Social-Emotional Learning Resources, Versatile Stacking Steps & Managing Stress Like A Pro

National Geographic recently published this article about social-emotional learning (SEL) and some easy tips to help kids improve their emotional intelligence.

The tips they gave are things you probably already know, but there were a couple that stood out:

• Create a “family charter“: a document that outlines how each family member would like to feel and what they are willing to do to make it happen. The goal is to help everyone learn to communicate in a way that makes others feel heard and respected. This is a great idea for group therapy sessions too.
• Use a mood meter: using a visual mood meter can help kids identify their emotions much more easily and reliably. It helps them to build a vocabulary of emotions, which can improve their self-talk and emotional regulation.

They suggest two resources that I find invaluable. First, a free printable mood meter. But that got me thinking – why not just help some of my patients make their own mood meters in therapy?

The other resource is the Mood Meter app ($0.99 in the Apple App Store). This would be great for home and for therapy. I’ve yet to meet a parent that couldn’t use a little help expanding their emotional vocabulary, and this app seems like the perfect learning tool.

The app asks you to attach words to your emotions during the day every day, but it could easily be used on an as-needed basis. It plots your answers to give you a visual representation of how your mood can change over time.

What a great way to check in with our dysregulated kiddos during therapy sessions!

In pediatric therapy, I don’t usually encounter life or death situations. But I have found myself in very stressful situations that left me looking for the eject button. A few that stand out:

• A very large, very challenged child threw a wooden chair at my head without warning.
• On several occasions I’ve had to ask parents to call someone to give them a ride home because they were too intoxicated to drive themselves.
• An irate foster mother threatened to beat me up because I insisted she get her child’s severe ear infection treated.

The common thread in all of these situations was that the outcome depended on my ability to remain calm. I knew it at the time, but willing myself into a calm nervous system was nearly impossible.

I like to have a plan in my head when I find myself in those situations…a set of instructions I can talk myself through. Number one is usually “remember to breathe.”

I found this article a while back and it helped me think differently about stressful situations and how I handle them. It was written by LaRae Quy, an FBI agent who has years of experience managing high stakes and dangerous situations. She’s also written a book that I highly recommend called Mental Toughness for Women Leaders*.

Some take-aways from her article and book:

• We learn to think quickly, clearly and precisely in the face of stress through repetition.
• To build your “calm, cool, collected” muscle, intentionally put yourself in situations that intimidate you. Start small. If you’re shy, strike up a conversation with a stranger. If you are scared of public speaking, schedule a short presentation at work.
• Focus on learning to become comfortable with uncertainty.
• You can’t control every situation, but you can control your reaction.
• The first step in learning to manage your emotions is to begin to notice your triggers and physiological responses to stress.
• My favorite piece of advice: “At that moment when your system jerks and your fight-or-flight instinct kicks in, you breathe out slowly, to let that response go. You speak after that soothing exhale – never on that sharp intake of breathe.”

How many children do you treat who have difficulty managing stress? Most of your caseload, right? It’s nearly impossible to help kids learn to overcome stress unless we learn to handle it better. Quy’s book and article are excellent resources for that.

These steps are my new favorite pieces of therapy equipment and they aren’t all that expensive.

I found them when I was setting up my home gym at the beginning of the COVID-19 fiasco. They worked great for my weightlifting routine.

I bought two 4-inch steps and two 6-inch steps and found that I could combine them in a variety of ways. In fact, I’ve used them more than the weight bench I bought.

I loved them so much that I started bringing them to therapy sessions. I’ve used them for seating, they are super handy as step-stools, and I’ve had some patients come up with very imaginative building projects using them.

They are long, so they are a bit awkward for kids to carry. That ends up being a plus for my kiddos with praxis issues. Problem solving how to get them from point A to point B is part of the game.

Recently, my husband was hit by a car while riding his bicycle. Fortunately, he’s ok. But he does have some broken ribs and a broken collarbone.

Because of his injuries, positioning is very painful and very tricky. I have been able to stack these steps or use them one at a time to help him sit more comfortably on the edge of the bed or on the beside commode.

They are plastic so they are super easy to clean and disinfect. They can slip out of position when stacked, so I typically put a piece of Dycem* between them to prevent slippage.

If you’re looking for some easy-to-clean, easy-to-move plastic blocks to help with positioning for your practice, I can’t recommend these enough. I find these to be more versatile than other stools I’ve purchased in the past.

You can find them on amazon*.