders and present exercises such as cognitive restructuring, does not collect personal information

Eleos- listens to sessions, takes notes, highlights themes and risks for practioner to review

Lyssn- evaluates providers on adherence to evidence-based protocols

Drift- marketing and sales

Replika- “Join the millions who have already met their AI soulmate.” Claims over 10 million users

Support ninja- customer service

Future directions

            Safety and oversight

            Privacy

            Report generator and protocol scorer for standardized behavior rating forms utilized in   psychological and educational testing

            Training for new clinicians

            Better understanding of human cognition, language, personality

            Better mass data research results and ability to predict human behavior

American Counseling Association says

            Informed consent

            Protect privacy and protect from harm

            Not for Dx or crisis response

            If used for mental health consult with licensed professional

Artificial Intelligence in School Psychology

            Sophia “saves 3 hours in report writing” https://www.schoolpsych.ai/

            NASP six guiding principles in using AI in school psychology:

https://www.schoolpsych.ai/_files/ugd/cbd354_0ff04eb2133b49bda73dbd2205fe242a.pdf

            California Association of School Psychologists; ). Practitioners need to understand how this data is collected, stored and used to ensure that student privacy is protected (CASP, 2020). At this time, AI platforms are not considered FERPA/HIPAA compliant in the exchange of information. SP/LEPs should avoid using personally identifiable information, including names, IDs, addresses, etc. on AI platforms. AI systems may also track student data in order to create personalized experiences (Akgun & Greenhow, 2021). This creates risk for students unintentionally disclosing their own sensitive or personally identifiable information. Consent and assent for usage with AI systems should be considered and students should not be required to share unwanted data.

https://www.aspponline.org/docs/AI_ASPP_Presentation.pdf

Add this to your boilerplate consent for eval forms!!!

Substitute codes for personal info then edit outside of AI and explore all means of protecting sensitive data.

Pick one person in your district to be the AI smartypants to stay on top and inform the rest periodically on evolving updates

Can it be used as an individual tutor for inattentive/off-task distractible students?

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Exercise Habits for Behavioral Health

Studies indicate a minimum of 25 minutes cardiovascular exercise three times weekly is equally effective for depressive and anxious symptoms as any pill you can take. Side effects include improved self-esteem, longer life, smarter brain, stronger body, increased energy/motivation, and natural feelings of well-being.

Diet

Garbage in, garbage out, as they say. You are what you eat. A regular routine of mealtimes including whole unprocessed foods, and all the food groups including fruits and vegetables does the body good. In particular foods that contain antioxidants and elements that reduce inflammation, B vitamins, and fish oil have been demonstrated to be good habits for behavioral health.

Sleep Habits for Behavioral Health

Sleep hygiene what does this mean? Good sleep hygiene means going to bed and waking up the same time every day. Few people can function well if they don’t sleep right. If this is an issue then it should be priority number one to try and get a handle on. People with allergy or adenoid problems often don’t breathe well at night creating poor sleep quality and frequent waking. One sign this is a problem would be someone who only breathes through their mouth while sleeping.

Response to Failure, Disappointment, Frustration

“Oh no, I always lose!” This is the battle cry of someone who has not learned effective thinking habits for behavioral health. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, can be particularly helpful for people to learn how to reject overly negative, overgeneralized, and extreme thoughts in response to unwanted thoughts, and how to replace with more realistic, positive, and adaptive thoughts. Better smarter thoughts lead to better feelings and more adaptive behaviors. Success is often the byproduct of learning how to fail properly.

Clear Goals, Mission, Sense of Purpose Habits for Behavioral Health

Without clear goals we lack context to give us reasons to make efforts and keep trying. Developing clear goals that you have passion and excitement for creates motivation. Having a sense of purpose to your life contributes to a sense of self-worth and meaning. Check out the dream book strategy to help yourself or someone else generate purpose and passion.

Your dream book

Relationships/Social

Not everyone needs to be an extrovert, but like it or not 1/3 of your brain is devoted to social and emotional navigation. We can’t do well all by ourselves for extended periods. In particular adolescence is a time when finding a group of age-peers you feel you belong with is crucial to enjoying good mental health.

Hobby

Having a hobby can be a healthy habit for distraction and pleasure. A hobby can help you exercise your imagination and provide the structure and platform for social interaction.

Service/Contribution

Being of service to others can impart a sense of value for one’s existence. Volunteering, helping friends or neighbors, caring for a pet are examples. I’ve often seen children who struggled with low self-esteem due to social, behavioral, or academic difficulties begin helping younger children by playing with them or reading to a Kinder class begin to feel much better about themselves and act better once engaged in such an activity.

Honesty/Responsibility/Accountability

Dishonesty and irresponsibility don’t get good results. They may help you in the short run but in the long run problems and negative social feedback interactions will follow, resulting in more distress and dis-ease.

Perseverance, Tenacity, Grit

Research indicates that these traits, more than intelligence, predict success. Choosing perseverance as a habit for behavioral health means committing to showing up, push through, and keep trying, even when you don’t feel like it.

Gratitude Habits for Behavioral Health

This is a good habit to start the day with. Make a list of everything you are grateful for and review daily, start of day and before bed are good times. You could use a dry erase marker and write the list on the mirror you brush your teeth in front of so it’s hard to miss. Don’t forget the things you may take for granted; air to breathe, roof overhead, bed to sleep in, loved ones, food, water, etc.

Time in Nature

Get out and take a walk! Be efficient and “kill two birds with one stone” by getting exercise and time in nature at the same time.

Healthy Limits to Social and Digital Media

Google it and you will find loads of research and articles blaming social and digital media for a large share of the mental health problems we are experiencing. In my mind some social and digital media is not bad, unless an addiction has formed, but it can take the place of other activities which would go towards better mental health such as exercise and face-to-face social interaction.

Digital Diet for Children and Teens

Abstain From Drugs and Alcohol

This one should be pretty obvious. While substance abuse may feel good in the short run, it will create bigger problems in the long run. Like sleep problems, this one should be a priority if it is an issue, as long as it is then other habits for mental health will have less effect. If you can’t do it by yourself, reach out for help.

Counseling

Yes, counseling! Talking to someone else about what bothers you can be very helpful. It represents a commitment to being better. You no longer feel so alone with your problems. You are looping another professionally trained and experienced brain into helping to find solutions. At the very least you just doubled your brain capacity to finding better answers. If your car isn’t working right do you take it to a mechanic evaluation and repair?

Pro-tip: Ask yourself or the person you are helping to choose which healthy habits they are willing to try for two weeks. It’s a good idea to monitor or have someone monitor and coach for fidelity with the commitment. Making a chart with days of week rows and habits for behavioral health columns for them to check off when completed is a good idea.

https://mhanational.org/31-tips-boost-your-mental-health

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/habits-to-improve-mental-health

The post Habits for Behavioral Health appeared first on Intensive Care for You.

Below find a review of ADHD best treatment practices which include the following:

• Self-esteem
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
• Behavioral Therapy and Parent Training
• Organizational and Planning Skills
• Coping Skills- Emotional Awareness and Self-control
• Social and Social Thinking Skills
• Executive Skills
• Lifestyle Strategies
• Sensory Integration, Proprioception, Fine Motor Intervention
• Comorbid Anxiety, Depression, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, CAPD
• New FDA approved device
• Video Games

Self-esteem ADHD Best Treatment Practices

Studies show that the greatest risk ADHD poses to someone with ADHD is the development of a low self-esteem. Our self-esteem gives us confidence to persevere and cope with disappointments and frustration. Psychoeducation means we can teach the mechanics and meaning of ADHD, review an individuals profile of strengths and weaknesses, and explain that ADHD does not mean you are lazy, crazy, or stupid. People with ADHD often excel in thinking outside the box, creative and artistic endeavors, inventions, and business entrepreneurship.

Recently I worked with a little boy who drew this picture. Up to this point he stated that he saw himself as half-good and half-bad. His teacher said she could always tell at the start of the day if he was going to have a good day or a bad day. So I initiated conversation with him about his inherent goodness, his challenges and efforts, created a graph to visually represent the amount or ratio of time he was good.

He made this dragon-graph 1-5 scale (below) as a morning check-in so he could easily indicate his readiness to be a good and calm learner. If he wasn’t at a 1 or 2, he could take a little time to draw and settle down to be ready. Two weeks later, his teacher reported he had been great, having some near-perfect five-star days. His parent reported great improvement at home. Our thoughts about ourselves can greatly influence how we conduct ourselves.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Often called CBT for short, this type of ADHD best treatment practice involves building awareness of self-defeating and destructive thought patterns. This can help build self-awareness, abate procrastination (“I can do this later”), assist with attitude and emotional control, and maintain a positive self-esteem despite struggles setbacks and negative feedback from caregivers.

There are categories of thinking errors that can be learned, and practice replacing negative or irrational thoughts can happen in the office and at home. These categories include such illogical automatic thought patterns as psychic predicting (I know what is going to happen, and it’s going to be bad), overgeneralization (I never do anything right), and extremism or polarized thinking (If it’s not perfect it’s terrible).

Behavioral Therapy and Parent Training

Yep, you guessed it. The success of behavioral therapy is largely dependent on what parents and teachers do either before or after target behaviors occur. This means parents or teachers are given training in how to train behavior! Expected behaviors are written down, checklists may be used, rewards identified as well as consequences.

Charts may be used to track progress or token economies such as a credit system may be implemented. People with ADHD commonly get more negative feedback than their neurotypical peers, so special attention is placed on rewards and encouraging words. Parents can ask questions and review responses to new ideas tried for fine-tuning and replacements for what doesn’t work.

In my 30 years of researching and providing ADHD best treatment practices, behavioral therapy can be one of the fastest and largest treatment effects. Why? Because we are working to create motivation and encourage effort. When someone is very motivated, they can at least for a short while overcome whatever obstacles and do well. With repeated practice the skills used for success become stronger and more automatic.

Organization and Planning Skills

ADHD best treatment practice will usually place some attention on developing better organization and planning. This may include getting one planner that includes all assignments and events and when they are due, or using a smart phone, and planning when items will be worked on and finished with automated reminders.

In addition, setting a timer to go off every 15-30 minutes may be used for a self check-in to notice if one is on track and working as intended or distracted, building greater self-awareness and attention. A parent can assist by working with a student to review assignments and tasks, have the student estimate how long each will take, setting a timer, and recording how long each task actually takes, building time management and task monitor skills.

A general rule of thumb is plan to do the worst first and save the best or easiest for last. This is because willpower and persistence fade over time. Breaks can be planned and timed, rewards for completion identified. The study space should remain the same place because people with ADHD tend to be stimulus bound- the environment triggers certain behavioral sets.

Distractors such as video games and social media can be removed. A student can experiment with which sort of lighting is preferred, type of body position; chair, beanbag with a clipboard, laying on stomach. Working with background sounds such as classical music or silence can be tried as well as scents that help with calm or alertness. Backpacks and study areas can be organized. Often people with ADHD start well with a new plan but they fall off after a week or two. A coach can be utilized who may call or text a few times weekly to help monitor and keep a person on track as intended.

Coping Skills for Emotions

Having ADHD can be stressful. Often people with ADHD can be quite sensitive to setbacks and criticism. ADHD best treatment practice can include teaching emotional recognition and management skills. We can make a plan for recovering from a bad moment so it doesn’t turn into a tantrum or bad day.

Tools for fixing unwanted feelings can be assembled in a menu or toolbox by categories such as thinking tools (It’s not a big problem it’s a little problem, it’s okay I CAN handle this, everybody makes mistakes), social tools, activity tools, relaxation tools, and inappropriate tools- things the person may do sometimes that don’t fix the problem or make things worse. We may choose from menus what our stress triggers are and stress signs, meaning how do we know when a stress response is beginning before it escalates and is too late.

I like to use 1-5 scales to identify these domains in gradations, and help notice when we are at a 2 or 3 because once we get to a 5 the fight or flight response is triggered, our thinking gets impaired, and we probably will need some recovery time before we can go back and reason through the triggering problem.

https://intensivecareforyou.com/category/emotional-control-anger-anxiety/

Social and Social Thinking Skills

Sometimes someone with ADHD has difficulty socializing and behaving in a group in expected ways. This can result in others being surprised and confused by unexpected behavior, resulting in weird and uncomfortable thoughts, then others may not be very nice or exclude the person who fails to behave in expected ways. Many of the rules and expectations for social behavior are “hidden rules,” not written or normally explicitly taught, which we can explain, illustrate, and practice.

It can be for some people with ADHD as if they have a learning disability in social skills. They may exhibit some but not all traits of Autism. Basically social skills mean you learn to monitor others for how they are thinking and feeling about you, and you modify your behavior to keep others having good thoughts and feelings about you. I learned some of this language from Michelle Garcia-Winner, she has great instructional materials and curricula on her website socialthinking.com.

It is my belief that having friends with age-peers involving face-to-face interactions, and feeling like we are part of a group, even if it’s small, is key to having good mental health. No friends, no group = no mental health. And sorry but no, I don’t believe online friends count. Better than nothing, but not enough.

Sometimes I have greater success teaching social thinking concepts using a comic book format filling in each progressive box starting with a problem, an unexpected behavior, or an expected behavior, using thought bubbles and speech bubbles and prompting my person to predict how others will think and feel based on their behavior, the consequences they experience, and how they feel about the consequences. I call these success stories and sometimes start a binder to keep genuine success stories where obstacles are overcome for later review to emphasize the success and progress.

Executive Skills

ADHD best treatment practices may also place some focus on identifying underdeveloped executive skills. These are the thinking skills involved in organizing behavior in the pursuit of a goal. Like the conductor of the orchestra of your behavior. Executive skills, or sometimes called executive functions, can include the following:

• inhibition or impulse control
• attention
• working (short-term) memory
• planning
• organization
• metacognition- the ability to think about what you are thinking about
• task initiation
• flexibility
• time management
• perseverance

Identified underdeveloped executive skills can be either compensated or remediated. For example, poor working memory can be supported with a checklist of tasks to complete before, say, leaving for school, this would be a compensatory strategy. A remediation approach would involve short daily sessions exercising and building short-term memory. Research strongly supports these skills are not fixed, they can be fixed, or improved, resulting in much greater academic achievement results.

Lifestyle Strategies

Lifestyle strategies for ADHD and related conditions consist of habits or everyday proactive practices that put us in a better place to begin with for dealing with demands and stress. The three main pillars of our health are sleep hygiene, diet, and exercise. Think of a stool with three legs. Knock one out and the whole thing falls.

Did you know that clinical trials have demonstrated that 25 minutes of aerobic exercise three times per week are equally effective for treating anxiety and depression symptoms as any pill you can take? Plus the side effects are more energy, feelings of well-being, physical health, improved brain function, and longer life. A healthy diet means avoiding processed foods, regular meals and snacks, fruits and vegetables. Organic please, studies show that as many as 46 different pesticides can be on fruits and vegetables you buy at the grocery store, which have been directly linked to the formation of ADHD.

Supplements like fish oil, B vitamins, and magnesium can help. Sleep hygiene means going to bed and waking the same time every day. Additional practices shown to help manage ADHD symptoms include meditation, yoga, getting out in nature. Socializing, play, and the pursuit of a hobby or passion such as music can also improve quality of life and overall well-being.

Sensory Integration, Proprioception, Fine Motor Intervention

While there are some things a counselor can advise parents and educators to do to help with these problems, the best therapy if these issues are prominent is occupational therapy. People with ADHD can have sensory hyper or hypo sensitivities to sound, light, textures, touch, tastes, or smells. We can make accommodations like noise-cancelling headphones for sound sensitivity.

Sensory integration means the brain’s ability to receive sensory inputs and organize them into meaningful categories and packets. Poor sensory integration can result in a person becoming easily overwhelmed and very disorganized in stimulating environments such as a classroom for of people. It may also mean difficulties with balance, fine motor control, trunk strength. One accommodation would be to program some heavy work activities into the daily schedule.

Proprioception is how we know where are bodies are located in relation to objects and people, and if we are safely positioned. Signs of difficulties include dragging a hand on the wall when walking down a hall, stepping on the heels or toes of others, falling out of chairs, constantly touching everything around, rolling around on the floor instead of sitting upright and still. A weighted vest or blanket may be used to provide more sensory input so the brain gets enough to know it is safely and comfortably positioned. Sensory Screener https://sensorykids.ie/en/sensory-integration/sensory-integration-screening-questionnare/

Comorbid Anxiety, Depression, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, CAPD

Because these can often present along with ADHD, ADHD best treatmenmt practices should involve some awareness and evaluation for the presence and treatment of these conditions. If signs are present a referral for more formal evaluation and intervention may be in order. Of course if you tended to be impulsive and distractable, making silly errors, and being criticized or laughed at, you would be more prone to developing anxiety or depression.

Some signs of dyslexia would be refusal to read out loud, poor progress in reading, headaches, car sickness, very slow reading speed, inconsistent spelling patterns, and left-right confusion. Like ADHD it could be important to point out that being dyslexic does not mean you are stupid.

Dysgraphia means having difficulty with letter formation and written expression. Poor legibility, very large letters, words run together without consistent and proper spacing, failing to complete written assignments would be signs. Occupational therapists also can help develop fine motor skills, the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum can be implemented, and typing or talk-to-text can be allowed.

CAPD or central auditory processing deficit means having difficulty discriminating speech sounds into meaning in the presence of background sounds. Speech therapists can assist with this and there are programs to develop this ability such as Fast Forward.

New FDA Approved Device eTNS System

Available by prescription only, this device provides low level electrical stimulation via electrodes attached to the forehead during sleep stimulating the trigeminal nerve. Intended for children aged 7-12, a clinical trial of four weeks yielded a significant reduction in ADHD symptoms. More than half of the children experienced some side effects such as fatigue, headache, increased appetite, some weight gain, and increased heart rate. See the link to an article with more information at the end of this article.

Video Games and ADHD Best Treatment Practices

ADHD best treatment practices would be remiss to dodge this problem. I say problem because frankly, the majority of problems and conflicts reported in my private practice revolve around video games. I could write a book about this issue and have made a documentary about the impact of digital culture on human development you can see on Amazon or your Amazon Prime account or participate in a video course.

I’ll keep it short here. It appears that people with ADHD are especially susceptible to the distraction of video games and digital media distractions. In addition more prone to becoming addicted. This means they are foregoing socialization, chores, work or school work, sneaking devices and off-limits access, disrupting family relationships and often becoming aggressive, abusive, self-harming, or making suicidal gestures efforts and statements all to get access, or, in addiction language, use. So do I think this is potentially a risky problem, yes.

Sometimes this becomes the only reinforcer someone will work for, or they simply demand to have it and refuse to do anything to earn it. Counseling can help navigate these stormy waters. Video games are often used as a way to encourage desired behaviors, I think they do disrupt social opportunities and development, the ability to delay gratification, and weaken attention span. At some point parents may find themselves asking if they should just take them away completely and end the recurring conflicts, but they have become dependent on them sometimes as well and they fear how a child or teen will respond if they do.

https://www.verywellmind.com/types-of-therapy-for-adhd-5272434

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5014388/

Link to article about eTNS

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/07-08/adhd-children

I hope you enjoyed this article about ADHD best treatment practices. Questions or comments? Feel free to email me.

Brad Mason, LPC, LPA, LSSP

Brad@intensivecareforyou.com

The post ADHD Best Treatment Practices appeared first on Intensive Care for You.

Some of my child, adolescent, and adult clients have their sleep schedules turned upside down. Awake at night, worrying alone or playing video games, then sleeping by day and struggling with fatigue.

For many, the pandemic has disrupted normal routines and structures. Isolating at home, virtual work and school, interrupted social, exercise, and sleep practices, followed by increases in reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. These pandemic related factors have conspired against the maintenance of something we all need to face the day at our best, proper sleep.

Fortunately, there are effective methods to find sleep and treat insomnia to establish healthy sleep hygiene. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia is one of them. What follows is an outline of how it works.

What is CBTI?

A short, structured, evidence-based approach of 4-8 sessions to find sleep and treat insomnia.

Cognitive restructuring addressing anxiety and worries about sleeping.

Stimulus control to change associations with the bedroom and bed away from ideas of wakefulness and frustration- bed is used only for sleep, and maybe one other thing if you are an adult.

Sleep restriction- a log is created to determine how much time is actually spent sleeping, then that amount plus 30 minutes is maximum allowable time in bed.

Relaxation training- breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training to focus on feelings in specific parts of the body such as warm, heavy, relaxed, meditation.

Psychoeducation- CBT process and sleep hygiene.

Techniques for calming an active mind when trying to relax and sleep.

Homework

Does it work?

Studies show up to 70% to 80% of patients with insomnia report improvements.

Recommended as the first-line approach by the American College of Physicians. Has been shown to be effective for children, adolescents, and adults.

Are there risks? Nothing major, but it may be uncomfortable confronting unhelpful thoughts, behaviors, past painful experiences.

Can it work for people with a mental health condition such as anxiety or depression? Experts say yes.

Effects of insomnia

Effects of insomnia include:

Memory issues

Trouble with thinking and concentration

Mood changes

Accidents

Weakened immunity

High blood pressure

Weight gain

Risk for diabetes

Low sex drive

Risk of heart disease

Poor balance

A few more strategies to find sleep and treat insomnia. And don’t forget to exercise!

Relaxation Tips

Get ready to relax

Progressive muscle relaxation

Meditations

https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body

https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-treatments/c/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-insomnia.html

https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-insomnia-cbti-3015310

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/insomnia/treatment/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-insomnia

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Did you know metacognition instruction has been identified and validated as a key method for improving self-esteem, self-regulation, academic success, and test scores?

I have this little book called Mr. Daydream I sometimes read to children who seem to daydream in school and miss instruction. It’s pretty short and I ask questions to make sure my young listener understands the concept of daydreaming. Often as I’m reading they will look out the window. And keep looking.

I’ll say “Hey, are you with me?”

They say “What? Oh, uh, yeah.”

I say “What were you thinking about just then?”

They say “Nothing,” or “I don’t know.”

Sometimes I wish I could make my mind stop thinking, but so far I have not been successful. What I’m saying is, a person can lack awareness of what they are thinking about.

In this article “Metacognition for self-esteem, self-regulation, academic success” you will find; Signs of underdeveloped metacognition, What is metacognition, Teaching metacognition and self-talk for self-esteem, self-control, and emotional regulation, How to teach metacognition for greater academic success.

Ever had an experience where a kid does something inappropriate right in front of you?

You say, “Why did you do that?” Or maybe you say, “Don’t do that.”

They say “I didn’t do it.”

Or maybe they have done something inappropriate, and afterwards:

You say “What were you thinking?”

They say “I don’t know.”

That’s metacognition, the ability to think about what you are thinking about. While this thinking skill can be taught, and developed, some people don’t have it. Maybe when they get in trouble, they fail to connect an awareness of their behavior with the consequence. They just think you are being mean and unfair.

Signs and consequences of poor metacognitive skill development

Lacking self-talk skills to internally coach oneself to control emotions and reactions.

Poor awareness of context and changing expectations for behavior in different settings with different people. For example, telling a joke that may be appropriate with friends but NOT within earshot of the teacher or parent, and then getting in trouble.

Difficulty with problem solving, may fail to adapt and try a new strategy and continue trying something that is not working.

Trouble with flexible thinking and behavior, such as adapting to unexpected changes in routine and transitions. You tell them it’s time to turn of the video game and go to bed, and they have a defiant tantrum every time. Groundhog day.

Poor empathy and perspective-taking skills. Maybe they think they should go first or be line-leader every single time, neglecting to share the privilege with others.

Trouble with showing their work in complex Math problems as normally required in Algebra.

Trouble with Math word problems- they either see the answer right away or they can’t solve it.

Persisting in making the same error in spite of repeatedly being disciplined for it.

Difficulty with making and keeping friends.

Having a hard time organizing thoughts to write an essay.

May tend to say “I can’t do it,” stay stuck, and repeatedly neglect to ask for help.

Problems coping with and quieting their own negative self-talk.

Knowledge illusions whereby the individual thinks their knowledge is greater than it is or they have learned more than they actually have. May come across as arrogant or insist they don’t need practice to perform in a sport or with a musical instrument.

When you ask them what they were thinking, they say “I don’t know.”

They see you seeing them as they misbehave and yet insist they didn’t do it.

You catch them daydreaming, ask what they were thinking, and they say “Nothing” or “I don’t know.”

Their behavior does not match the rest of the group or is inappropriate for the context/audience.

Failure to notice off-task behaviors and self-correct.

Metacognition is having awareness of one’s own thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them.

1. Planning your approach to a learning task.
2. Use of appropriate skills and strategies to solve a problem.
3. Monitoring your own comprehension of text and and task requirements.
4. Self-awareness and self-evaluation resulting in self-correction
5. Evaluation of progress towards task completion.
6. Awareness of distractions.

What is the role of metacognition in regulating emotions, behaviors, and social interactions in successful and expected ways? Metacognition is a key thinking skill for self-esteem, self-regulation, and academic success.

Teaching self-talk

Would it sound strange if I said that some people don’t think in words? Google it up, you will find it’s true. What would be the impact on metacognition if someone were say, a picture thinker? Can they process in multiple windows this way, like a computer? Could they create an image or video in their mind that was an analysis of their primary thought process? Thinking in words makes this much easier. You can have a thought in words, and then a second thought about that thought- is this really true, would this action be a good idea, is what I’m doing to solve this problem working or should I try a different way?

Thinking in words is like a shortcut relative to images. Not only do we need to think this way to develop metacognition, we also need to think this way to inhibit inappropriate impulses and bad ideas before we act on them. Do people with poorly developed metacognition also often tend to be impulsive? You bet. Sometimes we call that ADHD.

So if we are working with someone who is great with legos and engineering problems, but struggles with self-control and expected behaviors in a group or social setting, what can we do to help them learn to have internal dialogue? We can do this by asking questions before a social situation or learning task is presented. What are expected behaviors while waiting in the doctor’s office? When your friend comes over, what will you do if you want to do one thing and they want to do something else? Later in this article questions for learning tasks will be listed.

You can also teach by modeling your internal dialogue, or thought process, speaking your thoughts out loud as you problem-solve or make plans. You can narrate what kids are doing as they play and solve their own problems. Are you getting frustrated? Has your strategy to make this work been working? Could there be other ways you could try?

Cognitve Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Self-talk, Self-esteem, and Self-control

Ahhh! I never win!

I can’t do anything right!

You never let me do anything I want to do!

CBT is one of the most common and research-validated methods of counseling. It involves teaching that our minds are making thoughts all the time. Some of these thoughts are true (rational), and some are not (irrational). Some feel good, some feel bad. Our thoughts create our feelings, our experience of reality. We often can’t control others or what happens around us, but we do have some power over our thoughts about what happens, in turn regulating our feelings about what happens.

There are categories of thinking errors we can teach. For a young child, we might start with boo-boo thoughts and smiling thoughts, then teach how to make bandage thoughts for the boo-boo thoughts. As children become late elementary or middle school aged, we have categories of thinking errors we can teach. They can become more adapt at catching their thinking errors, and talking back to them or replacing them with smarter ways to think that usually also feel better.

Statements like “I never do anything right” can be challenged. “Never” is a keyword indicating the category of thinking error called overgeneralization. When I get started teaching CBT to a youngster, I may play a game where I read a list of thoughts and they tell me if the thought is true, or rational, or not true, irrational. And yes, when I read “I never do anything right” they often say “true.” I say, “Really? Hmmm. Let’s see. Your shoes are on the right feet. Your pants aren’t on backwards. You probably got from your car into my office without falling down. How many times today have you blinked in time so your eyeballs didn’t dry out? How many breaths have you taken so you stay alive? Didn’t you say your grades were all passing, so wouldn’t that mean you got it right most of the time?”

I might also read them my Garden of the Mind metaphor, to illustrate the power of thought, and our tendency to focus on negative and worry thoughts.

Next I may play a kid-friendly game that involves reading thoughts on cards made by a person in situation. We practice identifying the type of thinking error the person had, and a smarter or better way to think. Finally, ideally they take the list of thinking errors home for practice, and use my thought record form to build awareness of self-talk and develop skills in detecting unwanted, untrue thoughts and replacing them with smarter, better-feeling thoughts.

The link below summarizes research about children’s awareness of the link between thoughts and feelings and they types of metacognitive strategies they can understand and utilize for emotional regulation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2916181/

You can click the terms below if you want to see these forms and templates for yourself. They come from my book Counseling Tools for Kids in Schools.

Self-talk, Self-esteem, Self-control Video Course

Success Stories for teaching Metacognition for self-esteem, self-regulation, academic success

It makes sense that if a person has trouble with metacognition, or thinking about what they are thinking about, they would also have trouble thinking about what others are thinking about. Ergo difficulty recognizing others may have different emotions, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and predicting others’ plans, feelings, and reactions.

In the literature about Autism this is often called perspective-taking or theory of mind. Sometimes it is called empathy. In the literature and treatment protocols for personality disorders, such as Borderline or Narcissistic, it’s called mentalizing. Mentalizing in this context refers to the ability to form concepts about one’s own emotional state and the emotional states of others.

Another way I use to teach mentalizing, perspective-taking, and CBT, is to use Success Stories. These are like comic strips with boxes showing people in a situation, what they are saying, doing, feeling, and thinking. We may just draw stick figures with thought bubbles and speaking bubbles. I have templates for you below. The templates have descriptions for what goes in each empty box. This is a visual strategy to assist the learner in anticipating and mapping out how they will feel based what kind of thoughts they are making, how to make better thoughts and feel better (CBT template). The perspective-taking template helps them predict how others will have different feelings and reactions to what the learner does; how they will likely respond to the learner, and how the learner ends up feeling about this consequence.

A little background on executive skills, ADHD, and Autism

Metacognition is one category of executive skills, sometimes called executive functions. These are thinking skills that enable us to coordinate the orchestra of our behavior in the pursuit of a goal. Executive skills include:

Metacognition

Inhibition or impulse control

Shift

Emotional control or stress tolerance

Time Management

Self and task monitor

Working (short-term) memory

Planning/prioritization

Goal-directed persistence

Organization

Flexibility

When someone has ADHD or Autism, they have some poorly developed executive skills relative to most age-peers. I think this is also true in reverse. Enough delays in development of executive skills can result in a diagnosis of ADHD or Autism. Can college students and adults still have underdeveloped metacognitve skills and learn to improve? Absolutely.

Learn more about executive skills here.

How to Teach Metacognition for Academic Success

https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/teal/guide/metacognitive

The information in the above link advises us to “encourage students to engage in “metacognitive conversations with themselves so they can talk with themselves about their learning, their challenges, and ways they can self-correct and continue learning.” People who have a variety of metacognitive skills perform better on exams and complete work more efficiently. Research clearly shows these skills can be taught by asking learners to think about what they are doing and what they should do next. In other words, don’t be the genius and tell them, instead ask. (Don’t tell ask article link) Even college students and adults can lack good development of metacognitive skills, learn to apply them, and improve their performance significantly.

How metacognition can be taught in the learning environment for improved performance:

1. Develop a plan for a learning task.
2. Monitor your approach and create new strategies when progress or meaning falters.
3. Evaluate how they thought about the task after completion.

Questions to ask yourself or be prompted to ask yourself at each of the above three phases:

1. Planning Phase: What am I supposed to learn? What do I already know that will help me? What am I looking for in the text? How much time do I have? What direction should I be thinking in?
2. Monitoring Phase: How am I doing? Am I on the right track? What is important to remember? Am I doing this the best way? Should I change direction/strategies? Should I slow down or speed up? What can I do if I don’t understand?
3. Evaluation Phase: How did I do? What did I learn? Did this come out as expected? Could I have done something differently? Could I use what I learned in different situations? Is there anything I still don’t understand? Do I need to review the task to see what I missed?

Reading: Model thinking out loud and asking questions during reading. Ask them questions as they read to you out loud and teach them to ask themselves often if they are understanding what they are reading. Teach note taking or highlighting while asking themselves “Why am I highlighting this and why am I not highlighting that?

Writing: Model prewriting strategies for organizing thoughts such as brainstorming using a word web or graphic organizer to put main ideas in paragraphs with the main idea at the top and supporting ideas below.

Social Studies and Science: Teach the importance of using organizers such as Venn diagrams, concept maps, anticipation/reaction charts to sort information and understand content and key relationships between concepts. Use organizers to focus attention on what is already known and identify what they want to learn. Venn diagrams can be used to understand similarities and differences between related concepts.

Math: Use mnemonics to memorize lists and steps in a process such as order in Mathematical operations. Model inner dialogue by thinking out loud your thoughts about solving problems as you go. Ask them to paraphrase word problems, restating the text in their own words to help them process the meaning of the question and correct operations to perform.

How to improve metacognition:

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/8-pathways-metacognition-in-classroom-marilyn-price-mitchell

https://www.globalmetacognition.com/post/emotions-metacognition

https://blog.innerdrive.co.uk/eight-ways-to-develop-metacognitive-skills

https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2017/3/30-1

I hope you enjoyed this article “Metacognition for self-esteem, self-regulation, academic success“

The post Metacognition for self-esteem, self-regulation, academic success appeared first on Intensive Care for You.

This article explores social and emotional stressors on teens and young adults followed by ways to support them and resources.

To summarize covid impact on teens and young adults from the CDC’s website:

https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/stress-coping/parental-resources/index.html

• Changes in their routines (e.g., having to physically distance from family, friends, worship community)
• Breaks in continuity of learning (e.g., virtual learning environments, technology access and connectivity issues)
• Breaks in continuity of health care (e.g., missed well-child and immunization visits, limited access to mental, speech, and occupational health services)
• Missed significant life events (e.g., grief of missing celebrations, vacation plans, and/or milestone life events)
• Lost security and safety (e.g., housing and food insecurity, increased exposure to violence and online harms, threat of physical illness and uncertainty for the future)

Digital Distractions

Digital distractions can be hard to overcome while at home or during virtual schooling. I saw many high school and college students in my practice who had been in advanced classes and historically kept up with work and made good grades. For many of them academic success was their primary source of self-esteem and identity. Some simply lost their motivation and focus. Failing to maintain attention in virtual formats, with unfinished work piling up, they fell into despair. Aside from losing a loved one this is one of the greatest covid impacts on teens and young adults.

For those students who are twice exceptional, meaning gifted and a condition such as ADHD, high-functioning autism, or dyslexia, meeting the organizational and focus demands of virtual schooling was something they were not ready for. They also may have lost special education supports and services that helped them succeed.

Add to that many of our youth today struggle with digital temptations such as social media, YouTube and video games. Putting them in a room all day where they can at any moment click on a mental side-trip to something much more rewarding than schoolwork creates a pretty unfair battle. It’s like an alcoholic trying to abstain while living in a bar. Their shame can drive them deeper into the hole of avoidance and distraction.

Virtual platforms also lead to increased exposure to online harms- see link here https://www.unicef.org/media/67396/file/COVID-19%20and%20Its%20Implications%20for%20Protecting%20Children%20Online.pdf

The apathy of putting your life on hold

Many of the people in this age group missed important life events such as prom, graduation, sports, study-abroad programs, and other social, work, and educational opportunities. They may have worked hard to secure a plan that was eliminated or put on hold by covid. Suddenly many of them found themselves sitting alone and waiting. They may need help regenerating their enthusiasm for what they thought they had been working for.

Transitioning away from family and friends when leaving home for work or college was difficult enough for many young adults. Increased isolation at transition time and worries about covid related issues can make this transition more difficult to adapt to successfully. In my counseling practice this has been the third greatest covid impacts on teens and young adults.

Some students faced closed college housing, disruptions to work-study and internship opportunities. One great way to help a youth who has lost their rudder for direction in life and wind for their sails is to help them construct goals and dreams they feel passionate and excited about. Short and long term goals. Check out the dream book strategy for details on how to successfully create clear visions and goals that generate new passions and motivation.

Zoom Fatigue

This is a real phenomenon that is gaining attention and documentation.

Some sample questions include:

• How exhausted do you feel after videoconferencing?
• How irritated do your eyes feel after videoconferencing?
• How much do you tend to avoid social situations after videoconferencing?
• How emotionally drained do you feel after videoconferencing?
• How often do you feel too tired to do other things after videoconferencing?

The article below from Stanford cites four factors that contribute and ideas to manage this problem.

1. Prolonged eye contact is intense and taxing. Minimize your screen instead of using full-screen.
2. Seeing yourself in real-time is tiring. Click the hide self button.
3. Reduction in user mobility. Movement helps us think better and provides nonverbal communication cues. Take breaks to move around.
4. Cognitive load is increased during video chat. Switch to audio only for breaks.

Grief

For some teens and young adults who have lost a loved one, this may be the first time they have experienced grief. It is important they be allowed to discuss their feelings with age-peers and other family members as they are ready and willing. Extended time isolated and not talking about it is unlikely to be healthy, even if they are irritable and try to insist on being “left alone.” I think this would be often the number one largest covid impact on teens and young adults.

Teenagers normally prefer to process a crisis with other people their own age, without an adult in the midst of their conversations. A caring adult can help create such opportunities by initiating get-togethers and inviting close friends. Teenagers often want this to happen but lack the planning and organizational skills to execute social plans effectively other than very last minute. Online virtual meets can be created when pandemic risks are unacceptable for some of the families.

While teens usually prefer to process some of their thoughts and feelings with age-peers, it is also a good idea for an adult to monitor what has been said and heard. Sometimes teens and young adults will extend some exaggerated and possibly unhelpful ideas to one another. A caring adult can check in with a teen or young adult after discussions with their friends to see what ideas they got and how they are feeling. Also teens and young adults may make an outcry about desires to harm themselves by cutting, suicide, substance abuse, or other risky ideas. Their friends may not know appropriate ways to respond to such ideas and may keep this information to themselves out of misplaced loyalty. Such thoughts should probably be addressed and monitored by a professional to ensure safety, such as a licensed counselor or psychologist.

https://www.dougy.org/resource-articles/how-to-help-a-grieving-teen

What to do about covid impact on teens and young adults:

Help young adults acknowledge the difficulty and disruption to their social and emotional well-being, work, finances, and educational opportunities.

Assist them in recognizing and addressing any changes to their emotional and behavioral health. Unhealthy changes in sleep habits, exercise, diet, worries, sadness, loss of energy and motivation, increased substance abuse, increased risk-taking behavior, and ability to concentrate and complete school and self-care routines.

Regular and frequent video chats to check in on how they are coping and catch unhealthy patterns early.

Monitor for signs of developing mental health problems. A depressed teen or young adult may be very irritable and resistant to talking about their feelings. Signs of growing distress include:

• Changes in sleep routine
• Changes in diet and frequency of eating
• Social avoidance
• Falling grades
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Difficulty concentrating and remembering
• Risk-taking behavior including substance abuse

Counseling- One thing Covid has brought us is better utilization of virtual healthcare and therapy. If you have internet access you should be able to find counseling help even if you live in a remote area.

Related articles for Covid impact on teens and young adults:

Covid impact on children aged 6-12

Covid impact on young children

I hope you found some useful ideas in this article Covid impact on teens and young adults.

Brad

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The first section of this article explores covid impact on children aged 6-12, while the second part reviews what can be done to manage and mediate these unfortunate factors. Solutions and resources for emotional health and coping skills, managing behaviors, getting through virtual school, and safe technology management.

To summarize from the CDC’s website:

https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/stress-coping/parental-resources/index.html

• Changes in their routines (e.g., having to physically distance from family, friends, worship community)
• Breaks in continuity of learning (e.g., virtual learning environments, technology access and connectivity issues)
• Breaks in continuity of health care (e.g., missed well-child and immunization visits, limited access to mental, speech, and occupational health services)
• Missed significant life events (e.g., grief of missing celebrations, vacation plans, and/or milestone life events)
• Lost security and safety (e.g., housing and food insecurity, increased exposure to violence and online harms, threat of physical illness and uncertainty for the future)

Childhood ages 6-12

In addition to the pandemic impacts listed under the previous article for children up to age 5, most kids aged 6-12 have been impacted by virtual schooling formats. Let’s explore what that might mean for them.

Firstly, virtual formats are probably not appropriate for many of these children, especially those aged 6-8, and those with special needs such as speech delays or attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders. These are formative years for how children conceptualize school, their relationship with school, and their self-concept about how successful they can be at school and their ability to participate with adequate comfort. These concepts once formed can follow them through their entire school experience and even into the workplace.

Many of these children did not get a chance to develop skills needed to stay focused, sit still, listen, and process language. Parents needing to work either in or out of the home can be very challenged and frustrated by children who are not staying still and in synch with virtual schooling, distressing attachments and relationships with parents. Such children are vulnerable to learning maladaptive patterns of behavior such as defiance or learned helplessness. Add to that having missed critical instruction that would have made them ready for the next grade level.

Then we have the problem of distractions and content available on internet connected devices. Many kids today are adept at bypassing parental controls to access YouTube videos, video games, and vast amounts of content that is inappropriate for their age. It’s like an alcoholic trying to quit while living in a bar offering free drinks 24/7. This places them at-risk for developing unhealthy addictions and exposure to content that can be disruptive to their social and emotional development. This too, like failing to sit still and attend when they simply have not developed these capacities can lead to a negative feedback loop whereby their lack of skills at avoiding temptation result in messages from the environment and parents that they are bad.

The virtual environment also leaves them at risk for cyber-bullying and various types of predators. Finally also at-risk are the children living in situations where good internet and connecting devices are unavailable. This includes children in rural areas, low-income families, and a disproportionate amount of ethnic minorities. Some of these children are also in situations where a parent can not stay home to supervise or may not have competent English language ability to assist with schooling.

Some of the children in this age-range can also develop anxiety about returning to in-person school. They may have fears about getting ill, dying, infecting a vulnerable family member, or being socially disconnected and not able to rekindle, form, and maintain friendships so they have a sense of belonging.

What you can do about covid impact on children aged 6-12:

You may suspect your child’s self-esteem has suffered under the covid impact on children aged 6-12. If they have had difficulty sitting still and focusing on virtual school, they are at-risk for concluding they are bad, or lacking ability to succeed in school. Here are some tools and strategies for building healthy self-esteem for your child:

ADHD child’s self-esteem This article reviews ways to build self-esteem and is relevant for children not diagnosed with ADHD as well.

The above document explores self-esteem, where it comes from, signs of low self-esteem, strategies for building up.

Self-talk, self-esteem, self-control course In-depth video course indexed and broken into short lessons with supporting documents and templates to use in teaching children and adults skills to succeed.

Empower with measures they can manage and implement to reduce risks such as social distancing, handwashing, and wearing masks.

Spend time with them playing games, exercising, exploring outdoors, creating arts or crafts, and reading.

Talk with them about how they are feeling often, and be frank about your own fears and concerns, and model what you are doing to manage your own stress, such as talking back to your fears with positive thoughts and focusing on what you are grateful for. Have them draw or paint how they are feeling as younger children often lack awareness and skills to verbally express new feelings.

Consult with a knowledgeable counselor.

Closely monitor use of internet connected devices and create a family media agreement.

Family media agreement template.

Create socialization opportunities and help them stay socially connected in whatever ways you think are safe.

Create and follow structured routines for daily activity.

Remember that children aged 6-12 when faced with a crisis are comforted by a nuts and bolts mechanical explanation of how things work and what will happen. At the younger range of 6-8, children’s normally developing primary need is for adult approval. Lots of it! Good job, you figured it out, you can decide, daily gestures of approval and affirmation.

At the higher end of this age range, getting closer to 12, children need to begin processing a crisis with age-peers. Having said that, it is a good idea to monitor these conversations from a distance, as at this age some children may advance exaggerated or misinformed ideas that are better corrected.

Teach emotional coping skills. Learn positive discipline and behavior management techniques.

Anxiety and Children video course complete with forms, templates, and demonstrations of how to use to teach kids how to manage their worries.

There can be signs that a child’s sense of security and safety has been impacted.

Changes in eating or sleeping habits.

Used to sleep alone and now refuses.

Becoming increasingly clingy and fearful of separation from one or both parents.

Bad dreams.

Excessive worry.

Poor school performance or school refusal.

Headaches or stomachaches.

Withdrawal, loss of interest in fun activities.

Increased irritability, aggression, non-compliance, tantrums, or crying.

Regression- starts acting a younger age.

Difficulty concentrating or remembering.

If you see changes in the behavior of your younger child that concern you, don’t hesitate to reach out for help. Consider a session or few with a counselor experienced with children of the same age. This can be conducted virtually for advice in how to assist them in processing and recovery. Remember that parents can model good self-care and self-reassurance.

Breaks in continuity of care can result in missed opportunities for well-checks to pick up on delays in developmental milestones and provision of therapy services such as speech, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. To make up for gaps in childcare due to closures, parents not able to remain engaged with children at home can reach out to others for support. A co-op with neighbor(s), extended family, or small at-home daycare or respite are examples. This can be especially important for parents of children with special needs. To support discontinued therapies when children continue to have needs, consider a phone chat or virtual session with the therapist to get instruction in therapeutic activities implemented at home that foster language, motor, social, and emotional development.

Missed life events– weddings, reunions, births, holiday extended family gatherings impact this age group too. They may be missing group gatherings to celebrate life events such as birthdays or create opportunities to grieve. Remember that for children a few weeks away from someone they saw more regularly can seem like a very long time and be experienced as a loss. Consider implementing regularly scheduled Facetime, Zoom, or Skype meetings with participants in your child’s life who become unavailable for in-person visits.

What about covid impact on children with pre-existing mental health and learning disorders?

Children with pre–existing mental and physical disability are at utmost risk:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7330593/

https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/stress-coping/help-children-cope/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fdaily-life-coping%2Ffor-parents.html

School closure impact on children’s’ mental health

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30109-7/fulltext

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2783714

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanchi/PIIS2352-4642(20)30109-7.pdf

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.10.21251526v1

I hope you found helpful ideas in this article about covid impact on children aged 6-12. Please feel free to share.

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(Scroll down to see links to supporting research, additional reading, videos demonstrating strategy)

We’ve surely had our share of challenges here in Central Texas. As if the blooming covid numbers and restrictions weren’t enough, now we’ve been frozen in by winter storms the likes of which we have never seen. We have lost power, water, and ability to travel for groceries, school, and work.

Many of our students have struggled with motivation, isolation, and virtual school. Some got anxious, some overwhelmed with school work and perfectionism, some can’t resist the temptation to play video games or watch YouTube during instructional times. Others just got down, lost their motivation. These are some of the ways we have struggled in coping with the added stresses.

What is one simple thing we can all do to help ourselves? We can breathe. But wait. That’s not completely it. We can learn to breathe better. We can engage in mindful breathing practices and learn to breathe properly. Find out the Breathe- Simple Trick Helps Focus, Energy, Depression, Anxiety, Sleep Read on, and be ready to be surprised by how a few simple breathing techniques can restore mental and physical health. Isn’t breathing something we do naturally without thinking? Yes, but modern man has lost their way with one of the simplest, most elemental aspects of our living and, well, breathing.

What if I told you that one simple trick, learning to breathe only through your nose, could help with anxiety, depression, insomnia, sleep apnea, crooked teeth and the need for extractions, athletic performance, acid reflux, fatigue, ADHD, dizziness, allergies, asthma, and more? I know, this sounds like a sales pitch for a “miracle cure.”

Except this is not a sales pitch, because I’m not asking for money, not trying to sell you anything except some ideas you and your kids can try for free with no risks or bad side-effects. You don’t have to leave your house, you don’t even have to work hard. Are these ideas supported by any research? You bet, and I will give you some links at the end so you can see for yourself. I also published a more comprehensive sophisticated guide for student loss of motivation and joy for virtual school, and will place a link to that at the end of this article as well. Don’t worry, that’s free too.

My Dad is 84 and is a health and fitness fanatic. He’s not a doctor, but I learned in the community that in the running world, he is known as “Dr. Keith,” for his eagerness to share his breadth and depth of knowledge about the human body, wellness, athletic performance, and links between physical and mental health. He gave me a book called Breath, by James Nestor. Being shut in for a week with spotty internet by a winter storm in a place that seems to have no snow plows, I picked it up and started reading.

Sure I’ve done breath work, mindfulness, meditation for myself and in my counseling practice to aide in calming anxiety and develop a focused, organized state of mind. I see quite a few children, teens, and adults who are bright, gifted, and also have ADHD, autism, and/or anxiety. Some get so wrapped up in their thinking they overwhelm, disorganize, and wear out one of their greatest assets, their smart brains. Then they have difficulty sleeping, socializing, and working. Finally, they begin to doubt themselves, feel defective, get emotionally dysregulated, have anxious/angry outbursts or withdraw, and may even start thinking they don’t want to go on or be here anymore.

These are the people I’m writing this for, and why I’m excited about what I’m learning from this book Breath, and the research it has inspired me to do. I hope you will be inspired and do some research too. What follows is a synopsis of what I have learned so far, and the applications for the population I serve.

It turns out there are explicit descriptions and references to the importance of proper breathing practices, especially to breathe through the nose, across cultures, geography, religions, ethnic groups, and time. I placed links for you below that show the research findings and technique demonstrations in videos to help create a more organized, coherent state of mind, sense of well-being, and respiratory health.

In addition to nose breathing, we can also learn to breathe less. Less is more, so they say. How can this work? It raises the level of carbon dioxide in your body. This helps you absorb more oxygen with less breathing. It also forces the body to engage in aerobic energy conversion, decreasing painful lactic acid buildup, and the fatigue some overbreathers get along with nausea and dizziness from exercise. This has also be used to successfully treat allergies, snoring, apnea, asthma, emphysema, and other respiratory conditions. It also restores proper ph to the bloodstream, so the kidneys don’t compensate by pulling bicarbonate out of the body into the urine. Over time this also leaches minerals like magnesium from the body creating a need for supplements.

So if this learning to breathe in less and exhale more completely and slowly is so great for performance, why don’t Olympic athletes use it? Well, turns out they do, and they have. Emil Zatopek, called the greatest runner of all time by Runners World magazine, claimed 18 world records and four Olympic gold medals. He was laughed at for using this technique. Coach Counsilman for the US Men’s swimming team used this method and his team in the Montreal Olympics took 13 gold medals, 14 silver, and 7 bronze.

Those guys worked hard at it, but you don’t have to in order to restore your respiratory system and get a variety of health benefits, by practicing a few minutes a day on your couch. You don’t even have to get up! 5.5 breaths per minute. That’s 5.5 seconds inhaling, 5.5 seconds exhaling. Exactly what happens when you say the Rosary. Buddhist monks’ most popular mantra, Om, Mani, Padme, Hum takes six seconds to sing, with a pause of six seconds to inhale. Kundalini yoga; sa ta na ma chant, six seconds to chant, six seconds to inhale. Breathe in through the nose. Slow it down. Breathe less. Increase your health, mental well-being, and longevity. Modern westernized versions of this technique can be found by googling “resonant breathing,” or “Coherent Breathing.”

Want to live longer and slow aging? Increase your lung capacity. Independent researchers have conducted longitudinal studies on thousands of people to determine that it is lung capacity, not genetics, or diet, or exercise, that best predicts lifespan.

Here are some simple exercises to increase lung capacity:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Tibetan_Rites

Some just breathe exercises:

https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/body-mind-spirit/stress-anxiety/breathing-three-exercises/

What to do with your mind while you breathe- six simple meditation techniques to help you learn this “Breathe- Simple Trick Helps Focus, Energy, Depression, Anxiety, Sleep.”

Mouth breathing and ADHD: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4047298/

https://www.kimriouxdds.com/wp-content/uploads/Does-Childhood-Mouthbreathing-Cause-ADHD.pdf

Trouble sitting still? What you can do with your body while you breathe- a simple follow along video if you don’t have a routine? Try a yoga or stretching routine video from YouTube.

Nose breathing vs mouth breathing and allergies, asthma, sleep problems, mental health:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319487

https://www.healthline.com/health/mouth-breathing

Some quotes from medical and religious texts- sorry for all those I didn’t find and list below, I know there are so many, and don’t intend to endorse any one in particular!:

https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Breathing

https://www.stitcher.com/show/mark-bunn/episode/yogic-nasal-breathing-the-ayurvedic-way-to-supreme-mind-body-health-6-61390305

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong

https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/blog-the-banyan-insight/details/science-of-pranayama/

Free divers- this is what they do to go 200 feet underwater on a single breath and can hold it 8-12 minutes.

Try this: pant like a dog, breathing fast and shallow, for one minute. Notice how you feel. Next try breathing all the way in, pause, all the way out, pause again until you feel like you need more air, for one minute. How do you feel now? I watch people breathe in my practice. I notice when they stop breathing, hold their breath. Can you stop breathing without feeling anxious?

There may be many things we can’t do right now, but we can all breathe, and we can learn to do it better. That way we can open up, improve our physical and mental health, our quality of life and personal experience, and be ready to go when things open back up. Plus with covid hanging around, we want our lungs and respiratory issues cleared up, right?

I hope you enjoyed this article, Breathe- Simple Trick Helps Focus, Energy, Depression, Anxiety, Sleep.

Here’s the link to my free Guide for Student Loss of Joy and Motivation for School During Covid Restrictions

I’ve been experimenting with some of these strategies myself, and I notice the difference already. I’m planning to continue and do more research, if you would like a follow up article to find out what I’ve learned, shoot me an email at

bradmasonlpc@aol.com

and I will put you on the list.

Stay safe and warm!

Brad Mason

Book Breath

The post Breathe- Simple Trick Helps Focus, Energy, Depression, Anxiety, Sleep, and More appeared first on Intensive Care for You.

Missing friends, trouble engaging with virtual school and work formats, feeling the blues?

Some of us are tempted to dwell and brood on our losses, failures, things we can no longer do with Covid restrictions in place. Maybe you feel anxious about things you can not control.

This guide includes:

-Perspectives and exercises to combat negative thinking by replacing with positive thinking

-Lifestyle and self-care practices that promote physical and mental health

-Methods to help organize priorities and choose exciting long-term goals, and make motivation

-Tips for staying focused and avoiding distracting temptations during work times

Student Loss of Joy and Motivation for School Positive Thinking Strategies

I propose we can find joy and success by focusing on what we do have, what we can do, rather than what we can’t, and asking ourselves “What is really important to me?”

Make a Gratitude list and review it every morning and at night before going to bed. These are things that you already have that you may not often pause to consider and take for granted. Click below to see a menu to get you started. You can click the words in red “Gratitude List” to open these in a new tab, or click download if you want to save a copy.

What are some positive, healthy thoughts we can make about living with covid restrictions?

The bonus of restricted options; while there are some things I can’t do right now, this leaves time for what I can do, makes it easier to decide since I have less options, what are some things I always wanted to do and may now have time and energy for?

Starting a new hobby, learning a new skill, organizing my space, painting a room, writing a book, building something, an opportunity to heal past traumas, starting an exercise routine, meditation?

Recognizing my ideas about the state of the world do not have to dictate the state of me and how I behave, I am free to behave as I choose, in accordance with what I think is right, and I alone am responsible for what I do, think, say, and feel.

Spiritual exploration and growth- seeking your best answers to “why am I here?”

Explore your values and consider what is most important to you. Below is a menu of possible values and goals. Choose which are important to you, then order your list by priority, from most to least important. You may realize some of the things you were giving a lot of time to or missing are not actually what the things most important to you. This will also help you decide how to spend your time and energy in the future.

Read this metaphor as an introduction to how you can begin noticing negative thoughts and replacing them with the positive.

Then try this list of rational, or reasonable, and irrational, or not reasonable thoughts to help yourself from caught up in thoughts that likely are not even true.

Great. Now you are ready to learn the categories of thinking errors. These will help you detect unwanted and incorrect thinking patterns. Your thoughts are very powerful, they create your experience and feelings. If you can begin correcting unwanted and inaccurate thoughts, you will be using your smart brain in smarter ways, making yourself smarter, and you will get to feel the way you want more often. Check out the thinking error list below, then try the practice, and finally use the thought record. Get ready to lose your student loss of joy and motivation for school by changing your thoughts about yourself and school.

The building confidence document above is a quick exercise in accounting and recognizing all the things you already have done and are doing. Below is a list of affirmations to calm fears and create a sense of safety and security. Some people like to choose or modify one to memorize and use as a mantra for self-soothing or meditation.

Lifestyle and Self-care Strategies

These involve creating a practice, a regular routine, to nurture a healthy mind and body. Developing the thoughts and mental states you prefer, replacing negativity, anxiety, depressive symptoms, with renewed energy, your sense of peace and security, your hope, confidence, and happiness. If you want things to change, you likely will need to change what you are doing. It doesn’t have to be all at once. A mile is walked one small step at a time. It’s okay to start small, so feel free to just try small manageable steps.

You may not know what might work, until you have experimented with a new behavior for a few weeks. You may need to try some things that don’t work for you before finding what does. This is okay. If you are not getting results from trying one thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t do it right, it doesn’t mean you are a loser. Choose to say that you are not a loser, you are a learner. And you just got one step closer to finding what does work for you by eliminating an option.

You may find yourself thinking and thinking. Hmmm. What is the right thing that I should do? Your thinking alone will not give you this answer. You will need to try a guess and act on it to find out. I had a young man tell me just yesterday, “It feels like a blind leap.” Yes. You may need to push through your doubts, uncertainty, and fear, trying something anyway. Every time you do this, even if it doesn’t do for you what you hoped, you will find yourself feeling a greater freedom across your life.

Other care– being of service. When you do for others, whether its for the poor, the elderly, the young, or for dogs or cats, being of service teaches us the value we have to offer and helps us feel our value and see the evidence as proof that we are indeed valuable and have something to offer. It ends up being selflessly selfish. The internet will have lists of volunteering and service opportunities in your area. You can also be of service to friends or family, or at an animal shelter. You can also encourage others or make them smile over the internet, and keep your eyes open as you walk through life for any chance to help someone else or brighten your day. The light you shine will illuminate you.

Minimize the amount of disturbing news you expose yourself to. Garbage in, garbage out. The media tends to cater to your fears, arousing and maintaining them, to keep you glued to the set in order to keep your relationship with the threat. I liked to read the paper in my 20’s. It seemed as though World War III or nuclear holocaust was about to erupt in the Middle East any day. I found myself developing an apocalyptic worldveiw. We’re doomed! So I quit reading the paper. Instead I looked around, saw the gentle wind caressing the trees, sunshine, blue sky, flowers blooming, children laughing and playing. And guess what? The world didn’t end. Now I’m 55, and 30 years later, the papers and media still whisper, or shout, these dark and scary ideas. And right now, they still are not true. We are okay.

Regular play for fun- Yes play and fun are essential!

Regular social contacts

Regular sleep– I can’t say enough about the importance of this one. If this is a problem, consider taking proper sleep on first. Without this, it may be unlikely anything will work as well as could be possible. Student loss of joy and motivation for school would be expected if they can’t sleep decently! If you exercise vigorously daily you may sleep better. You can try melatonin, that’s safe. You can try shutting off screens an hour before bedtime. All that light tricks the brain into thinking it’s day and to stay awake. They do make apps that dim the screen light on your device to reduce these sleep defying qualities. Go to bed and get up at the same time daily if you can. This helps your body develop a rhythm and your brain to actually produce the chemicals that put you to sleep naturally at the time you normally go to bed. You can initiate a sleep study through your primary care physician to identify and treat issues that interfere with sleep. There are also apps that monitor sleep quality from your breathing sounds and generate a report so you can determine if a person is indeed having sleep issues and what they are.

https://www.lifehack.org/816199/best-sleep-tracker

Sleep hygiene- a list of practices that enhance sleep especially for people who tend to be restless such as folks with ADHD or Autism. The sleep script is a relaxation process for putting yourself to sleep.

Regular exercise. Did you know that studies show that regular exercise, usually a minimum of 25 minutes of aerobic exercise is as equally effective as any pill you can take for anxiety or depression? And look at the side-effects; stronger, more energy, better sleep, longer life, smarter brain, better feelings!

What else do you do for self-care? Hobby, … special interest, method of checking out and recharging?

Caregiver Stress Inventory- If you are a caregiver and feeling overwhelmed, confused, anxious, exhausted, or inadequate, or numb, check yourself using the inventory below. You know the saying, if the plane starts going down and the oxygen masks drop, put yours on first! How can you fully and best care for someone else if you don’t care for yourself properly?

Meditation– If this has not been your practice, here are a few things I want you to know. One, as little as five minutes of mediation have been shown to lower heart rate and other physiological signs of arousal and distress for up to 4-5 hours. That’s a great return on a small investment.

Two, meditation means you are exercising your dominion over your attention. If you haven’t tried this much before, however you try it, you may find that every 30 seconds or so you realize you have started thinking on a tangent away from your intended meditative target- be it repeating a mantra, keeping a quiet mind and focusing on breath, or holding an image. This is normal and okay! Remember you are exercising your dominion, or control, over your attention and thoughts, like lifting weights, it is a gradual process of building and strengthening.

Three, there are many acceptable ways to meditate. You don’t have to sit any certain way, but you can. You could also lie down, be doing yoga poses, or running. Below is a document outlining some quick easy ways you can start playing with to invoke, practice, and develop the meditative state. So could this also be a way to improve your ability to stay focused? Absolutely. Is it ever used in the treatment of ADHD to improve sustained focus ability? You bet.

Relaxation– There are so many ways to do this. It’s really a matter of letting your brain and body settle in it’s natural, not in fight or flight state. A warm bath or hot shower can do it. Some people who are just naturally wound up in their bodies, or have high muscle tone, sensory issues, Autism or ADHD may need to actually use their bodies as a way to relax and get thoughts and feelings to settle and organize. For these folks, a progressive muscle relaxation script can do the trick. You can guide a child to do this. You can use it before bedtime to get a tight active restless body to loosen up for sleep.

Counseling. Can you believe I almost left this one out? You never know what you might find out, what upgrades you might download into your system, what old no longer helpful patterns you might flush, by setting aside a little time just for you. There are many types of counseling, and many types of counselors. My advice is pick one you feel comfortable with. If you think they basically get you and you think they can help after a first meeting with them then that’s the one for you now. I offer virtual counseling via my practice website, the link is at the bottom of this page.

I do have a few words of caution about self-care, escape, and addiction. Balance and moderation. A glass of wine at night probably won’t hurt you. But a bottle will. A little video game as a distraction and temporary escape is normally perfectly healthy. Staying up all night playing is not. Isolating yourself and playing video games most of your time is not healthy, and yes, this can absolutely become an addiction. These games are made to be addicting and stimulate your reward centers in the brain. So wherever you run when you want to get away or avoid, make sure you don’t overdo it, and make sure you put it aside and run back. To your real life and your real people.

The signs of a possible addiction are simple. One, the activity interferes with some other necessary life function. Like sleep. Or work. Or school. Two, the activity interferes with relationships. Are you avoiding family members or having conflicts with them over your fun thing? Are you breaking rules and violating boundaries to get your thing? Are you hiding your thing from others or sneaking it when you are not supposed to? Finding yourself wanting to say no but repeatedly doing it anyways? Here’s your sign. No wonder you experience student loss of joy and motivation for school! An addiction can be a difficult, life-force sucking, guilt and anxiety provoking problem, and you may need to swallow your pride and get help to break it.

Video game addiction

ADHD Autism Video Game Addiction

Digital Culture and Child Development Video Course

https://intensivecareforyou.com/help-kids-in-times-of-crisis/

Student Loss of Joy and Motivation for School Methods for Setting Long-term Goals and Making Motivation

The Dream Book- this method involves getting a journal and writing down dreams you can come up with. Not dreams during sleep, more like goals and aspirations. Then select an image that goes with your dream, and put it in your book. Many of us have gotten better at knowing what we don’t want than we are at getting clear about what we do want in it’s place. Below find the document that details the Dream Book strategy, and then a menu of possible dream categories to inspire goals and intentions across multiple domains of your existence. This can be a powerful tool in first deciding and then creating what you want. When you have meaningful goals you are passionate and excited about, motivation is inescapable! Even for boring schoolwork, because suddenly there is an important reason for doing it! I’ve also written and published a work of art book, Your Dream Book.

Success Stories– here’s a quick little exercise that can help bypass obstacles and not knowing how to get where you want. What would be the opposite of student loss of joy and motivation for school? There’s where you should be sending your brain!

https://biglifejournal.com/blogs/blog/guide-effective-goal-setting-teens-template-worksheet

https://tailoringthegoodlife.com/goal-setting-for-teens/

Exercising and practicing our good feelings so we can be ready to imagine the greatness we can achieve can hinge on cleaning up the way we think and speak, removing hidden and implied semantics that create self-imposed limits on what we may be really capable of doing.

Exercising and practicing discipline in our thoughts and spoken words- see “non-violent communication” and “conscious language”

https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Language-Discovery-Upgrade-Operating/dp/0978929128

I want to recommend this product at Amazon

Conscious Language: The Logos of Now ~ The Discovery, Code, and Upgrade To Our New Conscious Human Operating System
by Mastery Systems International
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978929128/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_51.0FbJC9NBQ3

https://www.cnvc.org/learn-nvc/what-is-nvc

Mindfulness or practicing being present

https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/the-difference-between-being-mindful-and-being-present-fe30d217ccf2

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/trauma-and-hope/201801/mindfulness-and-being-present-in-the-moment

Virtual School Focus Strategies

Tips for staying focused and avoiding distractions during virtual instruction

Set up a good space for yourself to work in.

 This can include:

            -Choose a source of light that best suits you, natural, incandescent, fluorescent, dim or bright.

            -Experiment with position- lying prone on a bed or floor, picking the right chair to sit in or ball to sit on, or bean bag chair, or standing at a higher table surface.

            -Picking the right space- are you better off in a room alone or in a common area with other people around? Does the social pressure of other people around help you stay true to your intention of staying focused and not getting off-task, off-screen?

            -Does a crunchy snack like popcorn help, did you know drinking through a straw or  sucking on a peppermint or chewing gum improves focus for most?

            -Make a plan and schedule for offline work. Decide when you want to start and finish, use a timer, use your smartphone and google calendar for deadlines and schedule reminders, set priorities and use the order of “worst first, best last” in ordering tasks.

            -Plan breaks, and use your temptations as a reward so you can remind yourself that you can do that fun thing as soon as you finish this part of your work.

            -Get yourself a coach. You could share your plans and schedule by including someone in your google calendar who can text you daily, or bi-weekly, to ask if you are sticking to your plan and staying on task.

            -Make some signs or visuals to yourself; sticky notes that say no video games until this is done, a picture of the reason you are doing this work, such as a job you want, an income, your own house, etc.

            -Consider background noise- are you better off in silence or with a tv on in the background or classical music? As you get used to the environment you are creating for yourself, all of these things, the place, the snack, the position, the background music, all these things will become cues that trigger your desired habits of working and focusing.

            -Try some aromatherapy. Vanilla or lavender can be calming. Lemon or peppermint can help you feel awake and alert.

            -Use a stress toy, a fidget, a rubber ball to squeeze.

            -Turn off notifications that distract and disrupt focus.

            -Keep your workspace clean and uncluttered.

If you find yourself getting sleepy or daydreaming during virtual instruction, get up! Stand, do some jumping jacks, run in place, get your heart pumping oxygen to your brain!

Decide how you will reward yourself for doing a good enough job. Do not allow your perfectionism to rob you of satisfaction and feeling good enough as you are when you miss a bit but have made a good effort and accomplished more than nothing.

Connect with your teachers or professors.

Develop and keep a routine. Work at the same place and times every day.

Take notes. This will help you thing about what is being said, and improve memory both from the act of writing it down and the deeper level of processing needed to summarize and paraphrase.

Save social media for after work times.

Practice good sleep hygiene. Keep it routine with the same bed and wake times daily.

Don’t forget to stay hydrated, eat a healthy diet, and exercise!

Wear headphones if you find background noises distract you.

I hope you enjoyed this guide for student loss of joy and motivation for school. You can also find more information in my blog on this site.

Children with special needs and behavior problems stuck at home without structure can push their parents to the edge. If you need more help than what is below, get more detailed how-to streamed video course instructions indexed and broken down into small steps with quiz questions and supporting documents and templates. I am offering 50% courses and ebooks bringing the course price down to $13.50. simply type the word covid into the coupon code box in your cart as you are checking out to apply the discount. Courses overview.

I do also offer virtual counseling via my practice site https://www.bradmasoncounselor.com/

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In this article, in the following order…

Deciding and dealing with virtual or in-person school under Covid protections

Tips for virtual schooling

Menu of off-line at-home activities for keeping kids busy and out of trouble

Managing screen time

Pros and cons of virtual counseling

How to know if your kids are doing ok

Keeping ourselves healthy in changing circumstances

Virtual or In-person?

How do we balance our children’s safety with meeting their social, emotional, and special education needs? Do we keep them home or send them to school so they can get unmet social interaction needs met? I had a teacher tell me the kids would have plexiglass on three sides of their desks and wear masks at school all day. Another teacher in a different district told me they formed a committee to decide how this would be done, but they hadn’t met yet. Still another shared that the students would still be doing a the virtual version of school at school with a teacher’s aide proctoring/supporting. Would it be worth it under these conditions?

I think we have little choice to make compromises, one way or the other. I do not think we can reasonably expect that IEP’s can be fully implemented. We are trying to figure these things out in an ever-changing scenario, making up and changing plans as we go. Our educators are worried too, they are earnestly working to do their best. We have little choice but to be patient. Virtual counseling, occupational therapy, adaptive PE, speech therapy, will these work virtually with younger students, students with ADHD, autism, intellectual disabilities? Maybe. We can offer incentives to students reluctant to engage with the virtual form of educational services, such as access to electronics or preferred food and snacks, which would be denied if the student did not make an effort to stay in attendance cooperating with the school staff. Consider that your child’s education is not a race. Most of our students are being held back, most likely, they may all have some make-up work and time to reach the expected levels of academic achievement.

In October I will be presenting, virtually unfortunately, for the Texas Association of School Psychologists a one-day workshop, Counseling Tools or whatever it’s called, look it up. I was speaking with Cassandra Hulsey, their president-elect, about what school psychologists (LSSP’s) are saying about virtual counseling and working in these Covid conditions. She reported that they are having trouble getting kids to even show up for scheduled related service counseling sessions. She also said that LSSP’s have concerns about the backlog of special education testing, initial evaluations and three-year re-evaluations. One of the problems, Cassandra explained, is that with students for many months not receiving the normal rigor of academic instruction, socialization, and with all the emotional stress of the changes, how would they say with certainty that being behind academically, or showing social/emotional deficits, is the result of a possibly life-long disability? Maybe it’s lack of educational opportunity, or a normal reaction to abnormal circumstances. So we have little choice, again, but to be patient with special education assessments getting done.

Complicating matters further, our testing norms are based on population samples from previous years when the populations had the benefit of more and better quality instruction. Some of the LSSP’s worry that their tests won’t be valid indicators of how current children compare to age-peers from previous school years; the old norms could differ significantly from what would be seen in testing scores based on our current and future populations. So they will be stuck with either saying someone has a lasting handicapping condition, such as a learning disability or emotional disturbance, so they can get specialized services, or they don’t, so they won’t get access to these services, because we can’t say with certainty that their current problems are not related to the restrictions put in place by public health concerns related to Covid-19. That’s a pickle. Sounds difficult to choose which is best, what we are left with is choosing which option is least bad.

Here is a virtual or in-person decision making tool from the CDC to help with this difficult choice; https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communit…

When groups like families and educational institutions are faced with changes, uncertainty, and dilemmas like these, we can predict there will be emotionally charged conflicts in ideas about what is best to do. This makes it hard for us to work as teams and support one another, which is what we need to do. I hear the family law courts are really packed right now.

Tips for virtual schooling

Designated area for school work

Make a calendar and schedule, put in breaks

Don’t forget other activities, exercise and fun

Screen time limits

Expect glitches as online school platforms may initially be overwhelmed by the number of people logging on

Create contingencies for remaining engaged and completing work. Consult with an LSSP or behavioral specialist if needed. For details on creating an effective behavior management and discipline system, try the free course, Behavior Management Tips and Tools, at https://intensivecareforyou.com/resources-for-free…

The above link will also lead to quite a few emotional coping strategies and tools.

Menu of off-line at-home activities

The following link will lead you to a menu of off-line at-home activities for kids, how to speak with children during times of crises in developmentally appropriate ways, managing screen time, caregiver stress inventory with ways to cope, and some emotional coping skills like affirmations for anxiety, these can work whether you opt for virtual or in-person schooling:

https://intensivecareforyou.com/help-kids-in-times…

Pros and cons of virtual counseling: https://intensivecareforyou.com/wp-content/uploads…

How to know if your kids are doing ok

Some changes in behavior are expected as required. Here would be some warning signs that may warrant investigation:

Lethargic

Easily frustrated

Changes in sleeping patterns

Changing in eating patterns, especially with weight loss or gain

Withdrawn, won’t talk about it

Asking for help or refusing any help

Refusing to leave the home for any reason

Frequent conflicts, defiance

Rages, tantrums

Not finding pleasure in normally enjoyed activities

Difficulty with memory, thinking, or concentration

Increase in risky behaviors

Changes in appearance, lack of hygiene

Thoughts of suicide or not wanting to live

If you have concerns and can’t seem to connect with one of your kids to talk about it, consider involving a mental health professional to help with evaluation and intervention. If you are the parent and your gut says something isn’t right, trust your instincts. Younger children are often not able to identify what is wrong when they are stuggling, maybe they just show it in behavior. Older children are often reluctant or embarrassed to admit to having strange and disturbing thoughts.

Keeping ourselves healthy

Focus on what you do have and can do- what can we do now? Have any projects, interests, or hobbies you always wanted to try but never had the time for? Maybe now you do!

Remember that things are starting to get better. People are resilient and adapting to change.

Patience- Try to expect good things down the road, to think everything will be okay, and we don’t have to solve and do everything right now.

Exercise and get out in nature. We can still do this, at least.

Find some good books.

Make a family schedule/routine. Structure and habits create security, especially for younger children.

Sponser a creative family staycation.

Write letters or start a journal.

Reach out and communicate with friends and family often.

Try to remind yourself that you are healthy and safe, if that’s true and I hope it is. Count the blessings. Who else is safe and healthy that you care about right now? Are you living in a comfortable environment? Do you have food and water? Are your basic needs covered for now?

I hope some of this helps you get through your decision about virtual or in-person school and managing the effects.

Wishing you all the best and abundant health,

Brad

The post Back to School and Special Education Needs in Covid Times- Virtual or In-person? appeared first on Intensive Care for You.