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Copy of Teacher Resources for Distance Learning Amid COVID-19

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Environmental Strategies for Optimising Attention in the Classroom

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Tips for Caregivers on Schooling at Home

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Teacher Mental Health Resources 2019_2020

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This calendar is a new addition to our series of monthly action calendars which have been used by millions of people and translated into 20+ languages.

Thanks to Peter Harper for coming up with the original calendar idea and also to the many other kind and talented people who have helped contribute the ideas and inspiration, including Patrick Higgins who first suggested the idea of a new calendar in response to this global crisis.

Many thanks also to the generous volunteers who have translated the calendars into other languages, including Jaber & Nailah Aljasmi (Arabic), Sevdzhi Eubova (Bulgarian), Janice Torkildsen (Chinese & Nepalese), Natalie Lui and Yun You (Chinese), Renata Sušanj & Dalibor Sever (Croatian), Gabriela Macova (Czech), Martine De Ruiter (Dutch), Anna Langley (Esperanto), Laurence De Olivera & Windy Diakité (French), Rika Tjakea Schütte, Tobias Polzin, Ingrid Schäberle & Yvonne Macasieb, (German), Marina Derlere (Greek), Eva Fekete (Hungarian), Andrea Magnabosco (Italian), Narumi Isoda (Japanese), Rasa Kokoreviča (Latvian), Janina Sabaite (Lithuanian), Marek Zywert & Lidia Golba (Polish), Ana Rute Costa (Portuguese), Oana Mindrut (Romanian), Natalya Kuznetsova (Russian), Mária Boťanská (Slovak), Vicenç Rul.lan (Spanish & Catalan), Naima Skillingshage (Swedish), Ali Gülüm, Ceylan Özpınarand Ilgın Bayraktar (Turkish) and Kate Rudenko & Olga V. Seredyuk (Ukranian).

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This calendar is a new addition to our series of monthly action calendars which have been used by millions of people and translated into 20+ languages. Thanks to Peter Harper for coming up with the original calendar idea and also to the many other kind and talented people who have helped contribute the ideas and inspiration, including Patrick Higgins who first suggested the idea of a new calendar in response to this global crisis.

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Bedtime Reading with "Rick snd Socky" Part 1

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Bedtime Stories with "Pastor Rick and Socky" Part 2

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Bedtime Stories with "Pastor Rick and Socky" Part 3

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GoodHeart Kids - Books Read Aloud for Children

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My Mouth is A Volcano by Julia Cook: Bedtime Stories Read Aloud by GoodHeart Kids Books Read Aloud

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BUT IT'S NOT MY FAULT! By Julia Cook |CHILDREN'S BOOKS READ ALOUD) Shasha's Stories Read Aloud

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Book Reading: Be Where Your Feet Are by Julia Cook

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I JUST WANT TO DO IT MY WAY! By Julia Cook(CHILDREN'S BOOKS READ ALOUD)SHASHA’S STORIES READ ALOUD

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I Miss My Friends at School Social Narrative

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My Schedule will Change Social Narrative

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Why Can't I Go To School Social Narrative

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One of my favorite ways to talk about regulation with my son and to give him insight into new self-regulation skills is to read books.

Books are such a powerful tool for parents - they are a way to connect, a way to calm down, and a way to teach life lessons. I've listed some of our favorites below.

The first list includes books that directly teach children about self-control strategies and are great to help children reflect on their own ability to self-regulate in various situations.

The second list below includes books that teach children to breathe through emotions, to be able to pause before acting, to be mindful of their bodies and more. Through the methods of mindfulness, children can learn self-awareness and self-calming strategies that will become life-long skills for handling stress and emotions.

And finally, the last list below includes fun picture books that show characters in laughable and relatable situations. Kids will want to read these books over and over, and maybe they will learn a few self-regulation skills along the way.

* This post may contain affiliate or referral links for your convenience. Clicking on these links directs you to a website to purchase the product. Nurture and Thrive receives a small fee for this service. Thank you for your support!

Best Books That Teach Regulation Strategies To Kids

1.What Were You Thinking? A Story about Learning to Control Impulses - This book follows a day in the life of Braden, a 3rd grader who is learning how to control his impulses. Braden wants to be funny and blurts out things he shouldn't, reacts to things he believes to be unfair without thinking, and eats a bunch of cupcakes without thinking about who or what they might be for. Luckily, Braden has some pretty understanding adults in his life who give him some tips on how to start controlling his impulses: Stop, Think and decide if your actions will make the situation Better or Worse.

This book opens a lot of opportunities to talk about -self-regulation in the school setting. Things like when you can be funny when you should be serious, how to react to situations when you are angry, and thinking through issues.

My son especially likes the Better or Worse? question, this is something he says to himself often and I believe helps him think through the consequences of his actions before he acts. If you like this book, there are a few others by the same author which address the executive function skill of flexible thinking: Of Course, It's a Big Deal and My Day is Ruined!

We copied and laminated this page from, What were you thinking? Perfect for putting in your child's backpack as a reminder to think before you leap.

2. What Should Danny Do? - This book also goes through several choices a boy named Danny makes over the course of his week. He loves soccer, superheroes, and ninjas and he has his very own superpower -The power to choose!

The reader gets the power to choose in this book too. The story follows along in a "choose your own adventure" style. Your child gets to help Danny make decisions and sometimes those decisions lead to good outcomes and sometimes not.

The first time we read it, my son made the "right" decisions. It was pretty obvious which the better choices would be. Then he wanted to go back and pick some of the poor choices. This shows kids how actions and choices have consequences.

Many of the consequences are natural and encourage empathetic thinking, but some of them don't fit perfectly with a positive/gentle parenting style. That was okay for us, my son seemed to understand that those were Danny's consequences and his consequences wouldn't necessarily be the same. Overall, he got the idea that your choices lead to certain outcomes.

Where the book really shines is when Danny makes good choices and is proud of his day and also when Danny doesn't make good choices, the passages where his parents reinforce the power to choose. For example, Danny's Dad says: " I heard your day wasn't so good, Danny...Every superhero makes mistakes, and that's okay. But the best superheroes learn from their mistakes and use their Power to Choose Wisely."

I recommend this book - the concept of choosing your adventure is great and the overall tone of the message is positive. Just be aware that if you follow positive/gentle parenting, some of the consequences (going to your room, no chocolate for a week) are "punishment" consequences.

There is a new book in this series that follows Danny throughout a day a school: What Should Danny Do? School Day

3. How to Be a Super-Hero Called Self-Control - Following along on the super-hero theme, this book features a hero called self-control who teaches children (aged 4-7 years) how to handle difficult feelings like anxiety, frustration, and anger. The back of the book has resources for parents. There is a book by the same author older children (aged 7- 14 years) too, The Kids' Guide to Staying Awesome and In Control: Simple Stuff to Help Children Regulate their Emotions and Senses

4. What To Do When You Are Mad: A Workbook for Kids- If your child struggles to regulate big emotions like anger or has a big temper, this workbook is for them. This workbook helps kids mindfully identify signs of anger in their body, how to vent their anger in healthy ways, and how to use their angry energy to solve problems. Based on self0regulation theory, this is a great book to learn how to work through big mad emotions.
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Best Books About Mindfulness for Kids

Mindfulness is the ultimate self-regulation tool. If we can help our children become aware of how their bodies react when stressed and how to calm that stress and the chatter of the mind we are giving them a skill that will use for life. In fact, developmental psychologists have found that mindfulness training has been shown to increase attentional self-regulation in children.

These books capture the essence of paying attention to the inside and living in the moment. We often focus on teaching our children to pay attention to what's going on around them, but really first they must be able to tune in to themselves. This is the first step in mindfulness.

5. My Magic Breath - What a gorgeous book this is! I love this book which teaches children to breathe out their thoughts and feelings right onto the pages of the book. This book introduces the concept as breathing as a way to recenter oneself when thoughts and feelings race through your mind. "Do you have a magic breath? When you are worried, or nervous, or sad, take a deep breath. Now let it go. Did that help you feel better? See? It's magic!" Learning to mindfully take a breath when our thoughts and emotions are out of control is a core self-regulation strategy. Once you have read this book with your kids a few times, the next time they are upset, say - "Let's find your magic breath!"

Beautiful illustrations in My Magic Breath

6. A World of Pausabilities: An Exercise in Mindfulness - Written by Psychologist Frank J. Sileo, Ph.D., this book is a wonderful introduction to mindfulness for children. Children do tend to live in the moment - but like the rest of us, they spend much of there time racing from one activity to the next, never pausing to enjoy something. This book will help your child and your family find some quiet moments in the day - and with it some calm. Learning to pause is an essential component of self-regulation - and it is important to teach our children this skill at times when they are not upset, which is exactly what this book encourages children to do, to learn to pause just like they would learn to play an instrument or ride a bicycle.

7. The Lemonade Hurricane - A Story of Mindfulness and Meditation -This book takes mindfulness one step further, it shows how it can be a calming influence. From the synopsis: "Henry is a lot of fun when he's not storming through the house, so Emma decides to teach him how to be still. By showing him how to sit, bow, and breathe, Emma is able to calm the hurricane within Henry." This book is a good one to help teach kids a balance between go, go, go and stopping and resting themselves and their minds.

Henry learning to be still, from Lemonade Hurricane

8. Mindful Bea and the Worry Tree - This is a brand new book that hasn't been released yet at the time I am writing this post. I am excited about this book because mindfulness is a great tool for children with anxiety. In this book, Bea gets herself all worked up before the start of a birthday party, but after stepping outside in her backyard and breathing mindfully and doing visulations, she able to calm down and join the party. I love that Bea has a worry tree, research shows that being in nature helps calm the mind. This book will be a good tool for parents of children with worries.

9. I am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness - This is a sweet book that teaches children the steps of mindfulness and the beauty of living in the here and the now in a gentle story-book fashion. In the back, there is also a guided meditation for kids that is a nice before bed activity, especially for children with stress or worries. It is a good one to have on the bookshelf that you can pull out when your child has had a trying or stressful day,"There are times when I worry about what might happen next and what happened before. The thoughts in my head are like rushing water and I feel like a boat with no anchor being carried away...I give myself a moment and take a breath. And then I tell myself: It's alright."

- This is also a wonderful book to read when you and your child need calmness and relaxation, 10. Breathe and Be: A Book of Mindfulness Poems"What am I thinking? What comes and goes in my mind? I watch my thoughts. They swim by like little fish. They shine blue, green, red, yellow... there is a quiet place inside my head like an egg hidden in a nest. A place I go when the world is loud." This book teaches the steps of mindfulness, breathing, being aware of thoughts and letting them go by, refocusing on the breath, and finding your own quiet place. This is true for emotions as well.

11. A Quiet Place - This book is a relaxing one to read at the end of a hectic day. It is about finding your own quiet place - by the shore, by the pond, on a mountain, in the snow - or maybe the one just inside of you. This is a great book for showing your child that everyone has a quiet place inside themselves. Teaching your child that they can go to that quiet place is a giving them the gift of peacefulness.

12. My Incredible Talking Body- This book teaches children the first step in being mindful - awareness of the body and how emotions feel physically. "It tells me I am sleepy when my eyes are droopy and I just can't stop yawning." The book goes through the feelings of hungry, thirsty, sleepy, angry, sad, scared and calm. "When I am calm, my muscles feel relaxed like my arms and legs have turned into spaghetti noodles. My breathing is slow and deep like when I blow up a balloon." The book also discussed how to return to calm after feeling anger or sadness and give strategies for calming down. Learning to listen to the body is a good first step in mindful awareness and emotion regulation.

- I love books that give kids a concrete example of how to deal with abstract thoughts and feelings. This book teaches children how to focus on their breath while letting thoughts, feelings, and worries pop away like bubbles. 13. Mind Bubbles: Exploring Mindfulness With Kids"Mind bubbles may float around for , but the interesting thing is that they always pop. Thoughts and feelings change and new ones come along." This is a great book to introduce mindfulness meditation to children.

14. Mindfulness for Vikings: Inspirational Quotes and Pictures Encouraging a Happy Stress-Free Life for Adults and Kids- This one is a little different, but I love it. These are more things and inspirational sayings to think about during mindful moments. It encourages living in the moment - being mindful and appreciating the little things. Being able to be quiet enough to appreciate those things. "Even the little moments are big moments."

15. The Mindfulness for Kids Mandala Drawing Book - Research shows that coloring mandalas induces a meditative state and decreases anxiety in college-aged students. This coloring book for kids introduces mandalas and the concept of mindfulness while coloring or drawing. Then the book goes through different types of patterns and provides grids so children can draw their own mandalas. Using art as a self-regulation tool is a great life-skill. I would recommend this book for kids 8 through 12.

Best Picture Books About Self-Control for Kids (or lack of self-control!)

These last books are all stories - pictures books with stories that illustrate how regulation happens (or doesn't happen) in many kinds of situations. Your child will be able to identify with the characters as they overcome frustration, problem-solve, resist impulses, and wait for something worth waiting for.

16. Nanette's Baguette - This Mo Willem's rhyming book follows Nanette on her first time being responsible to "get the baguette." But will she be able to resist the baguette? It is warm, it smells wonderful!!! You will love the twist ending of this book that shows that sometimes it's okay to give in to our impulses and enjoy. Learning to regulate is not just about suppressing, but also about being able to enhance emotions, savor life - to know when to be able to let go a little.

I love this book about learning how to control impulses, but also when to let loose and enjoy the moment as well, Nanette's Baguette.

17. Waiting is Not Easy - Another great Mo Willems books, this time with Piggy and Gerald. Waiting is easy and your kids will be able to relate to Gerald's discomfort while waiting. But, they will also learn that some things are worth waiting for...

18. The Most Magnificent Thing- Oh to know what you want to do, to be able to picture it exactly how you want it in your head and not be able to build it. This is a feeling our kids are all too familiar with as they are gaining coordination and skills. The main character in this book gets frustrated when her invention doesn't come out- she fumes!! But then, she goes for a walk. She begins to feel different, she calms down. Then she is able to think more clearly again. Will she be able to go back and look at her work with fresh eyes?

What a life-skill! To be able to take a break and go back and try again. This book teaches kids that things don't always happen on the first try, that you can get emotional, but you can regulate that, take a break and persevere.

19. Argle Fox- This is a great book about overcoming the big feelings of frustration and trying again and again. The story is captivating to young children, written with a sense of anticipation. The story highlights big emotions, critical thinking, creativity, and perseverance. Kids will be able to relate very well to Argyle fox's frustration and rejoice when he comes up with a solution at last.

20. Remy the Rhino Learns Patience- Remy is a grumpy Rhino and is irritated by all of the other animals. He angrily tries to get his own way and one day makes a mistake. Will anyone come to his aid? Children will see that anger makes Remy's predicament worse and if he can relax, he might discover a way to solve his problem and make a friend!

- The librarian read this to my son's class on a recent field trip and the kids loved it! This is a highly relatable story about a caterpillar who cannot wait to become a butterfly. Literally, CAN NOT WAIT. Perfect to read before any situation in which your child will have to learn that good things come to those who wait.

I am a developmental psychologist with a passion for understanding how young children learn to deal with stress and emotions. Once I became a mom, I was overjoyed and found myself facing my hardest job yet. Join me on my quest to understand children's emotions, behavior, and how best to support their development! Let's nurture them and watch them thrive!

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The Best Books To Teach Kids Self-Control, Mindfulness, and Regulation

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One of my favorite ways to talk about regulation with my son and to give him insight into new self-regulation skills is to read books. Books are such a powerful tool for parents - they are a way to connect, a way to calm down, and a way to teach life lessons.

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Bipolar Disorder in the Classroom

A powerful guide that offers hope, encouragement and new perspectives for educators as they tackle tough classroom situations. This book shows the educational impact of the illness and gives educators the tools to help their student find success.

The Student with Bipolar Disorder: An Educator's Guide

Teaching children with bipolar disorder can be both rewarding and challenging. This free downloadable brochure gives a concise overview of helping students with bipolar disorder.

Teacher Training: Four Part Webinar Series

The Webinar Series: Listen to our 4 part teacher training webinar series presented to the teachers of the state of Nebraska in association with ESU 13.

​Bipolar disorder can have many effects on a student in the classroom. Symptoms of both depression and mania can interfere with learning and make it difficult for the student to pay attention, stay on task, remain focused, and maintain motivation. In addition, cognitive effects may be seen in multiple areas including executive functioning, memory, and organizational skills. Bipolar disorder can also affect the child's ability to correctly process facial expressions and the emotional meaning of language. This can cause conflict with peers and staff, making social interaction a challenge.

?Isn't this just a behavioral issue

?How can I help a student with bipolar disorder in the classroom

?Do children with bipolar disorder qualify for an IEP

?What accommodations may be helpful

?How can I improve my classroom environment

​Children with bipolar disorder frequently have difficulty processing sensory stimulation. Analyze your classroom from the perspective of your student. Sitting by the pencil sharpener or a noisy air conditioner may overly tax this student as he or she tries to process these noises. Overhead lighting should also be examined. If your student is overly stimulated by these bright lights, consider turning a section of lights off and using a dimmer area for this student. Ask your student about things in the classroom that bother him. Making minor adjustments can make a major difference!

Can kids with bipolar disorder also have learning disabilities?

Can a child with bipolar disorder also be gifted?

Where can I get more information?

This essay by Tracy Anglada was originally published on the web and later included in the appendix of two of her books, Intense Minds and Swivel to Success. It shows the school day from the perspective of a student with bipolar disorder and demonstrates how a little understanding and help can go a long way in making a difference for a child.

My School Day without Help

As technology advances we get a glimpse into the workings of the brain which in turn gives an improved understanding of brain disorders. This download shows brain abnormalities which have been associated with childhood onset bipolar disorder. For a more complete discussion of these abnormalities and how they may impact the child, see the book "Swivel to Success"

Brain Abnormalities Associated with Childhood Bipolar Disorder

Dealing with Cognitive Dysfunction Associated with Psychiatric Disability is a very useful handbook made available by the New York State Office of Mental Health

Cognitive Dysfunction Handbook

LEVEL OF STABILITY/ FLEXIBILITY IN SCHOOL

Bipolar disorder is an illness that doesn't stand still. The symptoms of the illness can range from severely ill to stable. This chart helps teachers and parents clarify how to best meet the needs of the child during various stages of the illness.

Level of Stability/Flexibility in School

Students with bipolar disorder may have multiple sensory sensitivities. This checklist will help you evaluate your classroom environment and make modifications to address the needs of those who are hyper sensitive to noise, lighting, temperature and odors.

Examine Your Classroom Environment

Accommodations are frequently necessary in the classroom setting for students with bipolar disorder. While these should always be tailored to the individual needs of the student, here are some possible accommodations to help.

ACCOMMODATING STUDENTS WITH MOOD LABILITY

A very useful brochure from schoolbehavior.com about students with "mood lability" which includes those with depression and bipolar disorder.

Accommodating Students with Mood Lability

It can take months to recover from an episode that requires hospitalization. Special considerations must be made when a student is received back to school after a hospital stay. This article by Tracy Trudeau gives insight into this important transition.

A tool to help your students identify moods, express themselves, and learn social and emotional skills in the classroom and beyond. Gain insight into your student through technology and find the support you need.

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Bipolar Disorder in the Classroom A powerful guide that offers hope, encouragement and new perspectives for educators as they tackle tough classroom situations. This book shows the educational impact of the illness and gives educators the tools to help their student find success.

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Headbanging is an alarming issue for families with children on the spectrum. Caregivers and parents should get help before addressing headbanging and autism. Autism does not need to be synonymous with self-harm. Read on for tips and strategies to help your child reduce self-injurious behavior.
Why do autistic children hit themselves?

For children with autism, headbanging is a way to self-soothe and communicate needs. Babies and toddlers soothe themselves and want to feel the same as they did in their mother's womb. This is called kinesthetic drive. Other habits that feed a child's kinesthetic drive include head rolling, body rocking, biting, and thumb sucking.

According to Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, rhythmic habits trigger the calming reflex in infants and toddlers. Many babies with autism headbang around six months of age, but their neurotypical peers stop doing so by three years of age.

Noha F. Minshawi, Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical psychology in at Riley Hospital for Children, says children with autism spectrum disorders show self-injurious behaviors at high rates.

How to stop an autistic child from hitting

It's important to determine why a child on the spectrum is engaging in hitting before you can remedy it. First, you need to make sure your child does not have any other medical issues that would lead to him/her inflicting harm. Ear infections, stomach ailments, and other pains in the body might also be the culprit.

It's also possible that the child uses this behavior as a way to communicate. Anxiety and hyperactivity are two other factors to consider.

You can work with a doctor or autism specialist for the right response once the reason is clear. You can then work on sensory strategies for headbanging that makes sense for your child.

What triggers headbanging?

Minshawi also makes the distinction that self-injurious behaviors, such as headbanging in those with autism, is usually classified as a "highly repetitive behavior (occurring at frequencies up to dozens of instances per minute)."

She also notes that headbanging can be episodic and triggered by the same stimuli or appear to start of nowhere. Monitoring your child and taking note of what happened right before headbanging can help identify triggers.

When a child diagnosed with autism headbangs past the age of two and a half or three, there is likely one of four things happening:

1. The child is in pain

2. The child is attempting to communicate

3. The child is attention seeking, or

4. The child is experiencing sensory overload or a sensory deficit.

Self-harming behavior as a response to pain

Many parents are confused about why a child would inflict more pain via headbanging if a child is already experiencing discomfort. They fail to understand the significance of autism and self-harm. It's important that parents recognize headbanging as a distraction from pain.

If you discover that your child regularly uses headbanging to manage pain, a pediatrician can suggest ways to ease your child's discomfort. This may include checking your child's body for cuts, bruises, redness, swelling, or other physical signs of injury. Working with a communication specialist to help your child develop new ways to show you where he/she is experiencing pain could be helpful as well. Some children are able to point to where they are feeling pain, draw a picture of what hurts, or communicate verbally using short phrases. Verbal children may need prompting to tell you where they are experiencing pain, as headbanging may be their first instinct.

Headbanging in an attempt to communicate

In some cases, autism and headbanging go together so a child can feel in control. A secondary reason may be that the child is trying to communicate. Nonverbal children will seek ways to communicate, often through movement. If a child knows headbanging will cause a caregiver to rush over and intervene, he/she is likely to use this to his/her advantage to help get needs met. This goes hand-in-hand with attention seeking.

Headbanging to seek attention

Children who headbang for attention may be experiencing sensory overload or deficit. In the moment, they may be unable to otherwise communicate their needs.

When children with autism experience sensory overload, their neurotransmitters cannot process the sensation. Noise, visuals, smells, and tastes can be uncomfortable and overwhelming for children with autism. The sensation of headbanging is one they can control and on which they can place their focus.

Self-harm due to sensory overload or sensory deficit

This term is commonly referred to as stimming. Children who are understimulated, lonely, or bored might headbang to stimulate their vestibular systems. They stimulate themselves in a way the feels good to them. Understimulated children may often seek attention from headbanging, even if they know they will not receive positive reinforcement.

Parents can provide a distraction from headbanging. A vibrating pillow, weighted blanket, gentle touch, or a well-secured bouncing chair, yoga ball chair, or rocking chair are some examples. Providing your child with attention including positive reinforcement, appropriate activities, and options on how to spend his/her time, may help redirect a child who is headbanging.

Additionally, some children headbang as a part of a routine they have developed to prepare for sleep. Autistic children often find the repetitive movements tire and soothe them. Establishing a bedtime routine with your child that includes some form of exercise or kinesthetic movements may help prepare him/her for sleep. Stretching, yoga poses, leg flutters, or balancing on alternating legs are popular options.

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Physiological reasons for headbanging in autistic children

There are also some physiological aspects of autism and self-harm. Stephen M. Edelson, PhD, has some theories regarding autism and headbanging. He suggested physiological reasons autistic children headbang including biochemical and genetic factors. He says that research has found that neurotransmitter levels may have a link to headbanging and other self-injurious behaviors.

Edelson writes, "Beta-endorphins are endogenous opiate-like substances in the brain, and self-injury may increase the production and/or the release of endorphins. As a result, the individual experiences an anesthesia-like effect and, ostensibly, he/she does not feel any pain while engaging in the behavior ( Sandman et al., 1983). Furthermore, the release of endorphins may provide the individual with a euphoric-like feeling.

" Nutritional and medical interventions can be implemented to normalize the person's biochemistry; this, in turn, may reduce severe behavior. Although drugs are often used to increase serotonin levels or to decrease dopamine levels, the Autism Research Institute in San Diego has received reports from thousands of parents who have given their son/daughter vitamin B6, calcium and/or DMG. These parents often observed rather dramatic reductions in, and, in some cases, elimination of self-injurious behavior. Parents have also reported reductions in severe behavior problems soon after placing their child on a restricted diet, such as a gluten/casein-free diet, or removing specific foods to which their child showed signs of an allergic reaction."

While Edelson admits that researchers and medical professionals have not reached a clear consensus on whether dietary or even pharmaceutical interventions can address autism and headbanging, he recommends exploring these options with your child's pediatrician.

Can headbanging cause brain damage?

For parents of children with autism, brain damage is a common concern if a child starts headbanging. Children under three years old will rarely cause long-term damage by headbanging. Their heads are designed to handle impact from learning to walk, and headbanging will rarely cause more trauma than a slip and fall accident at this age. However, as children get older, they are at a higher risk of causing lasting damage.

Children who are strong enough to cause injury should receive a functional behavioral intervention to come up with a plan to replace headbanging with healthy coping and communication strategies.

"[Self-injurious] behaviors can be physically dangerous for the individual who is head-banging...; and self-injurious behavior is very concerning for their caregivers who want to keep these children safe. In order to implement a behavioral treatment plan for self-injurious behaviors, a functional behavioral assessment should be performed to help determine the environmental and/or internal factors that are maintaining the behaviors. This information is then used to inform behavioral interventions in order to preempt the causes or replace the unwanted behaviors with ones that are more acceptable," writes Minshawi.

How can I protect my child from self-harm?

It can be terrifying to witness when a toddler hits himself or herself in the head, but protective measures can be taken to remedy autism and self-harm. Some children respond well to resistance exercises including chin-ups or lifting light weights. Tracking when your child headbangs and to what extent will help determine what level of pain he/she might experience after the episode.

Your pediatrician should be your primary source of information on how to best help a headbanging child. He/she will be able to assess the likelihood of self-harm, help you identify why your child headbangs, and offer solutions and alternatives.

The Cleveland Clinic recommends consulting a doctor immediately if your child hurts him/herself, leaves bumps or bruises, or if you think that the child is having seizures.

If you are unsure if your child is headbanging due to a diagnosis of autism or if it is developmentally normal at this point, partner with your pediatrician. He/she can refer you to other professionals who can help. This includes occupational therapists, behavior interventionists, or community support groups for parents.

Can an autism helmet protect my child?

Providing your child with a medical helmet as prescribed by the pediatrician should help prevent injury. You can also add padding to areas of your home that your child typically headbangs, especially any corners or uneven surfaces.

Self-injurious behavior treatment strategies

Treatment for self-injurious behavior in autism can take many forms and will most likely be a process of trial and error. In-home accommodations can be made to help an overstimulated child. Some examples are:

Noise-canceling headphones

Low-lit, monochromatic environment

Favorite piece of clothing

Playing with sensory toys

It is vital for a parent or caregiver to seek professional help to correctly resolve autism and headbanging. An occupational therapist (OT) can help you and your child learn alternatives for headbanging. Many children find sensory therapy with an OT to be helpful. For children with autism, headbanging strategies might also include yoga and rhythmic therapy in conjunction with routine sensory input under the guidance of an OT.

Your pediatrician or insurance company can help you identify an OT in your area.

Katherine G. Hobbs is a freelance journalist and university student studying English, with an emphasis on journalism, and psychology. She is interested in the impact of having a special needs child on the family dynamic. Katherine is dedicated to bringing awareness of resources to families and providing help to those who love their autistic children. You can find her online at katherineghobbs.com.

Autism Parenting Magazine tries to deliver honest, unbiased reviews, resources, and advice, but please note that due to the variety of capabilities of people on the spectrum, information cannot be guaranteed by the magazine or its writers. Medical content, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained within is never intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a physician with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read within.

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Autism, Head Banging and other Self Harming Behavior

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Headbanging is an alarming issue for families with children on the spectrum. Caregivers and parents should get help before addressing headbanging and autism. Autism does not need to be synonymous with self-harm. Read on for tips and strategies to help your child reduce self-injurious behavior.

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Sensory Integration at home/school

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 Kim Davis, M.S. and Melissa Dubie, M.S. 

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For some individuals, especially those with an autism spectrum disorder, there may be sensory processing dysfunctions or difficulties.

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How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime

TEDMED Talks are available, free to the world, thanks to our partners.

Jamaican-American pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris is founder and CEO of Center for Youth Wellness, an initiative seeking to create a clinical model that recognizes and effectively treats toxic stress in children, and practices at the California Pacific Medical Center Bayview Child Health Center, where she was the founding physician. Her work pushes the health establishment to reexamine its relationship to social risk factors, and advocates for active medical interventions to counteract the damaging physiologic impact of stress.

Find out more

Nadine Burke Harris reveals a little-understood, yet universal factor in childhood that can profoundly impact adult-onset disease.

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How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime

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How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime TEDMED Talks are available, free to the world, thanks to our partners. Jamaican-American pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris is founder and CEO of Center for Youth Wellness, an initiative seeking to create a clinical model that recognizes and effectively treats toxic stress in children, and practices at the California Pacific Medical Center Bayview Child Health Center, where she was the founding physician.

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Rewiring the Anxious Brain - Neuroplasticity and the Anxiety Cycle(Anxiety Skills #21)

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Rewiring the Anxious Brain Part 2: 10 Skills to Beat Anxiety (Anxiety Skills #22)

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Resources on this page are provided by educators and families from around the world. We are collaborating to support the needs of students with significant disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. These materials are open source and may be adapted to fit your child or student's need. They may not be used for purchase.

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Resources on this page are provided by educators and families from around the world. We are collaborating to support the needs of students with significant disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. These materials are open source and may be adapted to fit your child or student's need. They may

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Especially if you don't have it yet

My daughter's preschool is now closed until the end of the month.

My wife works as a nurse in a hospital that has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the country.

People camp out at stores hours before they open, then run the shelves empty by mid-day.

Everyday, we're flooded with more information in our feeds about this pandemic.

And it's all pretty scary the more you think about it.

I was contemplating if I should voice my perspective on this or not.
But it's way too important not to.
Wherever you are in the world, you're hearing about how Coronavirus (COVID-19) is rapidly spreading.

I mean countries have shut down over this.

First, let me say yes it's important to take the necessary precautions. I'm not writing this to argue about that.

But what I do want to share something that's been on my mind about what the biggest problem going on with all of this.

There's something much worse that's spreading a lot faster.

It's FEAR.

And here's the truth.

You see, when you are in fear, a reactive part of your brain called the amygdala takes control of your actions.
You enter into a fight-flight-freeze response.
(It's what's causing people to buy way too much toilet paper.)

And when you are in this reactive state, your body starts producing a steroid called cortisol to help you handle the stress.

And guess what cortisol does to your immune system?
It WEAKENS it!

We have bacteria, viruses, fungus and a whole array of foreign particles we are exposed to every day, but it's your immune system that prevents you from getting sick.

When we're stuck in fight-flight because of worries or anxiety, our bodies are wasting a ton of energy because it actually thinks it might die at that current moment.

And all that energy that's gone now makes our bodies weaker and more vulnerable.
Being afraid is literally making you even more susceptible to getting sick.
And guess what else happens when you stay in fight-flight-freeze mode?

You're in a SELFISH, self-protective state.

You literally lose the capability of thinking or having empathy.

This is where the racism is coming from because people are so afraid and they're only looking out for themselves.

It's what prevents us from thinking clearly and end up making matters worse.

Such as the people who are in denial and go outdoors when unnecessary and put other people at risk.

Or those who take up physicians' time saying they think they have the virus when their symptoms aren't even related. This takes time away from serving people who are actually infected.

So while taking proper precautions during these times, do the things that keep your immune system strong.

Taking the steps to help your brain feel safe puts your body out of fight-flight state and into a rest and digest state where your body is in recovery and ultimately maximizes your health.
So how can you do this?
Practice the act of shifting your focus to things you are grateful for.

Take some time to think about the things you have other's don't.

Or if that's hard be grateful for try thinking about all the people in the front lines working their asses off to contain this pandemic.

Whatever it is you do, take notice of things until you actually feel grateful.
Doing this immediately gets you out of the fight-flight state.
And practice empathy.

Spend time connecting with your loved ones that you are home with.

Laugh with them. Tell them you appreciate them.
Spreading that joy to others boosts their immune systems as well.
Spend these next few weeks as if it will be a long while before you have this rare time to connect with your loved ones at home or just have your alone time to recharge.

And send your love to those who are getting ill because this is bigger than just ourselves.

The statistics you are seeing all over the media are not necessarily 100% accurate.
For example, the mortality rate will likely end up being lower as we continue gathering data especially because of all the unconfirmed cases that are out there.
And if you're really curious about the data, search for science-based discussions from credible platforms other than the news. But limit that as well so you can take your mind off of this for a moment.

With that said, take the proper precautions.

Practice proper hand hygiene.

Avoid large gatherings.

And implement social distance.

But don't do all this out of fear.

Do it as an act of service where you actually are preventing the potential deaths of more people.

And instead of the news, watch something entertaining that makes you laugh and smile.

Or perhaps break out that board game you used to love playing.

Or get some sun! Going for a walk outside and getting some vitamin D also boosts your immune system.

Or maybe pick up an old hobby you haven't had the time to do until now.
Whatever it is, being less concerned and afraid is what will help you make the best decisions and make your immune system stronger.
For those of you who read this and feel like it's cliché advice because this is hard for you to implement:
I want to take a moment to provide some food for thought.
In 2009, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone ran a study in which he had a group of people learn to play a simple melody on the piano.

Then he split them up into two groups.

One group practiced the melody on a keyboard for two hours a day over the next five days.

Then he had the other group sit in front of the keyboard for the same amount of time, but didn't have them play. Instead, he had them imagine playing the melody on the keyboard.

During the whole study, Dr. Pascual-Leone was mapping the brain activity of all the participants before, during and after the experiment.

And the results were shocking.

He found the same exact brain changes happened in both groups.
This meant that the brains of the people who only imagined playing the piano changed in a way as if they were really playing it.
What does this mean?

Our brains do not know the difference between imagination and reality.

So how does this apply to you?

If you've been anxious, worried, or afraid with all the uncertainty that exists around us, it means you can choose to be courageous, bold and confident simply by imagining what that would feel like.

This means how you feel is YOUR choice.

I want you to sit with this truth for a second.

Your thoughts produce your feelings.

If I had a brain scan hooked up to you, I can see what it looks like when you have a thought about something.

You'd see a pulse of electrical activity occur at that moment.

And that electrical activity stimulates the release of chemicals called neuropeptides that will communicate with your body to produce a feeling.
So the thoughts you have determine how you feel.
So if you've ever thought about someone you loved and then you felt all bubbly inside, that's what's happening.

Or if you think about scary thoughts about all the bad things that can happen to you, then you feel your heart pounding along with the fear that comes with it.

And if it's proven that we can make changes occur in our brain simply by imagining it, then it means we can get out of the self-protective fight-flight state by imagining things that make us feel good instead of afraid.

It's your decision.

There's one part of your brain that has all of your amazing capabilities such as your decision making, critical thinking, and creative skills.

But here's the problem.

Research shows the best part of our brain is turned off for about 70% of our adult lives

When we are in the selfish fight-flight state, we turn off this amazing part of our brain known as the prefrontal cortex.

And when your prefrontal cortex is off, you prevent your immune system from operating at it's best.

It's also what makes you feel stuck and unable to figure out the best solutions for yourself especially if you've been taking a hit financially.

And worst of all, you do not have the capability of having empathy.
So that means if you're with your loved ones and you're feeling afraid for them, you can try to justify it all you want, but the person you're really focused on is yourself.
So while people are behaving like this is the apocalypse, spend the time to help comfort those around you who are genuinely afraid.

Meet them where they are at and acknowledge that yes this can be scary, but do what it takes to brighten them up.

Not only will you make them feel better, but you actually make their bodies stronger.

I promise you, it will go a long way.

More than ever, this is a time to stand together.
So let's make empathy and connection even more contagious than fear.

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Why Coronavirus Should be The Least of Your Worries

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Especially if you don't have it yet My daughter's preschool is now closed until the end of the month. My wife works as a nurse in a hospital that has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the country. People camp out at stores hours before they open, then run the shelves empty by mid-day.

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You might think that March will mark the end of cold and flu season, but the beginning of spring often heralds a second wind for the flu virus, which brings along higher instances of other respiratory illnesses like the common cold. Unlike the flu, there is no vaccination for the common cold, but you can work to prevent it or at least reduce the severity of symptoms with a few healthy habits. One of the most trusted methods for fighting a cold is ingesting high doses of vitamin C, which can boost the immune system. Though vitamin C won't fend off a cold completely, it can help you shorten the amount of time you're sick and lower the impact that the illness has on your body. Instead of simply reaching for vitamin C supplements, you should try to get this nutrient through dietary sources -primarily fruits and veggies. Before you peel an orange, however, think about the following foods that all contain more vitamin C per serving than the bright citrus.

Bell Peppers

Topping the list of vitamin C powerhouses is bell peppers, which contain about three times as much of the vitamin compared to oranges. Red bell peppers will give you the most, but green, orange, and yellow still offer a good dose of vitamin C. If you want to spice up your meals, hot chili peppers are a smart choice, because they boast high levels of vitamin C just like their sweeter cousins.

Strawberries

Strawberries are one of few fruits you can find in the grocery store year-round, and they are a crowd favorite to serve to the whole family during cold season. One cup of strawberries offers almost 90 mg of vitamin C along with other beneficial nutrients like folate and potassium.

Pineapple

Pineapple may be the ultimate recovery fruit, because it not only helps shorten the lifespan of a cold with a hefty dose of vitamin C, but it has anti-inflammatory properties that can ease post-workout recovery. If you brave the gym while you have a cold, make sure you pack pineapple slices or add pineapple to your pre-workout smoothie to help you feel better faster.

Papaya

If you're feeling like something more exotic, look for fresh papaya in the produce section. The flesh of the fruit is delicate and sweet, and the seeds are edible too-though they have a stronger flavor that makes them a more ideal addition to salads than a standalone snack. Papaya packs in 88 mg of vitamin C per 1-cup serving, and studies have shown that this fruit may help in clearing the sinuses and keeping skin healthier.

Kale

There's a reason that the kale trend will never truly die out. Kale is one of the ultimate superfoods, offering vitamins A, K, and C in high amounts. You might also be surprised to learn that kale has essential fatty acids and calcium as well, so it should be a staple in your regular diet.

Cabbage

There is an assortment of familiar veggies in the cabbage family-broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts to name a few. Each can bring big nutrition to the dinner table with tons of fiber, vitamin C, and protein. Because these vegetables have so much substance, they are great centerpieces for a meal, offering a veggie alternative for main courses.

Along with the right diet to fend off a cold, quick medical attention can do wonders to help you feel better. As soon as you start to feel a sniffle or a sore throat, connect with MeMD to get fast and reliable care that will help you get back to your routine.

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Which Foods Deliver the Highest Dose of Vitamin C? - MeMD Blog

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You might think that March will mark the end of cold and flu season, but the beginning of spring often heralds a second wind for the flu virus, which brings along higher instances of other respiratory illnesses like the common cold.

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Keeping your immune system fully functioning is one of the most important ways to prevent disease, and studies have shown that one of the best ways to strengthen your flu-fighting abilities is with exercise. Here are a few examples of simple exercises that can help fire-up your immune system and keep you healthy!

Walk it Out
Regular moderate exercise is the leading method for boosting your immune system. Walking about 30 minutes per day increases the amount of leukocytes, cells that fight off infections and colds, in your body. Prolonged high-intensity workouts can increase stress hormones in your body that can depress immune system activity, leaving you more susceptible to disease. Always pace yourself and don't overdo it, too much too soon can have a negative effect.

Find Your Inner Chi
Yoga and Tai Chi workouts focus on the mind and body, placing emphasis on the use of meditation and deep breathing. Studies have shown that deep breathing creates rapid lymph movement. This is crucial to your body's lymphatic system, which is made up of glands that filter and destroy contaminants, produce antibodies and create more lymphatic cells. Yoga and Tai Chi have also been shown to reduce stress, which is important for a healthy immune system.

Strength Train
Working some strength training moves into your routine can help you develop a strong and healthy body with the added bonus of a strong immune system. When you build muscle through strength training glutamine (an amino acid that many cells in our immune system thrive on) is produced. Additionally your muscle stores protein, which is made up of amino acids that help the body produce antibodies and white blood cells, ultimately helping you to fight-off sickness. There's no reason not to add some strength training moves into your workout!

Perform Aerobic Workouts
Aerobic exercises are beneficial for your heart and can help you maintain a health weight. People with a healthy body weight are at a lower risk for diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. A lower level of fat cells in the body reduces the amount of inflammatory chemicals they secrete, decreasing both of the risk of infection and tissue damage. Aerobic exercise also increases your body temperature, which can help kill infections in the body. Check out fun exercises that will get your heart pumping here.

Integrating some of these exercises into your workout routine will leave you leaner, healthier and more resistant to sickness during cold and flu season!

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The Weekend Workout: Super-Exercises That Boost Your Immune System - MeMD Blog

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Keeping your immune system fully functioning is one of the most important ways to prevent disease, and studies have shown that one of the best ways to strengthen your flu-fighting abilities is with exercise. Here are a few examples of simple exercises that can help fire-up your immune system and keep you healthy!

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A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.

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Cool Math Games - Free Online Games for Learning and Fun

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Coolmath Games is a brain-training site for everyone, where logic & thinking & math meets fun & games. These games have no violence, no empty action, just a lot of challenges that will make you forget you're getting a mental workout!

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A collection of math mnemonics - songs, memory aids, some useful and some simply trivia, for various math facts and figures, arranged by major subjects: numbers, arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

Number Mnemonics for Kids

how to write numbers from 0 to 10

number of days in each month

multiply by 9

dividend, divisor and quotient

Pre-Algebra We have mnemonics and songs to help you remember

how to spell the word ARITHMETIC

the arithmetic properties - Commutative, Associative, Distributive and Identity

which is numerator and which is denominator

how to multiply, divide, add and subtract fractions

how to do long division

how to convert feet to miles

the greater than and less than symbols

the prefixes of metric units

mean, median and mode

how to multiply signed numbers

the order of operations (PEMDAS)

place value and decimals

roman numerals

the relationship between speed, distance and time

Algebra We have mnemonics and songs to help you remember

how to solve one-step equations

rules of exponents

the Simple Interest formula

the distance formula

the speed, distance, time and the acceleration formulas

the slope-intercept form of linear equation

how to multiply binomials - FOIL

a word problem solving strategy

the quadratic formula

Geometry In this lesson, we will have mnemonics and songs to help you remember

geometry terms

the value of pi (π)

the formulas for the area and circumference of a circle

the types of triangles: equilateral, isosceles, scalene, right

types of angles - acute, right, straight, obtuse, reflex, full rotation

complementary and supplementary angles

angle properties

perimeter and area

area formulas

3 D shapes

Trigonometry In this lesson, we will have mnemonics and songs to help you remember

trigonometric ratios for right triangles - SOHCAHTOA

reciprocal trigonometric functions - cosecant, secant, cotangent

the signs of trigonometric ratios for each quadrant - ASTC or CAST

the values on the unit circle

Trig Values for Special Angles

Pythagorean Identities

Mental Math and Math Tricks

Rotate to landscape screen format on a mobile phone or small tablet to use the Mathway widget, a free math problem solver that answers your questions with step-by-step explanations.

You can use the free Mathway calculator and problem solver below to practice Algebra or other math topics. Try the given examples, or type in your own problem and check your answer with the step-by-step explanations.

We welcome your feedback, comments and questions about this site or page. Please submit your feedback or enquiries via our Feedback page.

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A collection of math mnemonics - songs, memory aids, some useful and some simply trivia, for various math facts and figures, arranged by major subjects: numbers, arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

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Where Would You Like To Choose Love Today? - Choose Love Movement

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Teaching people everywhere to choose love. The Choose Love Movement is teaching children and adults around the world how to change an angry thought to a loving one, and live a life filled with "Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion-in-Action." 1 MILLION PEOPLE 1 Countries 1 Schools 1 MILLION PEOPLE 1 Countries 1 Schools ...

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This page contains affiliate links, read the disclosure statement Inside: Kid tested strategies used by child therapists for calming anxiety, including ideas to calm down, books to read and videos that can help
It's happening again. Your daughter is frustrated and stomping away down to her room, slamming the door and in general "has her cranky pants on". You say calm down, but she yells back "I don't know how to do that!!!"

We tend to tell our kids to "calm down" without ever giving them explicit directions on how to deal with stress and anxiety. Here's a collection of the best tools and tips I've found to teach children how to calm down and relax.

Sometimes you'll need a quick way to help your child calm down and you don't have much with you. Maybe it's when you're out at Target or stuck in traffic. These tips will come in handy at those times:

Imagine your favorite place - it's like taking a mini vacation wherever you are

Think of your favorite things

Name animals alphabetically (alligator, bear, cow, dog, etc...)

Squeeze Something (play dough, clay, silly putty, your fists, a stress ball)

Get a Cold Drink of Water

54321 Grounding - go through each of your 5 senses

1. Put your arms straight out in front of you, palms facing out.

2. Put one hand over the other at the wrists and interlace your fingers.

3. Swoop your hands and arms toward your body and then place your interlaced hands on your chest.

4. Cross your feet at the ankles and put your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

5. Stay still for one minute.

It's great to have a big list of coping skills to try when your child needs to calm down. Here are two more short lists of ideas for calming down at home or at school.

From Imperfect Families - Strategies to use at home

From Encourage Play - 10 Strategies to Help Kids Calm Down at school or home

People usually roll their eyes initially when they hear "breathing is important". But I will continue to say it and explain why. It's so simple, yet has such a big impact on your body's physiology.

When you and calm and relaxed, your body is in "rest and digest" mode. You breathe normally, your heart rate is lower and your muscles are relaxed. However, when stress or anxiety or anger occurs, your body automatically switches into "flight, fight or freeze" mode. Your muscles tense up, your heart rate increases and your breathing becomes more shallow.

Taking deep breaths, instead of shallow breaths, is one way to tell your body to get back to resting and digesting. That's why deep breathing is important!

Luckily, there are some fun ways to teach kids deep breathing techniques

Things to use

Things to say

Breathe in like you are smelling a flower, breathe out like you are blowing out birthday candles

Arms up and breathe in, arms down and breathe out

Pretend your belly is a balloon. Breathe in and make the balloon bigger, then breathe out and make the balloon shrink.

Videos to watch
4 - 7 - 8 Breathing by GoZen
Breathing at Sea Otter Cove from Stress Free Kids

A Coping Skills Toolbox is a kit that you create to help your child calm down when they are upset, anxious or worried. In order to get the most benefit from this, you should create this kit before an issue occurs. When your child experiences anxiety, then they can pick out an item from their Coping Skills Toolbox. This is one of my favorite ways to help kids learn to calm their anxiety.

Here are some other fantastic ideas for what to put in a coping skills toolbox/calm down kit from And Next Comes L

You can create a place specially designed to allow to calm down in a few steps

Find a spot and make it cozy (ask your child for help with that - maybe they can place a favorite blanket or stuffed animal inside)

Add calming tools

Explain how to use it and practice before

When they are starting to escalate, catch it early and give them a calm reminder about their calm down spot

Use the following phrases as a way to support your child, let them know that you're going to support them and help them in any way that you can.

"I'm here for you"

"Talk to me and tell me what's going on"

"How can I help?"

"Together, we can work on this. We're a great team"

"I love you"

"Do you want a hug?"

Here are some more ideas of what to say to calm an anxious child.

From Go Zen - 49 Phrases to Calm an Anxious Child

From Lemon Lime Adventures - What to Say to Calm an Anxious Child

Did you know there are podcasts with stories for children? Usually the hosts have a soothing voice and the stories tend to be pretty short. Your child can listen to these podcasts as a way to have some down time.

There are scripts you can read to your child to help them relax and calm down. Slowly and carefully read the words as your child listens and follows the instructions. Check out Inner Health Studios list of scripts you can use with your child. If you prefer not to read a script, there are ones that are pre-recorded.

There are also scripts to practice mindfulness with children. Eline Snel has written a great book on Mindfulness with Kids, Sitting Still Like a Frog. Here are the several scripts that can be used from that book!

Annaka Harris also has several pre-recorded scripts to help kids practice mindfulness

Confused about how to introduce mindfulness to kids? Check out these resources:
Simple Ways to Introduce Mindfulness and Meditation to Children 11 Simple But Effective Ways to Teach Mindfulness to Kids
What you need:

I've used empty soda bottles, empty water bottles, glass jars and plastic containers. Use whatever makes sense for you and your family. For instance, for the calming jars the kids have in their room, I used a heavy duty plastic bottle. I didn't want them to accidentally knock over a glass jar in the dark - that would be a huge mess!

I've had the best results when I've used warm water - it makes it easier for the water and paint to combine.
Glitter Paint
I prefer using glitter paint (or glitter glue) instead of glitter because then I'm not cleaning up glitter for weeks at my house after we make them :-)

To make your jar, add glitter paint to the bottom of the jar until it just covers the bottom of it. Add warm water. Put the cover on and shake to help the ingredients combine. Once you are satisfied with the look of your jar, then you can super glue the lid shut so it doesn't spill. In a pinch, I've also used duct tape to secure the lid.
Watch Make a Simple Calming Jar from Coping Skills for Kids on YouTube Wet Ingredients
Sometimes you want the glitter/other items to stay afloat longer or for a shorter amount of time. Here are some different ingredients you can use as the wet ingredients.
Dry Ingredients
To see several other ways to make calming jars, take a look at what Preschool Inspirations did.

One of the first things I always like to do with kids if they are struggling is to start using visuals. When you're stressed and anxious, it's harder to read and take in information. Visuals are easier.

I like to keep calming cue cards in my children's coping skills toolboxes so that they can make a decision about what coping skill they can use. Sometimes pulling out a list is too much in the moment. You can make your own cue cards.

1. Take several index cards or small pieces of cardstock

2. On each one, write or draw one coping skill

3. Hole punch the cards and place them on a keyring (to make them extra sturdy, you can laminate them)

4. Put them into the coping skills toolbox for easy access

Using visuals is a powerful way to help kids. When kids are overwhelmed, sometimes it's hard for them to figure out what to do. By having cue cards, your child can have a visual reminder of what calms and relaxes them.

To make things a little easier, I've created ready to use coping skills cue cardsfor you. There are four different sets: Calming, Physical, Distracting, and Processing. If you'd like all 4, I created a set where you can download them all together.

If your child is anxious, they may also be having a difficult time getting settled for bedtime. Here are some ideas to help your child get settled at bedtime.

PINPOINT WHAT THE FEAR IS

One of the most important things to do is to figure out exactly what is causing the anxiety. Is it fear of the dark? Is it a worry about something in the closet? Is it monsters? Is it spiders? Figuring out the cause of the fear will help you come up with ways you can help your child combat it.

REARRANGE THE ROOM

Are there particular spots of the room that seem to be darker or cause more fear at night than others? Go into the bedroom during the day with your child and talk about the spots that make your child nervous. Try moving night lights and furniture around for a more calming room arrangement.

TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS

If your child has a hard time separating from you, try a transitional object. This is a special item that helps your child feel comforted. It helps them feel like part of you is still present even when you're not there. It could be something like a stuffed animal or a special stone or necklace, or a sweatshirt of yours. The object isn't what matters, it's what the object represents. They can keep it and hold it all night long to help them relax and go to sleep.

Find more strategies here: 12 Kid Friendly Strategies to Calm Anxiety at Night

Looking for some calming guided meditation to help get to sleep at night? Try one of these: Best Guided Meditations for Sleep.

Whenever I sit down and talk with someone about their coping skills, one of the first
things I ask is if they have tried writing about it. Why do I always start with journaling as
a way of processing through difficult feelings?

It's easier to write about than talk about hard things

Journaling helps you process what's happening.

It's convenient.

It's not graded

It can help you solve a problem

It can help you re-frame your thinking

Looking for a journal for a child or teen? Check out Big Life Journals!

General Anxiety

The Coping Skills for Kids Workbook by Janine Halloran. This book has over 75 strategies for kids to try to help them manage their stress and worry. This book also includes colorful worksheets to help kids learn more about their anxiety and what they can do to manage their stress.

Wilma Jean the Worry Machine by Julia Cook I love that when Wilma Jean's physical reactions are described, they're also illustrated. When is says she has knots in her stomach and her knees lock, her stomach really looks like it's tied in a knot and there's a real lock around her knees. I love the activity she does with her teacher, going over worries she can control and worries she can't, it's a great way to help kids manage their anxiety.

David and the Worry Beast by Anne Marie Guanci David's anxiety is a beast, and the more anxious he gets, the bigger it grows. David learns to control his thoughts, and his beast shrinks. There's also a couple of pages for parents and kids in the back.

When My Worries Get Too Big by Kari Dunn Buron This book is wonderful! There are several pages where kids can add in their own thoughts, worries and what helps them relax. This book also uses the 5 point scale to talk about stress and different ways to manage it.

What To Do When You Worry Too Much by Dawn Huebner, PhD This book goes through several ways that can help kids manage anxiety, including setting a time for worries, thinking about things that make you happy and resetting your body with activity or relaxation. There are some interactive places in this book, where a child can write down their worries, draw some images of things that might help, etc.

What To Do When You're Scared and Worried by James J. Crist This is one of my favorite books for kids to help them deal with anxiety. Near the beginning of the book is a checklist that helps kids narrow down what they are anxious about. The beginning of the book covers the basics of what anxiety is and how to help manage with coping skills. The next section of the book goes into detail about different types of anxiety kids might experience, including Separation Anxiety, Phobias and Panic Attacks.

Separation Anxiety

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn Classic about managing separation anxiety when kids start school. My daughter's kindergarten teacher read this on our visit to school the first day.

When I miss you by Cornelia Maude Spelman This is perfect for little ones who have a hard time dealing with the fact that they are away from their parents during the day. It suggests a couple of things they can do to help and reassurance that parents will come back at the end of the day.

Wemberley Worried by Kevin Henkes Poor Wemberley worries about everything, and then she gets really worried when she is about to start school.

This E-Course offers you instant support from a Child Therapist.
You will get:
12 Videos that are quick and bite size

14 Exercises that will expand on the skills taught

6 Cheat Sheets that will serve as a reference
Along with the course you get:
Access to the instructor for ongoing support

Downloadable PDF versions of all lessons

Lifetime access to the course

More from Coping Skills for Kids about Anxiety in Children...

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Inside: Kid tested strategies used by child therapists for calming anxiety, including ideas to calm down, books to read and videos that can help

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"the tapping solution" tapping eft meditation

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The Office of Curriculum and Instruction is dedicated to providing the best resources for educators and families during this time of extended remote learning. This site will be updated continuously throughout the next several weeks.

Educators and families, on this page you will find the following resources:

Information about free or low-cost connectivity for those with need.

Subject area and grade level specific digital learning sites.

Ideas to extend learning for all students.

Educational companies offering free services.

Supports for teachers in delivering remote learning experiences.

If there is a resource or support you would like to see, please contact us so that we can provide you with the best information possible.

Many educational companies are providing limited-time free access to educational programming. This website shows a collection of such resources in alphabetical order, with a description. These resources have not all been vetted by IDOE, nor should this be considered an endorsement. Educators should be mindful of digital resources that require teachers or students to create online accounts. Please check with district policies and consider HIPPA, FERPA, and COPPA laws with regards to student privacy BEFORE implementing any of these resources.

Educator Resources Family Resources

Educator Resources

Computer Science

Dual Language Immersion

Panda Tree - Select Panda Tree materials are available to teachers and parents at no cost. Multiple languages are available, including Mandarin.

Learn Chinese Mandarin for Kids - Lessons and activities to use with students enrolled in Mandarin Dual Language Immersion programs.

Migrant Literacy Net - Resources are provided in Spanish from grades 1-8. There are math, reading, writing, WIDA, and study skill lessons provided. Teachers can create a free account.

Salsa Georgia - Salsa is Georgia Public Broadcasting's award-winning Spanish language series for young learners in kindergarten through the third grade. Puppets in familiar stories, digital graphics and animation teach the language. - grades K-6

English/Language Arts

Literacy Framework - Indiana Specific support for standards based instruction including access to digital resources - grades K-12

NewsELA - authentic content from the world's most trusted providers turned into learning materials that are classroom-ready - grades 3-12.

Storyline Online - available 24 hours a day for children, parents, caregivers and educators worldwide. Each book includes supplemental curriculum developed by a credentialed elementary educator, aiming to strengthen comprehension and verbal and written skills for English-language learners. - grades PK-8

Reading Strategies and Activities for Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties, Including Dyslexia - Lesson Plans for practicing different parts of reading - grades K-5

English Language Learner

eLearning Resources - English Learners - This hub features resources for both teachers and families of English learner students. Included are links to other EL-specific resource hubs, such as WIDA's, links for effectively connecting with multilingual families, and instructional programs and supports.

eLearning Requirements and Supports for English Learners - IDOE's guidance on the requirements for providing services, communicating with families, and assessing English learner students.

Fine Arts

General Information and Professional Development

High Ability

Mathematics

Math Framework - Indiana Specific support for standards based instruction including access to digital resources - grades K-12

Which One Doesn't Belong - A website dedicated to providing thought-provoking puzzles for math teachers and students alike. There are no answers provided as there are many different and correct ways of choosing which one doesn't belong. Enjoy! - grades PK-12

Estimation 180 - Building number sense one day at a time. - grades PK-12

Esti-Mysteries - Estimation meets mystery - Each image invites students to wonder what number is represented by the image. As you click through each Esti-Mystery, clues will appear that will allow the students to use math concepts to narrow the set of possibilities to a small set of numbers. In the end, the students will need to call upon their estimation skills to solve the mystery and find the missing number. - grades PK-12

Bedtime Math - posts daily math problems for families to build mathematical literacy. Just 5 quick minutes of number fun for kids and parents at home. Read a cool fact, followed by math riddles at different developmental levels so everyone can jump in! - grades K-6

Turner's Graph of the Week - Improving math literacy in the classroom; Students will become sharper, analytical thinkers in today's world. Students are given the opportunity to communicate their critical thinking and analysis through writing and classroom discussion. - grades 6-12

Physical Education / Health and Wellness

EverFi - online curriculum that is free to educators at this time - grades K-12

OPEN - Online Physical Education Network (activities and PD) - grades K-12

Move Your Way - Help your kids get more physical activity. Use this tool to find ways to fit more activity into their day. - grades K-12

SHAPE America - Lessons and Activities - grades K-12

Science

National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) free K-12 teaching resources - Includes over 800 lesson plans, book chapters, videos, simulations, and more - vetted by NSTA curators.

Siemens STEM Day - Siemens STEM Day offers a variety of K-12 tools and resources with original hands-on activities, career connections, and a teacher support center including an implementation Toolkit.

Discovery Education - Flipped learning is easier when you have access to hundreds of thousands of K-12 digital resources, and with Experience you can assign individual pieces or even a whole folder of content to your students no matter where they are.

University of Colorado Boulder PhET - Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations for K-16.

National Science Foundation - Welcome to Classroom Resources--a diverse collection of K12 lessons and web resources for classroom teachers, their students and students' families.

Social-Emotional Learning

Social Studies

PBS Learning for Indiana Educators - Standards-aligned videos, interactives, and lesson plans. - grades K-12

National Geographic Kids - grades K-6

EconEdLink - Online PD for teachers and economics lessons and collections for grade K-12.

iCivics - Put your students into action with these games and lessons. - grades 7-12

Engaging Congress - Free civics/government primary source-based interactive that is intended for distance learning. It can be used on the web or downloaded as an app from Google Play or Apple Store. - grades 7-12

Special Education

World Language

Writing

The Writing Revolution Modules - These modules were created by the IDOE Literacy team based on the work and book by Judith Hockman and Natalie Wexler. These self-paced modules are intended to supplement the text.

Family Resources

Connectivity

Charter Communications announced on March 13, 2020 that for 60 days the company will offer free Spectrum broadband and Wi-Fi access to homes with K-12 and/or college students who do not already have a subscription. Installation fees will also be waived for these households. Enroll by calling 844-488-8395. Charter will also continue Spectrum Internet Assist, a program offering low-cost broadband internet of 30 Mbps for low-income households without school-aged children.

AT&T announced on Friday it would not cancel service and would waive late fees for any wireless, home phone, broadband residential or small business customer experiencing hardships because of the coronavirus pandemic and can't pay their bills. Qualifying low income households can apply for $10 a month internet access through the Access from AT&T program. Fixed Wireless Internet and Wireline customers can use unlimited internet data. AT&T will also keep public Wi-Fi hotspots open.

Talking To Your Children about COVID-19

Additional Information and Resources about COVID-19

General Resources

PBS Kids - Find FREE educational games, videos, hands-on activities, and more from your favorite PBS KIDS programs. Resources are appropriate for ages 3-8.

PBS Apps and Games - Find educational apps from your favorite PBS KIDS programs. Compatible with iOS and Android devices. Resources are appropriate for ages 3-8.

PBS KIDS for Parents - PBS KIDS for Parents offers information, activities and tips for parents, including this resource on "How to talk to your kids about coronavirus". Resources are appropriate for ages 2-8.

PBS LearningMedia - PBS LearningMedia is a free service that offers thousands of contextualized learning materials aligned to state and national standards.

Scholastic Learn at Home - Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing. The site will be updated weekly until 20 days of content is available.

The Exploratorium - an ongoing exploration of science, art, and human perception. Explore the vast collection of online experiences to feed your curiosity and education resources supporting online teaching and learning.

Continuity of Learning at Home During COVID-19
Best Practices for Learning at Home
Computer Science

Dual Language Immersion

Early Learning

English Language Arts

Math

Physical Education

GoNoodle - Movement lessons and activities

Science

Mystery Science - K-5 science lessons available with no signup or login required.

GLOBE Observer - an international network of citizen scientists and scientists working together to learn more about our shared environment and changing climate.

Social-Emotional Learning

Social Studies

National Geographic Kids

Smithsonian History Explorer - History Explorer is the online portal for free, standards-based K-12 resources including lesson plans, interactives, videos, and artifacts from the National Museum of American History.

Maptia - Geographic and cultural story-telling. Also, an excellent cross-curricular resource for English/Language Arts.

Virtual Tours/Free Museums

Cincinnati Zoo - plans to live stream several animals and exhibits starting March 16, every week day at 3 p.m.

Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems - Mo Willems invites YOU into his studio every day for his LUNCH DOODLE. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo's studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks. New episodes will be posted each weekday at 1:00 p.m. ET and then remain online to be streamed afterwards.

Writing

Read, Write, Think Student Interactives - Engage your students in online literacy learning with these interactive tools that help them accomplish a variety of goals-from organizing their thoughts to learning about language-all while having fun. - grades K-5

Boom Writer - Begin with a story starter and students log in to write. After the different developments are read, students decides which direction the story should take. Edits and conferences abound until students agrees the story is finished. Then it is published! - grades 3-8

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The Office of Curriculum and Instruction is dedicated to providing the best resources for educators and families during this time of extended remote learning. This site will be updated continuously throughout the next several weeks. Educators and families, on this page you will find the following resources: Information about free or low-cost connectivity for those with need.

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Free Parenting Workshop online April 7th! Click on link to sign up!

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Exceptional Parenting Podcast- A Simple and Positive Parenting Approach

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Most of us end up repeating the parenting tactics our parents used, or what we see around us: timeouts, grounding, punishments, yelling, bribing and bargaining.

...and they don't work for kids with strong wills, sensory challenges, or certain personalities.

But instead of recognizing that the failed, you walk away from every blow-up feeling like failed.

And you didn't. I promise.

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Positive Parenting for Challenging Behavior - Exceptional Parenting Podcast- A Simple and Positive Parenting Approach

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Most of us end up repeating the parenting tactics our parents used, or what we see around us: timeouts, grounding, punishments, yelling, bribing and bargaining. ...and they don't work for kids with strong wills, sensory challenges, or certain personalities. But instead of recognizing that the failed, you walk away from every blow-up feeling like failed.

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Audio Books

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Discover the best Children's & YA audiobooks. Learn from Children's & YA experts like R. J. Palacio and Neil Gaiman. Listen to Children's & YA audiobooks like Wonder and The Graveyard Book for free with a free 30-day trial

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How to Use
Overview

schedules Overview
Reminder Strips
Other Layouts
Physical Variations

Story Strips Overview
Behavior
"First.../Then..."
Safety Skills

Reciprocal Communication Overview
Making Requests
Making Choices

More Ideas

Picture cards can be used to build schedules to organize and structure daily activities. For home use, a picture card schedule can portray entire day's activities, or detail the mini steps of one activity, such as brushing teeth. "On the fly" drawings can help reduce anxiety brought on by a change in plans, or just let someone know what comes next. For school use, a picture schedule can list the day's activities as well as mini schedules, such as what things need to be done when you enter the classroom (put up backpack, put away lunch box, hang up coat, sit at desk). Often, the more stress caused by a situation, the more structure needed. High-stress situations require a more detailed breakdown using sequential pictures.

Each routine is learned by doing tasks in sequential order. Many people need schedules only temporarily to learn certain sequences. Other routines will always need to be presented in a visual format. The goal is to create an environment where each person can operate successfully.

building a morning schedule

Many parents and teachers are initially intimidated by the task of making schedules. Their reasons include fear of over-structuring their lives, concern that schedules are too much work to make, fear that they cannot draw well enough and concern about what happens if the schedule changes. Here is what we suggest. Just get started, see how easy it becomes, and the power of communicating it allows will make the task worthwhile.

Step 1: We have provided simple, black and white picture cards in the print cards section of our site. To build a customized morning schedule, review the 2 inch images section. Select, print and cut out the appropriate picture cards.

Step 2: Attach each picture card by paper clip in sequential order on a heavy piece of paper or cardboard.

Step 3: Instruct the learner to remove the picture card as the activity is completed and put in a designated "finished" container. This teaches the concept of completing an activity and transitioning to the next. Keep the schedule in the bedroom or wherever the morning routine takes place.

RULES TO REMEMBER:

BREAK IT DOWN and WRITE IT DOWN!

further breakdown

If someone is having difficulty with one step of the morning schedule, you can divide that step into more detail.

Need more Picture Cards?
View2Do is an online program that lets you create customized teaching aids for visual learners.
Learn more about View2do!

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picture exchange communication system cards

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Do2learn: Educational Resources for Special Needs

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picture communication cards, songs, games and learning activities for autism, aspergers, fetal alcohol syndrome and disabilities

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Explore parent resources to help you raise kind, curious and resilient children. Find parenting tips, hands-on activities, games, and apps featuring your child's favorite PBS KIDS characters.

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There are many useful apps to help our kids communicate who lack the the ability to verbally communicate. Below is a list of some of the useful apps that are available on iPhone or Android:

For a full list of Apps for Autism, visit Autism Speaks

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There are many useful apps to help our kids communicate who lack the the ability to verbally communicate. Below is a list of some of the useful apps that are available on iPhone or Android: For a full list of Apps for Autism, visit Autism Speaks

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On March 11th, 2020 during a media briefing, the World Health Organizati\aon (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic as confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of China increased 13-fold and the number of countries affected tripled. On that day, 126,000 people around the world contracted COVID-19, while 122 countries around the world reported COVID-19 infections [3].

Even though cases in China and South Korea have declined dramatically, those in Italy and Iran have been rising relentlessly. Italy has the most cases outside China with roughly 12,462 infections, followed by Iran with 9,000 infections and South Korea with 7,775 (March 11th, 2020). COVID-19 patients in Italy also have the highest case fatality rate, currently at 6.6% [3].

Unofficial reports from doctors and healthcare workers from COVID-19 frontlines in Italy described most patients displayed symptoms of bilateral interstitial pneumonia that required intubation (invasive ventilation) to assist difficulty in breathing. Even young patients without comorbidities have been observed with severe pneumonia that required intensive care in ICUs [4, 5].

These dramatic and shocking accounts of severe pneumonia in Italians infected by COVID-19 strongly support similar evidence presented by scientists and doctors in China where mortality of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia is extremely high. In one study, 86% of ICU patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation did not survive [6].

In general, patients above 65 years of age with comorbidities and ARDS are at a much higher risk of death. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), or acute lung injury (ALI), is a condition when severe lung failure is marked by acute onset of respiratory failure, accompanied by low arterial oxygen levels. Most often than not, bilateral opacities in the lungs are also observed in ARDS patients [7].

In one recent cohort study from China, 86% of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia showed typical imaging features of ground-glass opacities (GGO) in their lungs [8]; and 64% had mixed GGO and consolidation [9]. Most shocking of all, 70.2% of patients examined in the study were between the ages of 21 to 50 years [8]. Thus, young patients stricken with bilateral interstitial pneumonia in Italy is not inconsistent with the results of COVID-19 patients observed in China.

Why does SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 infection, induce pneumonia in adult patients regardless of age?

COVID-19 Infectiousness & Increased Incidences of Pneumonia

A review of COVID-19 patients between January 12, 2020 to February 6, 2020 who managed to recover from COVID-19 pneumonia, all showed greatest severity of lung disease at approximately 10 days after initial onset of symptoms. The chart below excluded patients with severe pneumonia with symptoms of respiratory distress together with breath rates under 30 per minute, as well as patients who required mechanical ventilation assistance [14].
Distribution and frequency of the major of lung lesions on CT in different stages defined by the time of onset of symptoms. [Source: Feng Pan, Tianhe Ye et al. Time Course of Lung Changes On Chest CT During Recovery From 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pneumonia, Radiology RSNA.org Feb 13 2020 doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2020200370 ]
By Stage 3, which is day 9 to day 13 after onset of symptoms, 86% of patients with non-severe pneumonia all showed lesions in both lungs (bilateral). 17% of these patients showed no lesions during Stage 1, from onset of symptoms to the 4th day [14].

However, 81% of critically ill COVID-19 patients would progress to develop life-threatening Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) [10]. Bilateral interstitial pneumonia will cause progressive scarring of lung tissues in both lungs, eventually reducing the capacity to breathe and the ability to circulate adequate oxygen in the bloodstream [11]. Once ARDS develops, mechanical ventilation assistance is required to facilitate breathing [15].

Coronaviruses are known for causing respiratory diseases with symptoms ranging from common colds to pneumonia [12]. The SARS-CoV or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic of 2003 infected over 8000 people worldwide, with a 10% mortality rate [13]. The closely related MERS-CoV of 2012, also induced acute pneumonia similar to the one caused by SARS-CoV [14].

The current SARS-CoV-2, with 79% similarity to SARS-CoV, also induces pneumonia of varying severity in adult patients regardless of age. However, unlike SARS-CoV that only infected 8,000 people worldwide in 8 months [16], the current SARS-CoV-2, which has been estimated to be up to 1,000 times more infectious than SARS-CoV or other coronaviruses [17, 18], has already infected over 120,000 people worldwide in under three months.

COVID-19 Upper Respiratory Tract Viral Load is 1000 Times HIGHER Than SARS (2003)

Due to the high mutation rate of the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2 [19], the virus is showing a pattern of higher infectiousness. A study released by scientists in Germany on March 8th, 2020 found that this coronavirus is not only infecting lower respiratory tracts as seen in early January when COVID-19 patients in China examined displayed no obvious symptoms of rhinorrhoea (runny nose), sneezing, or sore throat, but all had pneumonia with abnormal chest CTs and 29% of those early patients examined developed ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) [20].

The subjects from the German study were all young to middle-aged professionals without significant underlying disease, some had no comorbidity. All cases were tested when symptoms were still mild, including fever, cough, rhinitis, sinusitis diarrhea. One subject had no symptoms at all. Upon taking throat swabs from these patients upon onset of symptoms, all results from day 1 to day 5 tested positive for COVID-19. The high viral load from these early throat swabs indicated potential viral replication in upper respiratory tract tissues. This means that there is actually ACTIVE VIRAL replication of SARS-CoV-2 in the throat during the first 5 days after symptoms onset [21].

The positive early throat swabs contrasts starkly to SARS, where only 39% of nasal or nasopharyngeal swab samples tested positive in patients infected by SARS in 2003, Hong Kong [22]. The difference in viral loads detected between these two coronavirus 'cousins' are quite staggering. In Sars-CoV, it took 7 to 10 days after onet to reach peak RNA concentration. Whereas SARS-CoV-2 reached peak RNA concentration by only the 5th day. In addition, the number of SARS-CoV-2 viral copies obtained per swab was ONE THOUSAND TIMES higher than those of SARS-CoV in 2003! [22. 23, 24]

SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Furin Cleavage Site - The Reason For COVID-19 High Infectivity and Pathogenicity?

On March 11th, 2020, Wenling Wang et al. released an alarming paper detailing the results of 1070 specimens collected from 205 COVID-10 patients. The mean age of patients was 44 years, between the ages of 5 to 67 years. 68% of the patients were male. The study specimens were collected from three hospitals in the Hubei and Shandong provinces and Beijing, China, during the period from January 1 through February 17, 2020 [25].

The team led by Wang collected pharyngeal (throat) swabs from patients 1 to 3 days after hospital admission. Other samples from blood, sputum, feces, urine and nose were collected throughout the illness. 19% of the patients were in critical condition and required mechanical ventilation. These patients were sampled by bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and fibrobronchoscope brush biopsy [25]. What Wenling Wang et al. discovered supported the findings of the German team, led by Roman Wölfel [21].

The highest viral load was found in specimens from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (93%), followed by sputum (72%), nasal (63%) fibrobronchoscope brush biopsy (46%), pharyngeal swabs (32%), feces (29%), and blood (1%). Interestingly, none of the 72 urine specimens tested positive for the coronavirus [25].

The team of German scientists led by Wölfel et al. proposed the hypothesis that the extension of tropism of the coronavirus is due to the furin cleavage site in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. This cleavage site is not present in SARS-CoV [17, 18] The presence of furins on almost all cell surfaces allow a dramatically increased ability to fuse to host cells, facilitating viral entry even in cells that have low expressions of the ACE2 receptor [26].

The furin cleavage allows efficient virus entry into basically all cell types, making the COVID-19 easily transmissible at rates up to 1,000 times greater than the virulent SARS coronavirus [18]. This is possibly the reason why SARS (2003) infected only 8,000 people worldwide and COVID-19 infected over 120,000 people in one third of the time, even though both coronaviruses cause pneumonia of varying severity.

Cleavage specificity can dictate the tropism and virulence of the virus. The fact that COVID-19 has cleavage sites for furin enzymes renders this virus to be highly pathogenic, with the capacity to replicate in MULTIPLE tissues and organs due to how furins are utilized and distributed in the human body [27].

Furin-like cleavage in human coronaviruses have been associated with the development of neurological diseases where the invasiveness and efficient establishment of lower pathogenicity can result in persistent infection of the central nervous system [28]. Thus it was not a surprise when in early March of 2020, doctors from Beijing Ditan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, a designated institution for COVID-19 treatment, showed for the first time that COVID-19 can attack the human central nervous system, causing symptoms of encephalitis [29].

The presence of furin enzymes on all cell surfaces cleaves and activates the SARS-CoV-2 in a wide range of tissues and organs. Activated SARS-CoV-2 then unleashes NLRP3 inflammasomes, initiating a flurry of immune reactions that can result in deadly cytokine storms.

ARDS/ALI, Cytokine Storms & NLRP3 Inflammasomes - The COVID-19 Viroporin Connection

Critically ill COVID-19 patients often develop acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute lung injury (ARDS/ALI). The uncontrolled progressive inflammation in the lungs causes acute diffuse alveolar damage recognized as areas with ground-glass opacities, and other areas with increased density but without any recognizable vessels (consolidation) [30].

When ARDS progress to the acute phase, alveolar flooding (edema), interstitial inflammation and compression atelectasis, as well as increase in lung tissue and reduction in lung gas volume are observed [31,32, 41]. COVID-19 patients suffering from ARDS/ALI often require intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation to assist difficulty in breathing because the increasing hypoxemic respiratory failure results in acute diffuse alveolar damage [42, 7].

Acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute lung injury (ARDS/ALI) are often characterized by the accumulation of neutrophils in the lungs and the increased production of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, proteases and oxidants. The initiation and development of ARDS/ALI is dependent upon the activation of inflammasomes.

Inflammasomes are an integral part of our innate immune system. Inflammasomes sense pathogens, danger associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) as well as biological crystals including urate and cholesterol. The activation of inflammasomes releases proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)‑1β and IL‑18.

Recently, the NLRP3 inflammasome has been identified as key to the induction of ADRS/ALI [33, 40]. Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) is a potent proinflammatory cytokine that is implicated in the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome because the initiation of hypoxemia (below normal oxygen levels in blood) is induced by IL-1β signaling [38]. The production of IL-1β is tightly controlled and is dependent upon NLRP3 inflammasome activation [39] .

A study published in June 2019 demonstrated that high level activation of NLRP3 inflammasome is essential for the induction and development of cytokine storms and multi-organ dysfunctions in a streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome model [34]. How are NLRP3 inflammasomes connected to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus?

All viruses encode proteins that can interfere with the innate immune system. The interferences can either inhibit or enhance host immune responses. Some viruses would disrupt the immune system to promote evasion and pathogenicity, while others modulate cellular factors that would also disrupt immune responses [35, 36, 37].

Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 use viroporins to STIMULATE immune responses as part of their pathogenicity.

Viroporins are ion channel proteins encoded by viruses. Viroporins ORF3a and E protein play critical roles in virus replication and pathogenesis. A virus lacking both E and ORF3a proteins would not be viable. Maximal replication and virulence of the SARS-CoV coronavirus has been shown to be the direct result of viroporin proteins E and ORF3a [43]. This means that how quickly a virus like SARS-CoV replicates, the infectiousness and damage it can cause is totally dependent upon the functionality of its viroporins. How do viroporins work?

Scientists have known for a few years that viroporin envelope (E) protein is responsible for the virulence of SARS-CoV. Studies have been able to associate the E protein ion channel (IC) activities in SARS-CoV to enhanced pulmonary damage, edema accumulation and death. Edema is the major determinant of ARDS that could result in death. Whenever E protein ion channel activities were observed, both edema and IL-1β mediated proinflammatory response were elevated. Deletion of the E protein in SARS-CoV resulted in significantly reduced IL-1β activity in lung airways of infected animal models lacking E protein ion conductivity [44].

SARS-CoV viroporin E proteins form protein-lipid channels in cell membranes that allow passage of calcium ions. These ion channel movements involving calcium are specific triggers in the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes, resulting in the overproduction of pro-inflammatory IL-1β cytokines. Calcium transport through these E protein ion channels initiates the cascade of cytokine production that may eventually result in uncontrollable cytokine storms, and ARDS/ALI in bilateral interstitial pneumonia.

Ionic disturbances at the cell level is the reason why coronaviruses like SARS-CoV can have such immense impact on causing severe immunopathological consequences and disease progression that spiral out of control in infected patients [45].

Why do coronaviruses activate inflammasomes to enhance the production of pro-inflammatory cytokine like IL-1β?

Cytokines - Dangerous Double-Edged Swords Exploited by Coronaviruses

Proinflammatory cytokines defend host cells from invading pathogens, but they are also capable of driving pathological inflammation [46]. During viral infections, inflammation can act in dynamically opposing antiviral and proviral roles. Inflammatory responses can i nhibit viral replication and lower infection, but inflammation also has the capacity to release a large number of virions, further disseminating viral infection to cells like macrophages which will spread the virus to various other tissues and organs in the host [46].

SARS-CoV coronaviruses encode viroporin proteins to activate inflammasomes in order to facilitate viral dissemination. The recent discovery of the ORF3a viroporin further deepens understanding as to why SARS-CoV can exert so much damage when infecting hosts.

Like E proteins, ORF3a also activates NLRP3 inflammasome. It is widely accepted that both E and ORF3a proteins are required for viral replication and virulence [44, 45]. The lack of these two proteins renders the virus nonviable. ORF3a is HIGHLY expressed in infected cells. This viroporin also conducts calcium or sodium ions in membranes like the E protein [59]. Viruses deficient in viroporin ORF3a remain viable but showed reduced pathogenicity in rodent models [60], but the lack of both viroporin E and 3a would completely disable virus from replication [43].

What distinguishes viroporin ORF3a from E protein is its unique ability to induce NF-κB activation, chemokine production, Golgi fragmentation, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and accumulation of intracellular vesicles. ORF3a ion channel activity has been clearly demonstrated to be responsible for initiating pro-apoptotic cell deaths [61, 62, 63, 64].

The viroporin E protein activates NLRP3 inflammasomes through its ion channel activities. What surprised Siu et al. (April 2019) was that the ability of ORF3a to activate NLRP3 inflammasomes to induce cytokine storms that eventually result in severe lung damage is INDEPENDENT of its ion channel activities [65].

ORF3a can induce pro-IL-1β gene transcription and IL-1β protein secretion by facilitating ubiquitination processes that induce gene transcriptions that provide signals required for activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes [66]. The activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes in macrophages of mice infected with SARS-CoV have also been observed by Chen et al. (Jan 2019) [67].

SARS-CoV encodes both viroporin ORF3a and E protein. That is the reason for their high virulence and pathogenicity. Does SARS-CoV-2 encode these two viroporins also?

The most current structure models of all mature peptides of SARS-CoV-2 generated by the C-I-TASSER pipeline [68] clearly shows that SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the COVID-19 disease encodes BOTH ORF3a AND E protein viroporins [69] !

ORF3a Viroporin of SARS-CoV-2

E protein Viroporin of SARS-CoV-2

This is the reason why SARS-CoV-2 is significantly more infectious and pathogenic than SARS-CoV.

COVID-19 fatality rate by age

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
There are no fatalities recorded for infected COVID-19 patients under the age of nine. The fatality rate increases linearly with age. The highest rate of fatality is seen in patients aged 80 and above [71]. Experts have yet to answer the question as to why COVID-19 is sparing young children [72].

While you ponder over this puzzle, take a look at this chart, which mirrors the above table but in REVERSE:

Melatonin Inhibits NLRP3 Inflammasomes

Melatonin is well known for its chronobiotic effects, regulating biological functions tied to circadian rhythms. Numerous studies have revealed that melatonin exerts effects beyond the control of circadian oscillators. The NLRP3 inflammasome is now recognized as a target for melatonin!

The fact that the pro-inflammatory cytokine storm effects are induced by the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes, the ability of melatonin to INHIBIT NLRP3 inflammasome elevates this powerful molecule to a truly unique position in the fight against COVID-19. This also means that if a patient, regardless of age, has adequate melatonin, the infectiousness of COVID-19 will be greatly reduced, and the chances of developing ARDS/ALI significantly diminished.

Melatonin is the reason why children under the age of 9 seldom exhibit severe symptoms. In fact, children may exhibit mild or even no symptoms at all, even though they have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 [73]. How significant is the difference in melatonin production between children, adults and the elderly?

For most people, peak melatonin production is between the hours of 2 am to 3 am. The maximum melatonin levels measured in healthy adults between the ages of 65 to 70 years appeared to be around 49.3 picograms/ml (pg/ml). Adults more than 75 years of age only have maximum production levels of 27.8 pg/ml [74].

Young children, on the other hand, have extremely high melatonin levels, compared to adults. The maximum levels recorded for children showed a decline as age increased. Children between the ages of 1 to 5 had peak melatonin at 325 pg/ml, while those between the ages of 5 to 11 already declined to 133 pg/ml [76].

Compared to healthy adult seniors, a young child can easily have TEN TIMES the amount of peak melatonin levels. But even then, the actual physiological concentration is extremely low. How much is one picogram, exactly?

To give you some perspective, most melatonin supplements are around 3 to 5 mg per capsule or tablet. One milligram equals 1,000,000,000 picograms. That is why the physiological dosage generally recommended for melatonin supplementation is around 0.3 milligram [75].

The fact that young children have such high melatonin levels explains why they show very mild symptoms after COVID-19 infections.
Melatonin is a potent inhibitor of NLRP3 inflammasomes.
Generally referred to as the "hormone of darkness", the ability of melatonin to regulate both pro- as well as anti-inflammatory cytokines in different pathophysiological conditions has only been extensively studied in the past several years.

Controlling cytokine storms is one of the major challenges in the treatment of sepsis [82]. The NLRP3 inflammasome has an interesting nickname of "Pandora's Box for Sepsis" [83]. Yet nature provides all the solutions to difficult health challenges.

NLRP3 inflammasomes is a direct target of melatonin. Animal models of sepsis showed melatonin's ability to maintain mitochondrial homeostasis, reduce reactive oxygen species and lower production of proinflammatory cytokines. Melatonin was shown to inhibit NLRP3 inflammasomes in mice with myocardial septic conditions, transforming severe myocardial inflammation into milder symptoms, preventing cardiac failure, and significantly enhanced survival rates of septic mice [77, 78].

An excellent study by Volt et al (2016) showed that chronic low doses of melatonin in aged mice could prevent increase in inflammation, ROS and mitochondria impairments reflective of inflammaging [79, 80]. Volt et al. also showed that acute administration of melatonin could counteract severe inflammatory responses [81].

It is therefore not surprising to find that melatonin is able to prevent ARDS/ALI through suppression of NLRP3 inflammasomes.

In rodent acute lung injury (ALI) models, melatonin was found to markedly reduce pulmonary injury, lower infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils into lungs. Melatonin protected mice from acute lung injuries by inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes through the suppression of extracellular release of histones and blocking histone-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation [84].

In rodent models of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), combined treatment of melatonin and mitochondria significantly attenuated progression of ARDS [85].

Melatonin Protects Lung Injury from Mechanical Ventilation Interventions

COVID-19 patients with ARDS/ALI often require intubation with mechanical ventilation. Even though the intervention may help patients, in many instances, patients develop ventilator-induced lung injury as a result of mechanical ventilation [86]. In particular, high ventilation pressures and high tidal volumes required to maintain proper oxygenation and CO2 elimination can cause lung damage and impair gas exchange.

A study released on March 6, 2020 by Geng-Chin Wu et al. demonstrated that by increasing melatonin with the use of a melatonin receptor agonist, damaging effects of ventilator-induced lung injury could be prevented in rodent models [87].

The full therapeutic potential of melatonin in its ability to modulate the immune system, especially the critical function of suppressing cytokine storms to prevent progression of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and respiratory failure in infected patients was clearly demonstrated in a study by Huan]g et al. (2019). Huang et al. infected rodents with the highly lethal and infectious H1N1 influenza A virus. Co-treatment of these infected rodents with melatonin and an antiviral drug significantly increased their survival rates compared to mice treated only with antivirals alone [88]!

It is no wonder that none of the pregnant mothers infected by COVID-19 admitted to Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, developed severe pneumonia or died; nor were their babies infected by COVID-19 [89]. Why?

Melatonin secretion in the third trimester of pregnancy is more than doubled compared to the first trimester.

[Source: Voiculescu SE, Zygouropoulos N, Zahiu CD, Zagrean AM. Role of melatonin in embryo fetal development. J Med Life. 2014;7(4):488-492.]
However, if you noticed in the earlier chart showing melatonin levels during various ages, you will notice that infants younger than three months have very little melatonin [76]. Yet studies from China showed that infants under one year of age who were infected by COVID-19 did not exhibit any severe symptoms [90]. Why?

Nitric Oxide and Ascorbic Acid Inhibits NLRP3 Inflammasomes

Nitric oxide produced in nasal passages is possibly part of the defense system against bacterial and viral infections [91]. Newborns have been found to have an extremely high level of nitric oxide in their barely developed paranasal sinuses. The levels of nitric oxide in nasal passages of infants matched those found in adults [92].

In rodent sepsis models, nitric oxide was demonstrated to inhibit NLRP3 activation [93]. Ascorbic acid, in addition to supporting the production of nitric oxide [97], can act on multiple levels, reducing oxidative stress, regulating hypoxia signaling, mitochondrial membrane potential, furin expression, and modulation of immune defenses to stem the progression of cytokine storms [94, 95, 96].

Ascorbic acid can dose-dependently inhibit NLRP3 Inflammasomes both in vitro and in vivo, decreasing IL-1β secretion, without inducing any cytotoxic effects nor cell death [98].

Thus, the combined use of melatonin and ascorbic acid may prove to be most effective in the treatment for COVID-19 patients, especially those with cardiovascular and hypertension comorbidities.

ACE Inhibitors & COVID-19 - The Connection to CVD, Hypertension & Diabetes

Inflammasomes multiprotein complexes formed in macrophages aggravate pulmonary systemic inflammation. Melatonin has recently been shown to reduce IL-1β secretion and attenuate inflammasome-associated vascular disorders by improving endothelial leakage and suppressing NLRP3 inflammasomes [99]. Patients with underlying CVD conditions may greatly benefit from the use of melatonin in the treatment of COVID-19.

Selenium is a strong scavenger of free radicals. Selenium is believed to be effective against viruses such as Ebola, HIV and influenza A virus [47, 48]. However, selenium may also be an effective inhibitor of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) [49, 102]. Patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases, hypertension and diabetes are often prescribed drugs that either inhibit ACE or block angiotensin II type-I receptor (ARB). Both types of drugs increase the expression of ACE2 [51].

The use of selenium during COVID-19 infections therefore, can be problematic. ACE inhibitors actually INCREASE expression of ACE2, and SARS-CoV-2 infects host cells through binding with ACE2 receptors [50]. ACE2 receptors are found on lung epithelial cells, intestines, kidneys and blood vessels. Thus using ACE inhibitors either through medication or supplements risk elevating COVID-19 infection and developing severe or even fatal disease complications [51].

Long-term Effects of COVID-19 Infections - The ACE2 Connection

It is true most people will recover from COVID-19 infections. However, because SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE2, we need to find out if there are any longer term effects of COVID-19. The manner in which SARS-CoV-2 infects host cells by binding to ACE2 receptors makes this coronavirus especially dangerous for patients with underlying cardiovascular diseases, increasing their risk of death [52]. It is not unreasonable to assume that there can be substantial damage to the cardiovascular system over the long term as a result of COVID-19 infections.

From reports taken by the National Health Commission of China (NHC), some patients initially went to see their physicians due to cardiovascular symptoms such as heart palpitations and chest tightness, rather than respiratory distress, fever and cough. These patients were later diagnosed with COVID-19. NIH data also showed that 11.8% of patients who died from COVID-19 WITHOUT underlying CVD showed SUBSTANTIAL HEART DAMAGE, with cardiac arrest during hospitalization [53].

The binding of SARS-CoV-2 to ACE2 exposes patients with CVD to higher risk for pneumonia and increased severity of symptoms. Reports showed that in China, among COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms, 58% had hypertension, 25% had heart disease and 44% had arrhythmia [55]. Fatality data released by China's NHC showed 35% of patients who died from SARS-CoV-2 infection had a history of hypertension, while 17% had a history of coronary heart disease [56].

NLRP3 inflammasomes are also one of the primary reasons why COVID-19 causes cardiovascular complications. The increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1β and interleukin-18 from the activation of inflammasomes can induce a signal transduction cascade of strong immune responses that speeds disease progression in CVD. Inflammasomes are now definitively associated with the progression of atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction and heart failure [70].

Even more disturbing is a 12-year follow-up survey of 25 patients who recovered from SARS-CoV infection from 2003 [54].

68% had hyperlipidaemia, 44% had cardiovascular system abnormalities and 60% had glucose metabolism disorders.

Compared to individuals without a history of SARS infection, patients who recovered from SARS-CoV exhibited significant dysregulation in lipid metabolism [54].

It is now clear as crystal why authorities and medical experts, scientists around the world are deeply concerned over the spread of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that uses the same deadly mechanisms as SARS-CoV to activate NLRP3 inflammasomes to initiate cytokine storms that can result in fatal acute respiratory distress syndrome and acute lung injury (ARDS/ALI).

SARS-CoV-2 may also be 1,000 times more infectious and virulent than SAR-CoV due to the furin cleavage site [57], which basically allows this coronavirus to be activated anywhere in host tissues and organs. Activation of SARS-CoV-2 allows it bind effectively to ACE2, causing more damage and destruction in the vital cardiovascular system and other critical pathways involving angiotensin-converting enzyme 2.

One important aspect that has not been elucidated is the importance of ACE2 in the progression of ARDS. Melatonin, nitric oxide and ascorbic acid (vitamin C) are all inextricably intertwined and deeply involved with ACE2. Melatonin, nitric oxide and ascorbic acid can reduce COVID-19 virulence by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasomes to stop the perpetuation of cytokine storms. Their critical roles in biochemical reactions and biological pathways that involve ACE2 must be fully explored as part of our fight against COVID-19............ To Be Continued ...........
As part of my contribution to support the dedication and selfless efforts undertaken by men and women around the globe in the battle against COVID-19, I humbly offer to you the following Appendix:
Supplementing with Melatonin & Ascorbic Acid for COVID-19 - A Simple Guide

Please understand the following is NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. Please consult your trusted physician regarding COVID-19 treatment, especially if you have comorbidities like CVD, hypertension, diabetes, respiratory diseases and cancer.

Maintenance Dosages During COVID-19 Pandemic

MELATONIN

Exogenous intake during COVID-19 is recommended only because normal endogenous production for adults may not be adequate for protection against COVID-19. Children under nine are protected from COVID-19 because they have up to TEN TIMES the 'normal' amount of adults. Our high tech environment, light pollution at night have already vastly diminished the normally low level of melatonin in adults. Supplementing with a minimum physiological dose during COVID-19 pandemic can provide additional protection against infections.

If you are an adult without major health challenges, you should take no more than the physiological dosage recommended below.

The following dosage is a range. The higher end of the range applies to people who are older or have slightly weaker health. So if you are a young healthy adult, you may require no more than the lowest physiological dose of 0.2 mg.

Physiological dose: 0.2 milligram to 0.5 milligram per day

Please take melatonin at night, about 1 to 2 hours before sleep and 2 to 3 hours AFTER your last meal. You should ideally finish eating before it is dark.

It is also extremely helpful if you can lower your ambient lighting at night, as the lowest amount of light will disrupt melatonin production. Melatonin is produced in all cells, including mitochondria, not just in pineal glands [100].

Ascorbic Acid

Again, your age matters because of the level of endogenous melatonin. If you are older or more susceptible to COVID-19 for various reasons, your maintenance dose should be one gram per hour, to total 10-18 grams per day, depending on your tolerance level. You will experience loose stools, or what is known as hitting Bowel Tolerance if you have saturated your system with ascorbic acid.

Dosage During COVID-19 Infection

If you suspect infection, notify authorities in charge and your physician immediately. If you are self-quarantined at home, the following dosage applies.

MELATONIN

Melatonin COVID-19 Infection Dosage: 5 milligrams to 50 milligrams

The lower range is for people with mild or no symptoms. The higher range is for older people or those with more severe symptoms.
IF you are taking ACE inhibitors, have cardiac conditions, hypertension, you need to consult your physician before taking high doses of melatonin. Melatonin may lower blood pressure and cause hypotension at higher dosages. Please remember that oral dosage higher than physiological concentration is applicable during infections only. Supplementation of high dose melatonin MUST BE SUPPORTED by ascorbic acid. You may not experience full benefits of melatonin in the absence of ascorbic acid.
Ascorbic Acid

Ascorbic Acid COVID-19 Infection Dosage: 1 gram every 15 to 30 minutes, depending on severity of symptoms. Increase to 2 grams every 15 to 30 minutes if symptoms are not reversed within 12-24 hours.

IF you are infected, you will essentially have an 'unlimited' tolerance for ascorbic acid. Your tolerance may increase above 100 grams or more. That is normal. During infection, rest, drink plenty of purified water. You may lose your appetite. Do not force yourself to eat if you are not hungry. Calorie restriction initiates mitophagy and autophagy, which will facilitate healing [101 ].

The journey ahead for everyone in every corner of the world will prove to be challenging. During this time of darkness, we must keep absolute faith that Nature has protected our ancestors for millions of years, even under extinction conditions. Nature will NOT fail us with COVID-19, as long as we stay true to her intentions. Blessings to all.

This article is part of the ongoing COVID-19 series. For further understanding on the beneficial effects of ascorbic acid, and how it is able to protect you from COVID-19, please read:

COVID-19 Mutations, Vaccines & Nitric Oxide - The Vitamin C Connection - EvolutaMente.it https://www.evolutamente.it/covid-19-mutations-vaccines-nitric-oxide-the-vitamin-c-connection/

COVID-19, Furins & Hypoxia - The Vitamin C Connection - EvolutaMente.it https://www.evolutamente.it/covid-19-pneumonia-inflammasomes-the-melatonin-connection/ Mitochondria & The Coronavirus - The Vitamin C Connection (Part 3) - EvolutaMente.it https://www.evolutamente.it/mitochondria-the-coronavirus-the-vitamin-c-connection-part-3/

References:

[34] An NLRP3 inflammasome-triggered cytokine storm contributes to Streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6553798/

[101] Mitophagy plays a central role in mitochondrial ageing https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4935730/

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COVID-19, Pneumonia & Inflammasomes - The Melatonin Connection - EvolutaMente.it

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On March 11th, 2020 during a media briefing, the World Health Organizati\aon (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic as confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of China increased 13-fold and the number of countries affected tripled. On that day, 126,000 people around the world contracted COVID-19, while 122 countries around the world reported COVID-19 infections [3].

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Educational Hip-Hop Songs & Videos for All Subjects, K-12

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Flocabulary is a library of songs, videos and activities for K-12 online learning. Hundreds of thousands of teachers use Flocabulary’s educational raps and teaching lesson plans to supplement their instruction and engage students. Our team of artists and educators is not only committed to raising test scores, but also to fostering a love of learning in every child.

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Emotional ABCs: Social-Emotional Development Skills Training for Kids

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Empower your child with better emotional skills! In this award-winning program, we teach children (ages 4-11) how to figure out what they are feeling, why they are having that emotion, and how to make better choices. Come learn more about why parents & teachers alike are choosing this program.

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Play games with your PBS KIDS favorites like Curious George, Wild Kratts, Daniel Tiger and Peg + Cat!

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Centervention® provides online social emotional learning interventions to help students in grades K-8 improve social, emotional, and behavioral skills.

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Social Skills Resources for Parents – Centervention®

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If you believe raising well-adjusted, resilient kids is harder than ever, you’re not alone! And your belief is supported by research looking at all aspects of social skills.

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Coaching

We tend to think of coaches only in terms of sports, but, in fact, coaching can be an effective way of improving many types of life skills. Using positive reinforcement, you can praise, support and encourage your child as he or she builds social and emotional skills and learns new concepts. With this method of skills development, you act as a coach or mentor and emphasize positive change while identifying areas of improvement with constructive feedback.

As an example, let's say you've noticed your child has poor self-esteem and displays a negative self-image during challenges. To help coach your child, pay attention to what your child does well and actively praise his efforts. Reinforce his attempts to practice new skills and remember that trying out new things can be frightening when you are unsure of your abilities.

Think of something your child is proud to know or do. Do you have a math whiz, a soccer star, a musician, or a video game expert? Ask her to teach you this skill. Spend time on this task to show your interest. In the end, let her know how impressed you are and show your gratitude to her for teaching you something new.

Modeling

You are always modeling a skill or concept for your child through your actions, responses, and how you communicate with your child and others. Use this influence intentionally to help your child develop his or her skills.

For example, some children have a harder time understanding that their actions lead to positive or negative consequences. How can you help your child connect the dots to think through possible actions and their likely outcomes?

When you are faced with a decision, talk it through with your child. Share what could happen with each choice. Explain step by step how you made your decision. Model making good choices so your child will see the positive consequences that come from your actions and words.

Role Playing

Role plays helps your child practice newly learned skills by acting out behaviors in a particular situation. This provides children with hands-on practice in a safe environment and allows you to give feedback as they perfect their skills. Role-playing can be especially effective for children who learn by doing rather than by listening or writing.

Impulse control is an area of concern in children. To practice this skill, role-play a real-life scenario. Here's an example: "A big project is due tomorrow and you haven't started yet. Your friend wants to come over after school to play video games. What should you do?" Remember to ask questions about both negative and positive outcomes. You can address the results of not finishing the project on time, getting a bad grade, or having to stay up late to get everything finished.

Environment

Your child's environment or surroundings can have a significant impact on his emotions. Simply changing part of the environment may help. For starters, try to remove TV background noise while having a conversation. Take it a step further by moving conversations from the yard to a quiet room to avoid distractions.

Let's say your child is struggling to build new friendships. To promote positive relationships, set up play dates with STRUCTURED activities. Start with one child and increase the number of children as your child's skills improve. Observe and reinforce her progress. Go to places where other kids socialize and encourage your child to initiate conversations. On the ride home, let your child share their thoughts on building friendships in a new setting.

Talking

Make time to talk with your child. And keep in mind that it's also important to listen. Discuss a topic without interruption or correction. Giving your child your full attention as you listen and respond helps him learn to be a good communicator. Allow your child to express thoughts and feelings so you can fully understand his point of view.

As you talk to your child and better understand his strengths and weaknesses, remember that every child learns at their own pace. Most importantly, as your child practices social skills, point out areas where you've noticed a positive change in your child's social attitudes or behaviors, and congratulate them on their progress.

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5 Ways Parents Can Help Children Develop Social and Emotional Skills

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As a parent, you are your child's first teacher, important long before their peers, and a crucial role model for the development of their social and emotional skills. From a very early age, children observe interactions around them and mimic those interaction styles and attitudes for themselves.

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Teaching can be tough job, especially if you have ongoing behavior issues with young learners. If you're a new teacher, switching grade levels, or realizing that your current classroom management plan isn't cutting it, you may feel overwhelmed. Sure, it's fun to browse Pinterest, teacher blogs, and educational websites to get ideas, but filtering and assembling those ideas into a classroom management plan is a lot of work.

So instead of starting from scratch, implement our plan as a framework and tailor it to your needs. You can pick and choose what you believe will work best for you, and as you find other ideas you like, just mix them in.

This classroom management plan is a step-by-step guide and includes proven strategies and tips for elementary school teachers, and it covers four key components for establishing a successful, well-managed classroom:

In this plan, we make a lot of references to the first few weeks of school, but if you're reading this after the start of the school year, or even in the second semester, it's not too late.

If you try something for a while, and it just doesn't work for your students, that's okay, too. Consistency is good, so don't change your entire management system once a month; however, it's better to introduce something new than to spend the rest of the year with a chaotic classroom. And if things go sideway, just take a step back, reevaluate, and take some time for self care!

Classroom Organization and Set-up

You may feel a lot of pressure to make your classroom look attractive and colorful. If you're just starting out, or crafts aren't your forte, this could seem daunting. Effective classroom organization and set-up is functional first with the cute factor second. But we've got you covered on both!

Before you can instruct students on procedures, routines, and expectations, you need the layout and physical systems in place. For example, you don't want to tell students that part of their morning routine is to turn in their homework if there's no spot in the classroom for them to put their work. Otherwise, you'll have 25 students shoving papers in your face when they walk in the door.

The goal is to encourage student independence so your classroom runs smoothly even if you aren't in the room. You'll want to make sure students are able to access all of the materials they need without your being the gatekeeper of the pencils, books, paper, etc. Having everything in its place allows you to delegate tasks to your students, empowering them and saving you time. Why do something yourself when you can teach the students to do it for you, right?

The goal is to have your classroom organized so that when the kids get there, you can start teaching the procedures right away.

Organizing Near the Door

Cubbies: You know students come to school with all sorts of things from home, including jackets, backpacks, rain/snow boots, lunch boxes, balls for recess, etc. Assigning a spot in your classroom for each student to put their belongings will not only keep your classroom organized, but also make students feel like they have a place of their own in the classroom. Put students' names on their cubbies so that they will be easy to find on the first day. If you don't have built-in cubbies in your room, consider getting some Command hooks or cheap plastic crates.

Attendance/lunch choice: Taking attendance and lunch choice yourself is not an effective use of your limited morning time. As we said earlier, if your students can do it, they should. Somewhere near the door (if possible), create an attendance and lunch choice station. One way to do this is to use a simple clip chart. The top of the chart will say "good morning," and you'll clip a clothespin for each child there at the start of each day. The rest of the chart will have spots for students to choose their lunch option for the day. Whichever clothespins are left on "good morning" indicate students who are absent. Laminate each section of the clip chart, and connect the sections with a hole punch and binder hooks. As another option, you could create a similar system on a cookie sheet with magnets for each student.

Turn in "take-home" folders: Give each student a folder to use for all of their "take-home" documents. These documents can include homework, permission slips, notes home, newsletters, and anything else that parents may need to see. Parents can also use this as a reliable way to deliver notes back to school, such as changes in transportation or early dismissal. On a small table, have three trays (stackable paper trays work well): homework, parent notes, and permission slips. You can also customize these trays for things you commonly send home or receive from parents. If you're putting this on your supply list, ask for the specific folder that works well for you (e.g., all blue with prongs, yellow double pocket folder).

Organizing the Front of Your Classroom

Rules poster: Display the classroom rules prominently in the front of the room. You'll want to refer to them often in the first couple of weeks of school and as needed throughout the year.

Daily schedule: Write out the most common components of your daily schedule on sentence strips (e.g., math, science, art, PE) and use a pocket chart to display them. You can easily rearrange and swap out the sentence strips. Students will know exactly what is happening each day - what special they're going to, what time recess is, etc. - and you will save yourself from answering a million questions about the schedule.

Morning and end-of-day procedures: Post your morning and afternoon procedures so students may refer to them as a daily checklist.

Homework/Other assignments: Write homework and other assignments in the same place daily so that students know where to look for them and can copy them down as part of your routine.

Setting up Desks and Student Seating

Decide how you would like to arrange students' desks for the majority of activities. Some schools have preferences for this, so check with your administration. Remember that none of the students should have their backs to the board. If you're going to arrange the desks in groups, angle them so that the desks are perpendicular to the front of the room. Arranging desks in groups can foster cooperation and communication among students, and the expectations you implement and reinforce will limit/prevent disruptions from chatty students. Assign seats from the first day of school, and make adjustments in the first week as you get to know your students.

Label your desk groups so that you can easily call on them for things such as lining up. You can use different colors, college names, animals, or something else that works for the theme in your classroom.

For younger students who will spend a lot of time on the carpet, create a spot for each child to help teach them the concept of personal space. Some classroom rugs are nicely squared off with different colors. If yours isn't, don't feel like you have to go buy an expensive new carpet. You can use cheap placemats from the dollar store, or fabric or carpet remnants to create personal squares for each student to sit on.

Additional Classroom Orginization

Cool down corner: Inevitably, an upset student will need a safe place in the classroom to cool down and take a break. Establish a corner of the room with a beanbag chair or pillow and a poster of emotion regulation strategies. Students can practice identifying emotions and managing their feelings in different situations in the interactive online game, Zoo U.

Behavior: We'll chat more about the different options for encouraging positive behavior later on. If you choose an option that tracks behavior publicly, like a clip chart, you'll want to have that set up before you introduce the system to your students. Even if you aren't going to track behavior publicly, you'll probably want to display posters or anchor charts reminding students of your behavior system (which is different from your rules poster).

Classroom jobs: Create an area to display and assign classroom jobs. An easy way to do this is to take a picture of each student in the first week of school and attach a magnet to the back of the photo. Arrange the classroom jobs on a magnet board, and easily swap the photos around when students change jobs.

Display some personal items: Displaying a few personal photographs, your college banner, or other trinkets on your desk helps to build a relationship with your students. You don't have to (and shouldn't) tell your students everything about you. But knowing you as a person, rather than just a teacher, will help students feel comfortable sharing their own home life with you.

Classroom Rules and Procedures

Every school day isn't perfect, even for the best teachers; kids are human and will have bad days. But, you can work toward whatever your ideal classroom looks like by establishing clear classroom rules and procedures from the first day of school.

When students know what is expected of them, and these expectations are reinforced daily, there is little room for power struggles between teacher and student, or complaints from parents.

Classroom Rules

Imagine a basketball game in which none of the players know the rules. The referees would blow the whistle constantly, admonishing players for breaking rules they didn't know existed. How frustrating would this game be for both the players and the refs, and for the fans in the bleachers? It would be chaos.

In your classroom, you are the referee, your students are the players, and the fans are parents and guardians. If your students don't know the rules, your classroom will be just as chaotic. So, set your classroom rules from the first day of school, and make sure they're understood by everyone so there will be no surprises or room for arguments from students and parents.

Less is More

Create a few straightforward yet inclusive rules for your classroom. Too many rules will be hard for students to remember and follow, so try to keep it to five or six. That means the rules need to be broad enough to encompass all of the behaviors you want to avoid, while being clear enough that students understand what behavior is expected. The most effective rules tell students what they should do, not what they shouldn't do. For example, "Keep hands and feet to yourself" is preferable to "No hitting or kicking."

We just gave you a lot of rules for writing classroom rules! You can use our posters or refer to it for creating your own. Display your rules poster prominently in the front of the classroom so that you and your students may reference it often.

"Something I do in my classroom that works great is to write the rules with my students," explains Katy Jaeger, a first-grade teacher in Colorado. "We come up with them together, and then everyone signs their name so we all agree. I also call them "Classroom Expectations" as opposed to "rules" to increase positivity." You can steer your students toward coming up with the rules you've already written, and unveil your poster the next day.

Communicate with Parents

Discuss the classroom rules with parents at open house, and send them home on the first day of school. Explain that your students will contribute to the rules on the first day, and invite parents to ask clarifying questions or contribute their thoughts as well. Now that you have their buy-in, if you do need to call home, parents will understand what rule was broken and why this was a rule in the first place. This is your first step in developing a partnership with your students' parents.

If you have time to send mailings home before the start of school, this is a good opportunity to begin building a positive relationship with your students with a personal letter. Students are often nervous to start a new school year, and this will get them excited to join your classroom. And what child (or adult!) doesn't love getting a letter in the mail?

Be Consistent

Reinforce classroom rules consistently with all students, even in seemingly minor infractions. If students notice that a classmate doesn't receive a warning or consequence for breaking one of the rules, they'll develop bad habits that will be hard to break. And you'll get a lot of "Why are you picking on me?" responses from students. We'll cover more on rewards and consequences in the next section.

Classroom Procedures

Procedures are different from rules and are just as integral to a well-managed classroom. If your classroom rules are like the rules of a basketball game, your procedures are the plays, the strategies of the coach and team to keep the game organized in order to win. The coach foresees all of the upcoming obstacles in a game, and designs plays to overcome them. He doesn't need to give specific instructions during a game, only the name of the play, and each player knows exactly where to be on the court and what to do.

Plays are not learned one day and then used successfully in a game the next. The coach spends time teaching the play and making sure the players understand, and then the players practice over and over again until the play is routine. If a play doesn't end up working in a game, the coach will make changes and start the practice again.

When working on classroom procedures with your students, you are no longer the referee, you are the coach. You need to foresee all of the different situations that will come up daily in your classroom, and design procedures that will tell your students how to navigate them. Your students will not internalize your procedures with one explanation. You need to spend plenty of time in the first couple of weeks of school explaining the procedures, modeling them, and putting them into practice. If a procedure doesn't end up working, don't be afraid to make the necessary changes and practice again.

Teaching Procedures

When teaching procedures, you can use a similar strategy to teaching academic lessons: I do, We do, You do.
I do:

First, explain the procedure while modeling it yourself. Use explicit directions that don't leave any room for interpretation or student failure. Have you ever done the writing exercise that asks you to give instructions for making a PB&J? You might start with the first step of "spread the peanut butter on the bread." But if I'm totally unfamiliar with the concept, where do I get the bread? How do I open the jar? What do I use to spread the peanut butter - my fingers, a spoon? You've probably made a PB&J so many times you could make one in your sleep, so it's more difficult to break down everything that goes into making the sandwich, and things such as using a knife seem obvious. It's the same with a procedure such as lining up to leave the classroom. Children need all of the tiny, seemingly obvious steps to set them up for success.

If you want them to end up standing quietly in line at the door, you might explain the procedure like this:

1. When I call your table group, you will silently stand up.

2. Without talking, push your chair in gently, trying your best not to have it make noise on the floor.

3. Walk slowly and silently to the door.

4. Stand in a single-file line, keeping your hands to yourself.

5. Wait silently and patiently for the rest of the class to line up.

After you explain this procedure, model it for your students while explaining it a second time. Sit down at one of the student desks and go through the movements. Next, check for understanding by asking if anyone can explain the procedure. Call on a student and have her re-explain the procedure to the class. Make any corrections needed.

We do:
Have a couple of students demonstrate the procedure while you narrate. "Billy is standing up silently. Sofia pushed in her chair as gently as she could. Daryl is walking silently to the door. Aaliyah is standing behind her three classmates with her hands to herself. Billy, Sofia, Daryl, and Aaliyah are all standing silently and patiently waiting for the rest of the class to line up."
You do:
Call on the rest of the table groups to practice this procedure, acknowledging students who are following it correctly. If a student misses any of the steps, have him go back to the previous step and gently remind him of the procedure. "Charlie, remember we are pushing our chairs in gently, so they don't scrape the floor or bang our desks." Continue practicing until the whole class can complete the procedure together.

The explicit directions may feel a little silly and unnatural when you first start, but the kids need to know exactly what you expect of them. There are a lot of procedures you will teach in the first weeks of school, and as new situations and activities arise throughout the year. We'll go into detail on a few examples below.

Common Procedures

Emergency procedures (fire drill, tornado drill, lockdown, etc.):
Teach these procedures first. You never know when an emergency will happen, and your students will need to behave calmly and safely.

Your school may have specific guidelines for these types of drills, so consult with other teachers and administration. Most schools are required to have a fire drill once a month. School-wide lockdown drills happen less frequently (sometimes only once a school year) but are just as important, so consider having your own drill with your students once a month as well.
"Leave now" codeword:

There could be an emergency situation in which you would want your class to leave the room quickly while you stay behind. This could be due to a medical emergency, such as a student having a seizure, or a student becoming violent/dangerous to others. There won't be time for explicit directions in these situations, so you'll need to establish a codeword and procedure. An example of a codeword is "hot dog." When students hear you say the codeword, they should quickly pick up what they are working on (scooping it up in their hands like they're holding a hot dog) and silently leave the room. Designate a safe place for them to go, ideally another classroom, or the hallway if necessary. Assign one student to tell the teacher in the other classroom the situation so she can call for help, while the rest of the students sit down and continue working. Once you have practiced this procedure a couple of times, begin to practice it about once a month without warning students, like a fire or lockdown drill.
Morning Routine:
You can start off on the right foot each day by establishing a morning routine. What are the most important things you want students to do before instruction begins to prepare for a successful day? You'll have a lot going on in the mornings, so students will need to be able to come in and get settled independently.

Morning Routine Example

Enter classroom quietly

Mark attendance and lunch choice

Turn in homework in designated homework spot

Put jacket/backpack/lunchbox and anything else in cubby

Make sure you have sharpened pencils and any other materials needed for the day

Read today's schedule

Complete your Do Now (explained below)

Attendance/Lunch choice:

Students will take their own attendance and make their lunch choice on the same clip chart (see Part I of this plan for instructions on how to make and use a clip chart). Instruct students to move their clip from "Good Morning" to their lunch choice. Some schools offer more than one hot lunch choice. If you have laminated your clip chart, you can write in the new choice each day. For the first few weeks of school while students are practicing this procedure, double-check the attendance before you send it to the office. If any students forgot this step in their morning routine, have them go back and do it. Once students have gotten this procedure down, you'll only need to do a quick scan each morning.

Turning in homework and notes:

After students have made their lunch choice, they should take out their Take Home Folder and put their homework and any notes from home in their corresponding trays. For K-2 students, you could have them turn in their entire folder so that you can look for homework and notes yourself.

Do Now:

Once students have completed the rest of their tasks in the morning routine, you'll want them to have an activity to start the learning for the day. A simple way to do this is to have a similar "Do Now" each morning. For example, each morning you could put a sentence on the smartboard with grammatical errors and have students correct them. Younger students could practice their letters or handwriting. If, later in the year, your students are struggling with another fundamental, you can switch the Do Now.
End-of-Day Routine:
At the end of the school day, both you and your students will be tired and ready to go home. Keep an awesome school day from devolving into chaos with an established routine for packing up to go home.

End-of-Day Routine Example

Make sure you have all materials needed for homework

Pack all belongings in backpack

Pick up trash around your desk

Stack chair on desk (ask your school's custodian what would be most helpful)

Line up quietly for dismissal

Getting attention/Listening to a speaker:
Throughout the day, there will be times when your students are working independently and you need to call their attention. If you don't practice a procedure for this from the beginning, you may find yourself flicking the light switch on and off while students yell and giggle, or trying to shout above the noise. (This is especially no fun when another adult is in the room.) You'll also need to establish how you want your students to get ready to listen while you, a classmate, or anyone else is speaking.

A call and response is a fun way to get your students' attention. You'll say a phrase, students will respond with the corresponding phrase or action, and you'll repeat the process until you have everyone's attention. One common example is "If you can hear me, clap once; if you can hear me, clap twice"; and so on, because the clapping helps get students' attention. There are tons of examples out there, including this great list compiled by National Board Certified Teacher Angela Watson.

To connect your call and response to your active listening pose (explained next), here's an example:

"Whooooo's ready? ... Hoot Hoot"

or

"Whooooo's ready? ... to make wise choices?"

When you call the whole class' attention, it's because you have something to say, whether it's directions, a new lesson, or a visitor in the room. Students need to know how you want them to behave once you have their attention, and how to show that they are listening. In comes the Active Listening Pose. Active Listening is "mak[ing] a conscious effort to hear not only the words that another person is saying but, more importantly, try[ing] to understand the complete message being sent."

Note that this active listening pose does not focus on where students' body parts are. Some students may actually listen better with a fidget toy in their hands, or while they're standing or bouncing on an exercise ball. If you've made these accommodations for some students in your classroom, you don't want your active listening pose to prescribe that all students have their hands folded, as it will cause confusion and arguments about fairness among your students.

However, if you're in a situation where students need to sit a certain way because they're in tight quarters, such as carpet time or an assembly, you might introduce an additional pose for that particular situation. A good call and response for carpet time is "Criss-cross applesauce ... spoons in the bowl," reminding students to sit with their legs crossed and hands in their laps.

Additional Classroom Procedures
Voice levels:
When students are supposed to talk, whether giving a presentation, working with a group or partner, or answering a question, they need to know your expectation for how loud to speak. Introduce the different acceptable voice levels at the beginning of the year, and model what each of them sounds like. Then, throughout the year, whenever you are about to start an activity in which students will talk, tell them which voice level they should use.
Classroom Jobs:
Once your whole class has learned their procedures, assigning classroom jobs can save you time and transfer ownership of the classroom to students. As with any of your procedures, be sure to teach, model, and practice the classroom jobs with students. When it's time to switch jobs, have the previous student teach the new job holder the ropes. For upper elementary students, consider switching jobs each month, and to increase accountability, have students fill out an application to choose their new job.

Here is a list of classroom jobs and their responsibilities from Scholastic.
Use a timer:

It's always going to seem like there's not enough time in the day. Students, especially those who may come to you below grade level, need all the time you can give them to learn. Implementing these procedures will cut down on wasted time, but you also need to foster a sense of urgency in your students that any wasted minute is taking away from their learning time. We walk quickly, but safely, in the hallway to our next destination because we need as much time as possible to learn. We put away our ELA notebooks and transition to math as quickly as possible so we don't lose any math time. Using a timer will help hold both you and your students accountable to the schedule.

You can use e.ggtimer.com to display a timer on the smartboard. This clock-like timer is also a great visual representation for students who can't tell time yet. In the hallways, you can use your watch or smartphone.
Throughout the day:
These are just a few examples of important procedures, but you'll want to implement procedures for every aspect of the day. "Whether it's lining up for recess, sharpening a pencil, or transitioning from one activity to the next, having classroom procedures and routines is extremely important. There is honestly nothing better than having your classroom run like a well-oiled machine," says Kristine Nannini, an elementary school teacher and blogger. Nannini offers a checklist of 100+ procedures on her Teachers Pay Teachers store, including "What to do if someone enters our class with a birthday treat?" and "What do you look like at an assembly?"

Classroom Management Strategies
"I've worked in dozens of schools as a school change coach, and I have seen firsthand that the very best schools teach children how to regulate their own behavior rather than relying on adults to tell them if they are "good" or "bad"...It's a lot more fun and satisfying working in a school with students who take that responsibility rather than the adults making judgments and always being "in charge." Why should we be responsible for their behavior? Let's teach them how to do it!"
Mike Galvin - Senior consultant at Focused Leadership Solutions

Ideally, you will create a classroom culture in which students behave because they want to make good choices, rather than to earn rewards or to avoid negative consequences. But, you can't expect intrinsic motivation to happen overnight. You will need a thoughtful set of classroom management strategies.

Just as you spend time practicing procedures over and over again, you also have to spend time positively reinforcing good behavior and negatively reinforcing bad behavior until students internalize the message. As Galvin says, we have to take the time to "teach them how to do it."

Teaching Students to Take Responsibility

In Part II, we mentioned transferring responsibility to your students (access to materials, classroom jobs, taking attendance, etc.). Similarly, we can put students in charge of their own behavior with the right system. Students should be able to recognize appropriate and inappropriate behavior in themselves and others, and adjust accordingly.

Bonus: We have a great lesson, Would You Rather Questions for Kids, to help you discuss the tradeoffs involved in making different choices.

In her blog post, Becky discusses the Raise Responsibility system she uses, based on Marvin Marshall's book, Discipline without Stress, Punishments, or Rewards. This system gives students a framework to think critically about their behavior, deciding for themselves if it needs to change. There is also a nuanced distinction between doing something to look good or be rewarded, and doing something simply because it is right.

The Raise Responsibility model separates behaviors into the following zones or levels:
D - Democracy

Being kind and helping others

Doing something because it's the right thing to do, even if no one is watching

C - Conformity

Listening and following directions

Working well with others

Doing something to look good, be rewarded, or avoid trouble

B - Bullying/Bossing

Name calling

Bothering or bossing others

Breaking classroom rules

Must be bossed to behave

A - Anarchy

Loss of control

Actions that could hurt yourself or others

Running, hitting, or kicking

The A and B levels encompass bad choices that need correction. The C level includes good behavior, but the student is extrinsically motivated by classroom rewards. The goal is for students to achieve D level, meaning they're intrinsically motivated to behave well. Display these levels on posters in your classroom.

If a student continues to misbehave after one warning about their level, Becky suggests they fill out a behavior reflection think sheet. She also gives each student a personal level ring so that they can all do a "level check" if needed. You can download these personal level cards for free from Becky's Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Miss At, another blogger and teacher using the Raise Responsibility model, has students choose their consequence after finishing their reflection. This reinforces the idea of students regulating their own behavior. Miss At suggests providing students with some acceptable consequences as a starting point so that the consequence they choose is still one you find appropriate for their behavior.

Clip Charts

Another popular model for reinforcing and tracking positive and negative behavior is the clip chart. Each student in your class would have a clothespin with his or her name on it that would start in the middle of the chart each day. Students earn the opportunity to move up the chart with good behavior choices, or move down the chart with poor behavior choices. Students start each day with a clean slate with their clip reset to the middle.

Former teacher Rick Morris has a helpful e-book explaining how to create and introduce a clip chart system in your classroom. He says, "Any student who has been asked to move his clothespin down a level or two ... has the opportunity to improve his behavior and see his clothespin rise to a better level ... The thought that a child is offered a chance at redemption is not only a powerful motivator for the student, it also enables the teacher to act on problem behavior and not just talk about it."

When introducing the chart system, make it clear to students what to expect from each level of the chart. Set the rewards for the top parts of the chart or consequences for the bottom levels from the beginning so you are not making these decisions based on your emotions.

As with the Raise Responsibility System, you could also use a reflection sheet or have students choose their own consequence when they reach a certain level on the chart.

ClassDojo

ClassDojo is a free, electronic way to manage behavior in your classroom. Teachers input their students' names via the app or a computer, and each student gets their own monster avatar. You can customize which skills are most important to your classroom, such as cooperation and impulse control. Throughout the day, you can award dojo points to individual students for displaying those skills, and you can also award whole-class points. Students will hear a "ding" noise when you award a point. You can also take away points when students are not making good choices. Some teachers display the points breakdown to the whole class, while others don't - that's up to you!

ClassDojo also has features to connect with parents. According to their site, "Parents can see their child's feedback from their own device at home. Plus, [teachers] can also easily share with parents:

Photos and videos of students working hard in class

Ideas for how they can help at home

Important announcements and reminders"

Sarah, a special education teacher, uses ClassDojo in conjunction with a clip chart. "I...can't assume that all parents will log into ClassDojo, and I am a big believer in strong home-school communication, especially when it comes to behavior. So I came up with a system to incorporate ClassDojo with my color chart so we could have all hands on deck," Sarah explains on her blog.

Classroom Rewards

While we want to teach students to do the right thing without expecting a reward, a little recognition when students are making good choices goes a long way. Even as adults, an unexpected "job well done" or shout-out at a staff meeting gives us a little boost. Positive behavior reinforcement can be an important part of your school's culture, especially if your school uses PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Supports). Now that doesn't mean you have to hand out candy or some other trinket to students every time they follow a rule. Below are some examples of rewards and acknowledgments that you can use to reinforce positive behaviors with individual students or the whole class:

Classroom Rewards for All Students

When a majority of the class has been exceptional (D level for an extended period, top levels on the clip chart, certain number of dojo points, etc.):

Cheers and energizers are free celebrations that also get students up and moving and get their wiggles out. You can write the titles on a popsicle stick and choose one from a can each time.

Put a pom-pom in a jar. If the jar gets filled to a certain point by Friday, give the class a special reward, such as a five-minute dance party.

Give whole-class points on ClassDojo.

Individual

Call home on a regular basis to praise students so when you need to call home with a negative, you already have a relationship with the parents. Parents may not be used to getting positive calls and will be delighted.

If you know you won't have a chance to call home that night, send a note. Consider getting a notepad with carbon copies so you can keep one for your records.

Send home behavior updates via the ClassDojo app.

For younger students, consider having a behavior calendar that gets sent home every day. On each day, you can mark which level of your particular behavior system a student ended the day on, or was on the most.

Have students be on the lookout for good behavior to give shout-outs to their classmates. Put shout out slips (available for free below) in an accessible part of your classroom, along with a spot for students to submit them. You can choose to read a couple or all of them each day to encourage students.

Examples of individual rewards:

Homework pass

Sit next to a friend for the day

Have your shoes off while working

Lunch with the teacher

Pick a classroom job

Anything else you've noticed your students like

Consequences

While you'll put in every effort to create a positive classroom culture, consequences will still be necessary. In the same way that we want students to learn to do the right thing simply because it's right, we want students to avoid poor choices, not because they are afraid of getting caught, but because they know they are wrong. Be clear and consistent about what behavior will lead to what consequence.

Call parents when necessary. If you've already built a strong relationship with positive calls, parents will be more supportive and willing to help correct a negative behavior.

Send copies of reflection sheets home to parents.

Send home behavior updates via the ClassDojo app.

For younger students, consider having a behavior calendar that gets sent home every day. On each day, you can mark which level of your particular behavior system a student ended the day on, or was on the most.

For severe behavior, send to office/write referral.

Examples of individual consequences:

Lose five minutes of recess

Loss of classroom job

Loss of choice in a certain activity

Sit by yourself for the day

Silent lunch

Loss of participation in a whole class reward

Take away a privilege your individual students find valuable

"Stay consistent, stay consistent, stay consistent, when giving rewards and especially consequences!" says Alexa Baird, a 4th-grade teacher in North Carolina. "Even the best behaved kid can act out if given the opportunity. Be strong with rewards and consequences for the first two to three months, and the rest of the year will be smooth sailing."
When Things Aren't Working:
There may come a time when you lose control of your classroom. These plans and systems are unfortunately not foolproof, and there could be a day when the full moon, Halloween, and three kids' birthdays perfectly align. "When you are in an emergency situation and you don't know what else to do to get you through the rest of your class period, pull out a notebook and start writing," says Jennifer Gonzalez of Cult of Pedagogy. In one of her videos, Gonzalez explains that whenever she did this in her classroom, her students calmed down within a minute. "It doesn't matter what you're writing," she says, "but the students are caught off guard and start to focus on you." It also works as an exercise to calm the teacher down in this stressful situation. "It's a self-soothing strategy, a form of meditation, and what it can do is help the teacher get into a calmer state of mind so he or she can make a smart decision, rather than a knee-jerk one," says Gonzalez.

To use the notebook in your classroom management plan apart from an emergency strategy, see Part 2 of Gonzalez's video.

And, lastly, make sure you practice self-care! It's essential for long-term success in the classroom.

Effective Classroom Management with SEL
"If you focus instruction only on what to do or not to do in a given circumstance, the child will be left at a loss when he faces a situation that was not explicitly taught ... We need to help children understand not only how to behave appropriately, but also why behaving in an appropriate manner will be good for them."
Melissa DeRosier, PhD - Clinical Psychologist

In order to succeed in the classroom and in life, students need to be able to evaluate the pros and cons of different behaviors and understand why the one they choose would work best. And this doesn't come from robotic following of rules and procedures.

Instead students must develop appropriate social and emotional skills. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL):
"Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."
Just like with your rules and procedures, the key is to introduce, model, and practice social and emotional skills and behaviors with your students - You can use our free SEL lessons to help. Here are a few examples:

Yazmin Chavira, a KIPP alumna and teacher, says, "Once you have one concrete language that everyone is using - teachers, parents, students - that they see it on the walls, their teachers are using it every day in class, that makes it a lot more salient for them."

And KIPP teacher, Alaina Harper explains how a focus on character impacts reinforcement of behavior in her classroom: "Instead of it being 'I have a feeling about what you're doing,' it's 'I have this behavior that you're doing which highlights this particular strength.' And so it takes a lot of the personal out of it. So it's no longer 'Ms. Harper doesn't like me' or 'Ms. Harper is unfair to me.' And because of that, they're more open to being able to address it. Because it's not that I'm gonna to like you better, it's that you're going to be better."

How do you provide students the opportunity to practice these social and emotional skills? Our online SEL interventions are a great way for students to practice and improve in common situations they would experience at school.

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A Classroom Management Plan for Elementary School Teachers

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