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DESCRIPTION: The Letter Cube Blending intervention targets alphabetic (phonics) skills. The student is given three cubes with assorted consonants and vowels appearing on their sides. The student rolls the cubes and records the resulting letter combinations on a recording sheet. The student then judges whether each resulting 'word' composed from the letters randomly appearing on the blocks is a real word or a nonsense word. The intervention can be used with one student or a group. (Florida Center for Reading Research, 2009; Taylor, Ding, Felt, & Zhang, 2011).
MATERIALS:

Three Styrofoam or wooden cubes with selected consonants and vowels displayed on the cube faces. (See directions for preparing these cubes below.)

Letter Cube Blending Recording Sheet (see attachment)

PREPARATION: Here are guidelines for preparing Letter Cubes (adapted from Florida Center for Reading Research, 2009):

1. Start with three (3) Styrofoam or wooden blocks (about 3 inches in diameter). These blocks can be purchased at most craft stores.

2. With three markers of different colors (green, blue, red), write the lower-case letters listed below on the sides of the three blocks--with one bold letter displayed per side.
- Block 1: t,c,d,b,f,m: green marker
- Block 2: a,e,i,o.u,i (The letter I appears twice on the block.): blue marker
- Block 3: b,d,m,n,r,s: red marker
Draw a line under any letter that can be confused with letters that have the identical shape but a different orientation (e.g., b and d).

INTERVENTION STEPS: At the start of the intervention, each student is given a Letter Cube Blending Recording Sheet. During the Letter Cube Blending activity:

1. Each student takes a turn rolling the Letter Cubes. The student tosses the cubes on the floor, a table, or other flat, unobstructed surface. The cubes are then lined up in 1-2-3 (green: blue: red) order.

2. The student is prompted to sound out the letters on the cubes. The student is prompted to sound out each letter, to blend the letters, and to read aloud the resulting 'word'.

3. The student identifies and records the word as 'real' or 'nonsense'. The student then identifies the word as 'real' or 'nonsense' and then writes the word on in the appropriate column on the Letter Cube Blending Recording Sheet.

4. The activity continues to 10 words. The activity continues until students in the group have generated at least 10 words on their recording sheets.

References

Florida Center for Reading Research. (2009). Letter cube blending. Retrieved from http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/pdf/GK-1/P_Final_Part4.pdf (pp. 13-17).

Taylor, R. P., Ding, Y., Felt, D., & Zhang, D. (2011). Effects of Tier 1 intervention on letter-sound correspondence in a Response-to-Intervention model in first graders. School Psychology Forum, 5(2), 54-73.

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DESCRIPTION: The Letter Cube Blending intervention targets alphabetic (phonics) skills. The student is given three cubes with assorted consonants and vowels appearing on their sides. The student rolls the cubes and records the resulting letter combinations on a recording sheet.

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An effective method to improve student conduct and academic participation is to have students monitor their own behaviors. In this self-monitoring intervention, students track their attention to instruction in 5-minute increments, then meet with the teacher to share those monitoring results and potentially earn a daily reward (Dart, Cook, Collins, Gresham & Chenier, 2012).

Preparation. In preparation for using self-monitoring, the teacher:

identifies a time or activity when the student self-monitoring package is to be used (e.g., during large-group teacher lecture or whenever the student engages in independent math seatwork). Self-monitoring is ideal for use in session of up to 60 minutes.

Procedure. During any class session or other evaluation period when self-monitoring is in effect, these procedures are followed:

1. Set-Up. At the start of the session, the student is given a timer and a copy of the On-Task Self-Monitoring Sheet.

2. Self-Monitoring of Student Attention. During the self-monitoring phase, the student engages in the assigned academic activity. Whenever the timer signals the end of a 5-minute interval, the student finds the blank on the self-monitoring form that corresponds to the time interval and writes in 'Y' [YES] if on-task or 'N' [NO] if off-task. If using a manual timer, the student then resets the timer for the next 5-minute interval and resumes the academic activity.
While the student is self-monitoring, the teacher also simultaneously monitors the student on the same schedule and records that student's on-task behavior using the On-Task Self-Monitoring Sheet.

3. Honor Check. At the end of the self-monitoring session, the student and teacher meet to compare monitoring results.
If the student is found to have been on-task for at least 80 percent of the time and there is 100% agreement between teacher and student ratings, the student earns a daily reward to be chosen from the reward list.

If the student falls short of the 80 percent on-task goal, the teacher offers encouragement and perhaps advice for attaining the goal in the next session.

If the student and teacher ratings fail to agree 100% of the time, the teacher should clarify the behavioral definition of 'on-task' behavior for the academic task that the student was engaged in that day. The teacher can then offer encouragement and express confidence that student and teacher behavior ratings will fully align in the next session.

Troubleshooting. The self-monitoring program described here includes default values (e.g., the student self-monitors every 5 minutes; the student must be on-task for 80% of the time and have 100% agreement with teacher ratings to earn a daily reward; etc.). However, teachers should exercise good judgment and be willing to modify these defaults when warranted. For example, the teacher may direct a student with very high rates of off-task behavior to monitor attention every 3 minutes--with this monitoring interval being gradually lengthened to 5 minutes as that student's level of attending improves. Or to help a chronically inattentive student to taste success in this intervention, the teacher may initially set the success criterion as on-task for 60% of the time and only shift that cut-off up to 80% after the student is able to attain the more modest goal.

References

Dart, E. H., Cook, C. R., Collins, T. A., Gresham, F. M., & Chenier, J. S. (2012). Test driving interventions to increase treatment integrity and student outcomes. School Psychology Review, 41, 467-481.

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How To: Manage Problem Behaviors: Self-Monitoring of Attention to Instruction

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An effective method to improve student conduct and academic participation is to have students monitor their own behaviors. In this self-monitoring intervention, students track their attention to instruction in 5-minute increments, then meet with the teacher to share those monitoring results and potentially earn a daily reward (Dart, Cook, Collins, Gresham & Chenier, 2012).

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References

Click the "References" link above to hide these references.

Barkley, R. A. (1997). ADHD and the nature of self-control. New York: Guilford Press.

Barkley, R. A. (1998). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for treatment and diagnosis. New York: Guilford Press.

Hallowell, E. M., & Ratey, J. J. (1994). Driven to distraction: Recognizing and coping with attention deficit disorder from childhood through adulthood. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Hallowell, E.M. & Ratey, J.J. (1994). Answers to distraction. New York: Pantheon.

Levine, M. D. (2002). Educational care: A system for understanding and helping children with learning problems at home and in school. Second Edition. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Services, Inc.

Levine, M. D. (1998). Developmental variation and learning disorders. Second Edition. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Services, Inc.

Ratey, J. J. (2001). A User's Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books.

Thomas, A., Thorne, G., Small, R., DeSanti, P., and Lawson, C. (1998). MindWorks... And How Mine Works: A book about learning and thinking, and learning how you think. Covington, LA: Center for Development & Learning.

Thomas, A., Thorne, G., & St. Germain, C. (2002). Learning Connections Training Binder. Sixth edition. Covington, LA: Center for Development & Learning.

Thomas, A., ed. (1997). PLAIN TALK ABOUT K. I. D. S. Cambridge, MA: Educator's Publishing Service.

Thomas, A., ed. (2004). Plain talk about kids: A summit on teaching and learning. Covington, LA: Learning Success Press.

Thomas, A. & Thorne, G. (2005). Learning Profiles Teacher's Binder. Covington, LA: Center for Development & Learning.

Thorne, G. & Thomas, A. (in press). Paying attention to attention. Covington, LA: Center for Development & Learning.

Thorne, G. & Lawson, C. (2005). Behavioral, academic and neurodevelopmental surveys. Covington, LA: Center for Development & Learning.

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15 Strategies for Managing Attention Problems

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Click the "References" link above to hide these references. Barkley, R. A. (1997). ADHD and the nature of self-control. New York: Guilford Press. Barkley, R. A. (1998). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for treatment and diagnosis. New York: Guilford Press. Hallowell, E. M., & Ratey, J. J. (1994).

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Focus the Attention and Channel the Energy 

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Focus the Attention and Channel the Energy 

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Here are resources from Jim Wright's workshop, Focus the Attention & Channel the Energy: Strategies for Managing the Student With ADHD.

Understanding ADHD. What is ADHD and how does it impact behavior?

Supporting ADHD Through Strong Classroom Management. What management practices at the group level can help the behaviors of ADHD students?

Group Behavior Management Ideas:

Creating Individual Behavior Plans. What are ideas to positively shape the behaviors of the oppositional or ADHD student?

Reinforcing the Student. How can teachers use reinforcers to motivate students with ADHD to increase academic engagement?

Jackpot! Reward Finder. Use this online app to browse reward ideas to assemble your own reinforcer ('reward') survey to use with students.

Measuring Behavior. How can teachers conveniently track ADHD behaviors?

Behavior Report Card Maker. This app allows you to create Behavior Report Cards, a convenient means of tracking ADH behaviors in the classroom.

Promoting Self-Management Skills.What are tools that can encourage ADHD students to better manage their own learning?

Interventions discussed at the workshop:

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Focus the Attention & Channel the Energy: Strategies for Managing the Student With ADHD

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Here are resources from Jim Wright's workshop, Focus the Attention & Channel the Energy: Strategies for Managing the Student With ADHD. Understanding ADHD. What is ADHD and how does it impact behavior? Supporting ADHD Through Strong Classroom Management. What management practices at the group level can help the behaviors of ADHD students?

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Challenges with focus and attention can become a huge roadblock to learning for kids and young adults. Simply put, attention is critical to learning. If students can't focus on the lesson, they are going to struggle with understanding the new content. If students can't focus on the directions, they are not going to know what to do. If learners are unable to switch their focus, they are unable to initiate new tasks. When students have difficulty with attention skills, it can be challenging for the educator, but also extremely frustrating for the learner.

It's important to note that this article isn't specifically written for kids with ADHD. That is because many kids (whether diagnosed with ADHD or not) have challenges with focus and attention. As always, it's more important to focus on the interventions and supports than the label. With that said, if you feel your student or child does have symptoms of ADHD, it's important to share those concerns with the school team or pediatrician.

What is attention? Attention is a fascinating multi-faceted skill. It is so much more than just being able to stay focused. Attention involves having self-awareness about your level of attention so that you can direct and re-direct your focus, as needed. It is being able to ignore distractions, like a cell phone or friends talking nearby. Even further, attention is being able switch your focus to more important information or a new task, such as when new directions are being given while working.
* Examples of Attention *
It's important to note that attention is an academic skill, but it is also a life skill. It's really a prerequisite to be able to learn new information. People need to pay attention while hearing new content, but also when having conversations with others. Here are some examples of what strong attention skills might look like:

Keeping eyes on the teacher and listening while learning about a new skill.

Quickly being able to switch focus from one task to another.

Making eye contact and listening to a peer during a conversation.

Listening and thinking about directions being given by a teacher or boss.

Being able to stop, focus, and listen when important information is being conveyed.

* Possible Signs of Challenges with Attention *
Challenges with attention can have big impacts for students. As previously stated, when learners aren't able to focus on new material, this makes learning that content that much harder. Similarly, when learners aren't focused during instructions, they won't understand how to proceed with an activity. Simply put, attention challenges become a major roadblock to learning.

Possible signs of attention challenges might include:

A student constantly staring out the window or down the hallway instead of watching the teacher during a lesson.

A learner who frequently misses hearing important instructions for tasks and then isn't sure what to do.

A student who constantly plays with objects (pencils, toys, etc) instead of working on assigned tasks.

A child who is unable to finish assignments due to various distractions.

* Interventions, Supports, and Strategies for Attention *
Here are some strategies, activities, and ideas to help learners with time management challenges in the classroom:

Teach about attention and other EF skills explicitly

Give clear, one-step directions

Teach how to stay organized

Highlight most important directions on assignments

Teach and use classroom call-and response

Use a chime before giving important information

Incorporate movement during lessons and activities

Use visuals as reminders and supports

Reduce distractions around the room (ex: too many posters or a fan nearby)

Use preferential seating (find where the student can focus the best, as this is different for every child)

Incorporate hands-on learning activities

Use a study carrel (you can buy one or build it out of cardboard!)

Add center activities to allow for more movement during tasks

Break longer tasks into smaller, more manageable ones

Provide fidgets (and explicitly teach how to use them as a tool)

Give break breaks between lessons and activities

Teach students how to check in with themselves

Set a timer for work sessions

Consider a white noise machine or playing classical music during work sessions

Assign a study buddy during work sessions

Play attention-boosting games and play activities (like Simon Says)

Use student interests in lessons

Provide extra time to complete assignments

* Strategies for Parents to Support Attention Skills at Home *
It's important to note that parents and families can also implement strategies to help at home! Here are some strategies parents and families can use at home strengthen skills for attention:

Be clear with directions (and give fewer words)

Allow wind-down time after school

Build in routines and consistency

Develop a "homework space and time" (and stick with it)

Teach self-monitoring

Break longer tasks into smaller, more manageable ones

Keep an organized and tidy work space to reduce distractions

Give check-ins during longer work sessions ("Show me what you accomplished so far.")

Reduce distractions (television, cell phone, computer)

Model focusing while the child is working (read while they do homework, for example)

Use a white-noise machine

Give breaks after work completion

Incorporate rewards for completing chores or assignments

If you notice that your learners need some extra support with their attention and other executive functioning skills, I have units to target executive functioning skills for middle and high school learners and executive functioning skills for younger learners. Get all your materials in one spot to make teaching these skills a breeze!

This is a blog series focused on interventions to support executive functioning skills. Make sure you read up on interventions for planning and supports for organization!

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Challenges with focus and attention can become a huge roadblock to learning for kids and young adults. Simply put, attention is critical to learning. If students can't focus on the lesson, they are going to struggle with understanding the new content. If students can't focus on the directions, they

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Before you start, a few important points:

Try multiple interventions

Each intervention must be tried for at least 2 weeks

Collect and track specific data on each intervention tried and the effect of each intervention over the time it was implemented

After at least 6 weeks, you may consider moving to tier 2 interventions. You must submit your tier 1 data to and speak with your building administrator before moving to tier 2 as well.

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Tier I Interventions for Aggression/Bullying

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Before you start, a few important points: Try multiple interventions Each intervention must be tried for at least 2 weeks Collect and track specific data on each intervention tried and the effect of each intervention over the time it was implemented After at least 6 weeks, you may consider moving to tier 2 interventions.

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Strategies for Working With Emotionally Unpredictable Students

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Give the student two clear choices with clear consequences. Order the choices so that the student hears the teacher-preferred choice last e.g., "John, you can refuse to participate in the math assignment and be written up for detention or you can start the math assignment now and not be written up."

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Expert Name: Christine Austin, BCaBA

Company Name: Step by Step Academy

Company URL: www.stepbystepacademy.org

Short Bio: Christine Austin, BCaBA, has been the Director of Clinical Operations at Step By Step Academy, Inc. since 2009. Before that, she served as Training and Behavior Plan Supervisor, Outreach and Training Coordinator, Program Supervisor/Outreach Support Technician and Behavior Technician. During this time, she also moonlighted at Piece by Piece Consulting Services, a private consulting services firm specializing in behavioral treatment methods utilizing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) principles for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders as a
Behavior Consultant. At Step By Step, she is responsible for the hiring and training of all senior clinical staff members. In addition, she trains Clinic Directors on how to develop and monitor treatment and behavior plans, and teaches Clinical Assistants the principles of
ABA and monitoring procedures.

Christine regularly presents at professional conferences on topics related to autism and behavioral support. Her areas of expertise include ABA, training, Individual Education Plans (IEPs), treatment planning and behavior modification and behavior management. Additionally, she has developed autism training programs for professionals and families on a variety of topics, including ABA Principles and Procedures, The Picture Exchange Communication System, Token Economy Systems, The Maintenance and Generalization of Acquired Skills and Decreasing Challenging Behaviors.

She has a BA in Psychology and a minor in Sociology from The Ohio State University. She is a Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBA) through the University of North Texas and is currently enrolled in the M.S. in ABA & Autism program at The Sage Colleges. She will graduate in the spring of 2012.

Aggressive behavior is a common problem for many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). When a child engages in aggression towards others, there may be a need to create a more restrictive learning environment. Aggression serves as a barrier to the child's ability to learn and sometimes, it may create an unsafe environment for adults attempting to teach the child. Additionally, it limits opportunities for the child to form meaningful social relationships with both adults and peers.

Neutral redirection is the most common response to aggressive behavior. Neutral redirection consists of stopping the child from engaging in the aggressive behavior and guiding him to perform a functionally-appropriate behavior (for example, a child who hits others as a means to gain attention may be neutrally redirected to appropriately tap another's shoulder and say "excuse me" instead of hitting). While the adult implements neutral redirection, it is imperative that she refrains from talking to the child while he is engaging in the act of aggression (i.e., she refrains from reprimanding or scolding the child, or asking him to stop); that she refrains from making eye contact with the child, and from providing a physical reaction, such as flinching or scowling. For example, if a teacher asks a child to clean up his art project but he wants to continue working on his project and shows this by hitting the teacher, she can simply guide him to clean up his materials without looking at him or talking him through the task.

While neutral redirection is a common response to aggressive behavior, preventive measure should also be put in place. One such preventive measure is to provide the child praise and attention for appropriate behavior (i.e., "catch him being good"). In addition to rewarding appropriate behavior, keeping the child's environment rich with preferred activities and providing the child the opportunity to choose the order of tasks he will complete may also prevent the occurrence of aggressive behavior. Finally, identifying what motivates a child and using items or activities that the child finds rewarding is an essential key to successful teaching.

Although each case is unique and should be addressed based upon its own merits, following a technique that can be used to deal with hitting.

Hitting

A common form of aggression displayed by children with autism is hitting. Hitting can range from slapping with an open hand to punching with a closed fist with extreme force, thereby causing injury ranging in degrees of severity (i.e. bruising, broken skin, fractured or broken bones, or concussions).

To effectively, neutrally redirect hitting behavior, the adult will prevent the child from making contact with her body by moving out of the child's range of motion. When moving away from the child is not possible, the adult may need to protect the vulnerable parts of her body with her own hands or arms. After the adult has successfully avoided injury and the child has stopped aggressing, she will then guide him to engage in an appropriate task. Again, it is very important that the adult not react to the child with exaggerated body movement or with a change in facial expression.

If the adult knows of situations in which the child is most likely to hit her, it is important for her to be prepared for this possibility. Arranging the environment so that the child has fewer opportunities to hit is advisable; strategies include staying within an arm's length of him, keeping him seated at a table for instruction, teaching from across the table outside his range of motion, and teaching from a standing position while he is seated. These techniques provide an adult the safest manner to avoid injury from hitting behavior without needing to physically intervene.

When the child is around other children, it is very important to monitor his interactions at all times. Because the sibling or peer will likely react to the child's hitting behavior, it is important to teach them to excuse themselves from the child's proximity immediately.

As in most cases, consultation with a trained Behavior Therapist is strongly recommended. A resource that can be used is Special Learning's BCBA Directory: http://www.special-learning.com/bcba.

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Intervention Strategies for Aggression: Hitting - Special Learning

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Expert Name: Christine Austin, BCaBA Company Name: Step by Step Academy Company URL: www.stepbystepacademy.org Short Bio: Christine Austin, BCaBA, has been the Director of Clinical Operations at Step By Step Academy, Inc. since 2009. Before that, she served as Training and Behavior Plan Supervisor, Outreach and Training Coordinator, Program Supervisor/Outreach Support Technician and Behavior Technician.

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Before you start, a few important points:
*Try multiple interventions
*Each intervention must be tried for at least 2 weeks
*Collect and track specific data on each intervention tried and the effect of each intervention over the time it was implemented
*After at least 6 weeks, you may consider moving to tier 2 interventions. You must submit your tier 1 data to and speak with your building administrator before moving to tier 2 as well.

Tier I interventions for Anxiety:
*Click on interventions for additional information, forms, and resources

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Before you start, a few important points:*Try multiple interventions *Each intervention must be tried for at least 2 weeks *Collect and track specific data on each intervention tried and the effect of each intervention over the time it was implemented*After at least 6 weeks, you may consider moving to tier 2 interventions.

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20 Interventions for Children with Anxiety

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20 Interventions for Children with Anxiety

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Although anxiety does not necessarily impact a child's academic abilities, it can affect their ability to learn. Parents and teachers can work together to help a child succeed in the classroom. There are a number of ways teachers can make the school day easier and less stressful for a child with anxiety:

Create a "safe" place for the child to go when anxiety symptoms are high or during stressful times. This may be the nurse's office or a staff member's office. Establish rules for the use of the "safe" place. These rules should include items such as, the student must inform the teacher they need a few minutes to calm down, and a set time limit.

Be aware of physical symptoms of anxiety and provide activities to distract the child. Calming activities, such as, reading or listening to music may help to alleviate some of the physical symptoms and allow a child to return to class work after a period of time.

Allow a few minutes at the beginning of the day for the child to transition into the school day. Additional transitional periods might be necessary for other times when routine is disrupted. This can be providing five to ten minutes for the child to prepare their papers and school supplies or simply a few minutes for the child to sit quietly before the school day begins. If the time before school is difficult for the child, it may be beneficial for them to either enter the classroom a few minutes before or a few minutes after the rest of the class arrives.

Talk to the student about what interventions they would find helpful. Having the student discuss strategies may help them to be involved in reducing their anxiety symptoms. This also provides the child an opportunity to talk about situations that cause anxiety symptoms as well as for them to be more aware of their symptoms.

Teach the child relaxation techniques they can do at school, such as deep breathing exercises. Talk with parents about the techniques used at home and try to incorporate them into the classroom.

For children avoiding school because of anxiety, offer suggestions such as coming to school for a shorter day. The longer the child avoids going to school, the more difficult it is for them to return. Allowing them to come to school for shorter periods will give them a chance to face their fears but may make it easier if they know they will be able to return home at lunchtime.

Use small group activities throughout the day. Children with anxiety may be better able to cope with small groups of a few students rather than large classroom study. Have the class break into small groups to complete class work to encourage participation.

Reward effort by a student with anxiety. When a child shows effort or is able to control their anxiety symptoms through interventions, let them know you have noticed and are proud of their efforts.

Create group activities that role-play appropriate behaviors. Teach young children what to do in specific situations. This can help all students learn how to handle situations such as anger management, stress reduction, test anxiety. Providing instruction to the entire class will decrease the focus on the child with anxiety.

Decrease situations that induce stress. Teachers can restructure assignments to decrease the amount of stress for a student. For example, instead of having a child stand in front of the class to read a report, find creative ways to complete reports. Allow students to make posters or record presentations at home on a tape recorder.

Discuss anxiety symptoms privately with the student. Never single out a child or call attention to their anxiety in front of the class. This can cause humiliation or embarrassment and increase anxiety symptoms.

Discuss alternative ways of handling situations. Talk to the student after an anxiety attack about how the situation could have been different or what strategies could have been used (by both the student and the teacher) to make the situation better.

Find books that address children with anxiety. Incorporate these books into reading curriculum. This not only helps the child with anxiety to feel better about their anxiety but also can help the other students in the class be more understanding of the condition.

Teach positive self-talk to the entire class. Helping children to be aware of the negative way they talk to themselves, such as the use of "I can't" and help them to develop a more positive way of talking to themselves.

Post the daily routine in the classroom and let students know in advance any changes in the schedule. Letting students know exactly what is expected will help lessen anxiety. For a student with anxiety, a sudden change can cause a panic attack. Knowing in advance what the day will be like will help in transitions.

Help students break assignments down into smaller segments. This can help to decrease feeling overwhelmed by large assignments and help a student work on each section.

Play soothing music during down time. Many times playing soft music can help children to calm down and can relieve stress. During quiet activities or seatwork, use soothing music.

Incorporate exercise into the school day. Stop lessons for a few minutes or do stretching exercises in between lessons. This can help reduce stress.

Use computerized reading programs. Allowing children time to work on their own rather than in a large group can reduce stress and anxiety.

Discuss what sections of a book will be read aloud with a student before calling on them to read. If reading aloud in the class causes stress and anxiety, plan ahead of time and let a student practice a small selection the night before.

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20 Classroom Interventions for Children with Anxiety Disorders

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Although anxiety does not necessarily impact a child's academic abilities, it can affect their ability to learn. Parents and teachers can work together to help a child succeed in the classroom.

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It's not uncommon for kids with learning and attention issues to struggle with anxiety. They may worry about many things or be withdrawn at school. They may hesitate to participate in the classroom, make frequent trips to the bathroom or the nurse's office, or even refuse to go to school at all. That can affect the ability to learn.

Watch as Melody Musgrove, Ed.D., discusses whether kids can get a 504 plan for anxiety issues.

If your child is being treated for anxiety disorder, it's crucial to be in contact with your mental health provider about using school strategies like these. Together, you can ensure they're a good fit for your child's treatment plan. You can also visit the Child Mind Institute, an Understood founding partner, to learn more about what anxiety in the classroom looks like.

Here are some classroom accommodations for anxiety that may help your child.

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At a Glance: Classroom Accommodations for Anxiety

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It's not uncommon for kids with learning and attention issues to struggle with anxiety. They may worry about many things or be withdrawn at school. They may hesitate to participate in the classroom, make frequent trips to the bathroom or the nurse's office, or even refuse to go to school at all.

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10 Ways to Help Students Struggling with Anxiety 

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10 Ways to Help Students Struggling with Anxiety 

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Trouble concentrating. An upset stomach. Sleeplessness. Anxiety can show up in a lot of ways. And anxiety can be one of the most debilitating challenges that students face in classrooms today. Yet, it can also be one of the most hidden and unknown.

According to the Child Mind Institute, health-care providers have seen a 17 percent increase of anxiety in children over the past 10 years . But there aren't really that many more students seeking help and care. In fact, less than one percent of kids will seek anxiety treatment the year their symptoms begin. And even though anxiety will affect about 30 percent of all children at some time in their lives, more than 80 percent will never receive care for it.

Chances are you've seen the increase in anxiety in your classroom and school, maybe around testing season, or even kids experiencing trauma. You know anxiety is more than just "worries." Anxiety can influence classroom performance just as much as any other learning disability.

Kids who are worried and anxious aren't doing it on purpose. The nervous system acts automatically, especially when it comes to worry (which often stems from fight or flight reflexes). That's why phrases like "just relax" or "calm down" aren't helpful. But with practice, kids can learn to slow down their anxious brains, and teachers can learn to help them. Here are a few ways you can help anxious kids in the classroom.

1. Practice those deep breaths.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O29e4rRMrV4[/embedyt]

When people slow down their breathing, they slow down their brain. When I notice that one of my kids is struggling with anxiety, I'll often lead the whole class in a breathing exercise. It helps the child who is overwhelmed and usually a few other kids too. Sometimes, I'll do it just because the whole class is squirrelly and we need to focus. Slow, deep breaths are the key. This article about belly breathing describes the process I like to use with my kids. It works every single time.

2. Take a break and go outside.

Being out in nature can also calm an anxious brain. Sometimes just a change of scenery is what makes the difference. Breathing the cool air or making time to notice chirping birds can also calm an overactive worrier. Asking students to carefully observe their environment can help them turn the focus away from their worries and toward something more tangible: How many different kinds of trees do you see? How many different bird songs do you hear? How many different shades of green are in the grass?

3. Talk about anxiety openly.

Don't set anxiety up as something you want (or should) get rid of. It's part of life, and it's not realistic to think it'll go away completely. You can help students see and understand this in your own actions. Check out this great article of what you should (and shouldn't) do when working with kids dealing with anxiety.

4. Get kids moving.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZfe2hjlEwE[/embedyt]

Exercise helps anyone who is feeling anxious. Anxiety can end up looking like anger, so if you see this, try taking a movement break. You probably already have some favorite ways to do this, but if you're looking for some ideas, check out our video above. You can also get the free set of printables for that right here.

5. Try walking and talking.

Building on the moving idea, if you have a student that needs some one-on-one attention, try the walk-and-talk method. I used to have a student who struggled a lot with anxiety, and this worked great with her. After a couple of loops around the playground with me, everything would feel a little better. Our walk served three purposes: 1. It removed her from the situation. 2. It gave her a chance to explain the issue to me. 3. It got her blood pumping, which clears out the anxiety-producing energy and brings in the positive exercise endorphins.

6. Think positive by having students keep a gratitude journal.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxFRx-87-Qo[/embedyt]

The brain is incapable of producing anxious thoughts while it is producing positive thoughts stemming from gratitude. If you can trigger a positive train of thought, you can sometimes derail the anxiety. I knew a teacher who had his fifth graders keep gratitude journals, and every day they would record at least one thing they were thankful for. When his students seemed overwhelmed by negativity or mired in anxiety, he'd encourage them to reread their journals. Check out the video above for another inspiring teacher.

7. Remind kids to eat healthy and stay well.

For the most part, teachers don't really have a lot of control over what students eat and how much they sleep, but these things do matter when it comes to managing anxiety. Not surprisingly, a healthy diet and plenty of sleep make a difference in how well a student is able to handle situations that could be overwhelming. It's one of the reasons that snack and rest time were an essential part of the day when I was teaching preschool. (It probably would have benefited my older students too, even if they might not have admitted it!)

If you can find a way to work these things into your school day, they could make the difference for your kids who tend to worry. Even if you can't control these things, you can still remind them by talking about healthy food choices, or wrapping it into the curriculum when you can.

8. Share a story with your students.

Often, when one of my kids is struggling, the school counselor will come and share a picture book about managing anxiety with the entire class. Some kids may not be receptive to direct, one-on-one, intervention, but they will respond beautifully if they know the whole class is receiving the same information. Check out this list from WeAreTeachers about great books for kids with anxiety.

9. Try creating a space where kids can express their anxiety.

You've probably heard of classroom safe spaces, and this is a great option to offer if you have students dealing with anxiety. Another idea, which can stand on its own or be part of your safe space, is offering classroom fidgets. Sometimes this can work wonders in just giving kids an outlet. Here are some of our favorite classroom fidgets.

10. Offer individual accommodations.

For older students, accommodations can make all the difference. Many students struggle with performance anxiety, especially when it comes to tests. When a student is feeling anxious, their brain simply can't function as effectively. When we can set up our tests and assignments so anxious kids are less stressed, they'll likely perform better. Extended time and cue sheets could help kids who suffer from test anxiety. For other accommodations for kids who struggle with anxiety, check out this list from Worry Wise Kids.

The good news about anxiety is that it is one of the most manageable mental-health struggles that children face in the classroom. With the right support and strategies, most children are able to develop strategies that help them manage their anxiety.
Check out our article on how to help kids dealing with test anxiety. Teachers also deal with anxiety. Take a look at the realities of Sunday night anxiety and what you can do.

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10 Ways to Help Students Who Struggle With Anxiety

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Trouble concentrating. An upset stomach. Sleeplessness. Anxiety can show up in a lot of ways. And anxiety can be one of the most debilitating challenges that students face in classrooms today. Yet, it can also be one of the most hidden and unknown.

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Inside: A child therapist's favorite ways to help kids learn to take a deep breath, including quick explanations and videos of deep breathing techniques.
Have you ever told a kid to take a deep breath, and then they start hyperventilating? Or they breathe in, but don't breathe out?
Sometimes, kids may need a little more help to figure out how to properly take a deep breath.
First, let's review why deep breathing matters.

When you are calm, your body is in what is known as "rest and digest" mode. Your breathing is normal, your muscles are relaxed, and your heart rate is normal. It's how you would be when you're watching a show and relaxing.

But then suddenly, a dinosaur is chasing you!!

When you experience a stressful event (like an unexpected dinosaur in your living room), your body automatically goes into what is known as "flight, fight or freeze" mode. Your heart rate increases, your stomach stops digestion, and your breathing becomes more shallow.

The goal of calming exercises is to get yourself from "flight, fight or freeze" mode back to "rest and digest" mode. Deep breathing helps get more oxygen into your bloodstream, opening up your capillaries. It has a physical effect on your body to help you calm down and lower stress.

So deep breathing does make a big difference for kids. But how can we teach them to take a deep breath properly?
Here are some of my favorite ways to introduce deep breathing! Quick note: The breathing we want kids to do is deep belly breaths, not shallow chest breaths. When they breathe in, their belly should expand, and when they breathe out, their belly should contract.
Use bubbles

Blowing gently to create bubbles is a good way to be playful and breathe deeply. Kids have to blow carefully and slowly to make the bubbles, which is a major reason why I like using it to help kids take deep breaths.

Use a stuffed animal to practice deep breathing

Have your child lay down on their back and put a stuffed animal on their belly. Have them breathe in and move the stuffed animal up, then breathe out and bring the stuffed animal back down. This helps teach kids to use their belly to take big deep breaths. Another alternative is to use a weighted stuffed animal.

Use a pinwheel

Kids can practice breathing out slowly or more quickly, using the speed of the pinwheel as a measure. Then they can figure out which way works and feels best for them.

Use a Feather

Get some colored feathers and pick out one feather to use. It could be a color that they love or one that makes them feel calm. Breathe in and hold it for a count of 3, then breathe out going up on one side of the feather and down the other side.

Hoberman Sphere

Breathe in and expand the sphere, breathe out and push the sphere back in (this mirrors what should be happening to their belly) - Watch the video on YouTube!

DIY Crafts

Make a craft using half a paper plate, crepe paper or ribbons. Have kids blow the crepe paper or ribbons as they take deep breaths.

Materials Needed:

1. Paper plate - cut in half
2. crepe paper - cut into 6" - 8" strips, cut in half
3. yarn or string
4. any other embellishments to make the creature (use what you have on hand)

Attach the crepe paper to the flat bottom of the paper plate. Attach yarn/string to the top center of the curved part of the paper plate as a hanger.Have kids decorate the paper plate any way they want, as a monster, or a creature, or with stickers.

To Use: hang up the creature and have kids blow on the crepe paper to get it to move.

OTHER DIY ACTIVITIES
Floating Ball Activity from All For The Boys Fire Breathing Dragon Craft by BABYCCINO
TRIANGLE Breathing

Start at the bottom left of the triangle.

Breathe in for three counts as you trace the first side of the triangle.

Hold your breath for three counts as you trace the second side of the triangle.

Breathe out for three counts as you trace the final side of the triangle. You have just completed one deep breath.

SQUARE BReathing

Start at the bottom right of the square

Breathe in for four counts as you trace the first side of the square

Hold your breath for four counts as you trace the second side of the square

Breathe out for four counts as you trace the third side of the square

Hold your breath for four counts as you trace the final side of the square

You just completed one deep breath!

STAR BREATHING

Start at any "Breathe In" side on the star.

Trace your finger over the "breathe in" side of the point

Hold your breath when your finger gets to the tip of the point

Breathe out as you trace your finger over the other side of the point.

Keep going until you reach where you started.

When you trace the whole star, you will have completed 5 deep breaths

Start with the eight on its side and start in the middle

Go up to the left and trace the left part of the 8 with your finger while you breathe in.

When you get to the middle of the eight again, breathe out while you trace the right part of the 8 with your finger.

6 Sided Breathing

Start at the left hand side of the hexagon.

Trace your finger over the "breathe in" side as you take a deep breath in.

Hold your breath as you trace the second side of the hexagon.

Breathe out as you trace the third side of the hexagon.

Then repeat for the bottom part of the hexagon.

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

Breathe in blue sky, Breathe out gray skies.

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

Smell the soup, cool the soup or smell the hot cocoa, cool the hot cocoa

Darth Vader Breathing - Pretend you have a straw in your mouth, suck in through the straw and breathe in. Breathe out like Darth Vader.

Ocean Breathing - breathe in and imagine the wave rolling in, breathe out and imagine the wave rolling out.

Color breathing - Breathe in and imagine a calm, happy, positive color. Breathe out and imagine a color that represents stress, anxiety, etc. leaving your body.

Soft Belly - Say to yourself "soft" as you breathe in and "belly" as you breathe out.

Whale breath

Sitting criss-cross applesauce, sit up tall and take a deep breathe in, Hold it while you count to 5 with your fingers then tilt head up to blow it out of blowhole. You can also put your hands up on top of head to create the blow hole to "blow" out.

Snake Breath

Breathe in, pause briefly, then breathe out slowly while you make a hissing sound for as long as you can.

Bunny Breath

You can do this breathing either while sitting, or add movement to it.

Sitting version - make "bunny" hands in front of chest and take quick sniffs like a bunny.

Movement version - start in a squat and hop forward while taking quick bunny sniffs.

Bumblebee Breath

Breathe in and pretend you are smelling a flower. As you breathe out, make humming bee sound. Try different ways of making the sound - longer or shorter, high or low sounds.

5 - 5 - 10 breathing

Breathe in for 5, hold for 5 and breathe out for 10.

7-11 breathing

Breathe in for 7, exhale for 11.

Count to 10

Using Your Hand to Take a Deep Breath aka Mountain Breathing

Put up one hand, palm facing out and fingers spread apart. Place the index finger of your other hand at the base of your thumb and breathe in while you move your finger up one side of your thumb. Move your finger down the other side of your thumb and breathe out. Do the same thing with the remaining four fingers, and take deep breaths in and out as you move your finger. After you've reached the second side of your pinky finger, you'll have done 5 complete deep breaths.

You can also do this with a close friend or trusted adult. Have them spread their hand out and use your finger to trace their hand and do deep breaths. Or do the opposite: spread your hand out and have them use their finger and trace yours. You can do deep breaths together!

Hands to Shoulders

Sometimes you breathe from your chest instead of your belly, but it's hard to notice. This is an easy way to figure out if you are moving your chest or your belly when you're breathing. While sitting or standing, put your hands down by your sides. Then bend your arms at your elbows and place them on the front of your shoulders. Try taking a deep breath. If your shoulders are moving a lot, focus more on taking breaths using your belly.

Rainbow breathing

Arms start at the side of your body; arms go up as you breathe in and go down as you breathe out (arms make a rainbow) - Watch the video on Youtube!

Volcano Breaths

Pretend your hands and arms are like lava flowing from a volcano. Start with your hands in front of your heart, with palms touching. Keeping your hands together, reach straight up and breathe in. Separate your hands and move your arms down to your side and breathe out.

Explosion Breaths

Start in a standing position. Breathe in as you crouch down. Then, jump up, spreading your arms and legs as you breathe out.

Nostril Breathing/Cowabunga Breathing

Block one nostril, breathe in for 5, block the other nostril, breathe out for 5.

Wood Chopper Breathing

Standing tall with legs hip distance apart. Clasp hands together and raise your arms above your head. Breathe in through nose. Exhale and pull your hands down toward your legs as you say "HA" to "chop" wood
Mindful Arts in the Classroom Breathing Cards Sesame Street Belly Breathe Video

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Deep Breathing Exercises for Kids - Coping Skills for Kids

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Inside: A child therapist's favorite ways to help kids learn to take a deep breath, including quick explanations and videos of deep breathing techniques. Have you ever told a kid to take a deep breath, and then they start hyperventilating? Or they breathe in, but don't breathe out?

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Photo by David Hume Kennerly

He took my truck! She hit me! NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO BED!
It's no secret, kids can get mad...really mad. Learning to deal with feelings of frustration, anger, hurt, or disappointment can be a really big job for such a little person-but understanding how to navigate tough feelings is an essential part of growing up. Mindful breathing exercises for kids can really help with that.

That's why our early childhood educators teach mindful breathing techniques to children who might be having a no-good-terrible-really-bad day (and don't we all have bad days?). Breath work helps children build social-emotional and executive function skills: When kids use these techniques to express anger without hurting themselves (or others, or even things), they're better able to stay focused in class and build good friendships.

"Breath work is a simple-and very powerful-tool that can help young children calm themselves when big feelings arise," says Rashelle Hibbard, Manager of Teacher Preparation at KinderCare Education. "It's very empowering for a child to be able to manage their own feelings, and I'm always so proud when I see a child use breath work to center themselves."

Breathing calms children by slowing them down. Deep breathing exercises can literally slow a racing heart and help kids respond to stress in a healthier way (in fact, it works for everyone-adults, too). When hard feelings arise, try these four simple exercises to help your little one feel calmer. They're as natural as breathing! Here's how to get started:

1. Pick the Technique They Like Best

These exercises are full of imagery to harness active imaginations: think bunnies and snakes, flowers and candles. (No emptying the mind or focusing on mantras: We want kids to enjoy these exercises so that they use them!) Maybe they love hissing like a snake or they're enchanted by smelling the flowers-feel free to adopt whichever approach is most inspiring to your little one. Use whenever needed and repeat until your child feels calm (or settled down enough to talk about their feelings).

The Flower Breath: Imagine smelling a flower. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.

The Bunny Breath: Take three quick sniffs through the nose and one long exhale through the nose. (As he starts to get the hang of it, have your little bunny focus on making the exhale slower and slower.)

The Snake Breath: Inhale slowly through the nose and breathe out through the mouth with a long, slow hissing sound.

Blow Out the Candle: Imagine a birthday candle. Take in a deep breath through the nose and then exhale through the mouth to blow out the candle.

Smell the Rose/Blow Out the Candle: Combine the Flower Breath (on the inhale) with the Blow Out the Candle Breath (on the exhale), holding up your pointer finger to your nose as "you smell the rose," and drop your finger to your mouth as you "blow out the candle."

Photo by Dream Lover / Stocksy

2. Teach Breath Work Before They'll Actually Need It

Introduce these ideas when your child is happy and calm (explaining Snake Breath mid-meltdown in the grocery store is not a recipe for success).

3. Practice Makes Perfect (and Keep It Fun)

Add the exercise they like best to play time. Maybe you draw cupcakes and blow out crayon candles, or spend time hopping around the house like bunnies-explain that it's a lot of fun and that it's also a good thing to do when they're feeling bad, because it'll help them to calm down.

4. How to Use It in the Moment

When tough feelings come, help them through their favorite breathing exercise with the following steps:

Connect: Get down to their level and connect. Try looking them in the eye or gently touching their shoulder.

Name the feelings: Sometimes big feelings like anger or disappointment can feel scary (even to grown-ups!), so acknowledge their big feelings to help them understand what's happening. Try something like, "You look like you're really upset," or "You seem angry that your brother took your toy."

Find a quiet space: Whether it's a cozy spot in their bedroom or a café corner, a quiet space lets them step away from the situation and gives them a little bit of privacy to gather themselves and calm down.

Breathe together: Start doing the breathing exercise together. Help them by talking through each step: "Let's blow out some birthday candles. Breathe in...and...out. Let's do another one."

Give them a comforting cuddle (if they're ready): Some kids welcome a hug, but others may need a moment to settle down-follow your child's cues and your own instincts.

Photo by Maahoo Studio / Stocksy

5. Model Mindful Breathing Yourself

When you get angry or frustrated, try taking deep breaths-or use any of the techniques above. Explain what you're doing simply by saying, "I am feeling really angry right now. I'm going to take some deep breaths to help me calm down before we talk more about this." Your child is a keen observer, and when they see you using breathing to calm yourself, they'll learn that this is a good way to manage big feelings.

It may take a little time, but eventually they'll be able to do this all by themselves-and they may even start reminding you to breathe like a bunny when your temper wears thin in traffic!

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Take a Breath: 5 Deep Breathing Exercises that Help Kids Get Calm

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He took my truck! She hit me! NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO BED! It's no secret, kids can get mad...really mad. Learning to deal with feelings of frustration, anger, hurt, or disappointment can be a really big job for such a little person-but understanding how to navigate tough feelings is an essential part of growing up.

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This week, we are continuing my Behavior Strategies Series where I focus on the 4 main functions of behavior and what you can do to prevent them from taking over your classroom.

In last week's blog, I put the spotlight on Strategies for Power and Control behaviors. You can read the blog post.

Today, I am targeting AVOIDANCE BEHAVIORS.

Students who misbehave for avoidance can be loud and rebellious or quiet and defiant.

Either way, they are willing to disregard the rules or be disobedient in order to avoid an upcoming situation or interaction.

I had a student who routinely walked out of the cafeteria every afternoon, right before the next class. He would run around hiding from security for most of the period. By the time they returned him to my classroom, he was agitated and itching to find a way out again. So he would begin calling out and bothering his peers, hoping that I would call for him to be removed.

After some observation and data review, we discovered that this student had a major math anxiety, which was the subject right after lunch. He engaged in all of this negative, disruptive behavior because he was trying to avoid math class.

Once I was aware of the function of his behavior, I implemented a few strategies such as making a behavior contract, modifying his assignment and building his confidence. In three days, we were able to get the student to stop leaving cafeteria and attend class daily for the rest of the school year.

How did we do that?

By using the information below to get a better understanding of avoidance behaviors and choose strategies that not only address the function but also worked for my class management style and environment.

Are you ready to get equipped for the avoidance behaviors in your classroom? Let's begin!

Function #2: Avoidance

The Characteristics

Some of the attributes of students motivated by avoidance are:

Not willing to try anything new- When faced with something new or a concept they do not immediately grasp, they are resistant to move forward.

Refuses to start the work or go to designated area- If they are disobeying a direction to move or begin, there may be something they are trying to stay away from.

Will demonstrate behavior right before non-preferred activity- They choose to engage in behaviors at around the same time or prior to similar activities avoid participating in the activity.

Procrastination- They are constantly trying to find other things to do instead.

The Student's Goal

For the most part, this student has one main goal:

To avoid a situation, an activity or a person(s)

Possible Reasons for this Behavior

Habit : This is what they have always done, so why change now.

Fear: They are afraid of what will happen or how they will look to others.

Anxiety: Just thinking about the situation causes nervous feelings within.

Negative history:The student had a bad experience with that situation, activity or person, and they are not looking forward to having that experience again.

How this Affects your Classroom

Other students may get distracted by the behaviors.

Students may begin to copy the avoidance behaviors.

The avoiding student will get behind academically.

Strategies for the Student

Build confidence- Let them know that they have the ability to learn. Make a visual chart so that they can keep track of their past accomplishments.

Modify instruction- Reduce what is expected temporarily. Break things down into bite size pieces.

Provide extra support- Give them one-on-one or small group support if needed. Advance organizers can be helpful as well.

Positive self-talk- Create an affirmation page or wall that your students can use to speak positive statements about themselves.

Make your class a safe place to make mistakes- Create a culture in your class where 'not trying' is what should be avoided- instead of mistakes.

Reinforce/praise the little steps- Give encouragement along the way, as they move towards the finish line.

Pair preferred with non-preferred- To help your students face doing something they would rather misbehave to avoid, allow them to do a preferred activity in conjunction or immediately after their non-preferred activity. It adds instant motivation. [Example: music while working]

Strategies for You

Pay attention to the patterns - Observe the timing of the behavior, so that you can see what or whom they are trying to avoid.

Think outside the box- Addressing this behavior may take some creative thinking just to get the student started. But once you get them rolling, it's so much easier to make progress.

Your main role in helping students with avoidance behaviors is to help them face their fears while building their confidence. It can be challenging, but the end result is so worth it. As your students begin to see more and more success, their avoidance behaviors will reduce significantly!

If you need step-by-step support and guidance with avoidance behaviors in your classroom, schedule your FREE coaching call today.

Did you miss the blog post on strategies for Power & Control behaviors? Clickto read more!

You can also send me a question via my contact page or

via email: michele@feedtheirneeds.com.

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Strategies for Avoidance Behaviors - Feed Their Needs

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This week, we are continuing my Behavior Strategies Series where I focus on the 4 main functions of behavior and what you can do to prevent them from taking over your classroom. In last week's blog, I put the spotlight on Strategies for Power and Control behaviors.

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Strategies for Students who Experience Avoidnce

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Strategies for Students who Experience Avoidnce

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October 2010 | Volume 68 | Number 2
Interventions That Work Pages 46-51

R. Marc A. Crundwell and Kim Killu

Rita's story illustrates the essential features of clinical depression in children and adolescents: a persistent sad or irritable mood, loss of energy, decreased interest in daily activities or previously enjoyed activities, persistent feelings of worthlessness or guilt, withdrawal, and, possibly, recurrent thoughts of suicide. Children and adolescents with depression may also show appetite changes resulting in weight gain or loss, disturbed sleep patterns, increased defiance or oppositional behavior, and impaired concentration.

Recognizing Rita

Although depression is classified as an adult disorder-and depression in very young children is rare-middle to late adolescence is the most common age when symptoms first appear or a first major depressive episode happens (Burke, Burke, Regier, & Rae, 1990). Lewinsohn, Hops, Roberts, Seeley, and Andrews (1993) randomly sampled adolescents within a U.S. community and discovered that the average age of onset of major depression was 14. Sadly, the earlier the onset of depression in children and adolescents, the more protracted and severe the course of the disorder usually is (Kovacs, Feinberg, Crouse-Novak, Paulauskas, & Finkelstein, 1984).

As Figure 1 (p. 48) illustrates, research and clinical experience show that depression manifests itself differently in children than in adolescents in terms of what teachers see in the classroom (Kashani, Rosenberg, & Reid, 1989).

Figure 1. Characteristics of Depression in Children and Adolescents

When depression is recognized early and when professionals provide treatment, young people can experience improved mood and function better in school and life. Thus, the stakes are high. School personnel play a pivotal role in identifying depression-and intervening. Teachers, administrators, and other school staff must also be knowledgeable about depression because the disorder can seriously impair academic and interpersonal behavior at school (Hammen & Rudolph, 2003).

Depression is significantly correlated with poor academic grades, and students with higher ratings of depression are less likely to graduate from high school (Forehand, Brody, Long, & Fauber, 1988). Cognitive issues may include low tolerance for frustration and negative patterns of thinking. Depressed students often give up more quickly on tasks they perceive as daunting, refuse to attempt academic work they find too difficult, and quickly doubt their ability to independently complete academic tasks or solve problems. Memory, speech, physical and motor activity, and the ability to plan may also be affected. Many depressed children and adolescents are lethargic, speak laboriously, and have difficulty completely expressing thoughts and ideas.

Rita's case illustrates three other issues with regard to recognizing depression. First, the essential features of depression are as recognizable in youth as they are in adults, and the same diagnostic criteria are used for both age groups (Mitchell, McCauley, Burke, & Moss, 1988). Second, irritability is more common in depressed youth than in depressed adults. Third, teachers often overlook children with depression because symptoms like a sad mood or fatigue are more internal and subjective than the kinds of disruptive behavior shown by kids with more externalizing disorders, such as attention deficit disorder. Depressed young people often don't ask for help at school because of negative thinking patterns: No one cares about my feelings, nothing can be done to help me, and so on (Cash, 2003). Younger students often lack the necessary language skills and self-awareness to report-or recognize-their own depressed state.

Helping Students with Depression

Because depression can have broad negative effects on students' academic work and comfort in school, schools need to provide a variety of accommodations and instructional strategies to increase these students' success. Figure 2 (p. 50) shows strategies that can benefit children and adolescents battling depression.

Figure 2. Strategies to Help Students with Depression

Give frequent feedback on academic, social, and behavioral performance.

Teach the student how to set goals and self-monitor.

Teach problem-solving skills.

Coach the student in ways to organize, plan, and execute tasks demanded daily or weekly in school.

Develop modifications and accommodations to respond to the student's fluctuations in mood, ability to concentrate, or side effects of medication. Assign one individual to serve as a primary contact and coordinate interventions.

Give the student opportunities to engage in social interactions.

Frequently monitor whether the student has suicidal thoughts.

Develop a home-school communication system to share information on the student's academic, social, and emotional behavior and any developments concerning medication or side effects.

The best approach is often individualized. Here we describe an approach school personnel might use to help Rita.

As Rita's teacher Mrs. Shannon became worried about her, she shared her concerns with Rita's parents. They were relieved that the school had contacted them and were encouraged by the school's willingness to collaborate with them to address Rita's downward spiral and make decisions about ways to help her. With their cooperation, Mrs. Shannon and the school's guidance counselor brought together a team to provide interventions for Rita. This team brought in the school psychologist, who first strongly recommended that Rita's family physician evaluate her to determine whether further referral to a child psychiatrist was appropriate.

The school's intervention team, the school psychologist, and Rita's parents together developed an individualized plan of accommodations and instructional strategies to help Rita cope. After determining some appropriate interventions, the team met with Rita to discuss these possibilities and get her feedback; they knew this would increase the chance she would buy in. All the players involved agreed to meet monthly to review Rita's response to the interventions, ensure that their actions were helping her, and make any modifications needed.

Establish a Touchstone Teacher

Rita and a teacher from the resource room in her school, Ms. Hunt, began meeting weekly to help Rita develop specific goals for how she could manage better academically, socially, and in terms of behavior. Ms. Hunt was chosen because, as a resource teacher, she had flexibility to meet with Rita and could coordinate services with all of Rita's teachers. They met each Monday morning to review any work that Rita completed over the weekend and to set goals, targeting four areas in which depression typically affects students most strongly: work completion, work submission, social interactions, and physical activity.

The team considered it important that Rita take an active role in setting and achieving goals. This would help her learn self-management skills, which would later serve her in managing her depressive symptoms, accomplishing difficult tasks, and achieving personal goals (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). On Fridays, Rita again met with Ms. Hunt to review the week's progress toward her goals and discuss any assignments for the weekend. She also informally checked in with Ms. Hunt before lunch and at the end of most days.

Ms. Hunt became a nonthreatening liaison between Rita and her other teachers. Rita's teachers met weekly with this resource teacher to communicate clear guidelines and expectations for Rita's coursework. Thus, Ms. Hunt could help Rita coordinate her work across subjects and follow through on a self-management checklist of in-class assignments. Getting kids to use such self-monitoring tools has been found to improve on-task behavior in the classroom (Wood, Murdock, Cronin, Dawson, & Kirby, 1998); homework completion (Trammel, Schloss, & Alper, 1994); and academic performance (Wolfe, Heron, & Goddard, 2000).

As a result of their fluctuating moods, depressed students often have difficulties organizing work and persisting. Proactive strategies like monitoring progress and providing frequent feedback on whether students are meeting teachers' expectations are essential.

Teach Study Strategies

Rita's classroom teachers monitored her mood and energy level closely, periodically giving her a short break when her energy appeared to flag or her frustration peaked. They developed a system for Rita to initiate a break on her own. She moved to a quiet area of the classroom or left class to sit in the school counselor's office for 10 minutes; after this break, Rita returned to the task at hand.

The school considered the impact of side effects from Rita's antidepressant medications. Rita was allowed to keep water or juice on her desk to combat "dry mouth." She was seated close to the door in each class and given permission to leave the room quietly as needed to use the restroom.

Instructors also broke Rita's schoolwork into discrete tasks and helped her develop and manage a time line for when to complete each task based on her mood and energy levels. This enabled Rita's teachers to shorten or modify work. Teaching students with depression to recognize their typical mood and energy fluctuations throughout the day and take a break before returning to the task at hand increases their self-management.

Students with depression often find studying for tests a struggle because their disorder hampers independent study and concentration. Rita was given access to recorded class lectures that she could review outside class to assist her with taking notes and organizing class material to focus on relevant information. Teachers coached Rita in learning and study strategies to increase her independence in the classroom, including making outlines, doing conceptual mapping, and using mnemonic devices (memory skills can be dulled by depression [Brigham & Brigham, 2001]). Depressed students benefit from teacher-developed study guides for tests that enable them to focus on the most important material.

Within the general education classroom, Rita's teachers integrated specific interventions into the classroom routine. Typically, after the class started doing individual work, the classroom teacher would review with Rita the assignment and expectations. Throughout class, the teacher would frequently check on Rita's progress and give feedback on her performance. At the end of class, she would review Rita's work and provide her with any necessary materials or help she needed to complete the task.

Promote Social Interaction

Students suffering from depression often experience social difficulties and problems maintaining friendships as a result of mood fluctuations and their tendency to perceive relationships and interactions negatively. To foster an accepting, social environment for Rita, her teachers included cooperative group activities in the classroom and carefully selected whom to place in Rita's groups to increase the likelihood she would enjoy some positive interactions. Group work also let her share cognitive responsibilities, alleviating the stress depressed learners often feel about engaging in and completing learning demands independently (Perkins, 1993). Rita's teachers monitored her peer interactions and contribution to the group to ensure that she was participating.

Because students with depression often stop attending group activities they previously found engaging and view interactions with others negatively, it's important to intervene and schedule activities for these youth. Rita's parents and school staff collaborated to enroll her in an after-school program that focused on teaching social skills, and they arranged for individual counseling with the school psychologist. They worked to ensure that Rita took part in physical activity for a short period every day.

Communicate with the Student's Family

Brentwood School developed a home-school communication and tracking system that facilitated better communication between the school and Rita's family. Such communication systems increase depressed learners' participation in school activities by drawing on their personal experiences, letting parents know about classroom events and deadlines, offering a venue for problem solving, and reporting on progress (Davern, 2004).

Ms. Hunt noted Rita's daily progress toward goals and provided feedback on her mood and interactions through a home-school communication notebook. This notebook also enabled the family to keep Brentwood up-to-date on events at home, Rita's treatment, and other helpful information.

Confront the Issue of Suicide

Because Rita had mentioned suicide, it was imperative that school personnel monitor her suicidal thoughts or intentions. For many students, it's important to develop a "no-suicide contract"-an agreement between student and school in which a student promises that if he or she experiences suicidal impulses, the student will inform a health care professional, family member, or teacher rather than engage in self-injurious behavior. In Rita's case, Rita, her parents, and Ms. Hunt signed a contract that indicated the key people Rita should go to if she experienced such thoughts and the procedures and process that would be followed. If Rita told school personnel she was having suicidal thoughts, they would immediately contact Rita's parents, and her parents would take her to an emergency room for a psychiatric evaluation.

Replicating This Approach

Rita's case study reflects an ideal approach in a school where high levels of collaboration exist. Although many schools have worked hard to become more collaborative in their approach to working with students like Rita, in many places teachers will not find this level of support and collaboration. Teachers who find themselves in a school with less support and collaboration may not be able to implement as complete an approach as that discussed here, but they could implement many of the strategies noted.

For example, any teacher could initiate Monday morning meetings with a student struggling with a mood disorder to discuss the coming week, develop goals, and talk over how the student might keep up social interactions. A classroom teacher could support a student like Rita by providing a list of daily in-class assignments, coaching the student in organizing and initiating these tasks, and setting up a schedule to monitor progress and provide frequent feedback. Any teacher who sees one of her students facing mood fluctuations like Rita's could make task-by-task accommodations or modifications to meet that learner halfway, supply the kind of study supports discussed, and flexibly provide intermittent breaks throughout the day.

Depression in children and adolescents has significant implications for students' academic, behavioral, social, and physical well-being. School personnel must educate themselves on the characteristics and effects of depression, so they can provide the most effective interventions. Educators are responsible for not only meeting the academic needs of depressed students, but also ensuring their safety and welfare.

References

Brigham, R., & Brigham, M. (2001). Current practice alerts: Mnemonic instruction. Reston, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.

Burke, K. C., Burke, J. D., Regier, D. A., & Rae, D. S. (1990). Age at onset of selected mental disorders in five community populations. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 511-518.

Cash, R. E. (2003). When it hurts to be a teenager. Principal Leadership, 4(2), 11-15.

Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2007). Applied Behavior Analysis (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Davern, L. (2004). School-to-home notebooks: What parents have to say. Teaching Exceptional Children, 36(56), 22-27.

Forehand, R., Brody, G. H., Long, N., & Fauber, R. (1988). The interactive influence of adolescent and maternal depression on adolescent social and cognitive functioning. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 12, 341-350.

Hammen, C., & Rudolph, K. D. (2003). Childhood depression. In E. Mash & R. Barkley (Eds.), Childhood psychopathology (pp. 153-195). New York: Guilford Press.

Kashani, J., Rosenberg, T., & Reid, J. (1989). Developmental perspectives in child and adolescent depressive symptoms in a community sample. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 871-875.

Kovacs, M., Feinberg, T. L., Crouse-Novak, M. A., Paulauskas, S. L., & Finkelstein, R. (1984). Depressive disorders in childhood: I. A longitudinal prospective study of characteristics and recovery. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 229-237.

Lewinsohn, P. M., Hops, H., Roberts, R. E., Seeley, J. R., & Andrews, J. A. (1993). Adolescent psychopathology: I. Prevalence and incidence of depression and other DSM-III-R disorders in high school students. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102, 133-144.

Mitchell, J., McCauley, E., Burke, P. M., & Moss, S. J. (1988). Phenomenology of depression in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 12-20.

Perkins, D. N. (1993). Person plus: A distributed view of thinking and learning. In G. Salmon (Ed.), Distributed cognition: Psychological and educational considerations (pp. 88-110). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Trammel, D. L., Schloss, P. J., & Alper, S. (1994). Using self-recording, evaluation, and graphing to increase completion of homework assignments. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27, 75-81.

Wolfe, L. H., Heron, T. E., & Goddard, Y. I. (2000). Effects of self-monitoring on the on-task behavior and written language performance of elementary students with learning disabilities. Journal of Behavioral Education, 10, 49-73.

Wood, S. J., Murdock, J. Y., Cronin, M. E., Dawson, N. M., & Kirby, P. C. (1998). Effects of self-monitoring on on-task behaviors of at-risk middle school students. Journal of Behavioral Education, 9, 263-279.

Author's note: All names are pseudonyms.

R. Marc A. Crundwell is a school psychologist with Greater Essex County District School Board, Windsor, Ontario, Canada; marc.crundwell@gecsb.on.ca. Kim Killu is associate professor of special education, School of Education, University of Michigan-Dearborn; kimkillu@umd.umich.edu.

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October 2010 | Volume 68 | Number 2 Interventions That Work Pages 46-51 R. Marc A. Crundwell and Kim Killu Rita's story illustrates the essential features of clinical depression in children and adolescents: a persistent sad or irritable mood, loss of energy, decreased interest in daily activities or previously enjoyed activities, persistent feelings of worthlessness or guilt, withdrawal, and, possibly, recurrent thoughts of suicide.

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Educators Can Take Action To Help Fight Depression

So what can educators do to support students who are struggling with depression? Although serious depression may require external professional help, support can be provided in the school setting.

Depression is Not a Choice; Depressed Students Want to Succeed Too

First, remember that depressed children are not choosing to underperform or withdraw. They want to be successful and often are seeking guidance and support from teachers and others, but lack the ability to articulate their needs.

Learning How to Address Depression as a Teacher

Understandably, educators without significant mental health backgrounds may feel uncertain and uncomfortable approaching and interacting with students with depression; though all educators should remember that providing support and compassion does not necessitate training in therapy or counseling.

6 Actionable Steps To Help Students with Depression

1. Develop a Working and Collaborative Relationship with the Student

Do not be afraid to talk with students with depression about how they feel. In fact, saying nothing says a lot, and asking about how they feel will almost never cause harm.

Many times, they are seeking someone who cares about them and can recognize their pain without them having to seek help on their own, although it might not seem that way. Above all, don't give up on them!

2. Avoid Negative Techniques

Strategies such as punishment, sarcasm, disparagement, passive-aggression, or other negative techniques are ineffective and likely will only reinforce feelings of incompetence and low self-esteem, which may worsen the symptoms of depression.

Remember that these students are not choosing to be depressed.

They want to feel better and do well, just as you want them to do well. When depressed, students lack the personal resources to do their best work and overcome their challenges.

3. Make Adjustments or Accommodations in Assignments or Tasks

Do not lower expectations or give unearned grades. However, educatiors can give more time, break assignments into smaller pieces, offer extra help in setting up schedules or study habits, provide flexibility in assignment schedules, or pair the student with others who express an interest in helping as part of a range of classroom adjustments.

4. Plan for Success

To the extent possible, arrange experiences so that the student can be successful and receive recognition for successes. Scheduling pleasant activities and providing opportunities for successful leadership are examples. It is very important that depressed students feel accepted as a part of the school and that teachers believe in their competence.

5. Consult With Your School Psychologist, School Counselor, or School Social Worker

School-employed mental health personnel can provide suggestions of ways to support specific students, either through consultation, direct services, or collaborating with the family or other community agencies.

The world is changing quickly, and so is the research on depression and other neuro-cognitive disorders. A mental health certification through IBCCES will show you how to apply the latest research in the classroom with evidence based research and treatment. This helps educators to feel more comfortable addressing mental health disorders in students (which about 1 in 5 struggle with) and helps students to get the care they need to succeed.

Depression can impact many aspects of a student's performance at school, including both academic achievement and social relationships.

While students with depression can benefit significantly from mental health services, they can also greatly benefit from support by caring adults in their school settings that they interact with on a daily basis.

Understanding, patience, compassion, knowledge of the nature and course of depression, a desire to help, and a commitment to improving outcomes can be major factors in helping students with depression to succeed in school and life.

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6 Ways Teachers Can Help Fight Depression and Mental Health Disorders

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Depression has affected more than 10 percent of teenagers in the last year, yet most educators are not prepared to help students deal with depression.

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Tier I Interventions for Sadness/Depression

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Moline School District 40 serves elementary through high school students in Moline, IL.

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Evidence of effectiveness in the topics selected above. A colored icon with a box indicates positive or potentially positive effects on outcomes for that topic. A grey icon with no box indicates a lack of positive effects. By default, results are sorted by this column, based on the amount of evidence. For details on the sort logic please see the FAQs

An educational program, product, practice, or policy aimed at improving student outcomes.

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The indicator represents the highest level of similarity found between your students and each of the high-quality studies of the intervention. Three filled in ovals indicates that at least one study that met standards was conducted on students very similar to yours.

Select interventions to compare side-by-side to see details on the intervention and its effectiveness across different outcome domains.

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Back Behavior Postsecondary Evidence of effectiveness in the topics selected above. A colored icon with a box indicates positive or potentially positive effects on outcomes for that topic. A grey icon with no box indicates a lack of positive effects. By default, results are sorted by this column, based on the amount of evidence.

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This intervention promotes the acquisition of math facts. The student is given a sheet containing math facts to practice. The student studies each math fact with answer that appears on the sheet, covers the fact briefly and copies it from memory, then compares the student-copied math fact and answer to the original correct model (Joseph et al., 2011; Skinner, McLaughlin & Logan, 1997).
Materials:
Procedures: Here are the steps of Cover-Copy-Compare for math facts:

STEP 1: [Teacher] Create a Cover-Copy-Compare math fact sheet. The teacher selects up to 10 math facts for the student to practice during the session and writes those facts (including number sentence and answer) as correct models into the left column of the Cover-Copy-Compare Worksheet ( horizontal or vertical poblems). The teacher then pre-folds the sheet using as a guide the vertical dashed line ('fold line') dividing the left side of the student worksheet.

STEP 2: [Student] Use the Cover-Copy-Compare procedures. During the Cover-Copy-Compare intervention, the student is trained to follow these self-directed steps for each math fact:

Study the correctly completed math fact (model) that appears in the left column of the sheet.

Fold the left side of the page over at the pre-folded vertical crease to hide the original math fact ('Cover').

Copy from memory the math fact and answer, writing it in the first response blank under the 'Student Response' section of the Cover-Copy-Compare worksheet ('Copy').

Uncover the original correct model and compare it to the student response ('Compare'). If the student has written the math fact and answer CORRECTLY, the student moves to the next item on the list and repeats these procedures. If the student has written the math fact INCORRECTLY, the student draws a line through the incorrect response, studies the correct model again, covers the model, copies the model again from memory into the second response blank under the 'Student Response' section of the sheet, and again checks the correctness of the copied item..

Continue until all math facts on the sheet have been copied and checked against the correct models.

STEP 3: [Teacher] Log: items mastered by the student. The teacher should formulate an objective standard for judging that the student using Cover-Copy-Compare has 'mastered' a particular math fact (e.g., when the student is able to copy that fact with answer from memory without error on three successive occasions). The teacher can then apply this standard for mastery to identify and log items mastered in each session, using the appropriate Cover-Copy-Compare Log Sheet.

Variations: One modification of Cover-Copy-Compare that may make it even more effective is to have the student respond orally. The student covers the original math fact and orally states the fact and answer rather than putting it in writing (Skinner, Bamberg, Smith, & Powell, 1993). Because students can often respond more quickly by stating rather than writing their response, oral responding can speed the task and result in a larger number of effective learning trials in the time allocated.

References

Joseph, L. M., Konrad, M., Cates, G., Vajcner, T., Eveleigh, E., & Fishley, K. M. (2011). A meta-analytic review of the cover-copy-compare and variations of this self-management procedure. Psychology in the Schools, 49(2), 122-136.

Skinner, C. H., Bamberg, H. W., Smith, E. S., & Powell, S. S. (1993). Cognitive cover, copy, and compare: Subvocal responding to increase rates of accurate division responding. Remedial and Special Education, 14(1), 49-56.

Skinner, C. H., McLaughlin, T. F., & Logan, P. (1997). Cover, copy, and compare: A self-managed academic intervention effective across skills, students, and settings. Journal of Behavioral Education, 7, 295-306.

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This intervention promotes the acquisition of math facts. The student is given a sheet containing math facts to practice. The student studies each math fact with answer that appears on the sheet, covers the fact briefly and copies it from memory, then compares the student-copied math fact and answer to the original correct model (Joseph et al., 2011; Skinner, McLaughlin & Logan, 1997).

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Students can improve both their accuracy and fluency on math computation worksheets by independently self-monitoring their computation speed, charting their daily progress, and earning rewards for improved performance.

Materials

Steps to Implementing This Intervention

In preparation for this intervention:

the teacher selects one or more computation problem types that the student needs to practice. Using that set of problem types as a guide, the teacher creates a number of standardized worksheets with similar items to be used across multiple instructional days. (A Math Worksheet Generator that will create these worksheets automatically can be accessed at http://www.interventioncentral.org).

The teacher prepares a progress-monitoring chart. The vertical axis of the chart extends from 0 to 100 and is labeled 'Correct Digits' The horizontal axis of the chart is labeled 'Date'.

The teacher creates a menu of rewards that the student can choose from on a given day if the student was able to exceed his or her previously posted computation fluency score.

At the start of the intervention, the teacher meets with the student. The teacher shows the student a sample math computation worksheet and answer key. The teacher tells the student that the student will have the opportunity to complete similar math worksheets as time drills and chart the results. The student is told that he or she will win a reward on any day when the student's number of correctly computed digits on the worksheet exceeds that of the previous day.

During each day of the intervention:

1. The student is given one of the math computation worksheets previously created by the teacher, along with an answer key. The student first consults his or her progress-monitoring chart and notes the most recent charted computation fluency score previously posted. The student is encouraged to try to exceed that score.

2. When the intervention session starts, the student is given a pre-selected amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes) to complete as many problems on the computation worksheet as possible. The student sets a timer for the allocated time and works on the computation sheet until the timer rings.

3. The student then uses the answer key to check his or her work, giving credit for each correct digit in an answer. (A 'correct digits' is defined as a digit of the correct value that appears in the correct place-value location in an answer. In this scoring method, students can get partial credit even if some of the digits in an answer are correct and some are incorrect.).

4. The student plots his or her computational fluency score on the progress-monitoring chart and writes the current date at the bottom of the chart below the plotted data point. The student is allowed to select a choice from the reward menu if he or she exceeds the most recent, previously posted fluency score.

References

Bennett, K., & Cavanaugh, R. A. (1998). Effects of immediate self-correction, delayed self-correction, and no correction on the acquisition and maintenance of multiplication facts by a fourth-grade student with learning disabilities. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 31, 303-306.

Shimabukuro, S. M., Prater, M. A., Jenkins, A., & Edelen-Smith, P. (1999). The effects of self-monitoring of academic performance on students with learning disabilities and ADD/ADHD. Education and Treatment of Children, 22, 397-414.

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Math Computation: Increase Accuracy and Productivity Rates Via Self-Monitoring and Performance Feedback

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Students can improve both their accuracy and fluency on math computation worksheets by independently self-monitoring their computation speed, charting their daily progress, and earning rewards for improved performance. In preparation for this intervention: the teacher selects one or more computation problem types that the student needs to practice.

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Good reading comprehension requires that students monitor their understanding while reading a passage. At the point of performance--when a student picks up a text and prepares to read--there are 3 crucial phases that improve comprehension (Pressley & Wharton-McDonald,1997): pre-reading (the reader creates a reading plan), reading (the reader monitors his or her understanding of the text while reading and applies strategies to clarify understanding of the text), and post-reading (the reader continues to think about the passage after reading and encode key details into long-term memory).

Poor readers often lack the skills to effectively monitor their comprehension of assigned passages and apply fix-up skills when needed. One means to help students to develop these self-monitoring skills is to teach them a cognitive strategy : ART: Ask-Read-Tell (McCallum et al., 2010). Whenever the student is assigned a challenging passage, he or she is trained to apply a 3-step ART sequence, which maps to the pre-reading/reading/post-reading timeline:

1. ASK: Before reading the text, the student looks over the title of the passage, asks what the topic is likely to be, considers what he or she already knows about that topic, and generates 2 questions that the student hopes to answer through reading.

2. READ: While reading, the student stops after each paragraph to query whether he or she has adequately understood that section of the passage and, if necessary, applies comprehension fix-up skills.

3. TELL: After reading, the student attempts to answer the 2 questions posed earlier based on the content just read. Finally, the student meets with a peer partner, and participants tell each other what questions and answers they produced.

Preparation. In preparation for each ART session, the teacher:

Procedures. This intervention is student-directed. A full explanation of the ART steps can be found in the attached ASK-READ-TELL (ART): Student Worksheet. When using the ASK-READ-TELL strategy, the teacher:

1. hands out the reading passage.

2. directs students to read the passage independently (either in-class or as a take-home assignment).

3. instructs students to complete the pre-reading, reading, and post-reading sections of theASK-READ-TELL (ART): Student Worksheet as part of the reading assignment.

4. pairs students off after the assignment to compare the questions and answers that each generated from the assigned passage.

Training. The ASK-READ-TELL strategy is simple to use. However, the teacher should ensure that students are trained in the proper use of this strategy, beginning with teacher demonstration and moving to group practice with instructor feedback before students are directed to use ASK-READ-TELL independently.

References

McCallum, R. S., Krohn, K. R., Skinner, C. H., Hilton-Prillhart, A., Hopkins, M. Waller, S., & Polite, F. (2010). Improving reading comprehension of at-risk high-school students: The art of reading program. Psychology in the Schools, 48(1), 78-86.

Pressley, M., & Wharton-McDonald, R. (1997). Skilled comprehension and its development through instruction. School Psychology Review, 26(3), 448-467.

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How To: Improve Reading Comprehension With a Cognitive Strategy: Ask-Read-Tell

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Good reading comprehension requires that students monitor their understanding while reading a passage. At the point of performance--when a student picks up a text and prepares to read--there are 3 crucial phases that improve comprehension (Pressley & Wharton-McDonald,1997): pre-reading (the reader creates a reading plan), reading (the reader monitors his or her understanding of the text while reading and applies strategies to clarify understanding of the text), and post-reading (the reader continues to think about the passage after reading and encode key details into long-term memory).

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Students who lack an efficient strategy for note-taking can miss important lecture information, fail to make meaningful connections between facts and ideas being shared, and overlook critical new vocabulary terms. Strategic note-taking (Boyle, 2013) primes students to more fully understand lecture content through activating prior knowledge of the topic, monitoring teacher cues that mark key points to be included in notes, recording novel vocabulary items, and pondering interconnections between lecture points.

Materials. To use strategic note-taking, the student will require:

Strategic Note-Taking: Worksheet. The student uses this 3-page set of forms to record lecture notes. (NOTE: The student should have sufficient copies of the second/middle of the worksheet to capture all lecture notes. )

Procedure. At the start of a lecture, the student uses the Strategic Note-Taking: Worksheet as a graphic organizer to accomplish the following steps and tasks:

Activate prior knowledge. The student opens the session by recording the lecture topic and jotting down those facts, ideas, or concepts associated with the topic that the student can retrieve from memory.

Record key lecture points. During lecture, the student monitors the teacher's presentation for two types of cues that serve as markers for significant content: (1) 'importance' cues: e.g., "This is a really crucial fact..."; (2) Numeric cues: e.g., "The fourth reason for economic decline in during the Great Depression was..." When the student observes an importance or numeric cue, the student writes down the associated lecture point and any supporting details. NOTE: The student is recording 3-5 main points per notes page.

Flag new vocabulary. When unfamiliar vocabulary terms appear in the lecture, the student writes those terms in the appropriate space on the worksheet for later study.

Make connections between lecture points. When a note-taking sheet is filled, the student takes a moment to describe the relationship between key lecture points before advancing to a new sheet. NOTE: To keep this operation brief and manageable, the student performs the 'connections' step after every 3-5 new lecture points.

Conclude note-taking by summarizing main points. At the conclusion of the lecture, the student skims the notes and sums up the 5 most important points--as a way to imprint in memory the main ideas of the lecture.

Training. Students will need at least 2 training sessions to use strategic note-taking effectively (Boyle, 2013). When presenting this strategy, the teacher should follow a direct-instruction format (Burns, VanDerHeyden, & Boice, 2008):

1. the instructor demonstrates and models the note-taking strategy;

2. students are paired off to use the strategy and provide peer feedback while observing a live or video lecture;

3. students use the strategy independently with the teacher occasionally reviewing and providing feedback about the quality of their notes.

References

Boyle, J. R. (2013). Strategic note-taking for inclusive middle school science classrooms. Remedial and Special Education, 34(2), 78-90.

Boyle, J. R., & Weishaar, M. (2001). The effects of strategic notetaking on the recall and comprehension of lecture information for high school students with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 16(3), 133-141.

Burns, M. K., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Boice, C. H. (2008). Best practices in intensive academic interventions. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.1151-1162). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

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How To: Take Effective Class Notes: Strategic Note-Taking

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Students who lack an efficient strategy for note-taking can miss important lecture information, fail to make meaningful connections between facts and ideas being shared, and overlook critical new vocabulary terms. Strategic note-taking (Boyle, 2013) primes students to more fully understand lecture content through activating prior knowledge of the topic, monitoring teacher cues that mark key points to be included in notes, recording novel vocabulary items, and pondering interconnections between lecture points.

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Steps in Implementing This Intervention:

Students often benefit in unexpected ways from explicit instruction in improving their study skills. Research has shown that students with behavioral difficulties and academic deficits can show improvements in both behavior and learning when taught strategies to study and absorb information more efficiently. Students' self-esteem and self-esteem can also increase, as they acquire the capabilities to manage their own learning program.

This intervention plan outlines a 3-strategy package for helping students to (1) organize an assignment notebook, (2) maintain a calendar of school assignments, and (3) prepare neatly formatted papers (Gleason, Colvin, & Archer, 1991).

Notebook/Organization Folder

Students must learn how to manage the substantial paperflow that is generated by their in-class and homework assignments. For example, students are expected at an early age to carry assignment handouts between classes or take them home, to save corrected quizzes or tests for future review, and to maintain collections of drafts as they write a paper.

There are many methods for organizing student papers, and all will probably benefit students. One sample organization system that teachers may find helpful, particularly with younger children, is to assign the student two folders.

School Folder. The first folder is used to store classroom papers. The left pocket of the folder is labeled "School Work" while the right pocket is labeled "Paper".

Home Folder. The second folder is for materials that the student is to take home. The left pocket of the Home folder is labeled "To Be Left at Home" while the right pocket is labeled "To Be Returned to School."

Students will need to be trained to use their School and Home folders to manage their paperflow. As a teacher, you will probably first have students practice organizing their papers under your guidance, giving children encouragement and appropriate feedback about how well they accomplish this goal. Students may initially need to be coached, for instance, to immediately store new in-school handouts in the appropriate pocket of the classroom folder. Similarly, you might hand students a mixed group of papers (some of which are to stay at home and others that are to be reviewed by parents and returned to school) and ask students to sort the papers into the appropriate pockets of their take-home folder. When first introducing the folder system, you will also want to monitor students' success in keeping their current classroom assignments organized or in returning papers from home.

Note: Any alternative notebook or folder organizational system can be substituted for the two-folders approach outlined here, so long as it follows a similar plan.

Assignment Calendar

Along with keeping their work organized, students must manage their time efficiently to make sure that they complete and turn in all assignments by their due dates. As students advance to higher grades, their assignments become more complex. Before turning in a final paper, for example, a middle school student may be required to select and research a topic, summarize that research on note-cards, and write several intermediate drafts of the report.

Students can be much more efficient managers of their work time when they record all assignments on a weekly or monthly assignment calendar. The teacher gives students a blank work calendar that spans several instructional weeks or even the entire school year. The calendar contains blanks for each instructional day that are large enough for students to write in a range of information relating to school work, including:

pertinent homework assignments

dates of upcoming quizzes and tests

long-term assignments (e.g., science projects; research papers).

To use an assignment calendar competently, the student must be able to identify the current date and day of the week, find dates reliably on a calendar, accurately record assignments and their due dates, etc. You will need to set aside enough class time when first introducing the assignment calendar to demonstrate to students how to use it and give them a chance to practice filling it out under your supervision. It is also a very good idea to post a master assignment calendar in a conspicuous place in the classroom. Students can consult this master calendar periodically to ensure that they have correctly recorded all assignments on their own work-calendars. Another idea that you might use occasionally is to pair off students as 'calendar buddies' with each child checking his or her partner's calendar for completeness. Or parents might be encouraged to review and initial their child's work-calendar each evening to signal that the parent is aware of the student's homework assignments.

Guidelines for Written Assignments

Students with poor organizational skills may also produce messy written work. These students may need specific guidelines for formatting their papers in a presentable manner. The eventual goal, of course, is that they will internalize those formatting guidelines to create neat assignments independently.

One strategy to improve the appearance of students' written work is to give them a guide sheet (Gleason, Colvin, & Archer, 1991) (see attachment at bottom of this page) that prompts the writer to pay attention to proper headings, good organization, and neat writing in school writing assignments.

When you first introduce students to a particular guide-sheet, set aside enough time to demonstrate its use, explain your rationale for requiring each of the formatting requirements, and give students a chance to use the guide-sheet under your supervision. After students have been instructed in the proper formatting of papers, you can hold brief individual conferences periodically to review students' written work and compare it to the guide-sheet formatting standards. (Remember, writing is hard work, so give students lots of encouragement at first!) Studetns may also want to tape a copy of the guide-sheet inside a work folder for convenient review. You can also publicly post examples of well-formatted student work and single out students for praise who have significantly improved the appearance of their work.

References

Gleason, M.M., Colvin, G., & Archer, A.L. (1991). Interventions for improving study skills. In G. Stoner, M.R. Shinn, & H.M. Walker (Eds.) Interventions for achievement and behavior problems. National Association of School Psychologists: Silver Springs, MD.

Jim's Hints

Any child is likely to find the study and organization strategies outlined here to be useful. It is probably most cost-effective for you to set aside time at the start of the school year to teach the entire class how to use the Study-Skills package. You might also combine instruction in these organizational strategies with other key study skills (e.g., guided notes or text review techniques).

A couple of additional ideas to make the Study Skills package work for your class are to:

1. Use the Whole Package. While students may demonstrate improved study skills by adopting any one of the strategies outlined in this package, teachers and parents will see the greatest benefits if they incorporate all of the elements: assignment notebook, assignment calendar, and guidelines for formatting written work.

2. Introduce the Package to Parents. Because parents often play a very important role in getting their child to complete and turn in homework, you will probably want to introduce them to the package and point out how they can use. For example, you may suggest--in a note sent home with the student or at parent-teacher conferences-- that parents check the student's assignment folder nightlyfor papers sent home from school and sit down with their child at least once per week to review the school assignment calendar.

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Students often benefit in unexpected ways from explicit instruction in improving their study skills. Research has shown that students with behavioral difficulties and academic deficits can show improvements in both behavior and learning when taught strategies to study and absorb information more efficiently.

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It is very common for students to become nervous or anxious when they must take quizzes and tests. While some students suffer from true test phobias, many experience anxiety in testing situations simply because they have not adequately prepared for the exam.

There is some good news here: most students can master test-anxiety and improve their performance on exams by following a basic plan: develop good study habits, take advantage of effective techniques to memorize content, take steps to relax during the test, and use smart test-taking strategies.

This intervention is built around a handout, Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students (see attachment at the bottom of this page). The next section shows one possible framework for introducing efficient testing skills to the entire class.

Steps in Implementing This Intervention:

Step 1: Introduce Testing Goals. Write the following headings on the board:

Goal 1: Practice Effective Study Habits

Goal 2: Memorize Content

Goal 3: Stay Calm During Tests

Goal 4: Use Effective Strategies When Taking the Test

Tell the class that you want to find out what techniques that they have found to be effective when preparing for or taking tests. Introduce each of the four headings on the board with a brief comment about how important that concept is for doing well on tests. When introducing the concept 'memorizing content', for example, you might tell the class, "A major reason that schools give tests is to see if students can recall information, ideas, and concepts that were taught. So committing information to memory is an important part of learning."

Step 2: Write Down Student Test Preparation Ideas. For each of the headings, have the students generate as many ideas as they can for accomplishing that goal. Write student responses on the board. Give students several minutes to read through all of the ideas. For each goal, instruct students to write down the top 2-3 ideas that they think would work best for them.

Step 3: Have Students Write Their Own 'Test-Readiness Plan'. Pass out copies of Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students (see attachment at the bottom of this page). Instruct students to read through the handout. As a homework assignment, direct each student to write up his or her own personalized 'Test Readiness Plan'. The plan should be organized according to the four goals posted on the board. Under each goal on their plan, students should include 4-5 ideas that they think are most likely to work for them. (Ideas can be selected from those generated in class or tips from the handout.) Instruct students to save this plan for future reference.

Step 4: Encourage Students to Try Out Skills. As the next quiz or test in your course approaches, remind students to use the elements of their personal Test Readiness Plan. After the test, ask students to share what strategies they found to be most effective when getting ready for and while taking the test.

Jim's Hints

Use Managing Test Anxiety as a Self-Study Reference. If you are pressed for time or teach older students who are fairly responsible and self-directed, you may decide just to pass out copies of the handout and have students read it on their own. (Remember, though, that you will probably see much better outcomes if you at least use the handout as a starting point for a classroom discussion about effective test-taking skills.)

Collect Classroom Ideas to Put Together Your Own Test-Tips Guide. If your students come up with lots of creative ideas about how to get ready for and take tests, consider giving the class a group assignment to type up the suggestions into their own handout. These ideas could then be shared with other classrooms!

References

Boyd, R.T.C. (1988). Improving your test-taking skills. ERIC Digest Number 101. Retrieved 9 May 02 from: http://ericae.net/edo/ed302558.htm

Hayes, J.R., (1989). The complete problem solver. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hopper, C. (1998). Practicing college study skills. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

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It is very common for students to become nervous or anxious when they must take quizzes and tests. While some students suffer from true test phobias, many experience anxiety in testing situations simply because they have not adequately prepared for the exam.

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Students are taught to use a basic 'Story Grammar' to map out, identify and analyze significant components of narrative text (e.g., fiction, biographies, historical accounts). Reserve at least a full instructional session to introduce this comprehension strategy.

Materials

Overhead transparencies of short stories or other narrative texts, transparency markers

Student copies of Advanced Story Map Worksheet (see attachment at bottom of page)

Practice narrative passages (optional) or reading/text books

Preparation:

Prepare overheads of sample narrative passages.

Steps to Implementing This Intervention

In preparation for this intervention:

Step 1: Introduce the concept of a Story Grammar to students and preview main elements. (Refer to the Advanced Story Map Worksheetas a guide.) Tell students that a Story Grammar can help them to better understand a story's characters and events.

Step 2: Set aside at least four successive instructional days to introduce the major components of the Story Grammar: (A) Identifying important characters and their personalities and motivation, (B) Identifying main problem and significant plot developments, (C) Noting characters' attempts to solve problems, and (D) Identifying a narrative's overarchingtheme.
Interactive Instruction: Make the instruction of each story component highly interactive, with clear teacher demonstration and use of examples. 'Think aloud' as you read through a story with the class to illustrate to students how you arrive at your conclusions. Elicit student discussion about the story. As you fill out sections of the Advanced Story Map Worksheet on the overhead, have students write responses on their own copies of the worksheet.

Step 3: Error Correction: When students commit errors, direct them to the appropriate section of the narrative to reread it for the correct answer. Use guiding questions and modeling as necessary to help students to come up with an appropriate response.

Step 4: After students have been introduced to the key Story Grammar elements, the group is now ready to use the Grammar to analyze a sample narrative passage. Have students read independently through a story. Pause at pre-determined points to ask the group key questions (e.g., "Who is the main character? What is she like?"). After discussion, encourage students to write their answers on the Advanced Story Map Worksheet while you fill out the same worksheet as an overhead. Give specific praise to students for appropriately identifying Story Grammar elements.

Step 5: When students are able to use the Story Grammar independently, have them read through selected stories and complete the Advanced Story Map Worksheet on their own. Check students' responses and conference individually with those students requiring additional guidance and support.

Troubleshooting:

Students do not seem motivated to use the Story Grammar framework. To make a Story Grammar analysis more inviting, consider screening a video of a popular movie or television program. At key points, stop the tape, have students complete relevant sections of the Advanced Story Map Worksheet, and discuss the results. This exercise can be highly motivating and also makes clear to students that a Story Grammar is a universal tool that help us understand narratives presented in any medium.

Some students do not appear to be successful in using the Story Grammar independently. Pull aside individuals or small groups of students who might be having similar problems mastering the Story Grammar. As you read together through a story, have students "think aloud" the strategies that they follow to identify Story Grammar elements. If you discover that a student is using a faulty approach (e.g., rotely selecting the first character named in the story as the main character) you can gently correct the student by modeling and demonstrating more appropriate strategies.

Jim's Hints

Edit student creative writing using the Story Map Worksheet. Students can use the Advanced Story Map Worksheet to check the structure of stories that they have written. Peer editors can also use the worksheet to give feedback to students about the clarity of their story structure.

Consider the Story Grammar as a tool for analyzing historical narratives . Many historical accounts are structured as dramatic narratives-with central characters taking part in key events. Students can productively use elements of a Story Grammar to analyze these historical narratives.

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Students are taught to use a basic 'Story Grammar' to map out, identify and analyze significant components of narrative text (e.g., fiction, biographies, historical accounts). Reserve at least a full instructional session to introduce this comprehension strategy.

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Carroll County Schools-  RTI Response to intervention

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Students who are able to decode words and sentences, but still have trouble understadning what they read may have limited word knowledge. The following interventions are designed to assist students with building vocabulary skills to improve comprehension of text.

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Students who are able to decode words and sentences, but still have trouble understadning what they read may have limited word knowledge. The following interventions are designed to assist students with building vocabulary skills to improve comprehension of text.

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Through a series of guided questions, the instructor helps students activate their prior knowledge of a specific topic to help them comprehend the content of a story or article on the same topic. Linking new facts to prior knowledge increases a student's inferential comprehension (ability to place novel information in a meaningful context by comparing it to already-learned information).

Reserve at least a full instructional session to introduce this comprehension strategy. (For effective-teaching tips, consult the guidelines presented in Introducing Academic Strategies to Students: A Direct-Instruction Approach).

Materials

Overhead transparencies of practice reading passages and sample Text Prediction questions, transparency markers

Student copies of practice reading passages (e.g., use attachment at bottom of page) or reading/text books

Blank paper and pencil or pen

Preparation:

Prepare overheads of sample passages.

Locate 3 main ideas per passage and-for each idea-develop a prior knowledge question and a prediction question (see below).

Steps to Implementing This Intervention

Step 1: Introduce this strategy to the class:

Explain the Benefit of Using Prior Knowledge to Understand a Reading Passage: Tell students that recalling their prior experiences ("their own life") can help them to understand the content of their reading. New facts make sense only when we connect them to what we already know.

Demonstrate the Text Prediction Strategy. Select a sample passage and use a "think-aloud" approach to show students how to use the text-prediction strategy. (Note: To illustrate how the strategy is used, this intervention script uses the attached example at the bottom of this page, Attending Public School in Japan.)

Prompt Students to Think About 'What and Why': Describe what strategy you are about to apply and the reason for doing so. You might say, for example, "I am about to read a short article on public schools in Japan. Before I read the article, though, I should think about my life experiences and what they might tell me about the topic that I am about to read about. By thinking about my own life, I will better understand the article."

Preview Main Ideas from the Reading and Pose Prior Knowledge and Prediction Questions. One at a time, pose three main ideas that appear in the article or story. For each key idea, present one question requiring that readers tap their own prior knowledge of the topic and another that prompts them to predict how the article or story might deal with the topic.

Here is a typical question cycle, composed of a main idea statement, prior knowledge question, prediction question, and student opportunity to write a response.

"The article that we are going to read describes how different the writing system used in Japanese schools is from our own writing system" [A main idea from the passage].

"What are your own attitudes and experiences about writing?" [prior knowledge question] Answer this question aloud, and then encourage students to respond.

"What do you think that the article will say about the Japanese writing system?" [prediction question] Answer this question aloud, and then seek student responses.

"Now, write down your own ideas about what you think the article will say about the Japanese writing system." [student written response] As students write their own responses, model for them by writing out your answer to the question on the overhead transparency.

Assign Students to Read the Story or Article Independently. Once you have presented three main ideas and students have responded to all questions, have them read the selection independently.

Step 2: When students have learned the Text Prediction strategy, use it regularly to introduce new reading assignments.

References

Hansen, J. & Pearson, P.D. (1983). An instructional study: Improving the inferential comprehension of good and poor fourth-grade readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 821-829.

Jim's Hints

Use Text Prediction to Prepare Students for Homework Reading. You can apply the Text Prediction strategy to boost student comprehension of homework reading assignments. When assigning the homework passages, take students through the steps in the strategy. Then require that students take their own written predictions home to compare to their actual reading.

Transition from Group to Individual Application of the Strategy. As your students become proficient in applying the strategy, you can gradually train them to use the strategy independently.

As the instructor, you might hand out the three main ideas for a story and then direct students to take each idea and write out (1) a short account of their own experiences with the topic, and (2) a prediction of what the article or story will say about the main idea. You can collect these written assignments to monitor student understanding and follow-through in using the technique.

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Through a series of guided questions, the instructor helps students activate their prior knowledge of a specific topic to help them comprehend the content of a story or article on the same topic. Linking new facts to prior knowledge increases a student's inferential comprehension (ability to place novel information in a meaningful context by comparing it to already-learned information).

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Readers can increase their comprehension of informational text by making a conscious effort to recall details. Teachers can combine repeated reading and oral or written retell as a package to boost student retention of text details (Schisler, Joseph, Konrad, & Alber-Morgan, 2010).

Materials. To use repeated reading with oral or written retell, the tutor will need these materials:

Tutor and student copies of an informational passage of at least 200 words.

Stopwatch

Lined paper (for written-retell procedure)

Procedures. Below are guidelines for conducting repeated reading and oral or written retell of a passage.

1. Student reads the passage twice with error correction. The tutor gives a copy of the passage to the student and says, "Read this passage aloud. Do your best reading. If you come to a word you don't know, try your best to read it. I will help you if needed. Begin reading."

The student reads the passage aloud, while the tutor follows along silently. Whenever the student misreads a word or hesitates for at least 3 seconds, the tutor uses the phrase-drill error correction technique: The tutor points to the error word, reads that word aloud correctly, and reads the entire sentence containing the error word. The tutor then prompts the student to read the full sentence with error word 3 times before continuing on in the passage.
When the student completes the first reading of the passage, the tutor says, " Read this passage aloud again. Like before, do your best reading. If you come to a word you don't know, do your best to read it. I will help you if needed. Begin reading." The tutor again follows along silently and again uses the phrase-drill error correction technique for any misread words or hesitations of 3 seconds or longer.

2. Student engages in oral or written retell. When the student has read the passage twice, the tutor directs the student to use either the oral or written retell method as described below:
Oral retell. The tutor starts the timer and tells the student, " Tell me about the passage you just read. Tell me everything you remember. You will have 3 minutes--I will tell you when the time is up. Begin." At the end of the 3 minutes, the tutor tells the student to stop. If the student pauses during the 3 minutes, the tutor says, "Tell me more about what you read", and repeats this prompt as needed until either the student has no more details to share or the 3-minute period ends.

Written retell. The tutor gives the student a lined sheet of paper (such as this Informational Passage: Written Retell form) and a pen or pencil. The tutor starts the timer and tells the student, " Write about the passage you just read. Write down everything you remember. You will have 3 minutes--I will tell you when the time is up. Begin." At the end of the 3 minutes, the tutor tells the student to stop. If the student pauses during the 3 minutes, the tutor says, " Write more about what you read", and repeats this prompt as needed until either the student has no more details to share or the 3-minute period ends. The tutor then collects the retell worksheet.

References

Schisler, R., Joseph, L. M., Konrad, M., & Alber-Morgan, S. (2010). Comparison of the effectiveness and efficiency of oral and written retellings and passage review as strategies for comprehending text. Psychology in the Schools, 47(2) 135-152.

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How To Increase Reading Comprehension: Repeated Reading and Oral/Written Retell

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Readers can increase their comprehension of informational text by making a conscious effort to recall details. Teachers can combine repeated reading and oral or written retell as a package to boost student retention of text details (Schisler, Joseph, Konrad, & Alber-Morgan, 2010). Materials.

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Sentence Combining: Teaching Rules of Sentence Structure by Doing | Intervention Central

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Students with poor writing skills often write sentences that lack 'syntactic maturity' (Robinson & Howell, 2008). That is, these writers' sentences often follow a simple, stereotyped format. In public schools, grammar skills have traditionally been taught in isolation to give students the advanced writing knowledge required to master a diverse range of sentence structures.

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Intervention Central, Academic Intervention 

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Intervention Central, Academic Intervention 

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Educators and classroom leaders look to academic interventions to help promote response to intervention and rti programs for classroom management

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Rapid recognition of sight words is a key foundation skill that supports the development of reading fluency (Hudson, Torgesen, Lane, & Turner, 2012; NICHHD, 2000). Below are four quick and simple tutoring interventions that promote student acquisition of common sight words. While of course teachers can employ these ideas, schools should also consider making efficient use of non-instructional personnel (e.g., support staff, paraprofessionals, adult or peer tutors) to serve as sight-word interventionists (Burns & Gibbons, 2008):

Sight Words: Flashcards: Single-Response (Ferkis, Belfiore, & Skinner, 1997). The tutor has a deck of 5 flashcards with sight words. Prior to the session, the tutor sets a session criterion for mastery: e.g., the student will name all sight words in the deck correctly 3 times in a row. The session opens with the tutor saying to the student "We are going to practice some words." The tutor shows each flashcard to the student with the prompt, "Look at this word and say the word." If the student responds correctly within 3 seconds, the tutor says, "Yes, the word is [word]." If the student responds incorrectly, the tutor says, "No, the word is [word]. Say [word]." If the student hesitates for longer than 3 seconds, the tutor says, "The word is [word]. Say [word]." When all flashcards have been presented, the tutor shuffles the cards and repeats. When the student attains the mastery criterion, the tutor repeats the above procedures with a new deck of 5 sight words.

Sight Words: Flashcards: Direct Instruction (Ruwe, McLaughlin, Derby, & Johnson, 2011).The tutor prepares a deck of 10 flashcards with sight words. Prior to the session, the tutor sets a session criterion for mastery: e.g., the student will name all sight words in the deck correctly 3 times in a row. The tutor shows each card to the student and asks, "What is this word?" If the student names the card correctly within 2 seconds, the tutor puts the card at the back of the deck and presents the next card. If the student names the card incorrectly or hesitates for longer than 2 seconds, that card temporarily becomes a 'drill card'. The tutor (1) shows the drill card, says the sight word aloud, and has the student repeat the sight word correctly, (2) returns that drill card to the deck 2 places back from the front of the stack, (3) following each subsequent appearance of the drill card continues to re-place it 2 places from the beginning of the stack until the student responds to it correctly 3 times in succession, and (4) then ends the drill-card procedure by placing that flashcard at the back of the stack. When the tutor has reviewed all of the flashcards in the stack at least once and has no drill cards in play, the tutor shuffles the cards before again presenting them to the student. When the student attains the mastery criterion, the tutor repeats the above procedures with a new deck of 10 sight words.

Sight Words: Flash Cards: Folding-In (Baranek, Fienup, & Pace, 2011). The tutor creates a deck of flashcards taken from a master sight word list (e.g., Dolch word list). In preparation for the intervention, the tutor shows each flashcard from the master deck to the student. Any card that the student is able to read correctly within 3 seconds is sorted into a "known" pile, while any card that the student reads incorrectly or hesitates on for more than 3 seconds is sorted into an "unknown" pile. Before each session, the tutor creates a daily deck of 10 cards, with 3 drawn from the "unknown" pile and 7 drawn from the "known" pile. The tutor shuffles the deck, presents each card to the student, and says, "What is this word?" If the student responds correctly within 3 seconds, the tutor says, "Yes, the word is [word]." If the student responds incorrectly, the tutor says, "No, the word is [word]. Say [word]." If the student hesitates for longer than 3 seconds, the tutor says, "The word is [word]. Say [word]." When all flashcards have been presented, the tutor shuffles the cards and repeats. When the student is able to read all sight words in the daily deck correctly 3 times in a row, the daily deck is updated: The tutor pulls any 3 cards from the daily deck, places them in the "known" pile, and adds 3 new cards from the "unknown" pile to the daily deck. The tutor then shuffles and repeats the above procedure.

Sight Words: Word List Preview and Repeated Reading (Baranek, Fienup, & Pace, 2011). For each session, the tutor creates a worksheet listing 10 sight words. Before beginning the tutoring session, the tutor sets a criterion for mastery: e.g., a word is mastered when the student has read it aloud correctly within 3 seconds 3 times in succession. The tutor first reads all of the words on the list aloud, while the student follows along silently. Then the student reads the list of words aloud, 3 times in a row. If while reading the word list, the student misreads a word or hesitates for longer than 3 seconds, the tutor points to the error word and says, "This word is [word]. Say [word]." After responding correctly, the student continues until the word list has been read 3 times. The tutor then records any words mastered during the session. In preparation for the next session, a new word list is created that includes those words from the previous list not yet mastered.

References

Baranek, A., Fienup, D. M., & Pace, G. (2011). Brief experimental analysis of sight word interventions: A comparison of acquisition and maintenance of directed interventions. Behavior Modification, 35(1), 78-94.

Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.

Ferkis, M. A., Belfiore, P. J., & Skinner, C. H. (1997). The effects of response repetitions on sight word acquisition for students with mild disabilities. Journal of Behavioral Education, 7, 307-324.

Hudson, R. F., Torgesen, J. K., Lane, H. B., & Turner, S. J. (2012). Relations among reading skills and sub-skills and text-level reading proficiency in developing readers. Reading and Writing, 25, 483-507.

NICHHD: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Ruwe, K., McLaughlin, T. F., Derby, K. M., & Johnson, J. (2011). The multiple effects of direct instruction flashcards on sight word acquisition, passage reading, and errors for three middle school students with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 23, 241-255.

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How To: Build Sight-Word Vocabulary: 4 Methods

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Rapid recognition of sight words is a key foundation skill that supports the development of reading fluency (Hudson, Torgesen, Lane, & Turner, 2012; NICHHD, 2000). Below are four quick and simple tutoring interventions that promote student acquisition of common sight words.

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Behavior Motivation | Behavioral Intervention | Intervention Central

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Behavioral Intervention is a leading strategy to help educators increase classroom productivity by helping with behavior modification

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As an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was created in 2002 to be a central and trusted source of scientific evidence for what works in education.

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Understood - For Learning and Thinking Differences

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Understood.org is the resource that helps the 70 million people with learning and thinking differences anticipate the challenges, barriers, or opportunities in life and confidently reach their potential.

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Students can sometimes have emotional outbursts in school settings. This fact will not surprise many teachers, who have had repeated experience in responding to serious classroom episodes of student agitation. Such outbursts can be attributed in part to the relatively high incidence of mental health issues among children and youth. It is estimated, for example, that at least one in five students in American schools will experience a mental health disorder by adolescence (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). But even students not identified as having behavioral or emotional disorders may occasionally have episodes of agitation triggered by situational factors such as peer bullying, frustration over poor academic performance, stressful family relationships, or perceived mistreatment by educators.
CAUTION: The guidelines presented below are intended for use with a student whose agitated behavior is largely verbal, shows no signs of escalating beyond that point, and does not present as potentially physically aggressive or violent. Educators who suspect that a student may present a safety risk to self or others should immediately seek additional assistance. Schools should also conduct Functional Behavioral Assessments (FBAs), assemble appropriate Behavior Intervention Plans (BIPs) and--if needed--create Crisis Response Plans to manage the behaviors of students who show patterns of escalating, potentially violent behaviors.
Since virtually any professional working in schools might at some point find him/herself needing to 'talk down' a student who presents as emotionally upset, all educators should know the basics of how to de-escalate the agitated student. The advice offered in this checklist is adapted for use by schools from research on best practices in calming individuals in medical or psychiatric settings (Cowin et al., 2003; Fishkind, 2002; Richmond et al., 2012). These strategies are intended to be used in a flexible manner to increase the odds that an educator can respond efficiently and effectively to students who present with a wide range of emotional issues.

Create a 'safe' setting. An educator attempting to calm an agitated student cannot always select the setting in which that interaction plays out. When a student outburst occurs in the classroom, however, the educator should attempt to engage the student in a semi-private conversation (e.g., off to the side of the room) rather than having an exchange in front of classmates. As part of the protocol for conducting a de-escalation conference, adults should also ensure that they are never left alone with agitated students.

Limit the number of adults involved. Having too many educators (e.g., teacher and a teaching assistant) participating in a de-escalation conference can be counter-productive because of possible confusion and communication of mixed messages to the agitated student. If more than one adult is available in the instructional setting, select the one with the most experience with de-escalation techniques to engage the student one-to-one, while the additional educator(s) continue to support the instruction or behavior management of other students.

Provide adequate personal space. Stand at least 2 arm's length of distance away from the agitated student. If the student tells you to 'back off' or 'get away', provide the student with additional space.

Do not block escape routes. When individuals are agitated, they are more likely to experience a 'fight-or-flight' response that can express itself in the need to have escape routes available. When engaging a student in a de-escalation conference, do not position yourself between the student and the door. If the student says, "Get out of my way", step back to give that student additional personal space and reposition yourself out of his or her potential escape path.

Show open, accepting body language. Convey through stance and body language that you are calm and accepting of the student--and will treat that student respectfully and maintain his or her safety. Stand at an angle rather than facing the student directly in a 'confrontational' pose. Keep hands open and visible to the student. Stand comfortably, with knees slightly bent. Avoid 'clenched' body language such as crossing arms or balling hands into fists.

Keep verbal interactions respectful. It is natural for educators to experience feelings of defensiveness, embarrassment, anxiety, or irritation when attempting to talk down a student from an emotional outburst. However, you should strive to appear calm and to treat the student respectfully at all times. Avoid use of teasing, reprimands, or other negative comments and abstain as well from sarcasm or an angry tone of voice.

Communicate using simple, direct language. When people are emotionally upset, they may not process language quickly or with complete accuracy. In talking with the student, keep your vocabulary simple and your sentences brief. Be sure to allow sufficient time for the student to think about and respond to each statement before continuing. In particular, if the student does not respond to a statement, avoid falling into the trap of assuming too quickly that the student is simply 'ignoring you". Instead, calmly repeat yourself--several times if necessary. So long as the student's behavior is not escalating, give him or her the benefit of the doubt and use gentle repetition to help the student to focus on and respond to you.

Coach the student to take responsibility for moderating behavior. At the point in an encounter with an agitated student when you feel that you have established rapport, you can use a positive, assertive tone to prompt the student to take responsibility for controlling his or her own behavior (e.g., "John, it is hard for me to follow what you are saying when you raise your voice and pace around the room. If you sit down and calmly explain what the problem is, I think that I can help.").

Reassure the student and frame an outcome goal. You can often help to defuse the student's agitation by reassuring the student (e.g., "You're not in trouble. This is your chance to give me your side of the story") and stating an outcome goal ("Let's figure out how to take care of this situation in a positive way" ; "I want to understand why you are upset so that I can know how to respond"). Also, if you do not know the agitated student whom you are approaching, introduce yourself and state both your name and position.

Identify the student's wants and feelings. Use communication tools such as active listening (e.g., "Let me repeat back to you what I thought I heard you say ...."), open-ended questions (e.g., "What do you need right now to be able to calm yourself?"), and labeling of emotions ("Rick, you look angry. Tell me what is bothering you") to better understand how the student feels and what may be driving the current emotional outburst.

Identify points of agreement. A powerful strategy to build rapport with an agitated student is to find points on which you can agree. At the same time, of course, you must preserve your professional integrity as an educator and therefore cannot falsely express agreement on issues that you in fact disagree with. Here are suggestions for finding authentic common ground with the student in response to different situations. (1) Agreement with student's account: If you essentially agree with the student's account of (and/or emotional reaction to) the situation, you can say so (e.g., "I can understand why you were upset when you lost your book on the field trip. I would be upset too."); (2) Agreement with a principle expressed or implied by the student: If you are unsure of the objectivity of the student's account, you might still discern within it a principle that you can support (e.g., If the student claims to have been disrespected by a hall monitor, you can say, "I think everybody has the right to feel respected."); (3) Agreement with the typicality of the student response: If you decide that the student's emotional response would likely be shared by a substantial number of peers, you can state that observation (e.g., "So I gather that you were pretty frustrated when you learned that you are no longer sports-eligible because of your report card grades. I am sure that there are other students here who feel the same way.";(4) Agreement to disagree: If you cannot find a point on which you can agree with the student or validate an aspect of his or her viewpoint, you should simply state that you and the student agree to disagree.

References

Cowin, L, Davies, R., Estall, G., Berlin, T., Fitzgerald, M., & Hoot, S. (2003). De-escalating aggression and violence in the mental health setting. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 12, 64-73.

Fishkind, A. (2002). Calming agitation with words, not drugs: 10 commandments for safety. Current Psychiatry, 1(4), 32-39.

Richmond, J. S., Berlin, J. S., Fishkind, A. B., Holloman, G. H., Zeller, S. L., Wilson, M. P., Rifai, M. A., & Ng, A. T. (2012). Verbal de-escalation of the agitated patient: Consensus statement of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry Project BETA de-escalation workgroup. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13(1), 17-25.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Mental health: A report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: Author.

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Students can sometimes have emotional outbursts in school settings. This fact will not surprise many teachers, who have had repeated experience in responding to serious classroom episodes of student agitation. Such outbursts can be attributed in part to the relatively high incidence of mental health…

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has expression. ( http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/fluency)

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Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately.

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What should fluency instruction look like? And, what can teachers do to help students whose fluency is far behind their peers'? This article can help practitioners effectively use fluency-based assessments and select instructional practices.

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Reading fluency is an essential component of effective reading instruction throughout elementary school (National Reading Panel, 2000). Why? Students with poor fluency are likely to have limited reading comprehension and often do not enjoy reading. It's important that systematic and explicit fluency lessons should be included as a part of the daily reading instruction block to ensure students learn how to read fluently.

What is Reading Fluency?

Reading fluency is the ability to read text with accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. Accuracy means being able to decode words correctly. Automaticity means being able to quickly and effortlessly recognize words. Prosody means using appropriate tone, pacing, phrasing, and inflection of words while reading.

One important note is that the terms fluency and automaticity are also used to describe the development of other skills such as math fact fluency, letter sound fluency, being able to drive a car, or playing an instrument. Fluency is a crucial aspect of learning any skill, as we discuss in this blog post.

Why Focus on Reading Fluency?

Being able to read fluently is essential for understanding and remembering what was read. That is, fluent readers are more likely to be able to comprehend what they read versus students who aren't fluent (Hintze, Callahan, Matthews, Williams, & Tobin, 2002; Shinn et al., 1992). Put simply, reading fluency is necessary for reading comprehension.

Establishing reading fluency is also likely to promote the enjoyment of reading, increasing the probability a student will want to read (Skinner, 1998). In general, fluent readers experience success during reading with low levels of frustration. Non-fluent students read much more slowly, struggle to understand what they are reading, and often dislike reading.

Identifying Students in Need of Reading Fluency Interventions

Teachers can identify students in need of reading fluency intervention by using FAST ™ assessment results, including the Sight Words (50, 150) and Sentence Reading subtests within the earlyReading ™ suite and with CBMreading. ™ The Sight Word assessments and CBMreading may also be used to monitor intervention progress.

Sight Words

The Sight Words (50) subtest is included in the earlyReading screening composite score in the spring of kindergarten and the Sight Words (150) subtest is in the fall, winter, and spring composite in first grade.

earlyReading composite

The earlyReading composite includes four subtests and that score can be used to identify students who are not on track (at-risk) for performance at grade level. For students whose composite score is below the benchmark goal, it is recommended that teachers look at specific earlyReading ™ subtests to determine specific student difficulties with fluency. For example, if a student's score on the earlyReading ™ Sight Word subtest is low, it might indicate a need for fluency instruction focused on sight words. Teachers also have the option of completing the sight word inventory to determine which words are known and unknown to each student.

For students in first grade and above, teachers should look at student performance on CBMreading. If a student's score is below benchmark on CBMreading, it might indicate a need for fluency instruction focused on reading connected text. For students who are significantly below benchmark on CBMreading, it is important to examine both accuracy and words read correctly per minute. Some students with low CBMreading scores may also need a phonics intervention, and additional assessments may be useful to determine which intervention is the best place to begin supporting the student.

Teachers may consider a few common indicators to assist in identifying students in need of reading fluency instruction or intervention, including difficulty with:

identifying sight words accurately and/or quickly

reading connected text with accuracy (< 95%)

reading connected text at the appropriate rate (reading below grade level benchmark in words read per minute)

Fluency Interventions Available from FastBridge

Given that fluency is a foundational skill needed for being able to read for meaning, how can we support students in developing it? To meet the needs of your students, Fastbridge now offers both whole class and small group reading interventions that target fluency skills. These can be used for both core instruction (Tier 1) and supplemental instruction (Tier 2). The interventions are research-based and are aligned with FAST assessments and the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts for grades K-5. Currently, there are four fluency interventions available for educators to use. The interventions are designed to be used to build both word-level (e.g., sight word recognition) and paragraph-level (e.g., reading grade level passages or stories) fluency skills.

1. Sight Word Flashcards

The first intervention, Sight Word Flashcards, should be used when students have an accuracy instructional need specifically related to sight words. That is, students need to increase their accuracy (more than 95%) and automaticity of sight words first in isolation and then generalize to connected text passages.

The second intervention, Sight Word Bingo, should be used when students have an automaticity need specifically related to sight words. Sight Word Bingo is focused on increasing automaticity and retention of sight words such that students can identify each word in 3 seconds or less. Sight Word Bingo can be used alongside Sight Word Flashcards. So, for example, a teacher could use Sight Word Flashcards 3-4 days a week and then at the end of the week use Sight Word Bingo, focusing on the sight words that were taught throughout that week. This intervention can also be used on its own 3-4 times per week.

3. Listening Passage Preview with Phrase Drill

The third intervention, Listening Passage Preview with Phrase Drill, should be used when students have an accuracy need related to fluency reading paragraphs and stories. The intervention materials include instructional passages for grades 1-3. These passages may help support students when focused on reading fluency because they include a high proportion of decodable words and sight words. The goal of this intervention is to increase word reading accuracy to 95% or above when reading connected text.

4. Repeated Reading with Partner

The fourth intervention, Repeated Reading with Partner, should be used when students have an automaticity need related to reading longer texts such as stories. The intervention is designed to support students in increasing their words read correctly per minute by reading stories with a partner. The intervention materials include stories appropriate for students in grades 1-3. The goal of the intervention is for students to increase their reading rate so that they can understand what they read and enjoy reading.

For each intervention, there is a series of eight lessons to build an understanding of each intervention and when to use it for which students.

Lesson 1: An introduction to the intervention

Lesson 2: Standardized administration information with a short video

Lesson 3: Whole group step-by-step administration guide with student and teacher materials to use

Lesson 4: Small group step-by-step administration guide with student and teacher materials to use

Lesson 5: Formative assessment with progress monitoring recommendations

Lesson 6: Practice options, including a checklist to monitor intervention fidelity

Lesson 7: Certification in implementing the intervention (this section is coming soon)

Lesson 8: Resources such as references for the research on which the intervention is based

Fluency is an important component of proficient reading because we need to recognize whole words quickly enough to retrieve their meaning and tie them with the other words in a passage. With the FAST research-based fluency interventions for both whole class and small group instruction, students can improve fluency so that they can become strong readers.

Hintze, J. M., Callahan, J. E., Matthews, W. J., Williams, S. A. S. & Tobin, K. G. (2002). Oral reading fluency and prediction of reading comprehension in African American and

Caucasian elementary school children. School Psychology Review, 31, 540-553.

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Shinn, M. R., Good, R. H., Knutson, N., Tilly, W. D., & Collins, V. (1992). Curriculum-based measurement of oral reading fluency: A confirmatory analysis of its relation to reading. School Psychology Review, 21, 459-479.

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Reading Fluency Interventions for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Instruction

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Reading fluency is an essential component of effective reading instruction throughout elementary school (National Reading Panel, 2000). Why? Students with poor fluency are likely to have limited reading comprehension and often do not enjoy reading. It's important that systematic and explicit fluency lessons should be included as a part of the daily reading instruction block to ensure students learn how to read fluently.

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As a dyslexia practitioner using the Orton-Gillingham approach, I can't stress enough the importance of a good fluency intervention for your struggling readers. I've taught in a 3-5 building for twelve years and saw many children that really needed this added component into their reading repertoire.
Sadly, there were problems with implementation.

I would hear things like:
1. This is "one more thing" to add onto my already busy teaching plate.
2. I don't have any training on how to use fluency intervention.
3. There's just no time.
4. Isn't there someone else to do this with the children that truly need it?

Every point listed above valid. Teachers are busy. Training is imperative for teacher to "buy in" to ANY program. Our schedules are jam packed. It would be so helpful to have an extra pair of hands to help.

Instead of seeing as "one more thing", see fluency intervention as a key component to a child's reading success. The programs I will list below can be used in a station, during independent reading time, at a computer, or even in a small guided reading group. Once you have a fluency program up and running at the beginning of a school year, things can run smoothly if you commit to being consistent with it. I've seen wonderful results with several of these programs.

Here's a list of ones that are highly effective for fluency intervention:

1. Read Naturally
I've used this program for many years and I love it. This is a research based program for improving fluency. I started out with the tapes and stories a long time ago. My students always enjoyed the stories and charting their progress. They have a wonderful online component and many teacher resources.

2. Great Leaps
Again, this is another fabulous, research-based program I used for many years. I especially loved the lessons on phrasing with this program. No tapes or CDS like Read Naturally, but plenty of high interest stories that can used in a brief practice session.

3. Quick Reads
I really like the informational text used in this program. It's research based and offers brief practice each day. Using science and social studies topics is especially appealing for struggling upper elementary readers, since the bulk of their reading becomes more content driven as they get older.

4. Reading A-Z fluency passages.
This is an online subscription-based reading program that has become very popular over the years. They offer an extensive list of leveled fluency passages. Since my school had a subscription to Reading A-Z, I found the fluency passages to be very helpful, and user friendly.

5. FCRR fluency lessons
Fluency aside, this website is a GOLDMINE. You will have to spend a little time hunting around, but it is well worth it. You can search for free fluency lessons by grade level, and tons of results will come up. The lessons come with EVERY printable you need in student friendly font.

Have you used any of these with success? Let me know!

*If you are looking for additional fluency information, you might enjoy this post or this post.

Thank you for reading and have a great day!

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As a dyslexia practitioner using the Orton-Gillingham approach, I can't stress enough the importance of a good fluency intervention for your struggling readers. I've taught in a 3-5 building for twelve years and saw many

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Literacy skills are one of the most important areas of ability children develop in their first few years at school. That's why it's crucial to provide fluency strategies for struggling readers as soon as a learning difficulty is picked up.

Most children begin by sounding out words and learning to recognize common vocabulary from books and classroom materials. With sight reading and more spelling practice comes greater fluency. Reading then speeds up and comprehension of more complex texts becomes possible as vocabulary knowledge grows exponentially. However, not all students find learning to read such an easy process. Struggling readers can quickly fall behind their peers and may develop low self-esteem and a lack of confidence as a result.

Because reading ability affects performance across all areas of the curriculum, including writing skills, it's important to provide adequate strategy training as early as possible. Ideally remediation is tailored to the individual student's needs, particularly when a learning difficulty is involved.

Different learning difficulties affect fluency in different ways but one of the most common conditions implicated in reading problems is dyslexia. If a student has poor reading skills and a somewhat inconsistent approach to spelling -they recognize or produce a word correctly one day but not the next-- dyslexia may be involved.

There are different signs but around 70% of students with dyslexia struggle to split words into their component sounds. It is this lack of phonemic awareness that prevents accurate sound-letter mapping, which is required for spelling and decoding in early reading. A focus on phonics can help students with dyslexia. Another way to help is by taking a multi-sensory approach to teaching reading and spelling - learn more in this article on Orton-Gillingham based reading instruction.

Some kids have trouble focusing their attention on the books or classroom worksheets they are meant to be reading. For students with attention related learning difficulties, including attention deficit disorder with and without hyperactivity, the challenge is not so much in sounding out the words but concentrating long enough to process what they are reading.

Sitting still and controlling impulsive tendencies can also be problematic, particularly for students with ADHD. What's crucial is that teachers recognize the root of the problem early on and find strategies to help enhance focus during reading sessions. One idea is choosing a regular time of day when the student is most calm, possibly after an outside exercise break. It's also a good idea to reduce distractions and create a quiet space where they can go to read on their own.

Parents and teachers may observe reading fluency is lacking in individuals with slow processing. This is because the brain requires more time to carry out the complex cognitive processes involved in reading, from word recognition to comprehension.

Patience, time and more time may be the solution here. In some instances, a student can appear to read fluently but not actually understand what he or she is reading. This is often true for students with autism spectrum disorder-learn more in this article on reading comprehension and autism. For information on addressing fluency issues for students with visual impairments, try this article.

Pre-literacy skills

It's extremely important and beneficial for children to read with their parents. Even 1 year-olds can enhance their vocabulary and learn more about the world as they point to objects and characters they recognize. Reading with adults helps kids understand how books work. They participate by choosing their favorite stories and turning the pages as their parents read aloud.

Ample exposure to print also gets children ready to learn the alphabet. Silly songs such as "Old McDonald Had a Farm" are used to enhance phonemic awareness and help kids develop their control over stress, rhyme and rhythm in language. Discussing their day and reciting sequences of events is a precursor for understanding how narrative works.

Learn more in 6 pre-literacy skills parents can encourage.

Decoding & comprehension

Reading is a complex cognitive task that involves parallel activity in different areas of the brain. Readers must decode the letters on a page, recognize the words they are made up of and make meaning out of groups of words, sentences and paragraphs. Issues concerning reading fluency can stem from decoding skills, comprehension skills or both. Learn more in this article on common reading problems.

Decoding

This is the process of recognizing letters and words and sounding them out. Decoding is easier said than done in English, a language in which multiple letters can be used to represent the same sounds. The only way to effectively learn how to pronounce common vowel and consonant clusters is to have seen them before. This is one reason why learning to touch-type and drilling letter combinations on a keyboard helps struggling readers. This is especially true if audio recordings of the words are played at the same time.

Comprehension

Fluency can also be affected by a failure to understand what is being read. Readers are required to hold a number of details and contextual clues in memory in order to make connections and pick up on gist, inference and main ideas in the text. If comprehension is a struggle, it can interrupt fluency as students find they cannot follow what they are reading and need to go back to re-read earlier parts of the text. In the same way, focusing too much on decoding can prevent struggling readers from paying attention to the content of a reading.

10 Strategies for fluency

1. Record students reading aloud on their own. If certain sound-letter combinations or words are causing problems, teachers will benefit from listening to the child read out loud. However, this activity can be extremely stressful in front of a classroom of kids, particularly for a student who struggles with fluency. It is best to avoid calling on struggling readers during group reading and instead have them work through a paragraph on their own. Make a recording that can be analyzed later on by a teacher or tutor in order to provide targeted help.

2. Ask kids to use a ruler or a reading window to follow along. Decoding is easier when students don't lose their place as they move across a page. It's up to the individual student how they go about this. Some may want to use a pen or pencil, others a piece of paper or a ruler that they move to help them stay focused on the sentence in front of them. A reading window is a useful tool which blocks off the text before and after the sentence the student is reading. Moving something along the page is also a good strategy for readers with ADHD because it involves a kinesthetic element.

3. Have them read the same thing several times. When you're trying to improve fluency, it helps to see the same text multiple times. Each reading becomes easier and motivation goes up as students experience enhanced fluency thanks to repeat exposure to words and phrases. It can also help when it comes to developing comprehension skills as readers have more opportunities to notice contextual cues.

4. Pre-teach vocabulary. Prime the words a student is going to see in a text and practice reading them in isolation or in phrases. You might do this via an interactive classroom based activity. Get students to use the words and then practice reading them from the board or on a piece of paper. Crossword puzzles can be an effective teaching tool or playing a spelling game. It's much easier to read a word if it is fresh in memory.

5. Drill sight words. Some words are more common than others and students who have a hard time with fluency will find it is much easier to read when they are familiar with 90% of the vocabulary in a text. Around 50% of all books and classroom based materials for young readers are composed of words from the Dolch List. Learn more in our post on teaching sight words.

6. Make use of a variety of books and materials. If a student has difficulty with reading it can be even more of a struggle to practice with material that is not of interest to them. Sometimes all it takes is getting readers excited about a topic to help them lose themselves in the activity. Try chapter books, comics and poems. Even picture books can work as long as the student doesn't perceive the material as being below their level. Experiment with texts of different lengths starting with shorter material and gradually working up to longer pieces. TOP TIP: Where fluency is concerned, emphasize the quality of the student's reading, not the quantity of pages or speed at which they read them.

7. Try different font and text sizes. If there's a visual impairment that is causing some of the difficulty, reading larger text or text printed on color tinted paper can sometimes make things easier. There are specific fonts which are more appropriate for anyone with learning difficulties, including dyslexia, because they help with discerning letters and decoding language.

8. Create a stress free environment. When students are enjoying a book, anxiety and stress are reduced and fluency is enhanced. It's also possible to foster a relaxing environment by removing any deadlines, time-limits or assessment related goals and just focusing on classroom reading for reading's sake.

9. Guide students to help them establish a steady pace. One of the hallmarks of fluent reading is establishing a consistent rhythm and pace that guides students through a text. This doesn't need to be fast and in the beginning new readers should have the option to start slow and increase their pace as they become more comfortable. Some students will want to have a guide, such as a metronome, which gives them a rhythm they can match. Others will find this strategy stressful. Playing music in the background might also work - or not!

10. Introduce a typing course. If a student continues to struggle with fluency, teachers, tutors and parents may consider introducing an extra-curricular program designed to enhance literacy skills. A multi-sensory course like Touch-type Read and Spell can be used at home and in school to learn typing and enhance spelling and sight reading at the same time. An audio component accompanies letters on the screen while students type the corresponding keys. Automated feedback and coursework is divided into discrete modules and independent lessons foster self-directed learning and enhance motivation and self-efficacy in new readers.

Offering encouragement and support

Reading and writing are essential skills and when fluency does not come naturally, strategy instruction based around the individual student's needs is crucial to help new readers gain the confidence they need to be successful at school.

Regardless of the intervention, progress takes time to achieve. That's why it is a good idea to schedule a plan of action and set up attainable goals for improving fluency in the long-run.

Parents may consider hiring a private tutor - learn more about how to choose a tutor - and teachers can adjust classroom practices to create a less stressful environment in which children can hone their skills.

Above all, students need to be made aware that learning difficulties and reading ability have nothing to do with intelligence and understand that effort is more important than results. This will encourage a healthy self-image and help them maintain the motivation required to improve their skills.

Read more about encouraging children with learning difficulties, or try our tips for motivating students to read.

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fluency strategies for struggling readers

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10 Fluency strategies for struggling readers

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Learn more about literacy skills development and the best fluency strategies for struggling readers in and outside of the classroom.

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When it comes to homeschooling, there are certain subjects that parents just don't feel comfortable teaching. At the top of the list, you'll usually find math.

When it comes to autism and math skills, some students are highly gifted. There are others who can memorize certain facts but are unable to apply the information when solving problems and equations. Since there are various autism spectrum disorders, it's important to consider the child's current academic abilities as well as their communication, social and behavioral skills when selecting the ideal math curriculum for autistic students.

Below are a few math strategies for autistic students that can help parents successfully teach the subject and keep their children engaged in the process.

Visual Aids

Math is one of those topics in which doing is the best way to learn. If your child is young and just learning the numbers or simple addition and subtraction, you may want to use small toys or their favorite snacks to add and subtract. Math counters are a great tool to teach students to add, subtract, and count. An abacus is also a useful item that helps them perform calculations and overcome their math difficulties. These manipulatives are also great for students who are prone to fidget.

One Step at a Time

When teaching math to students with autism, it's important to make sure they have basic speech skills first so they can understand commands and directions. Don't overwhelm your child with everything they need to do at once. For students with autism who struggle with communication skills, it is best to provide step by step, simple-to-follow verbal directions. In addition, make sure to give your child ample time to complete one step before moving on to the next. For students who may not be able to communicate verbally, you can also show them what to do first so they can then mirror what you did.

Write it Out

If your child is still working on their fine motor skills, holding a pencil might be a challenge. Having your child trace numbers into the air is a good start. You can also have your child work on a computer or tablet since it may be easier for them to use a keyboard and/or touch screen. For students who have developed their fine motor skills, a small whiteboard and dry erase marker are perfect for learning to count and writing equations.

Make a Plan

For many students with autism, following a routine helps them feel at ease since they know what to expect. Whether it's doing math after breakfast or before recess, doing so at the same time each day allows them to mentally prepare. It can also help to start math the same way each time. This can be by singing a particular song or starting each lesson by sitting on a special rug.

Let's Play

Math games for autistic students can be very effective, especially when the subject isn't exactly their favorite. Whether in person, or online, playing games can help your child associate math with fun, thereby increasing their interest. You can try apps, an online curriculum, or even card games/flash cards. You can also try incorporating something your child likes or brings them comfort, perhaps a particular toy or a special blanket.

You Did It

Be sure to give your child praise when they learn a new skill or get a correct answer. This helps motivate students and will help them associate math with good, positive feelings. Remember that for some children with autism, facial expressions and other non-verbal cues are difficult to understand, so be sure you use straightforward, direct language when expressing what a great job they did.

If your child tends to become overstimulated, be sure to choose a teaching environment that is quiet, free of distractions and clutter. Keep in mind that lighting can also play a role in a student's comfort level, so whether you have to open windows or dim the lights, do what works best for your child. If you find that your child is not interested despite your best efforts, it may be possible that what you are teaching them may not be challenging enough.

Lastly, don't forget to take breaks when you notice that your child is losing interest or becoming frustrated. Setting up a sensory station can be the perfect way for your child to relax. Remember, these are special memories you are making with your child as you both learn new things together.

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When it comes to homeschooling, there are certain subjects that parents just don't feel comfortable teaching. At the top of the list, you'll usually find math. When it comes to autism and math skills, some students are highly gifted. There are others who can memorize certain facts but are unable to apply the information when solving problems and equations.

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We are in the process of developing a new section of the EBI Network devoted to math interventions. Specifically, Dr. Erica Lembke at the University of Missouri, Dr. Sarah Powell at the University of Texas, Dr. Pamela Seethaler at Vanderbilt University and Elizabeth Hughes at Duquesne University have developed a framework to present math interventions that incorporates both a focus on content area (e.g. Counting & Cardinality or Operations & Algebraic Thinking) and the type of problem the child is having (acquisition, proficiency or generalization). As with other interventions on the site each intervention will have a brief for field use. For more information about our plans, see our current guiding document.

Current Intervention Briefs

Schema-Based Instruction / Schema-Broadening Instruction Additive Schemas (addition and subtraction)

Common Core Standards: Operations and Algebraic Thinking (K-5), Numbers and Operations in Base Ten (K-5) and Numbers and Operations - Fractions (3-5)

Setting: Whole Class, Small Group or Individual

Focus Area (Acquisition, Fluency and Generalization)

Overview: A schema is a way to organize or pattern information within a structured framework of known and unknown information. Within word-problem work, the learner identifies the type of problem (i.e., schema), which lends itself to solving the problem using a given organizational pattern. The main focus of Schema-Based Instruction or Schema-Broadening Instruction (SBI) is to teach word-problem solving using identification of a problem schema, representation using diagrams or equations to represent the schema, and solving the word problem. Scaffolding of student learning is provided throughout.

Full Brief Link

Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA)

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Math Interventions - Full List - Evidence-Based Intervention Network

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We are in the process of developing a new section of the EBI Network devoted to math interventions. Specifically, Dr. Erica Lembke at the University of Missouri, Dr. Sarah Powell at the University of Texas, Dr. Pamela Seethaler at Vanderbilt University and Elizabeth Hughes at Duquesne University have developed a framework to present math interventions that incorporates both a focus on content area (e.g.

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Any student can become an expert mathematician through hard work and continuous practice. One of the challenging parts of being an educator is teaching to the wide range of abilities in the classroom. In this article, we'll explore eight strategies that will help struggling math students. Plus, download free resources to assist you in supporting all math learners!

As you walk down the hallway of an elementary or middle school, it is not uncommon to overhear students' say: "I can't do math," "I will never have to use this," or "math is too hard." While the underlying causes for these phrases are diverse and might include past adverse experiences in math class or the messaging they hear from adults in their life, they are clear indicators that the students who are struggling are most in need of our help and encouragement in the math classroom.

Luckily, there are lots of strategies that math teachers can use to support struggling students.

A common misconception is that math is black and white; you either can do it or you can't. In reality, math offers plenty of room for students to explore, experiment, and unveil the patterns from which operations, rules, and mathematical phenomena are derived.
Download the 5 Strategies to Help Struggling Math Learners Tip Sheet now. Download the Helping Struggling Learners in Math Tip Sheet now.
Before Implementing Math Strategies for Struggling Students

Getting to know each student on an individual level is a fruitful first step in opening up students in order for them to be more receptive to the research-based strategies that work . Students who feel heard and understood are more willing to take risks in the classroom.

Engage with your students about their stories. How did they get to where they are? How do they feel about being behind in math? Are they aware exactly how far behind they are? Are they willing to take a risk again, given that risk-taking might not have worked out for them in the past?

As a team of teachers, it is essential to provide consistent messages indicating that school is a safe space school where students do not need to keep their defensive walls up. In my experiences, it has been this messaging that has opened students up, so that we could use the strategies below to build conceptual understanding, math skills, and problem-solving abilities.

8 Strategies to Help Your Struggling Math Learners

Strategy 1: Provide Rich Problem Contexts
I am a huge advocate and believer in every student being exposed to discovery-based learning in math. Rich contextual situations enable students to make connections between the classroom and the world around them by bringing real world scenarios into the classroom. At the same time, students are able to develop skills for decontextualization and recontextualization in order to make sense of the numbers they are working with.

Struggling students need to participate in these kinds of activities so that they can see and hear proficient math reasoning from their peers. Experiencing rich mathematical contexts along with their more proficient peers exposes struggling students to their classmates' proficient problem solving strategies and verbalization of proficient peer thought processes. Observing the way their more proficient peers use prior knowledge to solve current challenges and persevere in problem solving will help struggling students to improve their approach to engaging with rich contextual problems.

Strategy 2: Provide Explicit Instruction

Having just championed the need for rich contexts and discovery activities in the math classroom, this type of instruction by itself may not work for chronically struggling students. Explicit instruction can be used to model how to solve target problems step by step. I believe struggling students should be exposed to experiential learning, but they may get lost without follow-up.

Explicit instruction can be provided in full class mini lectures, intervention classes, or by using differentiation strategies in the main classroom. (An upcoming post will address this, so stay tuned!) Moments of explicit instruction can be supported by providing handouts to students and hanging posters around the classroom which help students remember what was discussed. The combination of explicit instruction and visual reminders minimizes the cognitive demand for struggling students allowing them to engage more meaningfully in discussions and activities throughout class.

Strategy 3: Decode Word Problems

It is not uncommon for struggling math students to also be struggling readers. These students usually need explicit instruction in the reading of word problem s involving strategies such as reading aloud, rereading, and highlighting important words. Explicit instruction for the reading of problems enables students to understand their underlying structure, choose appropriate operations and models to solve the problem, and develop strategies to represent their solution.

I find that when students understand a modeling strategy, they are more able to interpret word problems and choose an operation to solve. After students decontextualize the problem by representing it with a bar model, they are able to choose an operation to write an expression or equation all while also sharpening their reading skills. Using the models for addition and subtraction problems versus multiplication and division problems can help them conceptualize the problem.

Strategy 4: Practice Basic Facts

Struggling students should spend a few minutes every day working on their arithmetic basic facts. Ten minutes a day in homeroom, at the end of math class, or as a station in a series of math activities will help them build speed and confidence. There are many excellent applications and web tools available. If you have access to technology for this, use it!

If your district provides a subscription-based service, use it; however, if it doesn't, there are free online apps for basic facts. If you don't have technology available, flash cards (homemade or store bought) and partners will also do the job!

Strategy 5: Use Mnemonics

My staff and I conducted a survey asking special education students what they believed helped them improve by large margins on state assessments. One common theme amongst students' responses was that their teachers had provided them with strategies that were memorable because they were outlined by an acronym.

Here are some problem-solving strategies you might want to consider using with your students: RIDE, TINS, STAR, and FAST DRAW. These problem-solving strategies, along with the "infamous" PEMDAS, can be an easy way for students to latch onto a problem and come up with a solution.

The download for this post is a teacher tip sheet that includes these problem solving mnemonics and explains what their acronyms spell out.

Strategy 6: Make Math

Did you know that students' brains developmentally are not prepared to begin abstract thinking until they are 14-15 years old? Without the use of pictures or manipulatives math becomes a collection of memorizing magical tricks. Especially for struggling students, it is imperative to make thinking, patterns, and principles visible.

Get creative with the things you have around the classroom in order to begin each problem with a hands-on exploration. Concrete tools like pattern blocks, snap cubes, centimeter cubes, or household items allow students to move things around, easily explore, and make note of patterns. Next, begin introducing pictorial representations of these three-dimensional objects. Drawing pictures enables students to transfer their hands-on strategies onto paper which they can draw anywhere, including on high stakes tests!

Finally after practicing with drawing and labeling their pictures, guide students to generalize and abstract their thinking. Is there a pattern that is used every time? Challenge students to express their actions with operations, numbers, and variables. Each student will move through these stages, concrete, iconic, abstract, at their own pace allowing for natural differentiation and continuous progression towards abstract thinking.

Strategy 7: Multiple Strategies

It is quite possible that the standard method that you as a teacher are most familiar with will sound like a foreign language to some students. When students are able to contribute their own ideas and solution strategies, diverse and creative ways of problem solving are revealed. When considering something like division, some students may have the "lightbulb go off" when they think about repeated subtraction, others may think about taking one away each time by separating objects into groups, while others may easily make sense of long division.

It is in the best interest of every student to incorporate and explain multiple strategies for arriving at solutions. If a student shares a method that veers from the way you may have expected students to solve, respond with curiosity and allow the student to explain. The greatest moments of pure joy in a classroom are when students make sense out of a topic while listening to a peer's explanation.
Strategy 8: Carefully Sequence Diverse Examples
Hand in hand with strategy seven, is the sharing of these various strategies in a carefully sequenced order. Students move through their personal math journey, advancing from hands-on manipulatives to two-dimensional drawings to abstract written notations, at different speeds. As a result, on a single problem it is quite possible that each phase of understanding will be demonstrated in the students' approaches to solving.

By first sharing the most concrete and easy to follow solution strategy, you are able to ensure that your struggling students can understand a pathway to the solution. By advancing to strategies with increasing complexity, students are able to make connections between a method they are comfortable with and one that is just outside their understanding. Hearing and seeing their peers' solutions aids struggling students in moving through the progression of strategies to promote accuracy and efficiency in problem solving.

In Summary

One of the characteristics of a great math teacher is to be able to reach students where they are no matter what level that may be. All eight of these strategies are helpful when addressing the needs of all math learners and prove to be especially important for our learners who have the most room to grow.

Download these math strategies for struggling students as a helpful tip sheet and share it with the teachers at your school! You may also find the resources below to be beneficial in helping struggling math learners. Grab them now.

BONUS RESOURCE S TO HELP STRUGGLING STUDENTS

5 Ways to Enhance Math Instruction

Using Appropriate Tools by Grade Level

Math Test-Taking Strategies Kit

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8 Math Strategies for Struggling Students

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Any student can become an expert mathematician through hard work and continuous practice. One of the challenging parts of being an educator is teaching to the wide range of abilities in the classroom. In this article, we'll explore eight strategies that will help struggling math students.

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Are you a 2nd or 3rd grade teacher who is looking for multiplication strategies that will make learning multiplication easy to understand? You've come to the right place.

I am a firm believer in teaching students several strategies before teaching them how to memorize their math facts. Here are six different strategies you can use to teach your students how to multiply. Once they learn and understand a few different strategies, they will have the strong mathematical foundation to learn their multiplication facts.

My students learn, practice, and apply their strategies in their interactive math notebooks. Here you can see these six strategies that I teach to my students. Under each strategy flip flap, the students apply the strategy to a multiplication problem of their own. They use these strategy flip flap pages for referencing throughout the year.

Along with the strategies, I provide my students with plenty of independent practice. In my classroom I take one day for each strategy and one day for practicing each strategy. Here you will see some of the independent activities that my students complete in their interactive math notebooks.

I hope you found these tips to be helpful. Don't forget to pin the image above to your Pinterest board so you can reference this post in the future!

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Multiplication Strategies - Lucky Little Learners

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Are you a 2nd or 3rd grade teacher who is looking for multiplication strategies that will make learning multiplication easy to understand? You've come to the right place. I am a firm believer in teaching students several strategies before teaching them how to memorize their math facts.

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For many parents, the thought of teaching our children multiplication can seem like quite a daunting task. In the past, most of us have learned the skill by memorizing multiplication tables and being drilled over and over again with a huge number of problems, all while being timed. It's no wonder why just the thought of teaching it to our kids can seem nerve-wracking! If you're stressing about how to teach multiplication to kids, let's take a step back, discover how it's done today before taking a look at engaging activities and games your child can play to master this necessary math milestone.

But believe it or not, kids today begin building multiplication skills long before they ever step foot in a third-grade classroom. While early learners are busy mastering counting, place value, addition and subtraction between preschool and 3rd grade, they are sequentially laying the foundation for more advanced math operations, like multiplication and division. Fortunately, the days of rote memorization and drilling are long gone.
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Acquisition of Multiplication Skills

As alluded to above, the way kids learn math is vastly different than it was when the parents of today were in the classroom. Pedagogy has changed over the years, and teaching theories have come and gone, just like anything else. Most notably, since the Common Core Standards Initiative in 2010, educators across the country turned from more traditional practices of teaching math to a more conceptual method of teaching. That means that researchers and teachers understand the value of teaching our kids to actually understand the math concepts behind the problems they solve.

As a result, instead of purely memorizing operations and then "drilling and killing", as was once the practice in math classrooms, kids don't just learn "the how" when it comes to math problems, but also "the why". Researchers have noted that when kids have a solid understanding of numeracy, kids are much more likely to be successful in math, especially as they advance throughout their school careers and lives.

In classrooms today, kids now build their number sense and the understanding of math operations one step at a time, starting counting and place value. By the time kids are skip counting and adding doubles, they have already formed the foundation they need to understand the process of multiplication. In this way, students acquire the skills to multiply long before they see a multiplication problem on a worksheet! Below you'll find ideas to introduce this higher-level operation with your child for both single and multi-digit multiplication:

Single Digit Multiplication

Using Real Life Examples and Pictures to Illustrate

One of the best ways to introduce multiplication to early learners is to start by simply giving examples of real life examples, and drawing pictures to represent them. Since kids are now learning math in a more conceptual way, it's important that kids can connect the math problems they solve to real life, and actually see the concepts in action.

To get started, get a piece of paper and a few crayons. Tell your child to draw three ice cream cones, each with three scoops. Next, read your child the following word problem: "Little Bobby bought three ice cream cones. Each ice cream cone has three scoops of ice cream. How many scoops are there in all?" Go ahead and have your child count the ice cream cones and write down the answer. Then, explain that the problem is actually a multiplication problem, and write out the equation at the top of the page: 3x3=9.

Using the above strategy, continue making similar problems, with new, easy-to-draw pictures your child can easily draw out and count. For instance, draw slices of pizza with pepperoni, kites with ribbons, or cars with tires. Keep practicing until your child understands the concept!

Review Adding Doubles and Begin Writing Problems!

Kids learn to add doubles starting in the first grade. Since this concept is already so familiar for kids, it makes the most sense to start here when beginning multiplication in 3rd grade. Start with writing multiplication problems that focus on only multiplying by 2. Explain that multiplying a number doubles the number, and ask them to recall their knowledge of adding doubles.

In addition, word problems help kids to pick out the numbers and write the multiplication sentence themselves before solving it. Encourage your child to keep drawing out the problems they complete. If your child struggles to solve the problem before they draw it out, help your him or her to draw the picture first, and count. Focus on only multiplying by 2 for as long as necessary before moving on to multiplying by any other number or learning multiplication facts. Move on when your child seems to have mastered multiplying by 2!

Word Problems Make Multiplication Make More Sense

When starting out with multiplication, it doesn't make sense giving a child a worksheet filled with problems without the conceptual understanding behind the process itself. Word problems are the best way for kids to make sense out of early multiplication concepts, and help kids relate to the operation in a realistic way.

After printing out a worksheet with simple single-digit word problems, make sure to read through the entire problem carefully. Use colored pencils to underline key words in a problem, and then go back to circle any numbers needed for the problem. Next, rewrite the multiplication problem in the form of a multiplication sentence and solve.

Don't Forget the Zero Rule!

The multiplication product of zero is a universal math rule that states that when one of the factors in a multiplication problem is zero, the product is zero, too. Teaching this concept early on is a no brainer for kids, especially when teaching multiplication to struggling students. It offers kids a quick and easy way to solve any multiplication problem that includes a zero. In fact, why not listen to catchy song to ensure that your child remembers the rule? Check out Jack Hartmann Kid's Music Channel on YouTube and watch "Multiply by 0" with your child and sing along!

You might be wondering when kids start learning or memorizing more multiplication facts. Once kids understand the concept of multiplication, it's time to start learning the rules and facts before advancing on to multi-digit multiplication.

Multi-Digit Multiplication

Once you feel that your child has mastered the concept behind multiplication and is successful at completing simple one-digit problems, it's finally time to move on to learning multi-digit multiplication. While multi-digit multiplication is indeed more complicated, there are a few strategies you can use to start that will help any child conquer these seemingly tough problems.

Multiplying Partial Factors by Breaking Them Up

Every adult uses mental math from time to time to solve problems in the real world. One strategy that most of us use is breaking up factors to make solving problems easier. Here's an example: the problem on the paper says 12x20. Let's break up the factors into numbers that we are able to work with in our minds. Most of us can work with the number 10.

Multiply 10 times 20 separately before multiplying 2 by 20 and then adding the two products. On paper it would look more like this:

This is much easier to solve!

The Adding Zeros Trick

When multiplying by 10, 100, or 1000, or even when multiplying multiples of these same numbers, one can simply add zeros to solve the problem. For instance, when multiplying 35x100, the place value increases by two zeros, making the product equal 3500. By merely adding the number of zeros contained within 100 factor, the answer is easy to find.

That said, before tackling this concept, it's important that kids have a solid understanding of place value. They must understand the math behind the trick. If you're confident that your child knows why adding zeros works, go ahead and introduce the trick to make multiplication easier when dealing with factors that have multiple zeros. To help reinforce the concept itself, log on to YouTube and search for the popular Schoolhouse Rock song, "My Hero, Zero" and sing along with a childhood favorite song that you might even remember from your own childhood!

Obviously, there are many more strategies to help your early learner master the tough concept of multiplication! If you're struggling to get started and wondering how to teach multiplication to kids, the strategies above will come in handy in the early stages. Once your child understands the concept behind the math, solving problems will become easier, and more advanced strategies can be applied.
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6 Tried and Tested Strategies to Teach Multiplication to Kids

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Teaching multiplication can seem like a tricky task for many parents as kids learn more complicated math concepts. Luckily, there are easy no-nonsense to learn how to teach multiplication to kids. This article gives you 6 tried and tested strategies to get started with your child!

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Multiplication is a basic skill students need to master before they can move on to more advanced math. Memorizing multiplication tables is one option, but it's important for kids to understand exactly what it means to multiply. This list of fun and engaging ways to teach multiplication has so many options. You're sure to find a way to resonate with every one of your students!

1. Play a game of Scoot

This is a fun way to break up the routine of worksheets. One at a time, you will post one of the multiplication task cards and your students will work to find the answer. After a set amount of time (up to you), say "Scoot." Students will leave their answer sheet on their desk and move one seat to their left. Post another task card. Again, say "Scoot" and have students rotate.

2. Practice skip-counting with a song

For many of us, setting information to music helps us memorize it. This series of videos from HeavenSentHorse features common tunes that your students will quickly catch on to like Jingle Bells, This Old Man and more.

3. Solve multiplication puzzles

Puzzles are a great way to engage students and build their problem-solving skills. These puzzles help students put together the pieces to get the whole picture and really understand how to solve a multiplication problem.

4. Play Four in a Row

This fun game challenges kids to practice their math facts. Partners will take turns choosing a circle and solving the math fact. If they get it right, they place a marker over it (here, a penguin stamp). The first player to connect four wins.

5. Solve Mystery Pictures

Students will solve the one-digit multiplication problems, then use the key to color in the boxes and create the mystery picture.

6. Play multiplication tic-tac-toe

Playing with partners, each player chooses a multiplication problem to solve. If they get it right, they mark it with their dot marker. If not, it's the next person's turn. Play goes back and forth until someone gets three in a row.

7. Build multiplication skills with Minecraft

Your kids will flip for this fun version of Minecraft multiplication. Download the game and instructions for free!

8. Deal a hand of Spiral

Players take turns rolling the dice and moving around the game board with this fun multiplication card game.

9. Sweeten up multiplication practice

Write multiplication problems on the bottom of small cupcake paper liners. On the inside, write the product. Two players take turns picking a liner, finding the answer, and flipping it over to check.

10. Take a whirl at fidget spinner math

The object of the game is simple: Spin the spinner and complete as many problems as possible.

11. Make multiplication pool noodles

Pick up some pool noodles and use our easy tutorial to turn them into the ultimate multiplication manipulatives! This is such a unique way for kids to practice their math facts.

12. Match wits at Array Capture

You can use dice-in-dice or just a regular pair of dice for this game. Players roll the dice and use the numbers to block off space on the grid, writing in the math sentence too. At the end of the game, the player with the most spaces colored in wins.

13. Punch holes to make arrays

Arrays introduce multiplication in a way that kids can easily understand. This activity is great for active learners who will love punching holes as they create multiplication arrays for basic facts.

14. Fold a multiplication cootie catcher

We love finding new and clever ways to practice math facts! Get these free printables, then let kids color and fold them up. Now they've got self-checking practice at their fingertips.

15. Visit the Multiplication Shop

How fun is this? Set up a "store" with small items for sale. Kids choose a number of items from each section to "buy" and write out the multiplication sentences as their receipt!

16. Ask a partner, "Do You Have ...?"

Got an old "Guess Who?" game lying around? Turn it into a multiplication game instead!

17. Pull out the base-10 blocks

Base-10 blocks are one of our favorite manipulatives, and they're a terrific tool to help you teach multiplication. Build arrays with them to let kids visualize the problems and their answers.

18. Color in Emoji Mystery pages

Here's a twist on color-by-number. First, kids have to answer the multiplication problems in each square. Then they get to color! Get a free set of these pages at Artsy Fartsy Mama.

19. Multiply with dice-in-dice

Something about dice-in-dice just makes learning more fun! If you don't have a set, you can use a pair of regular dice for this activity. Mix things up with polyhedral dice with higher numbers too.

20. Pick sticks to play Kaboom!

So easy and so fun! Write multiplication facts at the end of a variety of wood craft sticks. On a few, write "Kaboom!" instead. To play, kids draw sticks from a cup and answer the problem. If they get it right, they can keep pulling sticks. But if they get a Kaboom! stick, they have to put their whole collection back!

21. Match Multiplication memory cards

Practice facts with a memory game. Make your own cards by writing facts and answers, then lay them all face down. Turn over a card and try to find its matching answer or problem. Your turn continues as long as you're able to make matches.

22. Find it first

Write a series of products on the whiteboard, and mix in a few random numbers too. Send two students up to the board and call out a multiplication problem. The first one to find and point to the correct answer wins a point.

23. Draw Waldorf multiplication flowers

This is a creative way to teach multiplication facts. Draw a flower with 12 petals and a circle in the center. In the circle, write the multiplicand; on the petals, the numbers 1 to 12. Now, draw larger petals outside, and fill in the product of each fact. Add some color to make fun classroom decorations!

24. Play multiplication war

All you need for this is a deck of cards, plus paper and a pencil for each player. Split the deck between the players. Each player flips two cards, then writes out the multiplication sentence and the answer. The player with the higher product takes all the cards. Play until the deck is gone. The player with the most cards wins!

25. Compete at multiplication bingo

Grab these free printable bingo cards at the link and provide one to each student along with some chips or beans to use as counters. Call out multiplication facts and have students cover the answers if they have them. When they get five in a row, it's a bingo!

26. Put a twist on Rock, Paper, Scissors

Chances are your students already know how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. This is similar, but instead, each player holds out a random number of fingers. The first one to correctly multiply them together and call out the answer wins a point. Play to 5, 10, or any number you choose.

27. Do some egg carton multiplication

Number the cups of an egg carton from 1 to 12. Drop in two marbles or beans, then close the carton and shake it up. Open it up and have students write out the multiplication number sentence based on where the marbles landed. This is an easy tool parents can make for kids at home too.

28. Try interactive flash cards

These aren't your ordinary flash cards! These free printables are a cool way to teach multiplication since the answer side includes a dot array to help kids visualize the solution. You can use sticky-note flags to cover the answers while kids use the arrays for help too.

29. Teach multiplication facts with a paper plate wheel

All it takes is paper plates, glue, and a marker to help your students learn their multiplication tables. Let kids have fun decorating their plates, and this doubles as a math craft!

30. Practice with fact family triangles

Tie together multiplication and division facts with triangle flash cards. Learn how to use them and buy a printable set at Primary Flourish. You can also have kids make their own.

31. Make LEGO arrays

LEGO bricks are one of our favorite ways to teach math! You can use multiple bricks to make arrays or just look at the bumps on the top of a single brick as an array in itself.

32. Try the finger trick

This cute craft also teaches kids a clever multiplication trick that can help them if they're stuck with multiplication "times nine." Learn the easy trick at 5-Minute Crafts.

33. Use the Force to teach multiplication

Sometimes learning multiplication facts just takes practice. Worksheets may not be very exciting, but adding a theme that kids are interested in may motivate your students. This free download from Royal Baloo features homework sheets and practice papers with graphs, mazes, puzzles, and more, all with a Star Wars theme.

34. Watch a multiplication video

From Schoolhouse Rock to Animaniacs and beyond, there are lots of fun videos to help you teach multiplication. Find our big list here.

35. Play multiplication checkers

Turn a thrift store checkerboard into a multiplication game with some stickers and a marker. The play is similar to traditional checkers, but you have to solve the problem before you can leave your checker on a new space.

36. Toss a multiplication soccer ball

What better way to appeal to students than to combine math with one of their favorite activities? These fun balls can be used in so many ways to support learning.

37. Flip bottle caps

Here's a cool alternative to flash cards. You can use metal bottle caps or plastic bottle lids, along with round stickers that fit the caps. It's a great way to go green while you teach multiplication!

38. Batter up to learn multiplication

Sports-loving kids will love this one! Get the free printables and use them along with a 10-sided die to get some multiplication facts practice.

39. Line up dominoes

Single dominoes turned sideways become multiplication number sentences! Grab a handful and have kids write out the sentences and their answers.

40. Roll to win

This works a bit like Yahtzee. Roll a die, then choose a number from 1 to 6 to multiply it by. Each number can only be used once, so choose carefully to rack up the most points. If you have polyhedral dice, you can play with higher numbers too.

41. Sculpt play dough arrays

What kid doesn't love the chance to play with play dough? Use this activity for math centers, and kids will really enjoy practicing their multiplication facts.

42. Connect the dots with Multiplication Squares

This is a math spin on the old Dots and Boxes game. Kids roll two dice and multiply the numbers together. Then they find the answer on the board and connect two dots next to it. The goal is to complete a box, coloring it in with your own color marker. When the board is full, count the squares to see who wins.

43. Cut out and assemble array cities

Here's another colorful math craft: multiplication array cities. Most high-rises have their windows arranged to make perfect arrays. Have kids make their own city skylines with buildings showing various multiplication arrays.

44. Stack math power towers

There's a universal appeal about making stacks of cups, so don't be surprised if kids clamor to play this game over and over again. Pull a cup, answer correctly, and stack. See who can get a stack of 10 first, or who can build the highest tower in 2 minutes, and so on.

45. Change your students' names (temporarily)

Grab some name tags and write multiplication equations on each. Give a tag to each of your students. For the remainder of the day, everyone will refer to each other by the answer to the equation on their tag (e.g., the student with the name tag that says 7 x 6 would be referred to as "42").

46. Take multiplication to the gridiron

All you need is poster board, 12-sided dice, and a couple of game pieces to teach multiplication using football. Students move their game piece up the field by rolling the dice and multiplying the two numbers that face up. They get four chances to score a touchdown.

47. Roll and Bump!

Print the free game boards, each with a multiplier in the heading. Roll two dice, add them together, then multiply by the multiplier. Then place your game piece over that answer. If another player also comes up with the same product, they can "bump" your game piece off and replace it with their own. The player with the most markers on the board at the end of the game wins.

48. Weave multiplication patterns

Skip-counting provides an introduction to multiplication. We love this hands-on activity where kids skip-count and weave yarn into pretty patterns.

49. Challenge kids with Multiplication Jenga

Grab an old Jenga game at the thrift store (or pick up the generic version at the dollar store). Write multiplication problems on each block, then stack 'em up. Player one pulls a block and tries to answer the problem. If they get it right, they keep the block. If they miss, their partner gets a chance. But if no one can answer it, the block gets stacked up on top. Keep playing until the tower collapses!

50. Twist and learn

Your students will love this twisted version of an old favorite! The original Math Twister was designed for addition, but it works for multiplication too. Simply write products on sticky notes and add them to circles. Then call out math problems like "Left foot, 4 x 5!" The player must put their left foot on the number 20-if they can!

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50 Fun Hands-On Ways To Teach Multiplication

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Looking for unique ways to teach multiplication so kids will really understand? Try these games, activities, and other engaging ideas!

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| | Filed Under: Math, Multiplication & Division

Division can be very scary for students, even basic division. A strong conceptual understanding of division will help build students' confidence with division and help as they progress into multi-digit division (and even division of decimals and fractions). This post shares a quick 2-page division intervention assessment that I use to assess gaps in my 4th and 5th graders' conceptual understanding of division.

About the Division Assessment

The division assessment will help you pinpoint gaps in your students' conceptual understanding of division. It will also help you see if your students have a strong understanding of the connection between multiplication and division.

Here are the conceptual division skills included in the free assessment (linked near the end of this post):

Division as Arrays

Division as Equal Groups

Drawing models and writing equations to match simple division situations

Understanding multiplication can help solve division problems

Fact Families

Solving division word problems

I recommend giving this free division assessment to any 4th or 5th grade student who struggles with division facts/understanding division conceptually or 3rd grade students who struggle with division after strong instruction.

Using the Assessment Results for Division Intervention

I use this assessment to group my students for quick and targeted division intervention lessons. Our time is limited in 4th and 5th grade, so the time spent on math intervention needs to be purposeful and intentional. Using this division assessment will help you group your students according to their gaps and instruct them accordingly (and quickly).

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Students often struggle with division fact fluency and automaticity because they lack a conceptual understanding of division (and how it connects or relates to multiplication). This simple-to-prep and use resource includes over 300 division task cards to help you build that conceptual understanding with your students.

If you need a division intervention resource that works perfectly with this assessment, click below to check out my Division Intervention Task Cards for Conceptual Understanding. I created these division intervention task cards to be an extension of my intervention mini-lessons. For example, I will teach a small group lesson on connecting multiplication and division using models and then the students will complete the task cards with me, as a math center, with partners, or independently.

Here is a detailed list of the conceptual division skills included in the task card set linked above. Each skill includes a task card set of 24 task cards:

The students will analyze equal group models and write division problems to match (scaffolded version).

The students will analyze arrays and write division problems to match (scaffolded version).

Analyzing arrays and equal group models and write division problems to match

The students will use small objects or manipulatives to model division situations. (Group Size Unknown)

The students will use small objects or manipulatives to model division situations. (# of Groups Unknown)

The students will use small objects or manipulatives to model division situations. (Group Size Unknown and # of Groups Unknown)

The students will draw a model to represent and solve division problems.

The students will finish models to solve the division problems. (Group Size Unknown)

The students will finish models to solve the division problems. (# of Groups Unknown)

The students will write multiplication problems and division problems to match models.

The students will use the fact family numbers on triangles to write two multiplication and two division problems.

The students will write fact families (two multiplication facts and two division facts) for the numbers given.

The students will solve the division problems. They will then write the related multiplication problems that helped them (or could help them).

The students will write two division problems that could be solved using multiplication facts shown.

Click here or on the image below to download the free division intervention assessment.
Download the FREE Division Intervention Assessment Here
Free Multiplication Conceptual Understanding Intervention Assessment Advanced Multiplication Strategies with FREE Posters Free Take Home Multiplication and Division Facts Toolkit Free Multiplication and Division Facts Partner Games
MORE Free Multiplication and Division Facts Activities and Resources

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Conceptual Understanding of Division Intervention Assessment -

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Filed Under: Math, Multiplication & Division Division can be very scary for students, even basic division. A strong conceptual understanding of division will help build students' confidence with division and help as they progress into multi-digit division (and even division of decimals and fractions).

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Sure, multiplication is just repeated addition. However, our same students that struggled with addition fluency are going to struggle with multiplication and division as well! Why? Because they just aren't developmentally ready for it! Yep, I said it! So what can we do as teachers to help multiplication stick? Make it meaningful, hands-on, fun, repetitive, and engaging. They will pick up on the facts with targeted and intentional learning opportunities that you can provide for them.

Make it Meaningful!

How can you make multiplication meaningful? Present it in ways that are concrete and fact family specific. Don't move on to a different fact family until students have a firm foundation of 0s, 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s. This is a great starting place for students because they can skip count.

Hands-On Approach

Anytime that you can bring in counters, dice, Play-Doh, mini erasers or other manipulatives, the more comfortable students will become. Why? Because this gives them something to refer back to. When their minds can't produce the answer, they can look back at the pieces or dots and find some sort of anchor point to assist them in coming up with their answer.

Repetitive...Wait, Repeat that!

Sure, multiplication needs to be memorized, but for a student that doesn't understand the process behind the answer, that can be a catastrophe! Students don't need to just be able to answer a problem, they need to be able to explain the reason behind the equation. Repetition allows students to feel confident as they work out or solve an equation. The more practice they are provided, the higher their levels of success and the lower their levels of frustration. I know! I know! Your pacing guides only allow a specified time for multiplication and division. BUT, during your math small groups or math stations, pull in additional review practice throughout the year to provide a serial review for your students. Or better yet, break into intervention groups! Yep, you know I had to say it!

Keep it Engaging!

In order to increase the engagement of a lesson or activity, you have to increase the participation that your students have in the lesson or activity! Active students are engaged learners! Keep this in mind as you are presenting your strategies and techniques for learning how to multiply or divide.

Multiplication and Division Activities for Interventions

Pulling all four of those important components together for successful student achievement can be difficult. I've teamed up with Erin (Snazzy in Second Grade) to develop a resource that provides materials for all of your multiplication and division small groups. All you have to do is print, prep, and instruct! What is great about this bundle is that the activities can be used in both small group, independent tutoring or homeschooling, math centers or stations, and early finisher baskets. Click here to see more!

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Multiplication and Division Activities for Interventions - Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris

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Sure, multiplication is just repeated addition. However, our same students that struggled with addition fluency are going to struggle with multiplication and division as well! Why? Because they just aren't developmentally ready for it! Yep, I said it! So what can we do as teachers to help multiplication stick?

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Basics: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

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Before children learn to read print, they need to become aware of how the sounds in words work. They must understand that words are made up of individual speech sounds, or phonemes. A child's skill in phonological and phonemic awareness is a good predictor of later reading success or difficulty.

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Phonemic Awareness for Struggling Readers

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Phonemic Awareness for Struggling Readers

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In my work as a teacher and reading specialist, I have found time and time again that children who struggle with reading often struggle with phonological awareness, too.

And that makes sense, right? If you have trouble hearing the sounds in words, it's going to be harder to put sounds together when you're decoding. It's also going to be harder to spell words if you can't clearly hear their sounds.

For this reason, I always assess my struggling readers' phonological awareness. Based upon the results, I incorporate quick phonological awareness activities into their intervention routine. I've seen very positive results from doing so!

In today's post, I'll describe the different phonological awareness skills I teach, as well as provide free phonological awareness interventions to help your students improve in each area.

And although today's post is part of my series on supporting struggling decoders, the ideas and materials are appropriate for most students in the primary grades. The vast majority of early readers benefit from phonological awareness instruction.

What Is Phonological Awareness?

Phonological awareness is, simply, the awareness of the sounds that make up spoken language. It doesn't involve alphabet letters (connecting sounds to print is phonics).

An example of a phonological awareness activity would be a teacher saying a word aloud and students saying each individual sound in the word. An example of a phonics activity would be a teacher writing a word on the board and having students say each individual sound in the word while looking at the letters.

It's beneficial (for K-1 teachers) to spend a 10-15 minutes each day teaching phonological awareness by itself (with no letters or print involved).

At the same time, phonological awareness skills can develop through work with actual print. For example, when children segment words and write their sounds, this helps them practice the phonological awareness skill of segmenting (even though it is technically a phonics-based activity).

Furthermore, it's important for us to help students understand the connection between phonological awareness activities and reading/writing. Saying things like, "You know how we practice saying each sound in a word? That helps us figure out how to spell words" can help them see the connection.

To summarize: phonological awareness does not involve print (alphabet letters or words), and beginning readers should have opportunities to practice working with sounds (without connecting them to letters). At the same time, phonological awareness can be developed through activities involving print, and students need to understand the connection between hearing sounds in words, reading, and writing.

One other note: You've probably also heard the term "phonemic awareness." Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness - it describes one set of skills that falls under the larger category of phonological awareness. I'll define phonemic awareness and provide teaching activities later on in this post.

What Phonological Awareness Skills Should Students Learn?

Children's phonological awareness skills typically develop along this continuum (adapted from Chard and Dickson's article "Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines"):

See the original image at http://www.ldonline.org/article/6254/

Not all children develop in the same way, of course. But kids are typically going to learn to identify rhymes before, say, they can segment the individual sounds in words.

Assessment can help you determine where students are "at" along this continuum, and what they need to work on. I don't recommend administering lengthy phonemic awareness assessments to all your students multiple times a year. However, if you notice that certain students are struggling with either phonological awareness or decoding, you may want to spend a little time figuring out what they need to work on.

A phonological awareness assessment can be very quick and simple. If you use my phonics program, From Sounds to Spelling, you already have phonological awareness assessments (and lessons) built into the program. If you'd like to learn more about From Sounds to Spelling, you can do so at this link.

Reading Rockets also has some general guidelines for creating your own assessment here. An assessment can be as simple as asking a child to identify pictures of rhyming words, generate a word that rhymes, count the number of words in a sentence, count the number of syllables in a word, say the first sound in a few different words, and/or verbally segment a couple of CVC words.

What Should We Do When Students Struggle with Phonological Awareness?

If our assessment results (and observations) indicate that certain students struggle with phonological awareness, we can take specific steps to help them improve.

First of all, we can plan daily practice activities to develop phonological awareness. Research shows that students who struggle with phonological awareness benefit from practicing these skills in a small group setting. However, that doesn't mean that you have to eliminate whole-class phonological awareness instruction.

During my one-on-one or small group phonological awareness activities, I like to have students close their eyes sometimes. This helps them focus on just listening. We show students so many visuals throughout the day that it can be a bit confusing for them when we just want them to listen!

I've also found that hands-on activities can be helpful for struggling students. These same students sometimes have attention issues and can quickly get bored with activities that involve only listening to or speaking sounds. The rest of this post will focus on specific, mostly hands-on activities that you can use to teach phonological awareness. To receive all of the activities and materials (for free!), sign up here:

Rhyming Activities

Rhyming is one of the most basic components of phonological awareness. Using nursery rhymes, poetry, and songs in the classroom (including in a small group setting) is helpful in helping children hear and identify words that rhyme.

When you work with a nursery rhyme, poem, or song, model how to listen for and find words that rhyme. You can say something like this: "Words that rhyme sound the same at the end, like mug and bug. While I read this poem to you, I'm going to listen for words that rhyme." As you go through the text, stop when you hear words that rhyme and point them out to the children. The kids will soon be able to join in and find words that rhyme!

As children's rhyming abilities improve, you can have them clap or raise their hands when they hear a pair of words that rhyme. You can also begin asking them to generate their own rhyming words ("What rhymes with ___?"). To connect rhyming words to print, use a highlighter to show students how rhyming words often have the same endings (i.e. the words mug and bug in the example above both end with "ug."

For some hands-on rhyming fun, try playing Rhyming Words Memory. First, have students practice making matches with the cards turned face-up. Then, turn them all face-down and mix them up. Students take turns trying to find pairs of pictures that represent rhyming words. Make sure that students name each picture aloud when they turn it over!

Rhyming word picture sorts are another fun activity. Divide a piece of paper into two columns, and draw or place a word at the top of each column (like "dog" and "pen"). Have students sort additional pictures into the columns, depending upon what each word rhymes with. For a challenge, students can also draw their own pictures to add to each column.

All of these activities are appropriate for your entire class, as well as for students who struggle with phonological awareness. Struggling students will benefit most, however, from participating in these activities in a small group setting.

Sentence Segmenting

Sentence segmenting is the next skill shown on the continuum. This is the ability to hear the individual words in sentences. Although sentence segmenting is quite simple for adults, it can be very challenging for children. Becauseinrealitywetalklikethis, not........like.......this. Because our spoken words flow together, it's not easy for little ones to distinguish one word from the next!

I try to integrate sentence segmenting throughout the day, especially when I'm modeling writing. When I want to write a sentence, I say it aloud to students, modeling how I count each word on my fingers. Then, we say the sentence together, and the kids count the words on their fingers. Next, I show them how I draw a line for each word. This drives home the point that sentences are composed of individual words, and we have to listen carefully to hear them.

In addition to this daily practice, struggling students also benefit from sentence segmenting practice in a one-on-one or small group setting. Practice can be simple - just say a sentence aloud and have students count each word on their fingers. You can also use counters and a grid to have students push one counter into a square for each word they hear:

As with all of the materials pictured in this post, you can get this resource by signing up here (you only need to sign up once to receive all of these materials in one download):

Sentence segmenting helps with key emergent reading and writing skills, like pointing one-to-one and spacing between words. Explicitly point out the connection between any sentence segmenting activities you do and the literacy activities that they support.

Syllable Blending and Segmenting

Next up is syllable blending and segmenting! I always start with blending, or having students put together syllables to form a complete word, because I feel that it's a bit easier for students to master. To practice blending, say the syllables in a word aloud (cat...er...pil...lar) and then have students pronounce the complete word correctly. You can mix things up by showing students a picture, saying the syllables aloud to name something in the picture ("Do you see the el...e...phant?"), and then having students say the word and point it out in the picture.

To practice segmenting (breaking words up into their syllables), students can jump, clap, or tap for each syllable they hear in a word you say aloud.

You can also try a syllable picture sort. Have students each picture aloud, count the number of syllables in the word, and then sort the picture:

Helping children understand that a word can have multiple syllables is vital in getting students to point one-to-one when reading. You might see some students pointing multiple times when they are "reading" a multisyllabic word, because they think that 1 syllable = 1 printed word. Help them see the connection between the syllable segmentation activities and their pointing during reading ("Do you remember that we found out that some words have a couple of syllables? Even if a word has several syllables, like computer, we only point to that word once because it's still just one word.")

Onset-Rime Blending and Segmenting

Onset-rime blending involves being able to say the complete word when the first chunk (onset) and the vowel + the rest of the word (rime) are broken apart. For example, if you say "r-oad" and the child can say "road," that child can blend an onset and rime.

To practice onset-rime blending, have students practice this skill for just a minute or so per day - it's a great way to transition to activities.

You can also gather struggling students in a small group, show them a picture, and ask them to find certain objects ("Can you find a c-up?"or "Can you find the th-umb?").

Onset-rime segmenting is the opposite: students are the ones who have to break up a word into its onset and rime (taking gum and turning it into g-um, for example). After you've practiced this skill as a class, you can have students break up into pairs (or work with you in a small group) to play my Onset & Rime Mystery Word Game (included in your download).

To play the game, give pairs of students a stack of picture cards. They should keep the picture cards between them, face-down. One student takes the top card, secretly looks at the picture, and says the onset and rime. The second student has to say what the complete word is. Students then reverse roles for the next picture.

Again, you can sign up to receive all these materials here:

Phoneme Blending and Segmenting

Next on the continuum is phoneme blending and segmenting! Phonemes are the smallest sounds in spoken language, like the sound /t/ or /ch/. Phonemic awareness is the awareness of those individual sounds.

Phoneme blending is the ability to put together individual sounds to make a word (knowing that /s/ /i/ /t/ makes the word "sit").

You can play "guess the word" for a minute or two each day by breaking up a word into its individual sounds and then having the children say the complete word. Check out this not-fancy video of me demonstrating two different possible ways to incorporate movement into phoneme blending (they can also be used for working on phoneme segmentation):

To have students practice phoneme blending in a small group, print out a variety of pictures and spread them out on the table. Say the sounds in one of the words, and then have students all point to the picture. (This is best done in a very small group of 2-3 students to avoid some students simply following the lead of the others.)

Phoneme segmenting is a bit trickier. It requires students to be able to break apart a word into its individual sounds (i.e. turning "top" into /t/ /o/ /p/.

In addition to daily oral practice, Elkonin boxes are another great way to practice phoneme segmenting. Give students a small grid with 3 or 4 boxes (depending upon what type of words you are working on). Have them touch one box or push a counter into a box for each sound that they hear in a word.

I recommend using Elkonin boxes in a one-on-one or small group setting so you can closely monitor how students are doing.

Phoneme Identification and Manipulation

Last but not least, we have phoneme identification and manipulation! When I say "phoneme identification," I mean the ability to identify whether a sound in a word comes first, in the middle, or last. This skill is helpful in teaching students to write words phonetically. You can have students practice with the Elkonin boxes featured above ("Say each sound in the word hop. Now touch the box that shows where the sound /p/ comes.")

Phoneme manipulation is the ability to add, remove, and substitute phonemes in words. Here are some examples (say the words out loud if you are confused by any of these!):

Phoneme Addition: "If I add /t/ to the end of go, what do I get?" (goat)

Phoneme Deletion: "If I take away the /c/ sound in cat, what word do I have?" (at)

Phoneme Substitution: "Say the word hop. If I say /t/ instead of /p/, what do I get?" (hot)

Phoneme manipulation can be fun, playful, and helpful in getting kids more skilled in working with words. It may also be difficult at first, but research shows that it can further develop as kids learn to read.

Conclusions

To best support your struggling readers with phonological awareness skills, remember the following:

Many, but not all, struggling readers have poor phonological awareness

Instruction should be brief - the majority of your instructional time should be spent on phonics

Phonological awareness skills will develop over time and may take lots of practice for some children

What Causes Decoding Difficulties in Beginning Readers, and What Can Teachers Do About It? How To Analyze Running Records (And Get a Ton of Valuable Information About Your Beginning Readers!) How to Teach Decoding Strategies to Struggling Readers Phonics Interventions for Struggling Readers in K-2 How To Give Struggling Readers More Practice Time Through Volume Reading Chard, D. J., & Dickson, S. V. (1999). Phonological awareness instructional and assessment guidelines. Intervention in School and Clinic, 34(5), 261-270. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 2000. Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction: Reports of the Subgroups. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NIH Pub. No 00-4754. *The authors of these texts are in no way affiliated with this blog - I am referencing their work as a means of explaining and supporting the ideas I set forth in this post.*

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Phonological Awareness Interventions for Struggling Readers - Learning at the Primary Pond

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In today's post, I'll describe the different phonological awareness skills I teach, as well as provide free phonological awareness interventions to help your students improve in each area.

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It can be hard to know where to start with vocabulary intervention. These 7 vocabulary strategies are just what your struggling readers need to build vocabulary and reading skills.

What is vocabulary?

Vocabulary is building your "bank" of words to use to deliver a message (aka speaking and writing). It is also building a schema of recognizable concepts and experiences that you can connect with words that you hear, so you are better able to receive messages.

There are 2 types of vocabulary: social vocabulary and academic vocabulary.

Social vocabulary is the use and understanding of words that you use when you interact with others and socialize with peers. It's when students talk to each other or play at recess, or when they are having a casual conversation with you or following basic directions (getting in line, passing a pencil, etc.).

Academic vocabulary is the use and understanding of words that you use in learning academic concepts, like science and social studies vocabulary, math concepts, even terms as simple as "phonics pattern" or "rough draft". Academic vocabulary also includes directions for assignments (solve each problem, or circle the proper nouns).

It's important to note the difference, because a lot more students struggle with vocabulary than we realize. Social vocabulary is built MUCH faster than academic vocabulary. We can interact with a student and think their vocabulary is just fine, but we forget that talking with them socially doesn't show how much academic vocabulary they have developed.

Why is vocabulary important?

Vocabulary is important because it is the base of comprehension. It's great if students can read the words in a text, but if they don't know what the words mean, the point of reading is lost. Building vocabulary skills gives students the tools they need to understand the words they read so they can then understand the message of the text they are reading.

Vocabulary Interventions

Vocabulary intervention is identifying students who need extra help, and then using vocabulary intervention strategies to give students targeted and meaningful practice in building vocabulary skills. If you need help identifying the students who need help in vocabulary, try using this FREE Reading Intervention Cheat Sheet.

Teaching vocabulary is not just assigning long lists of words to define. Just like any reading intervention, the vocabulary teaching strategies you use need to have context, be memorable, and purposeful. Speaking of making the most out of our interventions, here are 6 tips to make your interventions actually work.

I know you might be thinking, "Great. One more area to squeeze in intervention time."

But I promise you, building vocabulary is so important! If you are feeling overwhelmed with all of the different areas your students need intervention and help in, this Key to Stress Free Reading Intervention might be helpful to you!

Here is a list of 7 vocabulary strategies you can use in your vocabulary interventions. They are effective and engaging, while being easy to implement!

Vocabulary Strategies #1: MODELING

One of the best vocabulary teaching strategies you can use is to model using vocabulary for your students. The same words you are teaching your students to use, YOU should be using in your daily conversations. Yes, use them in your lessons when you are explicitly teaching them the vocabulary words, but also use them in your regular conversation throughout the day. Use old and new vocabulary words you have learned. Encourage your students to point out when you use them and to use them themselves as well.

Vocabulary Strategies #2: Reframing Sentences

This is a vocabulary strategy I learned in my child development in college, that is truly magical. When students use a vocabulary word incorrectly, or if their grammar is incorrect, it's important for them to receive feedback so they can correct it. However, you never want students to feel embarrassed or shot down after being vulnerable in trying to use new words. Reframing sentences in a positive way can validate students for using their new vocabulary skills while still modeling the correct way to use them.

To reframe a sentence, simply positively acknowledge their statement and repeat it in the correct way. For example, let's say a student asks, "Is it necessarily to do our homework?" Instead of just saying "yes," or telling them that's not how you use the word, you could say, "Yes, it is necessary for you to do your homework." Or if a student says, "It's time almost we go to lunch," you can say, "Yes, it's almost time for us to go to lunch."

Vocabulary Strategies #3: Vocabulary with Pictures and Visuals

It's hard for students to keep all of the new vocabulary words they are learning straight when they are just hearing them verbally. It's easy for it all to become a jumble in their heads. Try using vocabulary strategies with pictures and visuals. Most students respond well to visual cues as it gives them a mental image to associate with the new word. It helps them differentiate the words in a concrete way, and helps prompt their memory when they hear the word again. Here I use visual picture cards to go with each vocabulary word in my Snowflake Bentley Unit.

Vocabulary Strategies #4: Labeling (try using sticky notes!)

Students love vocabulary strategies that are hands on and engaging. Get students involved by giving them sticky notes and having them label vocabulary words. If students are still learning to write, you can have them pre-written, or have the students write their own words. Give students a list of words (this works great for adjectives) and have them write them on their sticky notes, then walk around the room and stick them to objects that apply. You can also use a poster or even just a diagram on a worksheet to give the students more specific things to label. For more hands-on reading intervention activities that are super engaging, check out this Ultimate List of Reading Intervention Strategies!

Vocabulary Strategies #5: Word of the Day

Try using a "word of the day" vocabulary intervention. Just choose one word each day and stay hyper focused on it. Use it as many times as you can (you can have students keep a tally mark record of how many times they hear it that day), have students give someone a high-five any time they use the word or hear someone use the word, get a sticker if they find the word in a book, say the word whenever they enter the room... the possibilities are endless! This is a good way for honing down on specific words, just be sure to keep some sort of record and quick review of all of the words you have learned, so it's not just "one-and-done, forget about it and move on."

Vocabulary Strategies #6: Crazy words with Context Clues

Using context clues is one of the greatest vocabulary skills you can give your students to help them build vocabulary on their own. Pair it with this silly activity in your vocabulary teaching strategies, and students will be so engaged during this vocabulary intervention. Make a list of silly, made up words. Then write a paragraph or several sentences about different topics try to have them include real vocabulary words. Substitute the made-up words for the vocabulary words. Try to make sure your paragraph or sentences give a lot of context clues for what your words mean. Then have students try to figure out the meaning of the crazy words. You can take this vocabulary activity one step further by including a list of the original vocabulary words that were in your text, and having the students match the crazy words to their "synonyms".

Vocabulary Strategies #7: Synonyms Posters

As mentioned earlier, visuals make great vocabulary strategies. Try making posters that show lists of synonyms for vocabulary words. Bonus points if they are in the shape they can associate with the words! For example, a big red heart that has all of the synonyms for "like", or a clock that lists synonyms for "hurry". They can just be plain posters or paint ships, like shown above, to show "shades" of meaning. These posters are great to have around the room for students to refer to. They are a great vocabulary teaching strategy for reminding students of the new words they have learned. Also, they help students find new words to use when they are writing, so they don't have to repeat the same words all of the time.

Building vocabulary skills is so important in reading intervention. I hope these vocabulary strategies give you plenty of ideas you can use with your students in your vocabulary interventions, and help keep your teaching fresh and focused. For more reading intervention tips, read this blog post on 11 Effective Reading Intervention Strategies for all areas of reading!

And don't forget to download this FREE Reading Intervention Cheat Sheet for some more tips and ideas for teaching vocabulary. It has ideas and activities for other areas in reading too, and is super helpful!

Happy teaching and reading!

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7 Awesome Vocabulary Strategies - Katelyn's Learning Studio

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It can be hard to know where to start with vocabulary intervention. These 7 vocabulary strategies are just what your struggling readers need to build vocabulary and reading skills. Vocabulary is building your "bank" of words to use to deliver a message (aka speaking and writing).

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Different Strategies for Reinforcing Intervention 

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Different Strategies for Reinforcing Intervention 

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Did you know that typically, only 5% to 10% of instructional time is devoted to vocabulary instruction, yet students, especially struggling students and English learners (ELs), need between 12 and 14 exposures to words and their meanings to fully learn them (Durkin, 1978/79; Roser & Juel, 1982; Scott, Jamieson, Noel, & Asslin, 2003)? Teaching the meanings of important words before learning new content activates students' background knowledge and prepares them for learning and comprehending. In other words, teaching vocabulary provides the "Velcro" for new information to "stick to."

What Research Says About Effective Vocabulary Instruction

Vocabulary instruction must be explicit. Explicit vocabulary instruction includes an easy-to-understand definition presented directly to students along with multiple examples and nonexamples of the target word, brief discussion opportunities, and checks for understanding.

Vocabulary instruction must include multiple practice opportunities for using words within and across subjects. That is, instruction must be extended over time with opportunities for students to hear, speak, read, and write words in various contexts. This builds students' breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge.

Vocabulary should be taught schoolwide and across all subject areas. Each subject has a unique set of vocabulary terms, and students need to know their meanings and how to use them in various contexts.

Word Selection

Instructional time is precious, and teachers are not able to address every unknown word students might encounter, so careful word selection is key. When deciding which words to target for explicit instruction, consider words that are

essential to understanding the main idea of the text or unit,

used repeatedly or frequently encountered across domains, and

not part of students' prior knowledge.

ELs may require even more careful word selection and extensive vocabulary instruction because they may be learning conversational language and academic language at the same time. Colorín Colorado provides additional information about selecting vocabulary words to teach ELs.

Some of Our Favorite Vocabulary Instructional Activities for ALL Content Areas

The five activities described below are effective ways to teach vocabulary for all students, but especially for struggling students, students with learning disabilities, and ELs.

1. Essential Words Routine

Teachers use a simple graphic organizer to preteach the meanings of important words in about 5 minutes per word. During this routine, teachers introduce target words with definitions, visual cues, and examples. Students engage in immediate practice using the words through collaborative student turn-and-talk activities.

Resources

2. Frayer Model

One way to have students extend their knowledge of important words is through a Frayer model. This graphic organizer builds vocabulary and conceptual knowledge across content areas. The strategy requires students (not the teacher) to define a vocabulary word and then list its characteristics, examples, and nonexamples. Frayer models can be completed in collaborative groups using textbooks and other subject-matter materials while the teacher circulates around the classroom and assists students.

Resource

Online module, examples, and templates from the IRIS Center

3. Semantic Mapping

Semantic maps visually display and connect a word or phrase and a set of related words or concepts. Implementing semantic map activities in your classroom will help students, especially struggling students and students with learning disabilities, recall the meanings of words and understand how multiple words or concepts "fit together." Teachers will find that using a semantic map, combined with explicit instruction and practice opportunities, is an effective way of expanding students' vocabulary and supporting their content knowledge.

Resources

4. Vocabulary Review Activities

Multiple opportunities to practice using new words is an important part of vocabulary instruction. In previous TCLD research studies, brief review activities were built into novel unit lesson plans to help students practice (and remember) the meanings of important words. Each of these activities takes 5 to 10 minutes and is easy to prepare.

Partner Review Routine: Partners work together to quickly review words learned the previous day.

Sentence Review Routine: Partners create sentences using words assigned by the teacher.

Examples and Nonexamples: The teacher tells students scenarios or shows pictures and students respond chorally to each scenario, indicating whether it is an example or nonexample.

What Word Fits? The teacher asks a question and student partners hold up an index card with the word that fits or answers the question.

Resource

Each activity is described in more detail beginning on page 33 of the TCLD booklet Reading Instruction for Middle School Students: Developing Lessons for Improving Comprehension

5. Morphemic Analysis Routine

Explicit instruction of words is important, but it is impossible to teach all the unfamiliar words students will encounter. One way to help students develop strategies for approaching unfamiliar vocabulary is to teach morphemes (prefixes, roots, and suffixes). Students can be taught the following morphemic analysis routine to help them engage in independent word study.

Resource

Learn more about the morphemic analysis routine by reviewing this online learning module from the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies.
Have questions? Feel free to drop us a line!

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Texas Center for Learning Disabilities: Five Research-Based Ways to Teach Vocabulary

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The Texas Center for Learning Disabilities (TCLD) website disseminates resources on learning disabilities to parents, teachers, and researchers.

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August, D., M. Carlo, C. Dressler, and C. Snow. 2005. The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities: Research & Practice 20 (L), pp. 50-57.

Beck, I.L., M.G. McKeown, and L. Kucan. 2002. Bringing words to life:Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford.

Calderón, M., D. August, R. Slavin, D. Duran, N. Madden, and A. Cheung. 2005. Bring words to life in classrooms with English-language learners. In E.H. Hiebert and M.L. Kamil (eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbraum.

Chall, J., and E. Dale 1995. Readability revisited: The new Dale-Chall readability formula. Brookline, MA: Brookline Books.

Cunningham, A.E. 2005. Vocabulary growth through independent reading and reading aloud to children. In E.H. Hiebert and M.L.Kamil (eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbraum.

Cunningham, A.E., and K.E. Stanovich. 1998. What reading does for the mind. American Educator. 22, pp. 8-15.

Graves, M.F. 2000. A vocabulary program to complement and bolster a middle-grade comprehension program. In B.M. Taylor, M.F. Graves, and P. Van Den Broek (eds.), Reading for meaning: Fostering comprehension in the middle grades. Mew York: Teachers College Press.

Kamil, M.L. 2004. Vocabulary and comprehension instruction: Summary and implications of the National Reading Panel finding. In P. McCardle and V. Chhabra (eds.), The voice of evidence in reading and research. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Kamil, M.L., and E.H. Hiebert. 2005. Teaching and learning vocabulary: Perspectives and persistent issues. In E.H. Hiebert and M.L. Kamil (eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

National Center for Educational Statistics. 2005. The condition of education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

National Reading Panel. 2000. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Schwartz, R.M., and T.E. Raphael. 1985. Concept of definition: A key to improving students' vocabulary. Reading Teacher 39, pp. 198-203.

Scott, J.A., and W.E. Nagy. 2004. Developing word consciousness. In J.F. Baumann and E.J. Kame'enui (eds.), Vocabulary instruction: Research to practice. New York: Guilford.

Stahl, S.A. 2005. Four problems with teaching word meanings (and what to do to make vocabulary an integral part of instruction). In E.H. Hiebert and M.L. Kamil (eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

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Consider some excellent lesson models for teaching vocabulary, explaining idioms, fostering word consciousness, instruction for English Language Learners, and mnemonic strategies.

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Is resilience the key to student success? How to develop resilience in our students is a hot topic in education and health at the moment and for a good reason

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Teachers who teach resilience might change the trajectory of their student's lives. It is not easy to teach resilience in the classroom, but it is crucial.

Teaching resilience is beyond memorization, calculation, and other traditional learning methods. It requires interaction and engagement.

Resilience is about the process of becoming, which children understand once they develop a firm belief about their place in the world.

When students believe that they are worthy and capable of overcoming challenges, they become resilient. But how do teachers teach this belief in the classroom?

We've written another article on the topic of resilience if you want to begin with a deeper understanding of its relevance. The article also has great resources, including videos and exercises, to explain the importance of this concept.

If you are ready to delve into the classroom, continue reading on how to shape resilient learners in school, and thereby shape students who are not afraid of a challenge.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Resilience Exercises for free. These engaging, science-based exercises will help you to effectively deal with difficult circumstances and give you the tools to improve the resilience of your students, clients, or employees.

Fostering Resilient Learners

Humans need other humans to shape our beliefs and identity.

As Aristotle once wrote, ' man is a social animal. ' Even today, social sciences agree that most of our beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, rituals, and ideas, are shaped by our surrounding social world.

Besides the social norms we adopt, the stories we tell ourselves also determine our life perspective. Personal beliefs, towards ourselves and what we view as possible, are made solid by the narratives we hold true. We can think of this as the narrative of "I" inside of our heads.

Our identity exists at the intersection of these personal narratives and our social reality.

Childhood molds a lot of our core ideas and habits. Every interaction or relationship has an impact on us, including dynamics between parents, close relatives, siblings, and teachers.

How a student responds emotionally to a situation may be a relic of childhood experiences. Because of this, traumatic scenarios in childhood can have large consequences in adulthood.

This also applies pressure to parenthood, and cultures differ in expectations of how parents might respond to stressors. Parental beliefs about whether the world is a safe place, or whether others are trustworthy, can also shape how children experience situations.

Parenting culture and resilience

Culture, like parenting, influences the formation of resilience in children. Additionally, norms and social constructs define specific parameters that either maximize or minimize a child's potential for wellbeing, success, and happiness.

For one example researched by Gonzales et al. (2008), many Mexican families living in the U.S. carry a deep cultural notion of familism. This places a high value on the family as a unit and the obligations that an individual owes their family.

According to the authors, these tight-knit familial networks "serve as a buffer against adverse social circumstances." This protects Latinx youth from the adversity they may face as a person of color in certain areas in America.

These familial bonds provide strength and foster resilience among individuals.

Not all socio-cultural factors build resilience however, like Reyes, Elias, Parker, and Rosenblatt (2013) articulate. This recent shift shows how in the U.S., for example, the rise of 'helicopter' and overprotective parenting, may inhibit personal growth.

Childhood norms have also changed dramatically since the 1970s (Rosin, 2014). Overall, parenting styles that would have been deemed paranoid, now appear normal.

Today, 'overparenting' is often viewed as "good, responsible parenting." According to Locke, Campbell & Kavanagh, overparenting is a serious concern (2012).

What causes this shift towards overparenting? As Locke, Campbell & Kavanagh cite, the widespread belief that the modern world is more dangerous fuels the increasing trend of overparenting. Media-blasted cases of child abduction also do not alleviate parental concern.

Increased parental anxiety is also explained by the changes in the American family and its communities. The prevalence of divorce, women in the workforce, single-parent families, and the frequent moving of homes, has changed the trust within neighborhood social structure.

Rosin calls this change a 'loss of cohesion,' which may explain why parents compensate by over-parenting (2014).

With the shift in neighborhood and family structure, parents have " sought to control more closely what they can - most of all, their children " (Rosin, 2014).

Children in the past had more responsibilities.

As Hart writes, children in the past,

"crossed the road, went to the store; eventually some of them got small neighborhood jobs. Their pride was wrapped up in competence and independence, which grew as they tried and mastered activities they hadn't known how to do the previous year "

(Rosin, 2014).

Today, most middle-class American children are not expected to do errands independently. For many parents, it is viewed as unsafe.

As Rosin fears, when children are not treated as adults and able to spend time in the company of adults who trust them, they do not build " the confidence to be truly independent and self-reliant " (2014).

This desire to "protect" children can backfire since overparenting prevents children from navigating the outside world on their own terms.

Benoit describes overparenting (2013) among his student populations, describing how some parents would do the homework of his pupils. The parents explained that they wanted to protect their children from the stress or overwhelming nature of the work.

Even if well-intended, this overparenting attitude has counterproductive effects. Children develop learned helplessness when faced with a challenge, instead of developing coping mechanisms or confidence in their ability to negotiate a challenge.

Overparenting can crystallize in low self-esteem, confidence, anxiety, and depression.

Benoit highlights the pivotal role of teachers in tackling the issue. In fact, he argues that the fundamental duty of teachers is to teach children a resilience skillset. Benoit explains this pedagogical approach, saying,

"we teach responsibility, organization, manners, restraint, and foresight. These skills may not get assessed on standardized testing, but as children plot their journey into adulthood, they are, by far, the most important life skills I teach."

In other words, as Marilyn Price-Mitchell (2015) articulate,

"children who develop resilience are better able to face disappointment, learn from failure, cope with loss and adapt to change. We recognize resilience in children when we observe their determination, grit, and perseverance to tackle problems and cope with the emotional challenges of school and life."

It is therefore essential that teachers substitute for bad parenting strategies, and also implement a framework that fosters resilience.

How are children supposed to navigate the achievement-focused and competitive culture that dominates much of adulthood if they are not allowed to build this skill?

The metaphor of Kintsugi

The ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi offers a rich metaphor around this idea of resilience.

Kintsugi means ' to join with gold. ' It is a crafting method that consists of assembling "broken pieces of an accidentally-smashed pot" (The Book of Life, 2018).

With roots in the Zen philosophy of wabi-sabi, kintsugi celebrates imperfection.

The broken pieces of the pot are glued together with "lacquer inflected with a very luxuriant gold powder" (The Book of Life, 2018). The visible fractures are adorned with gold rather than hidden.

Symbolically, the golden cracks represent the worth of the bowl because of its imperfections rather than in spite of them. The bowl is like a human, cracked by the contingency of life.

The gold endows the pot with unassailable beauty, uniqueness, and strength. Kintsugi and wabi-sabi can teach Western culture about the process of becoming oneself.

There is a lesson for embracing failures and experiences that crack our spirit. How do we turn those life cracks into gold?

This relates back to our idea of building resilience in schools, especially for younger students who are traversing the most pivotal years of their lives.

Kintsugi means ' to join with gold.' It is a crafting method that consists of assembling "broken pieces of an accidentally-smashed pot" (The Book of Life, 2018). With roots in the Zen philosophy or wabi-sabi, kintsugi celebrates imperfection.

The broken pieces of the pot are glued together with "lacquer inflected with a very luxuriant gold powder" (The Book of Life, 2018). The visible fractures are adorned with gold rather than hidden.

Symbolically, the golden cracks represent the worth of the bowl because of its imperfections rather than in spite of them.

The bowl is like a human, cracked by the contingency of life.

The gold endows the pot with unassailable beauty, uniqueness, and strength. Kintsugi and wabi-sabi can teach Western culture about the process of becoming oneself.

There is a lesson for embracing failures and experiences that crack our spirit. How do we turn those life cracks into gold? This relates to our idea of building resilience in schools, especially for younger students who are traversing the most pivotal years of their lives.

7 Characteristics of Student Resilience

Resilience is misunderstood as an individual skill gained only in adulthood. It is not common to imagine responsible children who juggle their own lives.

This view of childhood and adulthood are problematic. When we perceive resilience as a trait that develops naturally in adulthood, we assume that everyone will find their strength on their own. Yet these skills do not develop without being nurtured and trained.

Hence, teachers who teach resilience in the classroom are changing many lives.

The age we might acquire resilience is not fixed, but rather, is cultural and socio-economic. For instance, Masten (2009) and Garmezy (1981) found that many African-American children from low-income households still have independence and an ' internal locus of control. '

This was not true across other socio-economic and cultural groups and prompts further study.

Researchers Cahill, Beadle, Farrelly, Forster, & Smith (2014) have found that there are many factors of resilience. Resilience can be seen as a combination of:

1. Social competence and pro-social values

2. Optimism

3. Purpose

4. An attachment to family, to school and learning

5. Problem-solving skills

6. An effective coping style

7. A positive self-image

When these combine into the lives of children, resilience builds. Outside of the classroom, a sports team can also teach these skillsets.

In sum, resilience operates within the social framework of daily life. It is an ability to develop positive bonds with peers, manage small challenges, and trust one's responsibility.

Together, these traits help individuals deal with unforeseen circumstances linked to change, challenge, and adversity (Bernard, 2004). In a classroom, it is easy to notice which children have gained these attributes.

How do teachers create a classroom culture of resilience? How do we equip children and teenagers with the ability to strive in their adult lives and recover from adversity?

These questions beget further reading.

How to Teach Resilience in the Classroom?

In Western thought, we often link resilience to achievements. When we think of examples of resilience, adults and their achievements may come to mind first.

For example, we might visualize resilience with the image of a single parent of two children who always smiles despite financial stress. Maybe it is the CEO who is working seventy hours a week and still finds the energy to keep their business growing.

Indeed, children are the tabula rasa of society. Their brains are flexible and develop quickly at a young age, thanks to neuroplasticity.

This capacity to learn is also children's biggest vulnerability: early experiences in life will shape the way they relate to others and themselves for the rest of their lives.

This is great if young experiences center around love, safety, and security.

Unfortunately, not all children have nurturing conditions. Social, cultural, racial and economic factors influence opportunities and experiences for children.

Certain family systems perpetuate undesirable behavioral patterns that might hinder a child's development. Eventually, this can amount to social and psychological problems.

Many children become resilient when faced with adversity. But resilience does not have to stem from trauma; it can also grow from supportive home environments and classrooms.

Starting with the classroom dynamic

Classroom dynamics and teaching methods can shape a classroom culture of resiliency.

School plays a huge role in children's lives, a setting in which they spend at least 15,000 hours on average (Rutter, Maughan, Mortimore, Ouston & Smith, 1979).

As Namka (2014) illustrates, a school may be the only haven they have. As one teenager partaking in her research acknowledges, the:

"only positive adult attention I got was in school from some of the teachers. I knew which teachers liked me and I learned more from them. At home, there weren't any adults who were interested in me so school became my favorite place to be. "

Furthermore, Pianta & Walsh (1998) highlight how "schools have historically been the great equalizer in the American landscape - the 'ticket out' for youth struggling to overcome conditions of adversity and poverty."

In the traditional school system, teachers tend to reward children when they obtain good grades or behave in an expected way.

Often, educators punish students when they do not succeed academically, or when they display an attitude deemed inappropriate.

Not all school systems operate with this "good or bad" dichotomy.

For example, the Finnish educational system is famous for its progressive educational reforms, lack of standardized forms of assessment, and individual grading of students. This holistic environment fosters equality and cooperation, as opposed to competition (Colagrossi, 2018).

While it is impossible to reform the entire American educational system, there are ways to incorporate a framework that promotes the values highlighted in the Finnish framework.

When resiliency is embedded in the classroom culture, teachers transform the lives of students.

In the past, teachers gave a lot of attention to deficit-based approaches, where disciplinary measures and punishment were used to manage behavioral problems (Cahill, Beadle, Farrelly, Forster, & Smith, 2014).

Times are changing. A new approach, influenced by positive psychologists, highlights a strength-based model, with much classroom success.

Instead of focusing on undesirable traits, teachers are asked to focus on student's strengths, while promoting wellbeing and resilience (Cahill, Beadle, Farrelly, Forster, & Smith, 2014).

One of the overall aims of positive psychology is to allow people's strengths and capacities to shine through their weaknesses or vulnerabilities (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi 2000).

In the school setting, this can be achieved when the following elements are incorporated:

A safe, stable and secure physical environment

A psychologically safe space

Supportive relationships and a tight-knit community

A sense of belonging and identification

Positive social norms

Opportunities for skill-building, decision-making, and planning

Social and cultural integration of the family and the community

Once combined, these elements provide an ideal context for children to thrive in the learning process-and in their social and psychological inner lives (Bernard, 2004).

A classroom culture of resiliency is not impossible.

We can learn from many examples of this concept also extends beyond the classroom.

Examples of Promoting Resilience at School

How can teachers convey the beauty of Kintsugi art to students, and the significance of the gold that emerges from the cracks of the broken pot?

The metaphor is somewhat complex to communicate with children, but there are easy ways of reinforcing positive attitudes and resilience.

It is important to remember that the objective is not about encouraging success or perfection. The purpose is to value the attempt over the outcome and challenge over victory.

Experts in the field like Namka (2014) use models before introducing a new psychological framework to a classroom. In her work, Namka helps children in classrooms and people in psychiatric hospitals with emotional, social, and vocational growth skills.

In her work, Namka relies on the following model:

1. Determine which psychological skill is most useful for your group to learn

2. Use a language which matches the general vocabulary of your students and their understanding of specific life issues

3. Start a discussion on the concept or skill using relatable life examples that the children feel at ease discussing

4. Choose a book, a video, film, activity or creative project that will give the students a practical idea as to how this skill might show in their daily life.

5. Throughout the discussion, ask students to reflect on how they connect with the introduced concept. Reward students who demonstrate a clear understanding of the significance of the concept.

This approach introduces a specific psychological skillset, but there are also ways to incorporate resilience into school culture before discussing it in the classroom.

For instance, Carol Dwek (2015) urges teachers to ask students to reflect on personal growth often. He recommends the following statements and questions for teachers to ask students:

You can control your thoughts. If you use them in the right way, you can strengthen your mind.

Wow, that was a really good grade. You must have worked really hard to be able to achieve it.

What have you learned today?

What is a mistake today that you learned from?

What were you persistent at today?

What can you learn from this?

What will you do the next time you are in this situation?

When asked to children on a regular basis, these questions may help students gain insight into their experiences, track their progress, and plan ahead of time. Over time, this reinforces the value of growth over the value of perfection.

The result of this process can include a sense of self-worth and independence for pupils.

As Namka (2014) also emphasizes, when the message "comes through again and again" that student's attempts towards autonomy are met with unconditional support, then students might develop the "self-fulfilling prophecy of " someone believes in me so I must have what it takes to work out the threatening situation! "

When educators believe in their students and prioritize growth, students are able to reflect on their own progress and develop resilience.

Lesson Plans for Teaching Resilience to Students

High-quality and classroom-relevant resources abound. We've picked some of the best lesson plans for you, starting with a lesson plan from the organization called Reach Out.

Lesson plan from Reach Out

Reach Out, one of Australia's online mental health organizations offers six different lessons for rethinking failure.

'Embracing the F Word' ('F' referring to failure) draws a parallel between failure and growth. Together, the six lessons aim to develop resilience.

Here is an example lesson called "Setting Goals - 'Mastery' and 'Not Yet' Tracking" (p. 38):

Duration: 50 min

The main takeaway is to encourage a growth mindset where students conceptualize their educational experiences in terms of 'mastery' or 'not yet' (Carol Dweck). This approach allows students to view failure as a positive and natural part of learning.

Reach Out emphasizes that ideally, school is a space where students pursue specific skills or tasks until they have mastered them. Since not all students have the same pace with learning and developing skills, it makes sense to reward the process rather than the outcome.

Unfortunately, constraints with time and student numbers make this difficult. But even starting the process of working towards mastery can build resilience.

Key messages for students (by the end of the lesson):

'Mastery' and 'not yet' are measures that can be used to assess one's competence in a specific domain. Until mastery is achieved, we are always in the 'not yet' phase. That doesn't mean that we have failed, but rather that we need to push and learn more in order to improve our performance.

Insight and a shift in perspective around failure and success are key in the pursuit of any skill mastery.

When things get difficult, others are there to help. Peers or teachers can facilitate one's development, technique or practice.

Learning cannot take place without failures. When others experience success, some people feel envious. However, the work and time that someone devoted to a certain skill may be less visible.

Growth-oriented questions to ask students

For teachers, responses and questions that encourage growth will help their class overcome difficult tasks and moments. Well-phrased questions may help students perceive a situation as a growth-based opportunity.

These questions include:

What did you learn during this task? In what way was it difficult?

Did you make any mistakes? If so, which ones?

What skills did you have to use during this activity? Had you used any of these previously?

If you had to start it all over again, would you do anything differently next time?

What advice would you give a student just starting this task?

'You can't do it... yet'.

Activity 1: Opposite hands

Put the students in pairs and tell them to them to use their non-dominant hand to write words linked with mindsets backward, for the partner to guess them. Mindset words are the following: mindset, growth, fixed, yet, feedback, failing, learning.

Activity 2: Backward mapping & tracking mastery

Ask the students to complete the 'Backward Mapping & Tracking Mastery' worksheet (as seen below)

Activity 3: Learning pyramid

Tell the students to fill in the learning pyramid (as seen below) for them to reflect on the lesson.

Samaritans lesson plan

In addition to lessons from Reach Out, the organization Samaritans also provides material for teaching resilience in the classroom. Here is one of the lessons they offer:

Duration: 50 min

The goal of this lesson is to teach students about how challenges and resilience work together.

Teachers also gain skills on how to spread awareness that distress and hardship are shared experiences and part of being human. In the face of adversity, students also glean different coping strategies that help towards growth.

Key messages for students (by the end of the lesson):

When facing adversity, there are in-built coping skillsets that help. These develop slowly and over time.

When things feel like they are too difficult, or you are feeling lonely or isolated, it is important to seek and receive support.

Growth-oriented questions to ask students:

Which coping strategies will I try to use in future challenges?

What different concepts can I take away from this lesson?

What are two coping strategies that someone else uses that I would like to try?

Additional tools:

coping cards

blank cards

situation cards

'My five' (handout)

room labels - helpful, harmful and useless (prepare in advance)

"Building Resilience" film

building resilience - film discussion point handout

character profile cards

Activity 1:

With your students, watch this resilience video clip. After the screening, start a student-led discussion about the movie.[be]

Divide the students into small groups, distribute the printed out discussion points, and assign one character per group.

The teams should work on the completion of a character profile (see handout), and focus on their assigned character from the movie clip.

While doing this, encourage the group to think about what the character can do to build resilience, and what they might advise them to do if they were friends.

When completed, ask one team leader to volunteer and share with the group's reflections with the rest of the class.

Activity 2:

On a piece of paper (or even colorful sticky notes), ask students to write any challenging situations that come to mind.

Let students know in advance that these sticky notes will be collected and placed on the board.

Collect these notes and stick them on the board.

Read them out loud and ask the students what they would do if exposed to that situation or problem.

Then, take the coping cards and distribute either one or two as well as a blank card to each student. Tell the students that on the blank card they can add their own ideas. Among the three, tell the students that they should choose one to hold up where everyone can see it.

In the room, label three areas as helpful, harmful or useless.

One by one, read the situations that the students wrote on the notes.

Ask students to move to the labeled areas that best fit the chosen coping strategy they selected.

Once students are spread out in different areas of the classroom, ask students one by one to discuss why they believed that their position was the best one to choose.

Compare the different ideas and thoughts that students offer.

As Samaritans point out, you can also ask the following growth-oriented questions:

Who thinks that one coping strategy isn't enough?

What would render a coping method harmful or useless?

What should we take into account when considering how we are coping?

How can one find out if the chosen coping strategy is helping?

What things may 'get in the way' and prevent us from adopting the most helpful strategy?

Is what is helpful the same as what is the easiest option?

Is it always easy to find out which approach is helpful in a given situation?

Try to think of an example where this may prove to be difficult.

How could this difficulty be overcome?

Lecture:

To build resilience, individuals need a set of coping abilities that allow them to confront adversity when it arises and keep a sense of harmony in their lives.

You can incorporate some examples and the ideas that emerged from the video clip you watched.

Sometimes, a belief in one's ability to cope is not enough. Specific plans and strategies are necessary to deal with unexpected hardship and stress.

These plans can serve as a toolkit that helps us find our best approach to handle challenges.

A Hundred Activities for Teaching Resilience

If you're looking for activities that will help you teach resilience to your students, you are in luck. There are fantastic resources out there that are tailored to the needs of specific age groups.

Additionally, Lynne Namka has over a hundred activities for instilling resilience in classrooms in a fun and dynamic way. The previous link offers many activities from her website that can be found from pages 30 to 167.

Namka's activities fit the format of an A4 page. They also outline an objective, discussion, activity, helper words, and tips. These also contain a range of age-appropriate materials (such as videos and mindfulness exercises) that can solidify the concept of resilience to children.

Lastly, Namka's work has inspirational and colorful quotes that can be printed out and distributed freely, or hung on the classroom's walls.

After all, a classroom culture of resilience is a classroom culture of growth and strength.

Specific Resilience Programs for Schools

Outside of the classroom, entire schools can foster a culture of resilience.

School-wide programs can build positive social norms and generate a sense of connectedness between teachers, peers, and the academic goals of the school.

This systemic approach aligns with a philosophy within positive psychology that change is also needed at the school level, and not solely in classrooms.

School-wide programs usually involve skill training for parents and teachers. Most programs have the same goal in mind, but they may differ in their methods and focus. Furthermore, programs tend to be country-specific. Before enrolling in one, make sure you find the right one for your school within close geographical proximity.

If you cannot find a program that would suit your locational needs, you can always try to contact one of the following organizations, and schedule skype-training sessions or consultancies.

You can also browse their websites for inspiration on developing a resilience-based model for your own school.

International resiliency program

The Realizing Resilience Masterclass© is an online course perfect for teachers, counselors, therapists, and psychologists. Highly recommended, this course will provide you with textbooks, presentations, videos - all the material you would need to teach resilience in the class, with a few other bonuses.

Resiliency programs in the United States

The Penn Resiliency program offers workshop and training courses to teachers and parents.

The program is said to teach children the skills of "assertiveness, negotiation, decision-making and coping with difficult situations and emotions and social problem-solving and relaxation" (Namka, 2014).

Resiliency programs in Australia

The Resilience Doughnut is a two-year whole-school model that includes training, development and evaluation. The main aim to " raise the wellbeing and resilience of staff, students and community. "

Adopting a systemic multilevel approach, the program offers a growth-based school climate at the heart of its curriculum.

No matter where they teach, the educators who teach resilience to students are building the next generation of powerful and confident people.

With resilience skillsets, we can learn to equate challenge with growth, and growth with living.

Resiliency outside of the classroom

What would a world look like that shared the classroom values of resilience? How do we create a culture of resiliency that thrives within and beyond the classroom walls?

Perhaps by starting with changing our classroom and school cultures, we can begin creating microcosms of perseverance through challenges.

More articles on resilience:

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Resilience Exercises for free.

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Resilience in Education & How to Foster Resilient Students

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Teaching resilience is a skill for all teachers. Here we'll provide knowledge and resources to help you develop resilience in children.

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We've all been there: After passing back the math quiz, a frustrated sigh and "I'll never be able to do this!" comes from the corner of the room. And we've all met the student who's so afraid of failure that he refuses to try anything new, whether that's reading a more challenging book or doing a long-division problem that looks more difficult than the one he did yesterday. Then there are the kids who are rarely discouraged. They understand that even if today was tough, tomorrow is a new day.

The difference between the kids who bounce back easily and those who can't seem to recover from the frustration is resiliency.

Resiliency comes from kids' beliefs and attitudes about themselves and what happens to them. Fortunately, these internal factors-humor, inner direction, optimism and flexibility-are traits that we can build or strengthen.

One thing we shouldn't do is shield kids from everyday frustrations. They need to experience everyday failures and challenges. It's the kids who never feel frustrated (or who experience excessive stress) who are vulnerable later.

Here are three ways to develop student resiliency in a moment of frustration, and five ways to build resiliency in your classroom for the long run.

Keep perspective.
To you, it's a small thing (one quiz grade, missing a turn at the block center, presenting in front of the class), but to the student it's a disaster. Keeping perspective isn't about minimizing the problem or insisting that it could be worse: It's about problem solving.

What You Can Do:

Triage the situation: Help the child think about other quizzes that are coming up, the time he spent at the block center yesterday, or the way she prepared for the presentation, to show them that this is one event among many. Then, plan ways to tackle these stresses in the future.

Capture the opportunity.
We do kids a disservice when we step in too soon so they never experience making mistakes. (For example, when a parent corrects a child's homework errors before he turns it in.) In fact, children learn more when we allow them to make mistakes. It's all in how we teach them to handle it.

What You Can Do:

Praise effort: What you praise shows what you value. So focus praise on kids' effort or creativity. A huge mistake could show a lot of creativity and ingenuity, even if the outcome is a disaster.

Cool down.
Of course, the best time to teach cool-down strategies is before kids get upset, but in-the-moment is the time to get them to practice those strategies.

What You Can Do:

Cool-down corner: Create a cool-down corner with heavy pillows and calming music with headphones, or books. Teach older kids to count to 10 while taking deep breaths or to distract themselves by reading or writing until they've calmed down.
For the Long Term
Create connection.
Relationships are key to resiliency, and it's not the number but the quality that counts. In addition to the emotional benefits, the best way to learn how to deal with minor stresses is to have it modeled by peers.

What You Can Do:

Spin a web: Create a web that shows how the kids are all connected to one another. Then, use that web to figure out where and how you can build new connections.

Peer mentoring: Instead of doing show-and-tell or another presentation, pair kids up and have them teach one another something they know, share a book they read or explain a favorite hobby.

Build competence.
Every student is good at something. In particular, students may struggle when they don't see the connection between their strengths transfer across situations-think of the student whose multiplication skills are strong, but he struggles to apply them to word problems.

What You Can Do:

Compliment cards: Make it a habit to leave sticky notes with compliments on your students' desks. Plan out a delivery schedule that will make it feel random to keep them pleasantly surprised. Even better, use those compliments to call out students for their strengths-during a social studies project, ask a curious child to create a list of questions about the Revolutionary War, for example.

Give them options.
Choices give kids power and self-determination, plus it lets them make choices and live with the consequences, however minor. Giving kids authentic (not false) choices doesn't have to be complex-choices around how to complete an assignment are enough.

What You Can Do:

Choice boards: Provide a list of choices that students can make with each assignment. For younger students, this could be a limited list of options (answering questions out of order, choosing to skim a passage before reading it). For older kids, this could be a discussion about different ways to approach a project.

Would You Rather? Playing "Would You Rather?" shows students how different people approach the same situation and takes them through the decision-making process. (Here is one list of WYR questions. This site has lots of WYR questions for older students.)

Connect with characters.
Books are a great jumping-off point for talking about resiliency. For example, Chester's Way and Sheila Rae, the Brave by Kevin Henkes, novels like Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, and biographies provide a lot to talk about when it comes to resiliency.

What You Can Do:

Focus on control: During discussion, focus on the choices the character made. This helps students understand that how we handle situations is within our control. And ask: What other choices could the character have made? And how would it have changed the outcome?

Encourage constant progress.
Setting and achieving goals builds the practice of self-monitoring and helps students see the results of their hard work. The trick isn't in setting goals but in sticking with them.

What You Can Do:

Stair steps: Have students set big goals, and identify a few steps along the way. Then, have students reflect after each step about what helped them get there and what they want to keep, or stop, doing.

by Samantha Cleaver
This blog article is adapted from Building Your Bounce from the Devereux Center for Resilient Children, a partner of Apperson in supporting teachers to integrate social and emotional learning into their classrooms. Learn more about Apperson's support of social and emotional learning. This is the third blog in the three-blog series "Building Resilience in the Classroom." Thank you to Apperson, our sponsor for this series.

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8 Ways to Help Your Students Build Resiliency - We Are Teachers

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The difference between the kids who bounce back easily and those who can't seem to recover from the frustration is resiliency.

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Resilience Guide for Parents and Teachers

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Resilience Guide for Parents and Teachers

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Cite this

American Psychological Association. (2020, August 26). Resilience guide for parents and teachers. http://www.apa.org/topics/resilience-guide-parents

We tend to idealize childhood as a carefree time, but youth alone offers no shield against the emotional hurts, challenges, and traumas many children face. Children can be asked to deal with problems ranging from adapting to a new classroom or online schooling to bullying by peers or even struggles at home. Add to that the uncertainties that are part of growing up in a complex world, and childhood can be anything but carefree. The ability to thrive despite these challenges arises from the skills of resilience.
The good news is that resilience skills can be learned.
Building resilience-the ability to adapt well to adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or even significant sources of stress-can help our children manage stress and feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. However, being resilient does not mean that children won't experience difficulty or distress. Emotional pain, sadness, and anxiety are common when we have suffered major trauma or personal loss, or even when we hear of someone else's loss or trauma.

10 tips for building resilience in children and teens

1. Make connections
Teach your child the importance of engaging and connecting with their peers, including the skill of empathy and listening to others. Find ways to help children foster connectivity by suggesting they connect to peers in-person or through phone, video chats, and texts. It's also important to build a strong family network. Connecting with others provides social support and strengthens resilience.

2. Help your child by having them help others
Children who may feel helpless can feel empowered by helping others. Engage your child in age-appropriate volunteer work or ask for assistance yourself with tasks that they can master. At school, brainstorm with children about ways they can help others in their class or in grades below.

3. Maintain a daily routine
Sticking to a routine can be comforting to children, especially younger children who crave structure in their lives. Work with your child to develop a routine, and highlight times that are for school work and play. Particularly during times of distress or transition, you might need to be flexible with some routines. At the same time, schedules and consistency are important to maintain.

4. Take a break
While some anxiety can motivate us to take positive action, we also need to validate all feelings. Teach your child how to focus on something that they can control or can act on. Help by challenging unrealistic thinking by asking them to examine the chances of the worst case scenario and what they might tell a friend who has those worries. Be aware of what your child is exposed to that can be troubling, whether it's through the news, online, or overheard conversations. Although schools are being held accountable for performance or required to provide certain instruction, build in unstructured time during the school day to allow children to be creative.

5. Teach your child self-care
Teach your child the importance of basic self-care. This may be making more time to eat properly, exercise, and get sufficient sleep. Make sure your child has time to have fun, and participate in activities they enjoy. Caring for oneself and even having fun will help children stay balanced and better deal with stressful times.

6. Move toward your goals
Teach your child to set reasonable goals and help them to move toward them one step at a time. Establishing goals will help children focus on a specific task and can help build the resilience to move forward in the face of challenges. At school, break down large assignments into small, achievable goals for younger children, and for older children, acknowledge accomplishments on the way to larger goals.

7. Nurture a positive self-view
Help your child remember ways they have successfully handled hardships in the past and help them understand that these past challenges help build the strength to handle future challenges. Help your child learn to trust themselves to solve problems and make appropriate decisions. At school, help children see how their individual accomplishments contribute to the wellbeing of the class as a whole.

8. Keep things in perspective and maintain a hopeful outlook
Even when your child is facing very painful events, help them look at the situation in a broader context and keep a long-term perspective. Although your child may be too young to consider a long-term look on their own, help them see that there is a future beyond the current situation and that the future can be good. An optimistic and positive outlook can enable children to see the good things in life and keep going even in the hardest times. In school, use history to show that life moves forward after bad events, and the worst things are specific and temporary.

9. Look for opportunities for self-discovery
Tough times are often when children learn the most about themselves. Help your child take a look at how whatever they're facing can teach them "what am I made of." At school, consider leading discussions of what each student has learned after facing a tough situation.

10. Accept change
Change often can be scary for children and teens. Help your child see that change is part of life and new goals can replace goals that have become unattainable. It is important to examine what is going well, and to have a plan of action for what is not going well. In school, point out how students have changed as they moved up in grade levels and discuss how that change has had an impact on the students.

Resilience and preschool children

Very young children will only recently have mastered the skills of walking and talking, and they may not be able to express their anxieties and fears. Although you may think they are too young to understand what is happening, even very young children can absorb frightening events from the news or from conversations they overhear.

Watch your children for signs of fear and sadness they may not be able to put into words. Have your children become extra clingy or needing more hugs than usual? Have your children started old habits after you thought they had outgrown the behavior? Are they suddenly more irritable? They may be feeling the pressure of what is going on in the world around them. Use play to help your children express their fears and encourage them to use art or pretend games to express what they may not be able to put into words.

Use family time like a security blanket for your children: wrap them up in family closeness and make sure your children have lots of family time. During times of stress and change, spend more time with your children playing games, reading to them, or just holding them close.

Resilience and elementary school children

Elementary school children may be starting to form new friend groups and participate in new activities as they come into their own. As they start to study subjects about the world outside of their homes, they look to teachers as well as to parents to make them feel safe and to help sort it all out.

Make sure your child has a place where they can feel safe, whether that is home or school (ideally, both would feel safe).

Talk to your children. When they have questions, answer them honestly and with reassurance that includes simple statements that let them know you are taking actions to keep them safe and are there to take care of them. Listen to their concerns and fears when they address them with you and let them know you are there for them.

When there is a situation outside of the home that is frightening, limit the amount of news your children watch or listen to. There is always the possibility that they misinterpret what they see or hear on the news. You don't need to hide what's happening in the world from your children, but neither do they have to be exposed to constant stories that fuel their fears. Check in on their understanding of what they have been exposed to.

Realize that extra stressors may heighten normal daily stresses. Your children might normally be able to handle a failed test or teasing, but be understanding that they may respond with anger or bad behavior to stress that normally wouldn't rattle them. Reassure them that you just want what is best for them and that you are there for them.

Resilience and middle school children

Even without larger traumas, middle school can be an especially difficult time for many children as they struggle to meet extra academic demands and avoid new social pitfalls. They look to teachers and friends as well as to parents to make them feel safe.

Reinforce empathy and help your child keep perspective. If your child falls into the shifting of social groups that form in middle school, help them understand that other children may be feeling just as lonely and confused, and help them to see beyond the current situation.

Talk with your child about your own feelings during times of extraordinary stress. Your children may be old enough to appreciate hearing about your own thoughts and feelings, but also the ways in which you cope. Share how the ways you cope are helpful to you, but also find techniques that may benefit your child.

Resilience and high schoolers

Although your teens may tower over you, they still are young and can keenly feel the fear and uncertainty of both the normal stresses of being a teen, as well as events in the world around them. Emotions may be volatile and close to the surface during teen years, and finding the best way to connect to your teen can be difficult.

Talk with them whenever you can, even if it seems they don't want to talk. Sometimes the best time to talk may be when you are in the car together; sometimes it may be when you are doing chores together, allowing your teen to focus on something else while they talk. When they have questions, answer them honestly but with reassurance. Ask them their opinion about what is happening and listen to their answers.

Find a place that your teen can create as their safe place, whether it's their bedroom or somewhere they find comfort. In high school, emotions can intensify, and rejection, taunting, or bullying can also be present. A space of their own can serve as a constant and a place for them to have as their own. Your children may prefer to be with their friends rather than spend time with you, but be ready to provide lots of family time for them when they need it and set aside family time that includes their friends.

When stressful things are happening in the world at large, encourage your teen to take "news breaks," whether they are getting news from the television, magazines or newspapers, or online. Use what they're seeing and hearing as a catalyst for discussion. Teens may act like they feel immortal, but at bottom they still want to know that everything will be ok. Having honest discussions of your fears and expectations can help your high schooler learn to express their own fears. If your teen struggles with words, encourage them to use journaling or art to express emotions.

Many teens are already feeling extreme highs and lows because of hormonal levels in their bodies; added stress or trauma can make these shifts seem more extreme. Be understanding of feelings and emotions, but also be firm when teens respond to stress with angry or sullen behavior. Reassure your child that they will be ok and you are looking out for their best interest

The journey of resilience

Developing resilience is a personal journey, and you should use your knowledge of your own children to guide them on their journey. An approach to building resilience that works for you or your child might not work for someone else.

If your child seems stuck or overwhelmed and unable to use these tips, you may want to consider talking to someone who can help, such as a psychologist or other mental health professional. Turning to someone for guidance may help your child strengthen resilience and persevere during times of stress or trauma.

Acknowledgments

APA gratefully acknowledges the following experts: Mary K. Alvord, PhD, Robin Gurwitch, PhD, Jana Martin, PhD, and Ronald S. Palomares, PhD.

Information presented here should not be used as a substitute for professional health and mental health care or consultation. Individuals who believe they may need or benefit from care should consult a psychologist or other licensed health/mental health professional.

The full text of articles from APA Help Center may be reproduced and distributed for noncommercial purposes with credit given to the American Psychological Association. Any electronic reproductions must link to the original article on the APA Help Center. Any exceptions to this, including excerpting, paraphrasing or reproduction in a commercial work, must be presented in writing to the APA. Images from the APA Help Center may not be reproduced.

Recommended Reading

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Resilience guide for parents and teachers

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Cite this American Psychological Association. (2020, August 26). Resilience guide for parents and teachers. http://www.apa.org/topics/resilience-guide-parents We tend to idealize childhood as a carefree time, but youth alone offers no shield against the emotional hurts, challenges, and traumas many children face.

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Building Resilience in Children - 20 Practical, Powerful Strategies (Backed by Science) - Hey Sigmund

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Building Resilience in Children, resilience is being able to bounce back from stress, challenge, tragedy, trauma or adversity. please visit our page!

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Education Week - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo

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(This is the first post in a three-part series)

The new question-of-the-week is:
What is resilience and how can teachers promote it in the classroom?
Many of our students come to us with a huge reservoir of resilience based on their previous life's experience. Of course, some do not. And, though I don't think helping students develop more of this trait should be our primary goal, I do believe it's worth always looking for opportunities to promote it. I don't think anyone can ever have too much resilience!

This three-part series will examine strategies teachers can keep in mind to support student resilience in the classroom.

Today, Adeyemi Stembridge, Becky Corr, Julie Hasson, Cindy Terebush, Dr. Cynthia "Mama J" Johnson, and Kelly Wickham Hurst share their suggestions.

Though I'm not hosting radio shows this summer to accompany blog posts, you can still listen to past BAM! Radio Shows. You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.
Response From Adeyemi Stembridge
Adeyemi Stembridge, Ph.D., provides technical assistance for school improvement with a specific focus on equity. He works with districts around the country to identify root causes of achievement gaps and formulate pedagogy-and policy-based efforts to redress the underperformance of vulnerable student populations. Follow him on Twitter at @DrYemiS:
Whether it is considered an outcome, a process, or a discrete characteristic, the essence of resilience is a positive, adaptive response in the face of significant adversity. The research literature shows that students can learn to be more resilient if they are able to gain a greater sense of mastery over circumstances of their lives that impede their success. With some of our children, so overwhelmed with difficult situations outside of school, this may seem implausible. My argument, however, is that mastery gained over controllable circumstances inevitably prepares one to be more resilient in the face of those which are beyond one's immediate scope of influence. If the goal in our understanding of resilience is to be able to better position ourselves as more effective support to students, then we must think carefully about the nature and value of authentic, trusting relationships in school. Trust isn't merely a commodity shared between two or more people. I am also referring to how students come into trusting relationships with the idea of school and their identities therein. We are all more likely to remain committed to a task when some part of our identity is invested in the space and/or task. In this regard, I encourage teachers to use strategies that allow students to see themselves as the agents of success in their own lives. Snapshots of Engagement One of my favorite strategies for supporting the resilience of students is to capture snapshots of their successful engagement in school so I can show them back to kiddos in a sort of highlight reel of their greatest moments in the classroom. I will literally use a smartphone or a tablet to take a live-action snapshot of my students invested in their learning. (It helps to have planned lessons that students will be able to see as interesting and engaging.) A snapshot of an engaged student-thinking, doing, talking, listening, it almost doesn't matter as long as it's clear that the kiddo is invested in the learning experience-becomes a text that can be further investigated. I can then show them that picture to frame a larger conversation that centers on what they were doing, thinking, and feeling in that moment. I find that I am able to get a lot of traction from a rich snapshot and the question: "Can you tell me what was happening in this picture?" Our students are more often able to retrieve their choices in a richer emotional context with the support of the image than without. I can then follow-up accordingly to support the student's understanding that they were responsible for the success and that future successes can be engineered similarly through their choices. After our conversation, I will often send that picture to other persons in the student's trust network (in and out of school) so that the kiddo may have the opportunity to retell the story multiple times. Success Reflections Another related strategy is centered around the same principle of students being able to reflect on their successful engagement, but in the Success Reflections strategy, the students are the generator of the texts themselves. I like to have students record on video their answers to three questions: Students will need initial support in the capturing and recording of their successes-though they often need less support in the technical aspects of recording their reflections than the support that is essential in helping them conceptualize and internalize successes as instances of effective engagement. In the first question, we want students to locate a specific moment in the day when they experienced what they can describe as successful-be it in the classroom, on the playground, or in any school space. The second question requires the student to identify a choice (or action) of theirs that contributed to the success. Students have to see themselves as agents and engineers of the success through their engagement. The third question leads them to create (or clarify) affective context in which the success occurs. We want students to name their positive feelings so that when they retrieve the memory of the success in the future, it will have been reinforced with the emotion. In reviewing the students' recorded reflections, we can support their building of more nuanced emotional concepts beyond what we are likely to hear initially. Words like "happy" and "proud" can be developed further to add nuance and depth so that students can experience school and their school identities with greater emotional granularity. Ultimately, we want for the reflection of students' successes to show their potential for resilience in their academic learning. The snapshots of engagement and success reflections are strategies for giving students the evidence of their own agency so that they can more reliably see their efforts as having the potential to yield the outcomes they desire in school. Reflection, trust, and relationships are key to support students in understanding specifically when and how they overcame obstacles to their engagement in the classroom. References: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2015). Supportive relationships and active skill-building strengthen the foundations of resilience: Working paper no. 13. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu
Response From Becky Corr . "Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." -Ernest Hemingway Resilience is a person's ability to adapt and cope with failure and adversity. We are born with resilience. Think about a child who is learning to walk. The child falls down over and over again, yet gets back up again. As a child is learning to walk, caregivers ensure the child's safety by placing gates and covering sharp corners. These safety mechanisms don't prevent children from falling. They just try to ensure the safety of the child when he or she does fall. Resilience is a skill that, when cultivated and harnessed, positively impacts the lives of children well beyond the classroom and into adulthood. Cultivating resilience is what allows teachers to challenge students and maintain high expectations and rigorous curriculum. However, promoting resilience in the classroom requires laying some groundwork. Let's go back to the example of a child learning to walk. We don't expect that a child will learn to walk without falling. We know that the child will fall, so we build supports around the child so that when he or she does fall, they are able to get back up and try again. So, what can teachers do to build those supports? Let's look at the tools we can equip students with in order to be successful when they fall. Partner with parents. Teach a growth mindset. Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull have great lesson plans and resources available in their book, Navigating the Common Core with English Learners, which I have used and expanded upon when teaching growth mindset. Visit my blog for posters and activities you can use in the classroom to teach kids to think about failure differently. Provide parents with the same resources so that they can support their children at home, as well. Encourage students to create their own growth-mindset posters using their home languages and post them around the room. Encourage them to talk with their parents and guardians about how they view challenges, adversity, and failure. Provide culturally relevant models of people who demonstrate resilience. Teachers are integral in building supports around students so that they have tools and supports to draw upon when they fall-just like a child who is learning to walk. When teachers provide students with opportunities to learn and build resilience, they are teaching lifelong lessons that prepare them to face and overcome challenges they will surely face both inside and outside the walls of the classroom. Response From Julie Hasson Read stories and literature that students can connect with. Ask students to choose examples of resilient people from their own lives and cultures. Display photos and stories, or clips of stories, and quotes around the room. For ideas on culturally relevant literature, Colorín Colorado has excellent book lists.
I have spent the past year in search of the answer to a powerful question: What difference do teachers really make in students' lives? I showed up at farmers' markets, craft fairs, city parks, and other public places to chat with people from age 18 to 80 about teachers they remember. Although the teachers people remember each have unique personalities, passions, and teaching styles, they have one thing in common. They all noticed a student's need and took action in response to that need. When they noticed a student struggling academically, they provided help. When they noticed a student struggling emotionally, they provided support. This noticing plus acting is the cornerstone of resilience. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or adjust easily to change. When teachers notice a need and act in response to that need, they send a powerful message to a student: You are worthy of my time and effort. Feelings of self-worth and a positive self-image are essential components of resilience. Students develop these positive feelings when teachers remind them of past challenges they have overcome. While providing help and support, teachers can explicitly model problem solving so that students eventually learn to do it on their own. Self-worth is strengthened when students learn to put challenges in perspective and begin to trust themselves as problem solvers. Relationships are an integral component of resiliency. Students bloom when they know they matter to their teacher, and they flourish when they know they also matter to their peers. When teachers create classroom cultures where diversity is embraced and encouragement is the norm, students are better equipped to take risks and accept failures. And peers can be additional models for problem solving and coping. After a year of data gathering, I can sum up what I learned in a simple phrase: Notice + Act = Impact. If teachers want to have a lasting impact on their students' lives, they simply need to pay attention to the struggles of their students and respond. By doing so, they model positive problem solving and strengthen feelings of self-worth. However, teachers cannot give what they do not possess. In order to elevate feelings of self-worth in students, teachers must feel worthy themselves. In order to facilitate resilience, teachers themselves must be resilient. Perhaps it would help if I share one thing that is clearly evident in all of my data: Teachers absolutely do make a powerful, positive, and lasting difference in the lives of students.
Response From Cindy Terebush At the start of the year Back to School Night, explain to parents that students will face challenges that will stretch their thinking. Explain that they will learn strategies for coping with adversity. Ask for parent support. Provide parents with resources that they can use at home to talk with their child about challenges, failure, and success. Talking Points is a great way to continue communication with parents outside of the classroom. Translations are available in over 20 languages. Visit my blog for more practical tools you can use. Resilience is the ability to move forward after difficult times. Difficult times can include mistakes based on our own choices or situations beyond our control, such as death of a loved one or natural disaster. In the past year, we have seen many children impacted by traumatic events including hurricanes and school shootings. If they are resilient, they find a way to learn from those events and live every day with a new normal. Teachers can help children find emotional equilibrium and the path for moving forward during hard times, and they can set the tone for preparing children if something should occur. The first step to resilience is acceptance. Children need to know that their emotions are valid and normal. It is acceptable to be sad, disappointed, scared, and frustrated. Children don't necessarily have the capacity to come to you and say, "My life is a mess. Nothing is right." Young children don't have the words, and older children may not have the insight or the confidence. Every day in our classrooms, we need to communicate that a variety of emotions are part of the human experience. Emotions come and go. For generations, we have invalidated very normal emotions by telling children not to cry or not to be afraid. We need to stop sending the message that emotions that make us uncomfortable are not acceptable. Instead, we should tell sad children that they will be all right and assure them that we can listen and help. We should tell scared children that we can help them be brave. We have to be their safe place to feel and to process those feelings so they can move through them. All people find comfort in predictability, and children who need resilience have likely experienced something disarming. Teachers need to provide their students with predictable routines and reactions. Students find their emotional footing faster when they have faith in what to expect from day to day from you and from the larger setting. As adults, we may think that small changes are not a big deal. The smallest shift can feel huge to a child. We also need to make mistakes a part of the learning process. The emphasis on product over process is damaging to a child's sense of self. There are always going to be measurements of right and wrong, correct and incorrect; however, teachers need to infuse experiences that allow children to misstep and then try again without a negative consequence. How do children learn that when we make an incorrect choice we can self-correct if they are not given safe and secure opportunities to do so? Children and parents today are so concerned about test scores that creative thinking and trial and error have been de-emphasized. Look for ways to have children experience trial and error as a learning experience. Finally, be an example of resilience. I make mistakes and find another path. I have sat with very young learners and told them, "I feel sad today," so they can witness an adult getting through the day and returning feeling better another day. I have told older students when I am feeling out of sorts, and they have seen me get through that. Children who don't see us as continually processing events and finding our new normal may think that seeking equilibrium is not typical. They need to know that we understand them, because we go through trials, errors, and traumas, too.
Response From Dr. Cynthia "Mama J" Johnson
Becky Corr is the president of EdSpark Consulting, which is dedicated to igniting partnerships for diverse learners through professional development, technical writing, and systems analysis. In her role as an English-language development team lead in the Douglas County school district in Colorado, she coaches, mentors and supports teachers, and facilitates family-engagement opportunities:
Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from adverse circumstances. It is crucial that students learn this necessary skill to navigate life. Many students find there will be times in life when they will be knocked down. There will be times when they will fall. There will be times when they find themselves in the valley of despair. It is during these times when resiliency comes into play helping students learn how to cope and to respond positively. The lack of resiliency skills can be the cause for students to find themselves not being able to deal with the challenges that life brings each day. Thus, causing students to respond negatively. There are multiple examples of how this has played out in schools in recent history.
My introduction to the concept of resiliency was in the late 1980s when I first started teaching. I taught behavior-disordered and emotionally disturbed students half the day, and the other half I taught speech and debate. Often, I found myself working with students that represented both ends of the spectrum. However, the common denominator was their ability to respond to life's ups and downs. While learning about the theory of resiliency and bouncing back, I realized my own life story was one that demonstrated resilience. My life story includes overcoming being born into extreme poverty and stuttering so severely that it was hard to understand the words that came out of my mouth, the inability to read aloud until the 4th grade, and being placed in special classes. I quickly discovered that people would like you but not believe you could achieve. It was then that I adopted my "Yes I Can" mindset. I would write these words at the top of everything that I did. It became my mantra that helped me turn insurmountable odds into unbelievable possibilities. Although I did not know the word "resiliency," my parents were my ultimate examples of how to bend but refuse to break. Learning how to bounce back from difficult circumstances taught me I could do anything I set my mind to do. Resiliency is a lesson that is much needed in classrooms today.
Teachers can introduce the concept of resiliency by using an analogy of a ball. Demonstrate by bouncing the ball and have students describe what they see, and how it relates to life. Resiliency can be promoted in the classroom by: * Providing examples of people who are resilient and who beat the odds. * Discussing what resiliency looks like in society. * Describing stories of resilient people that students know. * Researching people who beat the odds in the interest of each student (i.e., sports, hobbies). * Writing anonymous scenarios about situations where the lack of resiliency was evident. * Role-playing situations where resiliency is applied. * Determining strategies on how to handle different situations. * Inviting in guest speakers to share their story about bouncing back from the challenges of life. * Creating a plan to address a situation a student may be currently facing. * Celebrating each time a student is victorious in responding positively. The earlier a student learns how to apply the concept of resiliency, the better equipped they are to face a crisis.
Response From Kelly Wickham Hurst
Differentiate instruction. Start with student strengths. Consider what each student does well. When planning instruction, identify what students will need to do with language. Challenge students while providing supports they need for their level of English proficiency. For more ways to differentiate instruction, check out the earlier post in EdWeek
Honestly, I am hoping this is resilience for teachers and not students because I have a bad taste in my mouth from Duckworth's book on "Grit" and how it's been weaponized against children. But, if we're talking about the stamina it takes to learn things, then resilience is celebratory for children when they hang in there and struggle through a difficult concept. We need more balloons for that kind of resilience.
Julie Hasson is a former principal and is currently a professor in the School of Education at Florida Southern College. She is a co-author of Unmapped Potential: An Educator's Guide to Lasting Change. Julie is also the founder of Chalk and Chances and the blonde half Purposeful Principals:

Cindy Terebush is an early-childhood consultant, presenter, and author of Teach the Whole Preschooler: Strategies for Nurturing Developing Minds:

Dr. Cynthia "Mama J" Johnson is an educator with over 30 years of experience in the classroom and as an administrator. Currently, she serves as an educational consultant facilitating presentations throughout the nation regarding children who live in poverty, diverse student populations, equity and social justice, school connectedness, and social/emotional learning:

Kelly Wickham Hurst is a 23-year educator, classroom teacher, and administrator who founded Being Black at School in 2016. BBAS is an advocacy organization that uses frameworks and data to assist schools in being more equitable. She's a mom of six and grandmother of two and lives with her husband in Springfield, Ill.:

Thanks to Adeyemi, Becky, Julie, Cindy, Cynthia, and Kelly for their contributions.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first seven years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. This Year's Most Popular Q&A Posts Race & Gender Challenges Classroom Management Advice Best Ways to Begin The School Year Best Ways to End The School Year Implementing the Common Core Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning Teaching Social Studies Project-Based Learning Using Tech in the Classroom Parent Engagement in Schools Teaching English-Language Learners Reading Instruction Writing Instruction Education Policy Issues Student Assessment Differentiating Instruction Math Instruction Science Instruction Advice for New Teachers Author Interviews Entering the Teaching Profession The Inclusive Classroom Learning & the Brain Administrator Leadership Teacher Leadership Relationships in Schools Professional Development Instructional Strategies Best of Classroom Q&A
Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.
Look for Part Two in a few days.
Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.

I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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Response: Ways to Promote Resilience in the Classroom

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(This is the first post in a three-part series) The new question-of-the-week is: What is resilience and how can teachers promote it in the classroom? Many of our students come to us with a huge reservoir of resilience based on their previous life's experience. Of course, some do not.

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Why do you take notes? What do you hope to get from your notes? What are Cornell Notes and how do you use the Cornell note-taking system?

There are many ways to take notes. It's helpful to try out different methods and determine which work best for you in different situations. Whether you are learning online or in person, the physical act of writing can help you remember better than just listening or reading. Research shows that taking notes by hand is more effective than typing on a laptop. This page and our Canvas module will teach you about different note-taking systems and styles and help you determine what will work best for your situation.

In our Cornell Note Taking System module you will:

Examine your current note taking system

Explore different note taking strategies (including the Cornell Notes system)

Assess which strategies work best for you in different situations

The best way to explore your current note-taking strategies and learn about the Cornell note taking system is to go through our Canvas note taking module. The module will interactively guide you through how to use Cornell Notes - click on the link here or the button below. This module is publicly available.

Just want to see a bit more about Cornell Notes? You can view the videos below.

Watch: What are Cornell Notes?

Watch: Learn how students use the Cornell Note Taking System

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Why do you take notes? What do you hope to get from your notes? What are Cornell Notes and how do you use the Cornell note-taking system? There are many ways to take notes. It's helpful to try out different methods and determine which work best for you in different situations.

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Preparing for exams? Give yourself the best chance with these top ten study tips, and try not to let the stress get to you! Remember: you've got this.

Give yourself enough time to study

Don't leave it until the last minute. While some students do seem to thrive on last-minute cramming, it's widely accepted that (for most of us) this is not the best way to approach an exam. To help sort out your time management, set up a timetable for your study. Write down how many exams you have and the days on which you have to sit them. Then organize your study accordingly. You may want to give some exams more study time than others, so find a balance that you feel comfortable with.

Organize your study space

Make sure you have enough space to spread your textbooks and notes out. Have you got enough light? Is your chair comfortable? Are your computer games out of sight?

Try and get rid of all distractions, and make sure you feel as comfortable and able to focus as possible. For some people, this may mean almost complete silence, for others, background music helps. Some of us need everything completely tidy and organized in order to concentrate, while others thrive in a more cluttered environment. Think about what works for you, and take the time to get it right.

Use flow charts and diagrams

Visual aids can be really helpful when revising. At the start of a topic, challenge yourself to write down everything you already know about a topic - and then highlight where the gaps lie. Closer to the exam, condense your revision notes into one-page diagrams. Getting your ideas down in this brief format can then help you to quickly recall everything you need to know during the exam.

Practice on old exams

One of the most effective ways to prepare for exams is to practice taking past versions. This helps you get used to the format of the questions, and - if you time yourself - can also be good practice for making sure you spend the right amount of time on each section.

Explain your answers to others

Parents and little brothers and sisters don't have to be annoying around exam time. Use them to your advantage. Explain an answer to a question to them. That will help you to get it clear in your head, and also to highlight any areas where you need more work.

Organize study groups with friends

Get together with friends for a study session. You may have questions that they have the answers to and vice versa. As long as you make sure you stay focused on the topic for an agreed amount of time, this can be one of the most effective ways to challenge yourself.

Take regular breaks

While you may think it's best to study for as many hours as possible, this can actually be counterproductive. If you were training for a marathon, you wouldn't try and run 24 hours a day. Likewise, studies have shown that for long-term retention of knowledge, taking regular breaks really helps.

Everyone's different, so develop a study routine that works for you. If you study better in the morning, start early before taking a break at lunchtime. Or, if you're more productive at nighttime, take a larger break earlier on so you're ready to settle down come evening.

Try not to feel guilty about being out enjoying the sunshine instead of hunched over your textbooks. Remember Vitamin D is important for a healthy brain.

Snack on brain food

You may feel like you deserve a treat, or that you don't have time to cook, but what you eat can really have an impact on energy levels and focus, so keep away from junk food. Keep your body and brain well-fuelled by choosing nutritious foods that have been proven to aid concentration and memory, such as fish, nuts, seeds, yogurt and blueberries. The same applies on exam day - eat a good meal before the test, based on foods that will provide a slow release of energy throughout. Sugar may seem appealing, but your energy levels will crash an hour later.

Plan your exam day

Make sure you get everything ready well in advance of the exam - don't leave it to the day before to suddenly realize you don't know the way, or what you're supposed to bring. Check all the rules and requirements, and plan your route and journey time. If possible, do a test run of the trip. If not, write down clear directions.

Work out how long it will take to get there - then add on some extra time. You really don't want to arrive having had to run halfway or feeling frazzled from losing your way. You could also make plans to travel to the exam with friends or classmates, as long as you know they're likely to be punctual.

Drink plenty of water

As a final tip, remember that being well hydrated is essential for your brain to work at its best. Make sure you keep drinking plenty of water throughout your revision, and also on the exam day.

Good luck!

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This article was originally published in February 2008 and was updated in May 2017.

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Preparing for exams? Give yourself the best chance with these top ten study tips, and try not to let the stress get to you during this period of exam preparation.

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Have you ever wished you could look inside the minds of straight-A students and find out how they do it?

If so, keep reading.

In this article, I'm going to share with you the study tips that will enable you to succeed academically.

This list of 101 study tips for students is divided into the following categories:

Attitude and mindset

Learning methods and techniques

Habits and commitments

Focus

Support from others

Memory and brain function

Structure and routine

Are you ready?

Let's dive in!

Attitude and mindset

1. Don't say "I have to", and instead say "I get to"

The words you use when you talk to yourself are important. They shape your attitude.

Saying to yourself: "Today, I have to work on this assignment" will produce feelings of stress and frustration.

Instead, try saying to yourself: "Today, I get to work on this assignment." Saying this will remind you that education is a privilege.

This simple change in attitude will give you more motivation and focus to get the task done.

2. Take full responsibility for your own learning

When you take responsibility for your learning, you'll become more proactive.

One way to bring about a change in this area is to ask yourself: "If I'm not responsible for my learning, then who is?"

Asking yourself this question will help you to realise that no one else is responsible for your learning - not your teachers, and not your parents.

3. Do more than what others are willing to do

In academics - as in any other area of human endeavour - the students who excel are the ones who are prepared to go the extra mile.

Instead of doing the bare minimum to meet the requirements, do more than what others are willing to do.

This might mean doing two or three more questions than the ones that your teacher assigned.

It might mean looking up additional resources, or it might mean proofreading your essay one final time.

4. Don't focus on grades too much

As a student, it's easy to become fixated on grades.

But remember that grades are just a form of feedback; they aren't an end in themselves.

Don't allow a focus on grades to cause you to forget that it's the process of learning that counts in the long run.

5. View challenges positively

When you're learning something new, you're likely to feel overwhelmed.

This is why you must develop what Dr Carol Dweck calls a "growth mindset".

This means that instead of telling yourself that something is "too hard", you tell yourself that it's an opportunity to "grow" your brain.

After all, the more challenges you take on, the more you'll learn.

6. Write down 3 to 5 reasons why you want to do well academically

One key to succeeding as a student is to be clear about why you want to succeed.

As Jim Rohn once said: "If you have enough reasons, you can do the most incredible things."

Write down 3 to 5 reasons why you want to perform well in school, and read the list daily.

7. Volunteer and serve others regularly

This will remind you that education never occurs in a vacuum. Education is always about learning from others or passing on that knowledge to others.

By volunteering and serving others, you'll start to see that your life isn't mainly about you. It's about using your skills and knowledge to make the world a better place.

In turn, this will give you the willpower to persevere in the midst of obstacles.

8. Regain your focus by asking these two questions...

The first question is: "What's important now?"

The second question is: "What's important next?"

A lack of focus is often the result of trying to do too many things at the same time.

When you find yourself unable to focus, these two questions will bring you back to the present.

9. Use systems and routines

Focus on developing systems and routines, instead of continually thinking about what you want to accomplish.

Students who perform well attribute their success not to lofty goals, but to their daily systems and processes.

The problem with focusing too much on goals is that this doesn't enable you to connect your goals with the effort required.

Success involves committing to a discipline and a routine, even when the going gets tough.

10. Develop gratitude

Every day, write down at least one thing you're thankful for.

It's been shown that students who develop a sense of gratitude are able to harness positive thinking to improve their grades and quality of life.

You can develop your "gratitude muscle" by writing down one thing each day that you're thankful for.

11. Be a "professional" student

When you're in school, it's easy to think that you're just a student. It seems like you don't have a job or profession yet - that's why you're still in school.

But you do have a job: being a "professional" student.

As a professional student, you should take it just as seriously as the job you'll have when you've completed your formal education.

Professional students are responsible, focused and hardworking!

12. Be clear about your purpose

If you lack motivation, think about the purposes of education that are bigger than yourself.

Remember that the purpose of education is less about you and more about the contribution you can make to society.

With a strong sense of purpose, you'll be more committed.

This is one of the most crucial study tips for students that will always be relevant.

13. Don't blame others

Resist the urge to blame your teachers, parents, etc.

If things go wrong, remind yourself that your academics are your responsibility, not anyone else's.

Learning methods and techniques

14. Vocalise to memorise

When trying to memorise key information or equations, say it out loud.

This study found that saying information out loud helps to move it to your long-term memory.

15. Create summary notes

Create summary notes of each chapter or topic you're learning.

Condensing each chapter into a handful of key points will make it easier for you to consolidate your learning.

16. Take a study break every 30 to 45 minutes

Research shows that even brief diversions can dramatically increase your ability to focus.

Even if it's a break of just a few minutes, your concentration will improve.

17. Use the Pomodoro Technique

If you can't focus for 30 to 45 minutes straight, try the Pomodoro Technique instead.

("Pomodoro" is the Italian word for "tomato".)

The Pomodoro Technique is a way of studying in short bursts. Study in blocks of 25 minutes, with a 5-minute break in between blocks.

Once you've completed four blocks of 25 minutes, take a break of 15 to 30 minutes.

18. Test yourself often

Another useful study tip is to test yourself at regular intervals on what you've been learning.

This not only enables you to consolidate the new information, but it also ensures that you're mastering the material.

19. Break tasks down

Break down overwhelming tasks into smaller, more manageable ones.

By doing this, you'll feel more motivated to do your work and to study. You'll also be less likely to feel discouraged or anxious.

Overall, you'll become a far more productive student.

20. Keep a "done" list

As you complete the tasks on your list, check them off as "done".

Keep this list for future reference.

Keeping a "done" list will give you a sense of accomplishment. As such, you'll feel more productive, which will lead to you getting more done in the long run.

21. Give yourself a reward

Give yourself a reward - even a small one works - for each task you complete.

This serves as a reminder that you're making progress. This will enable you to sustain your focus over the weeks and months.

22. Keep a list of the doubts and questions you have

Keep a running list of any doubts or questions that arise during your study sessions.

By noting them down, you won't feel as if you have to remember them. This will free up your mind and allow you to concentrate better on the material you're studying.

Once you have a chance, clarify your doubts with your teacher.

If your teacher isn't available, then look for a suitable online resource instead.

23. Set tiny goals

If you find yourself procrastinating, set tiny goals.

The objective is to get started, which is always the hardest part of getting the work done.

For example, your goal for the next 15 minutes might be to read and summarise one page of a textbook (instead of the whole chapter).

In terms of the study tips for students that I recommend, this is an exceptionally practical one.

24. Make the material interesting by asking the right questions

Make the material interesting by asking questions such as:

Who developed this theory?

How did he or she develop this theory?

What challenges did he or she face?

What are the applications of this theory?

25. To improve your writing, use the Hemingway App

The Hemingway App checks your writing for overly complex sentences, as well as other common writing errors.

I use the app every time I write articles, and it has enabled me to correct many of my bad writing habits.

26. Never memorise information without first understanding it

The human brain is designed to process information, not to store information like it's a hard drive.

This is why meaningful learning is far more effective than rote learning.

Meaningful learning occurs when you understand the information and make sense of it.

If you don't understand the material after reading through it several times, don't be afraid to ask for assistance.

27. Take practice tests under test conditions

This will help to ensure that you understand what you're learning.

By taking the tests under test conditions, it will also prepare you for the exam stress that you'll face.

28. Explain the concept to someone else

An excellent way to master a complex topic is to explain it to someone else.

Through the act of explaining the topic to another person, you'll get a better understanding of the topic.

If you can't explain the concept in a simple way, it means that you probably haven't mastered the concept yet.

29. Read the syllabus carefully

The syllabus is the scope of a subject or an outline of the topics covered in a particular course.

Don't assume that you know the syllabus based on what material your teacher has been covering.

Read the syllabus for yourself so that you know exactly what topics will be tested.

This will make it easier for you to be well prepared for every test and exam.

30. Become familiar with the structure of the test or exam

While you won't know the exact questions that will appear in a test or exam, your teacher should be able to tell you about the structure of the test or exam.

Having this information will allow you to be more specific in the way you prepare. In turn, this will enable you to get better grades.

31. Use free online resources

If you have trouble understanding the material, use free online resources like Khan Academy to learn the information.

32. Participate in class

Actively participating in class will help you to engage with the subject matter.

This will deepen your interest in the topic and allow you to learn the concepts more effectively.

33. Cultivate the habit of reading for leisure

Develop the habit of reading as a pastime.

Try reading both fiction and non-fiction books. I recommend reading biographies in particular as they tend to be inspirational.

By cultivating this habit, you'll associate reading with something that's enjoyable, rather than as something that you're forced to do.

As such, you'll be a happier and better student.

34. Set "focused attention" goals

If you think your teacher is especially boring, set "focused attention" goals.

Focus for 5 minutes, then take a 3-minute break. Repeat this until the class ends.

The following week, focus for 7 minutes at a go before taking a 3-minute break. As the weeks go by, increase the "focus" periods gradually.

This may not seem ideal, but it's better than not paying attention at all.

Over time, you'll be able to focus for longer stretches, even if your teacher is boring.

35. Before writing an essay or paper, create an outline first

Having an outline will make it possible for you to write better essays in less time.

The outline doesn't have to be that detailed; just list the bullet points that summarise what you want to write about.

36. Write down every single resource you could use to prepare for a test or exam

By doing this, you'll ensure that you don't overlook any vital resources that will facilitate your preparation for the test or exam.

37. After you finish studying a set of notes, write down the date when you studied it

This will allow you to keep track of when you studied a particular topic.

As such, you'll know when you ought to do a more thorough review of the topic, and when a more cursory review will suffice.

38. Make your notes visually appealing

For example, you could use different colours for different sub-topics, use headings and sub-headings, or add diagrams to illustrate key points.

In addition, you could create mind maps to represent the connections between different concepts and ideas.

When your notes are visually appealing, it will make your study sessions more interesting and satisfying.

39. To improve your writing, ask your teachers if you can submit additional essays

Most teachers will agree to this request.

By submitting additional essays, you'll have more practice and more opportunities for feedback.

As a result, you'll become a better writer.

40. Use a stopwatch

Use a stopwatch to time your study sessions and breaks.

This will enable you to stay on task and ensure that a 10-minute break doesn't turn into a 2-hour break.

41. Complete unpleasant tasks first

This accomplishes two things.

Firstly, it gets you in the mindset where you're not hiding from your challenges. Instead, you're facing them head-on.

Secondly, having dealt with the unpleasant tasks first, they'll no longer be hanging over your head. This means that you'll maintain your levels of productivity.

42. When taking notes, write down only the key points

When taking notes during class, never try to write down everything the teacher says - you won't be able to.

Instead, write down keywords or key points. By summarising the concepts in your own words, you'll deepen your understanding of the topic.

43. Increase your reading speed

Increase your reading speed by using an online tool like Spreeder.

Learning to read faster allows you to take control of information overload, save time, and become a more effective student.

This isn't just a study tip that I recommend to students; it's a life skill.

44. Take notes by hand instead of on your computer

Research shows that taking notes on a computer results in shallower processing and understanding of the material as compared to taking notes by hand.

45. If you don't feel like getting to work, set a timer for just 3 minutes

By doing this, you're setting a goal to work for just 3 minutes.

Setting such a low target will push you to get started.

In this way, you'll be less likely to procrastinate on school-related tasks.

You'll probably find that you'll keep going beyond those 3 minutes.

46. Use your finger or pen as a guide whenever you're reading

This video shows you how to do this.

Combining a physical action with the act of reading will enable you to concentrate for longer.

You'll daydream less, thus improving your studying efficiency.

Habits and commitments

47. Check through your homework at least once before you submit it

By doing this, you'll almost always find at least one or two mistakes that would otherwise have gone uncorrected.

48. Submit 100% of your homework on time

Make this a personal commitment, because it's your responsibility as a student.

You'll be surprised at how quickly it becomes a studying-related habit that you're unwilling to break.

49. To form new healthy study habits, make use of technology

Develop new study habits using apps like Habitica and HabitBull.

These apps help you to keep track of the new habits you're trying to develop.

They also turn the habit formation process into an enjoyable one.

50. Before starting on a homework assignment, read through your notes

Don't assume that you've already mastered the topic, even before doing the homework assignment.

The act of reading your notes will jog your memory and make doing the homework a more meaningful learning process.

51. Review any new information learned on the same day

Review and consolidate any new information on the same day that you learned it.

This will ensure that you understand the information and will make it easier for you to move the new information to your long-term memory.

In the long run, you won't need to spend so much time studying to master the material.

52. Take notes during every class

Research shows that we forget about 40% of new information learned over the subsequent 24 hours.

Taking notes helps you to retain more information, and also helps you to concentrate during class.

53. Do plenty of practice tests and exams

Do practice tests and exams at regular intervals.

This will allow you to gauge whether or not you're mastering the topics and concepts.

54. Don't cram for tests or exams

Cramming is what happens when you leave your studying to the last minute.

Not surprisingly, 90% of students report that learning is more effective when it's spaced out, as opposed to cramming.

So be consistent and don't cram!

55. Prepare for every class

Do the recommended readings before each class.

If you know what your teacher will be covering in the upcoming class, skim the relevant textbook chapter to get an idea of what the class will be about.

56. Pay attention in class, even if you already understand the material

If you already know the concepts well, treat the class as a review session.

You'll consolidate your learning and retain the information for longer.

57. Decide specifically when you'll start studying for every test and exam

Mark the date on your calendar, because this will make it much more likely that you'll start studying on that day.

Don't just make a vague commitment that you'll start studying "early" - we all know that doesn't work.

58. Complete all of your homework the day it is assigned, as far as possible

Do your best to keep this commitment.

Use the fun things you want to do as a reward for completing your homework - you'll enjoy them more for having first completed your assignments.

What's more, the undone homework assignments won't pile up and cause you unnecessary stress.

59. After every test and exam, analyse how you can improve in the future

After you've received your graded test or exam, look through it carefully.

Ask yourself questions such as:

Which topics do I know well?

Which topics do I not know so well?

What avoidable mistakes did I make?

How can I ensure that I don't make these mistakes in the future?

What do I need to do differently to better prepare for the next test or exam?

60. Don't rely on your memory

Nobody's memory is perfect, so write things down.

I encourage you to write down every single thing that you want to remember, e.g. homework assignments, deadlines, events, ideas, key concepts.

Don't leave it to chance.

Of the study tips for students mentioned in this article, this is one of the simplest but most powerful ones.

61. Never skip classes

Don't skip classes, even if you think the class is "useless".

Missing classes can quickly turn into a bad habit. And besides, it's not worth it.

When you consider the amount of time you'll spend catching up on what you missed, you might as well have attended the class in the first place.

62. Proofread every essay you write

A few spelling errors will ruin even the most brilliant essay.

And don't rely too much on a spell-checker.

Your essay may contain words that are spelled correctly but are nevertheless errors, such as "there" instead of "their", or "form" instead of "from".

63. Do filing at least once a week

Organisation is a crucial part of becoming a successful student.

Not being able to find key information when you need it will cause you to waste precious time.

As such, I recommend that you file your notes, assignments, etc. at least once a week.

Make an appointment with yourself to do your filing on the same day each week, so you'll be more likely to do it.

64. Don't study or do work on your bed

It's essential that the place where you study isn't the same place where you sleep.

It may be tempting to study on your bed, but you may just end up taking a nap when you didn't intend to!

65. Pre-commit to the habits that you want to develop

Pre-commitment is the act of making it impossible for you to allow a lack of willpower to get in the way of positive behavioural change.

For example, you could ask your parents to take away your phone or tablet every evening at 6pm. This would ensure that you'll be more focused when you study in the evening.

Another example would be booking a study room at the library so that you and your friends can study together. This way, you won't forego the study session.

List the positive habits you want to develop as a student, and think about ways to pre-commit to them.

66. Make full use of your travel time

On the train ride home, for example, you can review what you learned earlier that day in school.

Or you could make use of the bus ride home to plan what tasks you intend to complete by the end of the day.

By making the most of your travel time, you'll have more time to do the things you enjoy.

67. Sit at the front of the class whenever possible

Research has shown that when students are randomly assigned to different seats in a classroom, the ones who sit at the front get better grades.

Sitting at the front of the class makes it easier for you to stay focused, and makes it less likely that you'll fall asleep in class.

68. Create an area that is conducive to studying

Before you begin a study session, make sure that you have easy access to everything you need, e.g. textbooks, writing paper, stationery.

Adjust the lighting so that it's comfortable for reading.

Also, make sure the temperature is right. Research shows that the temperature most conducive to studying is roughly 22.0°C (71.6°F).

69. When you feel like you're about to get distracted, write down the distraction

For example, if you're in the middle of a study session and you suddenly feel like watching a YouTube video, write down "YouTube" on a sheet of paper.

This is a way of saying to your brain: "I'll come back to that later."

It will give you a sense of release from the distraction and leave you free to focus on the present task.

During your next break, you can indulge in that distraction.

70. Get rid of all distractions before you start studying

Put your phone and tablet on "silent".

Even better, put them in another room.

I recommend that you use a tool like Freedom to prevent you from accessing distracting apps and websites during study sessions.

If you're a distracted student, you won't be an effective student.

So take this tip seriously!

71. If you start worrying while studying, write down your worries

If you find yourself worrying excessively before a test or exam, write down your worries on a piece of paper.

Research by the University of Chicago has shown that this exercise allows students to relieve their anxieties.

This, in turn, leads to students getting better grades.

72. Never study while watching TV, videos, etc.

Don't attempt to study with TV or videos playing in the background.

Don't scroll through your social media feed while trying to get some work done, either.

In other words, don't multitask.

To have a fruitful study session, you need to remove all external stimuli that take your focus away from the task at hand.

73. Tell your family and friends when you'll be studying

When your family members and friends know when you'll be studying, they won't interrupt or distract you.

74. If you're too busy, make a list of your commitments

Review this list and eliminate those commitments that are less important.

Remind yourself that it's impossible to do everything in life; you need to focus.

By prioritising, you'll carve out more time to study and to do other meaningful things.

Prioritisation is a key time management principle for students to apply!

75. Use earplugs to block out noise

If noise from your surroundings - such as traffic, people talking, or dogs barking - is distracting you, use earplugs to create your own "quiet zone".

76. Listen to classical music while studying

If you don't like to study in silence, play classical music in the background.

Research indicates that listening to classical music while studying can help you to retain information.

Here are 10 recommended pieces by composers such as Mozart, Brahms, and Bach.

77. Listen to white noise while studying

This is an alternative, in case you're not a fan of classical music.

Research from the University of Chicago has shown that we think better and are more creative when there's a moderate level of background noise.

Coffitivity and Hipstersound are two tools you can check out for suitable white noise to listen to while doing work.

Support from others

78. Study with motivated friends

There are powerful benefits related to studying in a group.

One benefit is that it makes you accountable to a group of friends who expect you to show up to study sessions.

Another benefit is that you can share notes. When you do this, you'll be able to see how other students take notes, which will enable you to improve your own note-taking skills.

79. Don't be afraid or too proud to ask for help

If you need assistance, ask for it.

A study by Saint Louis University researchers found that students who ask for help are more likely to get A's.

This isn't a surprising finding. What is surprising is that the study also found that fewer than 1 in 5 students ask their instructors for help.

80. Ask your teachers for additional feedback

Ask your teachers for additional feedback, especially when all the feedback you've received is what letter grade you got.

This is especially so for essays.

The more feedback you get, the easier it will be for you to focus on improving specific areas of knowledge.

Most teachers will be more than happy to provide you with additional feedback.

81. Work with an academic coach

If you're having problems with your grades or with a lack of motivation, get guidance from an academic coach.

An academic coach can help you to pinpoint the root causes of problems and suggest solutions.

I work with pre-teens and teens 1-to-1 through this coaching programme. In this programme, I equip them to become motivated, disciplined, responsible and resilient.

Memory and brain function

82. Do deep breathing exercises

Do deep breathing exercises for just a few minutes every day to improve your brain function and focus.

Researchers found that focused deep breathing raises levels of noradrenaline (also called norepinephrine). Noradrenaline is a neurotransmitter that increases your alertness.

83. Get at least 8 hours of sleep every night

This research highlights the vital role that sleep plays in processing information.

The study found that during "slow wave" sleep, the brain replays information learned while awake.

This results in the consolidation of information and memories, and moves them into long-term storage.

Losing sleep means losing time for this consolidation process to occur. So if you want to study effectively, get at least 8 hours of sleep every night.

There are so many study tips for students in this article, but I encourage you to put this one into practice as a priority.

84. Exercise regularly

Research by Harvard Medical School shows that exercise improves learning by encouraging nerve cells to bind to one another. This is the cellular basis for learning new information.

Do your best to get at least 15 to 30 minutes of exercise daily.

85. Drink plenty of water

Research has shown that water consumption improves cognitive performance and information processing in both children and adults.

86. Use mnemonics to improve your memory

A mnemonic is a memory system that links certain words to specific information, like an anchor.

For instance, you could use the phrase "Super Man Helps Every One" to remember the order of the Great Lakes from west to east (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario).

Create your own mnemonics to memorise "sequential" information you encounter across your various subjects.

87. Use images and sounds to improve your memory

Use the visualisation and association technique to link vivid mental images with concepts or facts that you want to remember.

This is far more effective than just trying to memorise the information without using a specific memory technique.

88. Develop healthy eating habits

Research from the University of Melbourne shows that high fat and high sugar diets have a negative impact on learning, memory, and information processing.

This means that a diet that's good for your body is good for your brain.

If you want to do well in school, you must go the extra mile in terms of taking care of your physical health too.

89. Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids

Research shows that test anxiety can be improved by eating foods high in omega-3 and -6 fatty acids.

These foods include salmon, flaxseed and walnuts.

90. Don't rely on energy drinks or caffeine to stay awake

If you're tired, the only real remedy is a good night's sleep.

Over time, energy drinks won't give you the boost that you're hoping for.

Like coffee, they'll disrupt your sleep cycle, which will only make the situation worse.

91. Train your brain

Use an online tool like BrainHQ, which will give your brain a workout in areas such as attention, memory, navigation, and intelligence.

Structure and routine

92. Use technology to organise your student life

For example, MyStudyLife is an app that keeps track of your tasks, in addition to your schedule and timetable.

Such apps make it far easier for students to stay organised.

93. Keep a time log

Keep a time log so that you can see how much time you're spending on different tasks. You'll be surprised at the results!

Keep the log for at least three days, writing down every single thing you do each day.

By reviewing your time log, you'll be able to minimise or eliminate low-value activities.

This will allow you to spend more time doing high-value work, while still having the same amount of free time.

94. Create a daily plan for each day

Create a daily plan for each day, so that you'll know your priorities in terms of which tasks you'll work on.

Without a plan, the days' distractions will quickly take over. A plan reminds you what it is you want to achieve and how you're going to achieve it.

95. Create a weekly schedule

Creating a weekly schedule gives you the structure needed to be a productive student.

Set aside time in your schedule for the things that are most important to you, e.g. family time, religious activities, school activities.

When you've created a weekly schedule, you'll rely more on your schedule to get things done, instead of waiting to feel "motivated".

96. Block out time for studying

On your calendar, block out the periods that you intend to spend studying.

Colour-code the blocks of time to indicate different subjects or studying-related activities.

This is a representation of your commitment to be a focused and effective student.

97. Use a calendar or planner and keep it with you at all times

In this way, you'll be able to update your calendar or planner when changes come up - which is bound to happen.

With an updated schedule, you'll be a more organised and productive student.

98. Do a weekly review

At the end of each week, review how your week went.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

How many of your scheduled tasks did you complete?

Were there any obstacles that prevented you from focusing?

How will you ensure that next week will be a fruitful one?

Reviewing your progress each week allows you to fine-tune your study schedule.

99. Set boundaries for social activities

To perform well in school, you must balance your academics with your social life.

Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a social life at all. I'm a firm believer that it's important to lead a balanced life.

But not all your friends will have the same level of commitment to their academics that you do.

So you need to be clear about your own guidelines, as you'll encounter peer pressure to do what your friends are doing.

For instance, you might decide that you won't go out with your friends more than once a week. You might also set boundaries related to who you choose to hang out with.

100. Develop a plan for every upcoming test and exam

Set a date for when you'll start studying for the test or exam.

Make a list of the topics and sub-topics that you need to cover. Set aside time each week to study, and write down what you'll do to prepare for the test or exam.

101. At the end of each day, take a few minutes to reflect

Ask yourself questions such as:

What went well?

What didn't go so well?

Did you make the right decisions related to your friendships, academics, family, etc.?

What adjustments do you need to make going forward?

What new habits do you need to form?

What bad habits do you need to eliminate?

Conclusion

At more than 5,000 words, this is a very long article filled with study tips for students.

Great job making it to the end!

Rest assured that there's no need to implement every single study tip right away. That would be too overwhelming.

(To develop a structured plan to put the tips into practice, download the free planning worksheet below.)

I hope this article has given you a sense of clarity, focus and purpose as you strive to be the best student you can be.

Wishing you all the best on this challenging and rewarding journey!
Like this article? Please share it with your friends.

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The Ultimate List of 101 Study Tips for Students

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Have you ever wished you could look inside the minds of straight-A students and find out how they do it? If so, keep reading. In this article, I'm going to share with you the study tips that will enable you to succeed academically.

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As a teen, Faria Sana often highlighted books with markers. "The colors were supposed to tell me different things." Later, she recalls, "I had no idea what those highlighted texts were supposed to mean."

She also took lots of notes as she read. But often she was "just copying words or changing the words around." That work didn't help much either, she says now. In effect, "it was just to practice my handwriting skills."

"No one ever taught me how to study," Sana says. College got harder, so she worked to find better study skills. She's now a psychologist at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada. There she studies how students can learn better.

Having good study skills is always helpful. But it's even more important now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many students worry about family or friends who may get sick, Sana notes. Others feel more general stress. Beyond that, students in many countries are facing different formats for learning. Some schools are holding in-person classes again, with rules for spacing and masks. Others schools have staggered classes, with students at school part-time. Still others have all online classes, at least for a while.

These conditions can distract from your lessons. Plus, students are likely to have to do more without a teacher or parent looking over their shoulders. They will have to manage their time and study more on their own. Yet many students never learned those skills. To them, Sana says, it may be like telling students to learn to swim by "just swimming."

The good news: Science can help.

For more than 100 years, psychologists have done research on which study habits work best. Some tips help for almost every subject. For example, don't just cram! And test yourself, instead of just rereading the material. Other tactics work best for certain types of classes. This includes things like using graphs or mixing up what you study. Here are 10 tips to tweak your study habits.

1. Space out your studying

Nate Kornell "definitely did cram" before big tests when he was a student. He's a psychologist at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. He still thinks it's a good idea to study the day before a big test. But research shows it's a bad idea to cram all your studying into that day. Instead, space out those study sessions.

In one 2009 experiment, college students studied vocabulary words with flash cards. Some students studied all the words in spaced-apart sessions throughout four days. Others studied smaller batches of the words in crammed, or massed, sessions, each over a single day. Both groups spent the same amount of time overall. But testing showed that the first group learned the words better.

Kornell compares our memory to water in a bucket that has a small leak. Try to refill the bucket while it's still full, and you can't add much more water. Allow time between study sessions, and some of the material may drip out of your memory. But then you'll be able to relearn it and learn more in your next study session. And you'll remember it better, next time, he notes.

2. Practice, practice, practice!

Musicians practice their instruments. Athletes practice sports skills. The same should go for learning.

"If you want to be able to remember information, the best thing you can do is practice," says Katherine Rawson. She's a psychologist at Kent State University in Ohio. In one 2013 study, students took practice tests over several weeks. On the final test, they scored more than a full letter grade better, on average, than did students who studied the way they normally had.

In a study done a few years earlier, college students read material and then took recall tests. Some took just one test. Others took several tests with short breaks of several minutes in between. The second group recalled the material better a week later.

3. Don't just reread books and notes

As a teen, Cynthia Nebel studied by reading her textbooks, worksheets and notebooks. "Over and over and over again," recalls this psychologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Now, she adds, "we know that's one of the most common bad study skills that students have."

In one 2009 study, some college students read a text twice. Others read a text just once. Both groups took a test right after the reading. Test results differed little between these groups, Aimee Callender and Mark McDaniel found. She is now at Wheaton College in Illinois. He works at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

Too often, when students reread material, it's superficial, says McDaniel, who also co-wrote the 2014 book, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Rereading is like looking at the answer to a puzzle, rather than doing it yourself, he says. It looks like it makes sense. But until you try it yourself, you don't really know if you understand it.

One of McDaniel's coauthors of Make it Stick is Henry Roediger. He, too, works at Washington University. In one 2010 study, Roediger and two other colleagues compared test results of students who reread material to two other groups. One group wrote questions about the material. The other group answered questions from someone else. Those who answered the questions did best. Those who just reread the material did worst.

4. Test yourself

That 2010 study backs up one of Nebel's preferred study habits. Before big tests, her mom quizzed her on the material. "Now I know that was retrieval practice," she says. "It's one of the best ways you can study." As Nebel got older, she quizzed herself. For example, she might cover up the definitions in her notebook. Then she tried to recall what each term meant.

Such retrieval practice can help nearly everyone, Rawson and others showed in an August 2020 study in Learning and Instruction. This research included college students with an attention problem known as ADHD. It stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Overall, retrieval helped students with ADHD and those without the disorder equally well.

"Create a deck of flash cards every time you learn new information," Sana suggests. "Put questions on one side and the answers on the other side." Friends can even quiz each other on the phone, she says.

"Try to quiz yourself the way the teacher asks questions," Nebel adds.

But really grill yourself and your friends, she says. And here's why. She was part of a team that asked students to write one quiz question for each class period. Students would then answer a question from another classmate. Preliminary data show that students did worse on tests afterward than when the daily quiz questions came from the teacher. Nebel's team is still analyzing the data. She suspects the students' questions may have been too simple.

Teachers often dig deeper, she notes. They don't just ask for definitions. Often, teachers ask students to compare and contrast ideas. That takes some critical thinking.

5. Mistakes are okay - as long as you learn from them

It's crucial to test your memory. But it doesn't really matter how many seconds you spend on each try. That finding comes from a 2016 study by Kornell and others. But it's important to go the next step, Kornell adds: Check to see if you were right. Then focus on what you got wrong.

"If you don't find out what the answer is, you're kind of wasting your time," he says. On the flip side, checking the answers can make your study time more efficient. You can then focus on where you need the most help.

In fact, making mistakes can be a good thing, argues Stuart Firestein. A Columbia University biologist in New York City, he actually wrote the book on it. It's called Failure: Why Science is So Successful. Mistakes, he argues, are actually a primary key to learning.

6. Mix it up

In many cases, it helps to mix up your self-testing. Don't just focus on one thing. Drill yourself on different concepts. Psychologists call this interleaving.

Actually, your tests usually will have questions mixed up, too. More importantly, interleaving can help you learn better. If you practice one concept over and over "your attention decreases because you know what's coming up next," Sana explains. Mix up your practice, and you now space the concepts apart. You can also see how concepts differ, form trends or fit together in some other way.

Suppose, for instance, you're learning about the volume of different shapes in math. You could do lots of problems on the volume of a wedge. Then you could answer more batches of questions, with each set dealing with just one shape. Or, you could figure out the volume of a cone, followed by a wedge. Next you might find the volume for a half-cone or a spheroid. Then you can mix them up some more. You might even mix in some practice on addition or division.

Rawson and others had groups of college students try each of those approaches. Those who interleaved their practice questions did better than the group that did single-batch practice, the researchers reported last year in Memory & Cognition.

A year earlier, Sana and others showed that interleaving can help students with both strong and weak working memory. Working memory lets you remember where you are in an activity, such as following a recipe.

7. Use pictures

Pay attention to diagrams and graphs in your class materials, says Nebel. "Those pictures can really boost your memory of this material. And if there aren't pictures, creating them can be really, really useful."

"I think these visual representations help you create more complete mental models," McDaniel says. He and Dung Bui, then also at Washington University, had students listen to a lecture on car brakes and pumps. One group got diagrams and was told to add notes as needed to the diagrams. Another group got an outline for writing notes. The third group just took notes. The outlines helped students if they were otherwise good at building mental models of what they were reading. But in these tests, they found, visual aids helped students across the board.

Even goofy pictures might help. Nikol Rummel is a psychologist at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. In one study back in 2003, she and others gave cartoon drawings to college students along with information about five scientists who studied intelligence. For example, the text about Alfred Binet came with a drawing of a race car driver. The driver wore a bonnet to protect his brain. Students who saw the drawings did better on a test than did those who got only the text information.

8. Find examples

Abstract concepts can be hard to understand. It tends to be far easier to form a mental image if you have a concrete example of something, Nebel says.

For instance, sour foods usually taste that way because they contain an acid. On its own, that concept might be hard to remember. But if you think about a lemon or vinegar, it's easier to understand and remember that acids and sour go together. And the examples might help you to identify other foods' taste as being due to acids.

Indeed, it helps to have at least two examples if you want to apply information to new situations. Nebel and others reviewed studies on this in July 2019. Their Journal of Food Science Education report describes how students can improve their study skills.

9. Dig deeper

It's hard to remember a string of facts and figures if you don't push further. Ask why things are a certain way. How did they come about? Why do they matter? Psychologists call this elaboration. It's taking class material and "asking a lot of how and why questions about it," Nebel says. In other words, don't just accept facts at face value.

Elaboration helps you combine new information with other things you know. And it creates a bigger network in your brain of things that relate to one another, she says. That larger network makes it easier to learn and remember things.

Suppose you're asked to remember a string of facts about different men, says McDaniel. For example, "The hungry man got into the car. The strong man helped the woman. The brave man ran into the house." And so on. In one of his studies back in the '80s, college students had trouble remembering the bare statements. They did better when researchers gave them explanations for each man's action. And the students remembered a whole lot better when they had to answer questions about why each man did something.

"Good understanding produces really good memory," McDaniel says. "And that's key for a lot of students." If information just seems sort of random, ask more questions. Make sure you can explain the material. Better yet, he says, see if you can explain it to someone else. Some of his college students do this by calling home to explain what they're learning to their parents.

10. Make a plan - and stick to it

Many students know they should space out study periods, quiz themselves and practice other good skills. Yet many don't actually do those things. Often, they fail to plan ahead.

Back when Rawson was a student, she used a paper calendar for her planning. She wrote in the date for each exam. "And then for four or five other days," she recalls, "I wrote in time to study."

Try to stick to a routine, too. Have a set time and place where you do schoolwork and studying. It may seem odd at first. But, Kornell assures you, "by the time week two rolls around, it becomes a normal thing." And put your phone somewhere else while you work, adds Nebel.

Allow yourself short breaks. Set a timer for 25 minutes or so, suggests Sana. Study during that time, with no distractions. When the timer goes off, take a five or 10 minute break. Exercise. Check your phone. Maybe drink some water - whatever. Afterward, set the timer again.

"If you have a study plan, stick to it!" adds McDaniel. Recently, he and psychologist Gilles Einstein at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., looked at why students don't use good study skills. Many students know what those skills are, they report. But often they don't plan when they intend to put them in action. Even when students do make plans, something more enticing may come up. Studying has to become a priority, they say. The team published its report in Perspectives on Psychological Science on July 23.

Bonus: Be kind to yourself

Try to stick to a regular routine. And get enough sleep - not just the night before the test but for weeks or months on end. "Those things are really, really important for learning," Nebel says. Exercise helps as well, she says.

Don't stress out if all of this seems like a lot, she adds. If a lot seems new, try adding just one new study skill each week or two. Or at least space out your study sessions and practice retrieval for the first few months. As you get more practice, you can add more skills. And if you need help, ask.

Finally, if you struggle to follow the advice above (such as you can't keep track of time or find it very hard to just sit and focus on your work), you may have an undiagnosed condition, such as ADHD. To find out, check with your doctor. The good news: It may be treatable.

Doing schoolwork during a pandemic is a tough situation at best. But remember your teachers and classmates also face challenges. Like you, they have fears, concerns and questions. Be willing to cut them some slack. And be kind to yourself as well. After all, Kornell says, "we're all in this together."

Power Words
More About Power Words

abstract: Something that exists as an idea or thought but not concrete or tangible (touchable) in the real world. Beauty, love and memory are abstractions; cars, trees and water are concrete and tangible. (in publishing) A short summary of a scientific paper, a poster or a scientist's talk. Abstracts are useful to determine whether delving into the details of the whole scientific paper will yield the information you seek.

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: (ADHD) This is a disorder characterized by not being able to focus or pay attention, being physically overactive, not being able to control behavior, or a combination of these.

biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things.

coauthor: One of a group (two or more people) who together had prepared a written work, such as a book, report or research paper. Not all coauthors may have contributed equally.

cognition: The mental processes of thought, remembering, learning information and interpreting those data that the senses send to the brain.

colleague: Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.

concrete: To be solid and real.

COVID-19: A name given the coronavirus that caused a massive outbreak of potentially lethal disease, beginning in December 2019. Symptoms included pneumonia, fever, headaches and trouble breathing.

data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.

disorder: (in medicine) A condition where the body does not work appropriately, leading to what might be viewed as an illness. This term can sometimes be used interchangeably with disease.

distraction: Any event or situation that draws someone's attention away from whatever had been his or her main focus. Distractions can be external events, such as sounds or sights; or they can be internal events, such as thoughts or emotions.

journal: (in science) A publication in which scientists share their research findings with experts (and sometimes even the public). Some journals publish papers from all fields of science, technology, engineering and math, while others are specific to a single subject. The best journals are peer-reviewed: They send all submitted articles to outside experts to be read and critiqued. The goal, here, is to prevent the publication of mistakes, fraud or sloppy work.

model: A simulation of a real-world event (usually using a computer) that has been developed to portray something or to predict one or more likely outcomes. Or an individual or thing that is meant to display how something would work in or look on others.

online: (n.) On the internet. (adj.) A term for what can be found or accessed on the internet.

pandemic: An epidemic that affects a large proportion of the population across a country or the world.

preliminary: An early step or stage that precedes something more important.

primary: An adjective meaning major, first or most important. (In reference to colors).

psychological: An adjective that refers to how the human mind works, especially in relation to guiding actions and behavior.

psychologist: A scientist or mental-health professional who studies the human mind, especially in relation to actions and behaviors.

random: Something that occurs haphazardly or without reason, based on no intention or purpose.

recall: To remember.

spheroid: A term for something that is roundish, but not perfectly spherical.

stress: (in biology) A factor - such as unusual temperatures, movements, moisture or pollution - that affects the health of a species or ecosystem. (in psychology) A mental, physical, emotional or behavioral reaction to an event or circumstance (stressor) that disturbs a person or animal's usual state of being or places increased demands on a person or animal; psychological stress can be either positive or negative.

superficial: Something that is on the surface (hence, not deep), such as the skin of the body. Or, something that appears important until, looked at more closely, there is little substance to the claim.

tactic: An action or plan of action to accomplish a particular feat.

working memory: The ability to hold something in the mind for a short period of time and to adapt it for use, such as hearing a sequence of numbers, then reciting them backwards.

Kathiann Kowalski reports on all sorts of cutting-edge science. Previously, she practiced law with a large firm. Kathi enjoys hiking, sewing and reading. She also enjoys travel, especially family adventures and beach trips.

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Top 10 tips on how to study smarter, not longer

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As a teen, Faria Sana often highlighted books with markers. "The colors were supposed to tell me different things." Later, she recalls, "I had no idea what those highlighted texts were supposed to mean." She also took lots of notes as she read. But often she was "just copying words or changing the words around."

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Every SLP needs resources on how to implement effective grammar intervention because half our caseloads have goals in this area!

Much of my career as a speech therapist has been working with students that have goals targeting grammar. I have seen that many children with deficits with grammar, often times, have language deficits in other areas such as vocabulary, oral comprehension and story narration.

Today, I wanted to share about some articles I have found that talk about strategies for implementing effective grammar intervention.

Information about Implementing Effective Grammar Intervention

What I found when reading these different articles is there is not a "must use this technique always" when targeting grammar. There is however, some really good guidelines that researchers have found to be helpful when you, the clinician are creating a treatment plan.

10 Principles of Grammar Intervention was a really good article to read that outlines what a clinician should consider when developing therapy plans for a student.

Fey, M.E., Long, S.H., Finestack, L.H. (2003). Ten principles of grammatical intervention for children with specific language impairments. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12: 3-15

Some of the principles shared in the article are as follows:

The function of improving a child's expressive grammar is so that they can have better language to effectively communicate whether orally or in written form. Thus, we should be targeting skills that will help improve their communication (a tip for writing/choosing goals) or help them to make progress with common core standards and academic activities.

A clinician may get more "bang for their buck" if they target grammar by broad grammar patterns verses "isolated" grammar targets.

"When grammar is targeted, it should be treated in ways that lead to improvements in other domains, such as storytelling, comprehension and expression of expository text, and reading comprehension."

Grammar Intervention Research Article

A randomized clinical trial looked at two grammar treatment procedures of recasting and a cuing hierarchy in 31 five year olds to see which treatment would yield better results.

Here is what they found:

First off, the very fancy term "recasting" is simply the clinician implicitly responding to a child's response with the correct grammar and sometimes emphasizing the correct word like, "I really love cookiessssss too." This technique helps keep the flow of conversation going without having to stop and correct the child. (you're welcome for learning a big fancy speech therapy word...now go sprinkle that into your IEP meetings to impress some folk

In the study, when a child in the recast group made a grammar error, the SLP would do a "recast" and move on with the lesson, using recasting every time there was an error.

With the cueing group, when the child made an error, the SLP went through a hierarchy of scaffolding techniques to work on having the child correctly produce the grammar structure.

The overall study found that the cueing group made more growth then the recasting group.

So, children with speech and language impairments appear to be responding to implicit grammar intervention that provides cueing and allowing the child to say the sentence again to correct his/her error.

The Effectiveness of Two Grammar Treatment Procedures for Children With SLI: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, October 2015, Vol. 46, 312-324. doi:10.1044/2015_LSHSS-14-0041 Karen M. Smith-Lock, Suze Leitão, Polly Prior, and Lyndsey Nickels

Practical Strategies For Grammar Intervention

Now, time for the practical tips for implementing these findings! I typically will do 0ne-two structured therapy sessions filled with cueing and explicitly teaching the grammar components that I want to target. It will include visuals sentence strips, visuals of the rules, worksheets, lots of modeling, and having the student trying to correctly use the grammar rule.

Then, my next two sessions are filled with activities that the child may be asked to do in the classroom. Basically, working on generalizing or applying the skill into a more complex task. Often times, I will use books, story telling, answering wh-questions, describing nouns by attributes, play activities (i.e. play dough, cars, tea party, etc.) or describing picture scenes to work on grammar. During this time, I am modeling, expanding, and "recasting" (it feels good word dropping fancy terms here). I feel like these sessions allow me to also let them hear correct grammar modeled to them, which seems important to the process.

My Parts of Speech Sentence Flips are a great tool to use as a warm up to build mastery of LOTS of different grammar. These sentence flips have a lot of opportunities for clinicians to cue the student with the correct grammar.

My Parts of Speech Flashcard books are a great tool to use as a quick warm up as well or send home as homework. Once assembled, students can create grammatically correct sentences with visual supports.

Sentence Frame Graphic Organizer (FREE) is a great tool to use with any book, youtube video or a picture. It provides color coded columns to sort different parts of speech. This is a great tool to start building more complex sentences and beginning to introduce written language.

My Student Language Helpers are visual supports that you can make with two file folders glued or stapled together. You can then glue all the different parts of speech to the helper. The student can use this in the speech room or even in the classroom to help when writing sentences!

My seasonal themed vocabulary and grammar resource allows me to used seasonal vocabulary to practice grammar concepts as well as work on other skills such as wh-questions, compare/contrast and describing by attributes. These activities and visuals pair well with all of my seasonal books that I like to bring into the therapy room.

What resources for implementing effective grammar intervention do you use? What techniques and research have you found for this intervention? I would love to add more tools to my tool belt! Comment below or email me at feliceclark@thedabblingspeechie.com

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How to implement effective grammar intervention - thedabblingspeechie

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Every SLP needs resources on how to implement effective grammar intervention because half our caseloads have goals in this area! Much of my career as a speech therapist has been working with students that have goals targeting grammar.

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Emotions signal threats and rewards. Much like a compass that guides us in the right direction, emotions have the power to guide us to the right actions.

For example, when a child commits a mistake, they might get scared and lie to their parents about it, or avoid confronting them for fear of punishment.

Their parents may eventually discover what they did and the child, in all probability will end up facing the same consequences that they were trying to avoid. In this instance, listening and responding to the 'fear' emotion proved futile to the child.

However, the same emotion (fear) would have proven helpful for someone being chased by a wild animal in the forest. In that situation, running to avoid confronting the savage beast would have been the correct decision.

It is therefore crucial to judge when to trust emotional triggers and act on them, and when not to; in other words, it is essential for us to understand how to regulate or control our emotions so we could use them optimally.

In this article, we will discuss the psychology of emotional regulation - what it means, how we can cultivate it, and what methods we can choose to implement emotional management in real life.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will not only enhance your ability to understand and regulate your emotions but will also give you the tools to foster the emotional intelligence of your clients, students or employees.

What is Emotional Regulation? A Definition

"Emotional regulation refers to the process by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express their feelings. Emotional regulation can be automatic or controlled, conscious or unconscious, and may have effects at one or more points in the emotion producing process."

(Gross, 1998, p. 275).

The definition of emotional regulation encompasses both positive and negative feelings, along with how we can strengthen them, use them, and control them.

Emotional regulation involves three components:

Initiating actions triggered by emotions.

Inhibiting actions triggered by emotions.

Modulating responses triggered by emotions.

Ideally, the third component is the best way to make the most of the regulatory processes.

Every day, we face hundreds of emotion-provoking stimuli, and most of them require some action or response from our end. It is only natural for the mind to get hooked into some negative contemplation or unmindfully ignore emotions after getting bombarded with so many stimuli every day (Davidson, 1998).

Emotional regulation acts as a modifier; it helps us filter the most important pieces of information and motivates us to attend to it in a way that wouldn't evoke stress or fear.

Studies on emotional regulation indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between emotion regulation and depression management. People with lower levels of anxiety show higher emotional control and social-emotional intelligence.

Research indicates that emotions are adaptive responses that have a deep-rooted basis in evolutionary biology (Levenson, 1999). The way we feel and interpret them affects how we think, how we decide, and how we coordinate our actions in day-to-day lives.

For example, a person who has poor emotion regulation strategies is more likely to fall prey to mood polarities; their actions and behavioral patterns would always be at the mercy of their emotions.

Quite the contrary, a well-regulated person, will have a better balance and judgment of their feelings and actions. Emotional regulation allows us to carefully judge which affective outcomes to embrace and which ones to avoid (Wegner, Erber, & Zanakos, 1993).

When we confront a provoking stimulus, the natural reaction of the brain is to activate the amygdala, a brain site that regulates the fight-or-flight responses (Lee, 2018; Van der Kolk, 1994). Emotional regulation processes allow us to buy time before we act on the fight or flight triggers.

Kris Lee, a Professor and the author of the book Mentalligence: A New Psychology of Thinking-Learn What It Takes to be More Agile, Mindful, and Connected in Today's World says that with emotional regulation, we can allow the initial upsurge of emotions to settle down and zoom out of the situation before reacting to it.

The increased time gap between stimulus and response restores the mental faculties that involve rational thinking and reasoning. As a result, we can save ourselves from sudden emotional breakdowns or burnout.

6 Most Useful Emotional Regulation Skills for Adults

Self-regulation is all about pausing between feeling and reactions - it encourages us to slow down for a bit and act after objectively evaluating a situation. For example, a student who yells at others and hits their friends for petty reasons surely has less emotional control than a child who, before hitting or yelling, tells the teacher about their problems.

Another huge aspect of emotional regulation is value engagement. When we react impulsively without paying much attention to what is going on inside, we might often deviate from our core values and act in a way that is opposite to them. With proper regulation and self-control, we gain the power to stay calm under pressure and prevent ourselves from acting against our core values and ethics.

Here are some skills that can help in cultivating emotional regulation and sustaining it during challenging times in life.

1. Self-awareness

Noticing what we feel and naming it is a great step toward emotional regulation. For example, when you feel bad, ask yourself - Am I feeling sad, hopeless, ashamed, or anxious?

Give yourself some options and explore your feelings. Try to name the specific emotions that you can feel intensely within yourself at that very moment, and write it down if you want. You need not act or judge the cause and effect of your emotions at this stage; all you need is complete awareness of each feeling that is controlling your mind 'right now.'

2. Mindful awareness

In addition to gaining thought awareness, mindfulness lets us explore and identify all aspects of the external world, including our body. Simple mindful exercises such as breath control or sensory relaxation can calm the storm inside and guide our actions in the right way.

3. Cognitive reappraisal

Cognitive reappraisal includes altering the way we think. It is an essential component of psychotherapies like CBT, DBT, and Anger Management, and calls for greater acceptance and flexibility.

Cognitive reappraisal skills may include practices such as thought replacement or situational role reversals, where we try to look into a stressful situation from a whole new perspective.

For example, we can replace thoughts like 'My boss hates me', 'I am no longer needed here', etc. with alternatives such as, 'My boss is upset at this moment, I am sure I can make up for this', or 'I know I am hard working and honest, let me give it another try', etc.. By doing so, we gain a broader and better perception of our problems and react to them with more positivity.

4. Adaptability

Emotional dysregulation lowers our adaptability to life changes. We become more prone to distractions and fail our coping mechanisms, which is why we often start resisting changes. A great exercise to build adaptability is objective evaluation.

For example, when you feel bogged down by stressful emotions that you want to avoid, and you might end up destructively reacting to them, take a moment to think what if your best friend was experiencing the same thing? What would you have suggested they do under these circumstances? Write your answers if you want to and try to think if you are following the same steps for yourself!

5. Self-compassion

Setting aside some time for ourselves every day is a great way to build emotional regulation skills. Reminding ourselves of our talents and virtues, and letting our minds land on a flexible space can immensely change the way we feel and react to our emotions.

Some simple self-compassion hacks involve:

Daily positive self-affirmations

Relaxation and breath control

Compassion meditation

Regular self-care

Gratitude journaling

6. Emotional support

Psychologists believe that we all have the innate capacity to build a robust emotional repertoire and save our mental energy from getting invested in negativity. We can seek emotional support within ourselves by practicing mindful self-awareness or can seek help outside by engaging in positive communication with others.

It is okay to see a therapist or professional when our inner coping fails; the sole focus is to create a positive emotional shield that can channelize our emotions to bring out the best in us.

Science-Based Emotion Regulation Strategies

Literary resources on emotional regulation have provided a myriad of solutions for emotional dysregulation. While all the self-regulation strategies are undoubtedly useful and practical, the problem arises when we have to choose the best plan for us (Gross, 2015; Ochsner, Silvers, & Buhle, 2012).

Most scientific research on emotional regulation focus on either a particular age group that could benefit from the strategy, or a specific situation in which it works the best (Webb, Miles, & Sheeran, 2012). Little is said about the scientific methods that we could use for taming our feelings at all times.

Recent studies, however, have shed some light in this regard. Researchers nowadays agree that emotion regulation should not be constrained to a time frame or a group of individuals under a specific circumstance, and have proposed a few scientific strategies that could guide us at all times (Aldao, 2013; Gross, 2015).

1. Reappraisal

Reappraisal or cognitive reappraisal ensures long-term wellbeing and offers a permanent solution to emotional distress. Through re-evaluation, we do not aim to suppress or eliminate the negative emotions that cause pain forcefully, instead, we look for better ways of dealing with it (Davis, Senghas, Brandt, & Ochsner, 2010).

In addition to finding appropriate and positive substitutes of the problems, cognitive reappraisal also shifts our focus from the distress and reduces the impact of the negative emotion for a while (Troy, Shallcross, & Mauss, 2013).

2. Self-soothing

Self-soothing, in any form, can reduce the toxic effects of anger, sadness, and agony that negative experiences bring (Heiy & Cheavens, 2014). Scientists believe that self-soothing, as opposed to self-confrontation, guarantees better and quicker answers when it comes to managing thoughts and emotions.

We can practice several variations of self-soothing exercises, including:

Self-compassion and loving-kindness meditation.

Music meditation, where we set aside some minutes to listen to music and unwind ourselves with the relaxing sound.

Reminiscence therapy, which works great for resolving emotional conflicts involving other people. The practice involves merely sitting and trying to recollect all the good memories we have once had with the person we are now struggling with.

Breathing exercises, including breath control, breath counting, and simple breath relaxation.

Simple self-care such as a hot bath, a relaxing massage, cooking for yourself, etc.

3. Attentional control

Attentional control starts with reappraisal. It aims to divert our attention away from the negative emotion and allows us to look at it from a rewarding perspective.

For example, we can overpower the irresistible anger and shame that follows an insult or abuse from someone, by thinking of it as a lesson that taught you to avoid building connections with rude people.

By focusing more on what you learned from the conflict, you not only save yourself from the severe stress and agony, but you also gain a perspective of how you can avoid such interpersonal disputes later. As a result, you are successful in modulating your responses to the negative encounter and restoring your mental peace altogether (Gross & John, 2003).

What is Emotional Regulation Disorder?

As the name indicates, emotional regulation disorder is a condition of impaired or dysfunctional ability to regulate and manage emotions optimally. Emotional Dysregulation (ED) is a term mental health specialists use for emotional responses that are weakly managed and deviate from the accepted range of positive reactions.

The emotional regulation disorder is often manifested by symptoms such as:

Sudden and unexplained anger outbursts that get displaced to someone who did not cause any harm. May include passive-aggressive patterns of behavior.

Somatoform symptoms such as chronic pain and illness not caused by any medical condition and remain unexplained by medical professionals.

Self-destruction or self-harming behavior, including extreme thoughts of suicide.

Difficulty in building and maintaining healthy social relationships in personal and professional fields.

Attentional dysregulation, including the inability to focus on meaningful work because the mind is too occupied with negative thoughts and emotions.

Hypersensitivity and poor self-control.

The worst part of Emotion Regulation Disorder is that it mostly comes in association with other mental health issues such as depression, stress, or extreme mood polarities, and therefore, management requires an overall intervention plan for addressing all the associated problems.

The most common intervention psychologists use for managing EDD is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), in combination with some cognitive strategies and emotional support adjuncts.

The prognosis of Emotional Regulation Disorder is relatively good, considering the number of practical interventions that we could use. The best results are, however, seen when the person chooses to take charge of it soon and participates in a long-term treatment plan.

5 Tips for Fostering Emotional Regulation in Children

Emotional regulation is an absolute necessity for academic, social, and moral development in children. Parents often find it overwhelming to find the right way to teach emotional regulation to their children and help them deal with the inevitable stressors of everyday life.

Emotional perception and management are never the same for two people, which is why successfully training someone to regulate their emotions can be a difficult task. However, psychologists over the years have come up with some great solutions to this problem.

Here are some hacks that parents and carers can use to cultivate emotional regulation in youngsters (Toub, Rajan, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2016).

1. Model the right behavior

Children learn best through observation. Showing them what to do rather than verbally directing is sure to generate better results. For example, a child grows up with parents who treat each other with respect and resolve their conflicts without being abusive, will learn to be more emotionally balanced and resilient than a child who grows up with aggressive and abusive parents.

It is essential to show children that positivity is the 'only' way to deal with stressors, and the best way to do it is by practicing the same ourselves.

2. Delay response time

Encourage the child not to give immediate reactions. Whenever the kid gets angry or is sad, ask them to hold back for a while and react after that. The delay in response time allows the fight-or-flight response to settle down, and in all probability, the child would respond less intensely than they would otherwise have.

3. Work on the child's emotional vocabulary

Self-expression works great for emotional regulation in children. Often, a child experiences something that they are unable to explain, and the frustration that follows leads to an unpleasant reaction that is not acceptable.

A useful strategy is to create a chart with all the emotions named in it, with examples or face illustrations of how the particular passion makes us feel. Being able to call the feelings they are experiencing makes a child more vigilant and aware of their innermost feelings, and reduces the chances of emotional outbursts.

4. Teach them about actions and consequences

When a child is aware of what their actions might bring to them, they will likely choose their steps carefully. Whether in the classroom or at home, we can engage in meaningful conversations with kids about what is an action and what could be its consequences. For example, teachers and parents could make a chart and list some activities with their potential impacts and ask the child to decide which actions they would choose.

5. Let them detect stress

The goal of fostering emotional regulation in children is to make them self-dependent as a person in the future. There are particular situations, people, or events that create stress in children, for example, going to school away from parents, getting scolded by teachers, or someone taking away their favorite toy.

If we could devote some time to help them identify the little things that bring unpleasant feelings in them, it can go a long way in making them aware of their stressors and provide them the strength to deal with their emotions effectively as they grow up.

What is DBT and How Does it Relate?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive and behavior-oriented psychotherapy that relies on active communication to address mental health issues. DBT is especially useful for treating personality disorders like BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) where individuals lose track of their emotional control mechanisms.

The core principle of DBT is that the arousal levels in different stressful encounters vary from person to person. For example, the way an adolescent would react to their parent's death would be different from how a 50-year-old person would respond to parental loss, and needless to mention, the consequences of these reactions would hugely differ too (Kleindienst et al., 2011).

Again, a person who is timid and shy would react differently to any abuse from an extravert and friendly person. By considering these individual differences, DBT makes the interventions precise and person-centered.

In its pure form, DBT is:

Supportive - in the way it helps individuals understand and manage their emotional experiences and reactions.

Cognitive - because it emphasizes thoughts and acknowledges the fact that our emotions arise from the way we think and interpret the contemplations.

Mutual - as it requires equal amounts of attention and effort from the client and the therapist. Much like CBT interventions, DBT also relies on collaborative exercises, activities, and homework that help in assessing progress.

The reason why DBT is suitable for dealing with emotional regulation disorder is that it lets individuals learn, acknowledge, and change their faulty thought patterns themselves (Siever & Davis, 1991). DBT doesn't coerce solutions or rush to diagnosis; it operates on the belief that unless we can internalize the positive emotions and learn to use them ourselves, no therapy can be good enough to make us happier.

DBT skills for emotional management includes:

Learning and identification of negative and positive emotions.

Labeling and naming emotions.

Reducing emotional vulnerability and hypersensitivity.

Gaining awareness about how we are feeling at the present moment.

Understanding desirable actions and implementing them in real life situations.

Enhancing stress management and coping techniques (Bohus et al., 2004; Linehan, Armstrong, Suarez, Allmon, & Heard, 1991).

4 Emotional Regulation Activities & Exercises

Below are four exercises that can be practiced by anyone. Breathing regulation exercises are useful in a variety of settings, and just being mindful of emotions in general can benefit any person.

1. Breathing exercises for emotional regulation

Three main breathing exercises help in modulating emotions:

Breath Counting - Where we sit calmly for a few seconds and slowly start counting. For example, you can count 5 to inhale and 7 to exhale. The goal of this exercise is to focus on our breathing and follow the counting as we inhale and exhale.

Breath Shifting - Here we place one hand on our chest and the other hand on our abdomen and notice how they rise and fall with each inhales and exhales. By doing so, we aim to see the difference between the chest and belly movement during breathing, and it helps in regaining focus into our bodies.

Breath Relaxation - Breath relaxation is the most basic breathing exercise and practically works well for any stress, anxiety, or emotional disorder. The practice is to sit back and take deep breaths with eyes closed, and continue doing so until we can feel the connection between our mind and body, and realize the stress and negativity are fading away with the deep breaths.

2. Exercise for emotional catharsis

The most significant problem of emotional dysregulation disorder is the inability to let go of emotions. Even after realizing the inappropriateness of irrational thoughts, they find it hard to eliminate them from the mind (Singer et al., 2012). Through emotional catharsis, which is a way of venting out the suppressed emotions, we can achieve the mental balance that we often seek.

The practice is simple and involves five easy steps:

Observing emotions as they are, without trying to change them at the first instance.

Trying to evaluate the experience and feelings that come with a particular emotion.

Acknowledging the fact that we are not our emotions. For example, if we are feeling sad, it doesn't have to mean that we are depressed individuals. Emotions are just a state of mind; they come and go.

Naming the emotions aloud or writing them the way you feel it.

Talking about them to a friend, family, or therapist, without being afraid of judgment.

3. Mindfulness for emotions

We know that mindfulness is the art of living in the present moment. Practicing mindfulness helps us gaining awareness of our mind, body, and feelings. It builds a secure connection to the present and allows us to look at our thoughts and feelings from an objective and neutral perspective.

There are two types of mindfulness exercises that help in emotional regulation:

The 'Acknowledgment' Exercises - including careful observation, naming thoughts, and labeling emotions.

The 'Implementation' Exercises - including practices of thinking non-judgmentally, active and empathetic listening, effective communication, and self-expression.

4. Self-awareness techniques

Self-awareness, for the most of it, is a counterpart of mindfulness and is tied in with recognizing one's own emotions and the ways they affect us.

A great way to manage unhealthy emotions through self-awareness is the thought naming exercise, where we make a list of all the thoughts that are dominating our mind this very moment, the people or circumstances that we think may be causing them, and name the emotions in one or two words.

We can practice this as a daily self-help practice, and make a chart like the one shown below:

Useful Therapy Modalities

Which therapy modalities are particularly useful for emotion regulation?

1. Emotional Regulation Therapy (ERT)

Emotion Regulation Therapy is a person-centered approach to dealing with affective regulation. It uses parts of CBT, DBT, Mindfulness, and other humanistic approaches to achieve the following goals:

Helping individuals identify, acknowledge, and describe their emotions.

Allowing unconditional self-acceptance that ultimately results in emotional regulation.

Preventing them from avoiding feelings and choosing actions that impact on their wellbeing.

Helping them learn better decision-making, constructive critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

ERT interventions operate on a four-dimensional model, as shown below. Studies have proved that administering ERT strategies to patients increase their chances of recovery from disorders such as GAD, PTSD, and severe depression (Fresco, Mennin, Heimberg, & Ritter, 2013).

2. Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive Therapy interventions used in emotional regulation include:

Cognitive Distraction - which is an antecedent-focused strategy involving a careful shift of attention from the negative emotion to something pleasant (Gross, 1998). It is a practical approach where clients get positive stimuli from therapists or coaches to focus on when they feel low. Slowly, the individuals get conditioned to shift their attention the moment they catch themselves indulging in toxic emotions (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008; Sheppes, Scheibe, Suri, & Gross, 2011).

Cognitive Reappraisal - As we discussed before, cognitive reappraisal is an intervention whose goal is to help us acknowledge the negative emotions at first, and then slowly replace it with other positive emotions that are less provoking.

Cognitive Labeling - Labeling is a neuro-linguistic process of identifying emotions as they arise. Studies have shown that when we can recognize and literally 'name' our feelings and have a complete awareness of the emotional boundaries, there is decreased activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain that regulates emotions (Hariri, Bookheimer, & Mazziotta, 2000; Lieberman et al., 2007).

3. MBCT (Group Therapy)

MBCT or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy reduces the chances of relapse in people with emotional regulation disorders. It has proven benefits in treating cardiovascular conditions, hormonal deficits, and hypertension that comes with emotional imbalance.

MBCT is usually conducted in group settings, which makes it a preferred option for many people. The process mainly entails in forming a positive relationship with our innermost feelings.

For example, when someone is at the verge of relapsing depression, MBCT teaches them how they can overcome the blues by not trying to change themselves. Through mindfulness and meditation, MBCT reforms the way we feel about ourselves.

Techniques for Working with Autism

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevelopmental conditions that interfere with a person's social, emotional, and executive functioning.

As stated in DSM 5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders), autism causes:

Impairment in communication and social interaction.

Repetitive behavioral patterns that may sometimes be aggressive or extreme.

Poor impulse control and judgment.

Muscular inflexibility, involuntary movements, and other sensory-motor disturbances.

The typical difficulty that most autistic individuals face is executive dysfunctioning, including impulse control problems, emotional management, self-expression, and anger management.

Psychological regulation strategies specifically created for helping people with ASD primarily focus on separating emotions from the self. It helps autistic individuals understand that they need not act on their feelings; they learn that simply acknowledging emotions can also be a way of responding, without hurting themselves or others.

Another significant aspect that ER strategies deal with is the social and communication deficits autistic people face. There is a 5-point scale that many mental health practitioners and special educators use for helping ASD clients. The scale is created visually to facilitate easy comprehension. The test is systematic and follows a step-by-step approach.

The test starts with the identification of the problem areas, for example, daily routine, self-care, communication, etc.

After identification, caregivers of the client rate each problem based on how much it affects them on a 5-point scale where 5 indicates the most severe issue, and 1 indicates the least severe problem.

After listing down and rating the troubles, parents or caregivers come up with a list of the environmental and social factors that they think might be causing the problems.

Finally, the therapist makes small cards with visual illustrations of each situation that parents earlier labeled as a potential stressor. The cards are presented to the autistic person one by one, and the therapist asks them to express in their way how they feel about it.

Other ER based strategies for helping ASD includes visual expression, media awareness, creative painting and crafts, and group activities.

3 Worksheets to Implement the Theory

There are three worksheets especially applicable to emotion regulation.

1. The Radical Acceptance Worksheet

Marsha Linehan, a famous American psychologist and the creator of Dialectical Behavior Therapy, adopted the concept of radical acceptance from Buddhist teachings and incorporated it in her works later.

The Radical Acceptance Worksheet is often used in DBT interventions as it helps in enhancing self-awareness and understanding the underlying causes of our emotional struggles. The worksheet consists of seven subjective questions, the answers to which suggest the level of emotional control and indicate possible thinking errors.

The sheet is illustrated below. Each question comes with clear, guided instructions, and there are no right or wrong answers here.

The Radical Acceptance Worksheet

Question 1 - Describe a stressful situation you encountered. How did the situation occur? How did it affect you?

Question 2 - Did you or your behavior lead to the situation stated above? If yes, how?

Question 3 - How did others around you contribute to the situation?

Question 4 - What control did you have on yourself during that situation?

Question 5 - What was your reaction to the situation? Do you think your behavior impacted your emotions?

Question 6 - Did your reaction affect others around you? If yes, how?

Question 7 - How would you react to similar stressful circumstances in the future?

2. Emotion Regulation Worksheet

The Emotion Regulation Worksheet is a step-by-step approach to identifying our emotions in a clear and unbiased manner. Adapted from Linehan's manual for treating Borderline Personality Disorder, this worksheet helps in delving deep into the causes and consequences of an intense affective response.

With simple questions that indicate functionality of the emotion, this self-help manual lets us gauge how powerful our emotions can be. The worksheet is shown below.

Find more information on the emotion regulation questionnaire here.

Think of a situation in the past that evoked strong emotions in you and answer the following questions:

What led to the situation?

How did you interpret the situation?

How intense were your emotions (say on a scale of 0-100)?

Did your emotion influence others' actions? If yes, how?

Did the emotion influence your actions? If yes, how?

Did your emotion influence your judgment? If yes, how?

3. The PLEASE Worksheet

The Please Worksheet is standard in DBT interventions for emotional management and self-expression.

PLEASE is an anagram using five key concepts:

Physical health and illness

Mood changing substances

Eating habits

Sleep

Exercise and Fitness

Through managing these aspects of life, the PLEASE Worksheet fosters emotional management and promotes healthy living. The exercise has questions dedicated to each of the five components, and results reflect how the areas affect our emotions and actions. The worksheet is briefly illustrated below.

Since it is usually a counterpart of therapy, the PLEASE Worksheet should ideally be used under professional supervision.

Examples of Emotional Self-Regulation
When was the last time you managed to express your vulnerabilities without hurting yourself or others?
Emotional regulation is not a skill that some of us have, and some of us don't. It is a capacity that is inbuilt in us. We all manage to regulate our emotions in some circumstances and fail to manage them in others. There is no all or none principle that works with emotional regulation in human life.

For example, imagine your boss yelling at you for some mistake. How would you react? Would you yell at them back and resign from the job, or perhaps deal with it calmly and let go? Now, if the same situation happened at home, where you do something wrong, and your partner shouts at you, how would you answer back? Would you hold back your anger and be rational like you were at work, or would you get into a fight with your spouse?

In the above example, the same person (you) could regulate and redirect your emotions at work but fail to do the same at home. You could keep your nerves under control in one situation but lose your judgment in another. This is how emotional regulation can fluctuate in us. Our goal, at all times, should be to maintain a balance in our emotional reactions irrespective of the situation.

There are numerous examples of emotional self-regulation that we can find around us. For example, a person who is on a strict diet and attends a social gathering with all delicious delicacies around has the power to tame their urges and regulate the hunger emotions so they wouldn't cheat their diet.

Leaders who manage large teams and have to make crucial decisions for their organization to maintain a sturdy mental balance that would help them maintain their leadership and success.

Self-regulation in adults or children come from rigorous self-observation, environmental learning, and focused self-awareness. To effectively manage our emotional reactions at work or home, here are some steps that we can all take.

Daily breathing and relaxation.

Healthy eating, sound sleep, and regular exercise.

Quality me-time and a stable self-care regime.

Frequent day-outs or trips with family and friends.

Effective communication with self and others, especially when the conversations are difficult or awkward.

Maintaining a sound work-life balance (Connelly et al., 2012).

Games for Group Therapy Settings

Emotional Regulation group activities often use fun games to make the sessions more exciting and motivating for clients. Group ER activities also work exceptionally well for differently abled people and young children. Some simple ER games used in group therapy settings are discussed below.

1. Traffic Light Game

This is mostly used for children where one participant plays the role of traffic police, and the others play car drivers who wait for the signal. When the traffic police hold the green card, the other kids move forward, and when they lifts the red card, they stop and remain where they are.

After the role play is over, the facilitator uses the metaphor to teach the kids that red cards are bad feelings that they should not chase. When they see those red cards, they should stop until the green (happy) cards come in.

2. Jenga

Jenga is an everyday group activity used for adults and children to foster decision-making and rational planning of actions. The way participants stack the blocks and displace them one by one without breaking the whole stack creates mindful movement strategies that further help in emotional management and decision-making.

3. Follow the Leader Exercise

The purpose of this group activity is to teach that when we are not in charge of our decisions, the best idea is to stay silent and let the time pass. The game is played in a role-play format where each participant takes turns to act as the leader, and others act as their subordinates.

The leader, who is in charge of all decisions, gives orders and their employees have to follow them whether or not they want to. The activity trains them on how to follow the rules and stay calm when something does not go according to the way we want.

Best Books on Emotional Regulation

1. Handbook of Emotion Regulation - James J. Gross

The Handbook of Emotional Regulation is a comprehensive compilation of some of the most useful and scientifically-backed strategies for modulating emotions.

The detailed chapters of the book provide a vivid roadmap of how we can start identifying negative emotions and effectively overcome them in the long-run.

The concepts mentioned by author James Gross are futuristic, research-oriented, and has substantial implications for neuroscience, psychology, and overall health.

Find the book on Amazon.

2. Self-Regulation Interventions and Strategies: Keeping the Body, Mind, and Emotions on Task in Children with Autism, ADHD or Sensory Disorders - Teresa Garland

Author Teresa Garland has put in her years of research on emotional regulation in children in the book Self-regulation Intervention Strategies.

With over a thousand activities and fun exercises that can be blended in academic and other child-care settings, this book is the ultimate guide for parents and teachers who aim to raise emotionally balanced kids.

Find the book on Amazon.

3. Emotion Regulation in Children and Adolescents: A Practitioner's Guide - Michael A. Southam-Gerow

Emotion Regulation in Children and Adolescents is a practical manual or self-help guide for adolescents, young adults, and children, for promoting positive affective self-regulation.

With worksheets, activities, and objective assessments, this piece provides valuable knowledge on how we can confront and manage difficult emotions ourselves.

Find the book on Amazon.

4. DBT Skills Workbook: Practical DBT Exercises for Learning Mindfulness, Interpersonal Effectiveness, Emotion Regulation, and Distress Tolerance - MCKAY M

As the name suggests, this book is dedicated to understanding and learning DBT skills that help in emotional management.

The book follows a holistic perspective and focuses on all areas of emotional balance, including tolerance, mindfulness, coping, and attention.

Find the book on Amazon.

A Take-Home Message

The way we interpret our emotions determine the way we react to it. Emotional regulation does not mean being happy all the time; neither does it guarantee to shield us from pain. With emotional management, we gain the ability to accept our feelings and overpower them.

Emotional regulation is all about moving on and not letting temporary setbacks stop us from reaching our goals. It is tied in with values, expressions, self-compassion, gratitude, and rational thinking, which accounts for the inner peace that emotion regulation brings with it. And as the saying goes, "Feelings are visitors, we should let them come and go."

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free.

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Emotional Regulation: 6 Key Skills to Regulate Emotions

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Emotion regulation is about moving on and not letting temporary setbacks stop us from reaching our goals, and can account for inner peace.

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Teach Kids to Manage Big Feelings Through Effective Social Emotional Learning

Over 80% of U.S. public schools reported in 2022 on the negative impact of the pandemic on child well-being and self-regulation. Kids are:

Struggling to manage their feelings and mental health

More disruptive in the classroom

Needing additional social, emotional, and behavioral support

(source: National Center for Education Statistics)

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The Zones of Regulation is a complete social-emotional learning curriculum, created to teach children self-regulation and emotional control.

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Good social skills allow kids to enjoy better peer relationships. But the benefits of robust social skills reach far beyond social acceptance. Children with better social skills are likely to reap immediate benefits. For example, one study found that good social skills may reduce stress in children who are in daycare settings.﻿﻿

Social skills are a set of skills that need ongoing refinement as your kids get older. They aren't something your child either has or doesn't have. Look for teachable moments where you can help your kids do better. In fact, some social skills are quite complicated-like understanding it's important to be assertive when a friend is being bullied, or understanding staying silent when you don't agree with a call from the umpire.

Meanwhile, kids who have strong social skills and can get along well with peers are likely to make friends more easily. In fact, a study published in the International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, indicates that childhood friendships are good for kids' mental health.﻿﻿

Good social skills also can help kids have a brighter future. According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, a child's social and emotional skills in kindergarten might be the biggest predictor of success in adulthood.﻿﻿

Researchers from Penn State and Duke University found that children who were better at sharing, listening, cooperating, and following the rules at age five were more likely to go to college. They also were more likely to be employed full-time by age 25.

Children who lacked social and emotional skills were more likely to have substance abuse issues, relationship issues, and legal trouble. They were also more likely to depend on public assistance.

Likewise, not having the social skills to interact with others likely compounds that stress. For instance, being away from family places stress on children. And, when they are unable to communicate effectively with others, it only gets worse. But, researchers have found that children experienced a decrease in cortisol, a hormone released during stressful situations, once they learned new social skills.﻿﻿

The good news is that social skills can be taught. It's never too soon to start showing kids how to get along with others. And it's never too late to sharpen their skills either. Start with the most basic social skills first and keep sharpening your child's skills over time. Here are the most important social skills for kids to learn and how you can help teach them.

A willingness to share a snack or share a toy can go a long way to helping kids make and keep friends. According to a study published in Psychological Science, children as young as age two may show a desire to share with others-but usually only when their resources are abundant.﻿﻿

However, children between the ages of three and six are often selfish when it comes to sharing resources that come at a cost. For example, children with only one cookie might be reluctant to share half with a friend because it means they'll have less to enjoy. On the other hand, those same children might readily share a toy that they're no longer interested in playing with.

Overall, studies show children who feel good about themselves are more likely to share. Sharing also makes them feel good about themselves. So teaching them to share may be key to boosting their self-esteem.

How to Practice

While you may not want to force your child to share certain toys or with certain children, you can regularly point out sharing when you see it. Praise your child for sharing and indicate how it makes others feel. Say something like, "You chose to share your snack with your sister. I bet she feels happy about that. That's a nice thing to do."

Cooperating

Cooperating means working together to achieve a common goal. Kids who cooperate are respectful when others make requests. They also contribute, participate, and help out.

Good cooperation skills are essential for successfully getting along within a community. Your child will need to cooperate with classmates on the playground as well as in the classroom. Cooperation is important as an adult, too. Most work environments thrive on employees' ability to work together as a team. Cooperation is key in romantic relationships as well.

By about age three and a half, young children can begin to work with their peers on a common goal. For children, cooperation may involve anything from building a toy tower together to playing a game that requires everyone to participate. Some may take a leadership position while others will feel more comfortable following instructions. Either way, cooperation is a great opportunity for kids to learn more about themselves.

How to Practice

Talk about the importance of teamwork and how jobs are better when everyone pitches in. Create opportunities for the whole family to work together. Whether you assign everyone a specific job when you're making a meal or you assign specific chores that are integral to the family, emphasize the importance of cooperation.

Listening isn't just about staying quiet-it means really absorbing what someone else is saying. Listening also is a critical component of healthy communication. After all, much of the learning in school depends on a child's ability to listen to what the teacher is saying. Absorbing the material, taking notes, and thinking about what is being said becomes even more important as your child advances academically.

It's essential that your child grows up knowing how to listen to the boss, a romantic partner, and friends. This skill may be an even more difficult skill to master in the age of digital devices because so many people tend to stare at their smartphones when they're engaged in conversation.

How to Practice

When reading a book to your children, periodically stop and ask them to tell you about what you're reading. Pause and say, "Tell me what you remember about the story so far." Help them fill in any gaps they're missing and encourage them to keep listening as you continue. Additionally, don't allow them to interrupt others when they're talking.

Following Directions

Kids who struggle to follow directions are likely to experience a variety of consequences. From having to redo their homework assignments to getting in trouble for misbehavior, not following directions can be a big problem.

Whether you instruct your children to clean their rooms or you're telling them how to improve their soccer skills, it's important for kids to be able to take direction-and follow instructions.

For example, don't give a young child more than one direction at a time. Instead of saying, "Pick up your shoes, put your books away, and wash your hands," wait until the shoes are picked up before giving the next command.

Another mistake to avoid is phrasing your directions as a question. Asking, "Would you please pick up your toys now?" implies that your kids have the option to say no. Once you've given your children directions, ask them to repeat back what you said. Ask, "What are you supposed to do now?" and wait for them to explain what they heard you say.

It's normal for young kids to get distracted, behave impulsively, or forget what they're supposed to do. View each mistake as an opportunity to help them sharpen their skills.

How to Practice

Praise your child for following directions by saying things like, "Thank you for turning off the TV the first time I told you to." If your children struggle to follow directions, give them opportunities to practice following simple commands. Say things like, "Please pass that book to me," and then provide immediate praise for following directions.

Respecting Personal Space

Some kids are close talkers. Others crawl into the laps of acquaintances without any idea that the other individual feels uncomfortable. It's important to teach kids how to respect other people's personal space.

Create household rules that encourage kids to respect other people's personal space. "Knock on closed doors," and "Keep your hands to yourself," are just a few examples.

If your child grabs things out of people's hands or pushes when impatient, establish consequences. If your child climbs into the laps of acquaintances or stands too close to people while talking, use it as a teachable moment. Take your child aside and provide some coaching about personal space issues.

How to Practice

Teach your children to stand about an arm's length away from people when they're talking. When they're standing in line, talk about how close to be to the person in front of them and talk about keeping their hands to themself. You might role-play various scenarios to help them practice describing appropriate personal space.

Making Eye Contact

Good eye contact is an important part of communication. Some kids struggle to look at the person they're speaking to. Whether your child is shy and prefers to stare at the floor or simply won't look up when engrossed in another activity, emphasize the importance of good eye contact.

If your child struggles with eye contact, offer quick reminders after the fact. In a gentle voice, ask, "Where should your eyes go when someone is talking to you?" You don't want to cause a shy child additional anxiety. And, provide praise when your child remembers to look at people when they're talking.

How to Practice

You might even show your children how it feels to hold a conversation with someone who isn't making eye contact. Ask them to share a story while you stare at the ground, close your eyes, or look everywhere except for at them. Then, invite them to tell another story and make appropriate eye contact while they're talking. Afterward, discuss how it felt in each scenario.

Using Manners

Saying please and thank you and using good table manners can go a long way toward helping your child gain attention for the right reasons. Teachers, other parents, and other kids will respect a well-mannered child.

Of course, teaching manners can feel like an uphill battle sometimes. From burping loudly at the table to acting ungratefully, all kids will let their manners go out the window sometimes.

How to Practice

Be a good role model with your manners. That means saying, "No, thank you," and "Yes, please," to your child on a regular basis. And make sure to use your manners when you're interacting with other people. Offer reminders when your children forget to use manners and praise them when you catch them being polite.

A Word From Verywell

If your child seems to be struggling with social skills more than other kids, talk to your pediatrician. While it may just take a little extra reinforcement and maturity to catch up, a lack of social skills also can be a sign of other problems. Children with mental health issues, like ADHD or autism, may be behind socially. A physician can assess your child and determine whether treatment is needed to improve social skills.

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7 Social Skills You Should Start Teaching Your Child Now

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Good social skills allow kids to enjoy better peer relationships. But the benefits of robust social skills reach far beyond social acceptance. Children with better social skills are likely to reap immediate benefits.

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What are social skills?

Social skills are the skills we use everyday to interact and communicate with others. They include verbal and non-verbal communication, such as speech, gesture, facial expression and body language. A person has strong social skills if they have the knowledge of how to behave in social situations and understand both written and implied rules when communicating with others. Children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Not Otherwise Specified) and Asperger's have difficulties with social skills.

Why are social skills important?

Social skills are vital in enabling an individual to have and maintain positive interactions with others. Many of these skills are crucial in making and sustaining friendships. Social interactions do not always run smoothly and an individual needs to be able to implement appropriate strategies, such as conflict resolution when difficulties in interactions arise. It is also important for individuals to have 'empathy' (i.e. being able to put yourself into someone else's shoes and recognise their feelings) as it allows them to respond in an understanding and caring way to how others are feeling.

What are the building blocks necessary to develop social skills?

Attention and concentration: Sustained effort, doing activities without distraction and being able to hold that effort long enough to get the task done.

Receptive (understanding) language: Comprehension of language.

Expressive (using) language: The use of language through speech, sign or alternative forms of communication to communicate wants, needs, thoughts and ideas.

Play skills: Voluntary engagement in self motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment where the activities may be, but are not necessarily, goal oriented.

Pre-language skills: The ways in which we communicate without using words and include things such as gestures, facial expressions, imitation, joint attention and eye-contact.

Self regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change one's emotion, behaviour, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or situation in a socially acceptable manner.

Executive functioning: Higher order reasoning and thinking skills.

Planning and sequencing: The sequential multi-step task or activity performance to achieve a well-defined result.

How can you tell if my child has problems with social skills?

If a child has difficulties with social skills they might:

Use fleeting eye contact, does not consistently use eye contact or stares at you fixedly.

Not be able to take turns when talking to their communication partner.

Struggle with using appropriate body language (e.g. stands too close/far to another person).

Fail to use polite forms of communication (e.g. saying: please, thank-you, hello and good-bye).

Be unable to start and end conversations appropriately.

Interrupt others frequently.

Be unable to maintain a topic of conversation and provides irrelevant comments during a conversation.

Talk 'at you' in a conversation as opposed to engaging in a two way conversation 'with' you.

Not ask appropriate questions.

Repeat information in conversation and tend to talk about topics of their own interest (e.g. trains, a favourite TV show/person).

Show little or no interest in what the other person has to say.

Fail to understand jokes and language, such as sarcasm, idioms and non-literal information (e.g. 'This place is a pig sty!').

Interpret what you say in a very literal way (e.g. when you say "Can you open the door?" the child "yes" without moving to actually open the door).

Talk with unusual speed, stress, rhythm, intonation, pitch and/or tone of voice.

Be unable to understand different tones of voice or read facial cues.

Fail to ask for clarification if they are confused or if the situation is unclear to them.

Struggle to respond appropriately when asked to change their actions.

Tend to disclose (excessively) personal information to unfamiliar people or strangers.

Appear unaware of others and fail to read other people's feelings based on their verbal and non-verbal cues.

Be unable to respond to teasing, anger, failure and disappointment appropriately.

Be unable to adjust or modify their language appropriately according to the communication situation.

Lack empathy (i.e. is not able to imagine what it is like to be somebody else or in their situation).

Lack imagination.

Appear self-centred.

Fail to understand the consequences of their actions.

What other problems can occur when a child has social skill difficulties?

When a child has social skill difficulties, they might also have difficulties with:

Behaviour: The child's actions, usually in relation to their environment (e.g. a child may engage in behaviour, such as refusing to go to social events including birthday parties or engage in inappropriate behaviour, such as tugging on a peer's hair or yelling at someone to get their attention).

Sensory processing: The child may have trouble attending or focusing and have difficulty interpreting information they receive from the environment.

Completing academic work (e.g. the child may misinterpret verbal or written instructions for tasks and/or struggle with imaginative writing).

Receptive (understanding) language: Comprehension of language.

Expressive (using) language: The use of language through speech, sign or alternative forms of communication to communicate wants, needs, thoughts and ideas.

Articulation: Clarity of speech sounds and spoken language.

Fluency: The smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are produced when talking.

Voice: The sound that we hear when someone talks which is unique to each person.

Self regulation: The ability to obtain, maintain and change one's emotion, behaviour, attention and activity level appropriate for a task or situation in a socially acceptable manner.

Executive functioning: Higher order reasoning and thinking skills.

What can be done to improve social skills?

Play with your child to help develop joint attention, turn-taking, shared interests, cooperation and appropriate play with toys.

Emotions: Help the child to understand and display their own emotions and to recognise these emotions in other people.

Empathy: Help the child to understand and recognise how other people are feeling in particular situations.

Social stories: These are stories which are used to teach children specific social skills that they may find difficult to understand or are confusing. The goal of the story is to increase the child's understanding by describing in detail a specific situation and suggesting an appropriate social response.

Social skill groups: These are groups run with the express purpose of mastering social interaction with others.

What activities can help improve social skills?

Visuals: Make up a poster of rules to remember when starting a conversation (e.g. using a friendly voice, making eye contact, using appropriate greetings, such as 'hello').

Role play: Practise playground/party scenarios where the child does not know anybody. Model and create a list of different things you can say:

To join others who are playing (e.g. "Can I play too?").

To introduce yourself (e.g. "Hi my name is ....").

To politely negotiate with peers (e.g. "I don't want that one. Can I have the blue car please?").

Sing songs, such as 'If you're happy and you know it' to help teach a child about different emotions.

Masks: Make masks together to help improve eye contact.

Turn taking: Play turn taking games (e.g. board games) to encourage a child to say whose turn it is in the game (e.g. "My turn", "Your turn").

Games: Play board games with the child. Make sure the child is not always the 'winner' so that they learn about 'losing' in a game and are able to cope better when this happens with their peers.

Bean bag conversation: Throw a bean bag around a circle and each child takes a turn to contribute to the conversation. Think of different ways to contribute to the conversation (e.g. ask a question, comment on what has been said, add something related to the topic).

Watch and comment: Role play different situations and comment about appropriate and inappropriate attempts of communication (e.g. standing too close or too far from another person, not using appropriate eye contact, interrupting a conversation).

Why should I seek therapy if I notice difficulties with social skills in my child?

Therapeutic intervention to help a child with social skills difficulties is important to:

Help a child to engage appropriately with others during play, conversation and in interactions.

Help a child to develop friendships at school and when accessing out of school activities (e.g. playing sport, attending a group such as Scouts).

Help a child maintain friendships with peers.

Help a child to behave appropriately during interactions with familiar people (e.g. parents, siblings, teachers, family friends) and unfamiliar individuals (e.g. adults and children they may need to engage with during excursions and when visiting places, such as the park or swimming pool).

Assist a child in developing their awareness of social norms and to master specific social skills (e.g. taking turns in a conversation, using appropriate eye contact, verbal reasoning, understanding figurative language).

Develop appropriate social stories to help teach the child about how to respond in specific social situations.

Some children require explicit teaching about how to interact and communicate with others as these skills do not come naturally to them.

If left untreated what can difficulties with social skills lead to?

When children have difficulties with social skills, they might also have difficulties with:

Making new friends.

Maintaining friendships with peers.

Communicating effectively with unfamiliar individuals during situations including asking for assistance in a shop, asking for directions if they are lost and negotiating with someone with whom they have had a disagreement.

Reading/understanding social situations.

Understanding jokes and figurative language during interactions with others, and when watching television shows and movies and reading books.

Coping with failure.

What type of therapy is recommended for social skill difficulties?

If your child has difficulties with social skills, it is recommended they consult a Speech Therapist.

If there are multiple areas of concern (i.e. beyond just social skills) both Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy may well be recommended to address the functional areas of concern. This is the benefit of choosing Kid Sense provides both Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy.

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Social Skills - Kid Sense Child Development

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What are social skills? Social skills are the skills we use everyday to interact and communicate with others. They include verbal and non-verbal communication, such as speech, gesture, facial expression and body language. A person has strong social skills if they have the knowledge of how to behave in social situations and understand both written [...]

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Learning to identify and express feelings in a positive way helps kids develop the skills they need to manage them effectively. Here are some tips on how to encourage your child to express their feelings.

Sometimes kids don't have the words to express how they feel and may act out these feelings in ways that are problematic

Your child might hit or throw toys when angry or frustrated. They might have a hard time settling down after an exciting day. Use this as a learning opportunity to teach your child to express their feeling in a positive way. Teach your child to act on feelings by:

Asking for help or support

Walking away and taking time out

Finding a different way to do things

Taking time to relax before trying again

Trying to solve the problem with words

Saying what they feel instead of acting it out

Talking with a grown-up about what is happening

Spending time with a loved one or asking for a hug or cuddle

Describing what they are feeling or reactions in their body

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Helping kids identify and express feelings

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Learning to identify and express feelings in a positive way helps kids develop the skills they need to manage them effectively. Here are some tips on how to encourage your child to express their feelings. Your child might hit or throw toys when angry or frustrated.

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Talking About Your Feelings

How many feelings can you name? Happy, sad, scared? That's a good start.

Can you name some more? How about playful, joyful, calm? Mad, upset, worried. Confused, lonely, nervous. Grateful, glad, cozy. Loved, friendly, peaceful.

There are so many feelings to name. Try coming up with some of your own.

No matter how you feel - good or bad - it helps to put your feelings into words. Talking about feelings can help you feel close to people who care. It can help you feel better when you're sad or scared.

Putting feelings into words helps you use self-control when you feel mad or upset. If your little brother took something of yours, you can say, "Hey, I'm annoyed that you took that without asking me. Next time, please ask." No need to get in a big fight over it. Just say how you feel and why, without yelling.

Know Your Feelings

It's easier to talk about your feelings if you know how you feel and why. Try these easy steps:

1. Think of the name for how you feel. (Let's say you feel nervous.)

2. Think of why you feel that way. (Let's say you are nervous because you have a spelling test tomorrow.)

3. Put them together into words. (Say to yourself, "I feel nervous about my spelling test tomorrow.")

If you don't know why you feel a certain way, you can still talk about it. You can say, "I feel upset, but I don't know why."

Pick Someone to Talk to

A parent, grandparent, or a friend can be a good person to talk to. It's easier than you think. You can start by going to the person and saying, "Can we talk for a minute?" Then say how you feel and why.

Let the other person listen. Maybe they will give you advice. Or say something kind. Maybe they will help you laugh, or give you a hug. Or say, "Don't worry, I'll help you study your spelling words." Just saying how you feel and why helps you start to feel better. It helps to know you are not alone with a problem or worry.

Talk About Feelings Any Time

You don't have to wait for a big problem to talk about your feelings. You can say how you feel any time. It's a good thing to practice.

Talking about feelings doesn't have to be a big talk. You can make a short and simple comment. Like this:

"Dad, I'm really glad we're having pizza tonight! Thanks!"

"I'm excited about the game tonight. I think the coach will let me start."

"I'm so relieved because I did really well on my math test!"

"I felt so awkward when I asked Kyle to the dance, and I was so happy when he said yes!"

You don't have to talk about every feeling you have. But noticing your feelings and saying how you feel and why is good practice. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Talking about your feelings is a healthy way to express them. And when you have difficult feelings you need to talk over, you'll be ready.

Date reviewed: March 2023

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How many feelings can you name? Happy, sad, scared? That's a good start. Can you name some more? How about playful, joyful, calm? Mad, upset, worried. Confused, lonely, nervous. Grateful, glad, cozy. Loved, friendly, peaceful. There are so many feelings to name. Try coming up with some of your own.

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Prevent Behavior Problems by Teaching Your Child About Feelings

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Teach your child how to identify his or her feelings. Then, teach her coping skills that will help her manage her emotions in an appropriate way.

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Although some children naturally handle friendship better than others, all kids need to be taught, and practice friendship skills. Kids grow into these skills and need help from parents and other adults to learn the rules of friendship.
How can we help our children learn these key skills?
Talk to your child about what makes a good friend. Kids don't always know what it means to be a good friend. Make a friendship list with all the qualities of a good friend. Have them tell you what they think makes a good friend. Keep the list close and talk to your child about trying to be that kind of friend. Some possibilities to consider for your list:
Role Play, Role Play, Role Play
Talk through scenarios like:

What do you do if you want to play with a group of friends who are already playing together? You observe first and then join in without interrupting or being pushy.

What if you ask a friend to play and they say "no".

How would you feel if someone was mean to you?

This prepares your child for situations they are certain to face and teaches them empathy for others.
Talk about "Best Friends"
When we push our children to tell us about their "best friend", we are subconsciously teaching them to exclude. We are teaching them there is a criteria for friendship. Talk about the need to be friends and accept everyone.
Model Friendship
Our children watch everything we do. Are we modeling good friendships skills?

We can model friendship skills when we play with our children. It is an opportunity to talk to them, and show them how to act. When they beat us at Candy Land, show them how to be a good loser. When we win, model how to be a good winner.
Talk about what to do when they are rejected by a friend.

1. It is okay to move on. Encourage your child to put effort into friendships with children who reciprocate, and move on.

2. Don't say "I told you say." Avoid talking about all the things your child did wrong. When a friendship goes south, we need to show extra love to our children. The rejection has already made them feel vulnerable; they don't need us to add salt to the wounds.

Have a conversation about friendship with your child today.

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How to Talk to Your Kids About...Friendship

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Last updated on October 1st, 2012 at 12:40 pmAlthough some children naturally handle friendship better than others, all kids need to be taught, and practice friendship skills. Kids grow into these skills and need help from parents and other adults to learn the rules of friendship.

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Go to:Workshop Materials Organized by:

Tier 1: Class-Wide Management. Well-managed classrooms are built on a foundation that includes teaching behavioral expectations to students and using proactive strategies to manage group behaviors.

Group Behavior Management Ideas:

Tier 1: Classroom Interventions. Because the teacher is the Tier 1 (classroom) RTI 'first responder' who can potentially assist any struggling student, schools should prepare necessary resources and define clear guidelines for how to implement Tier 1 behavioral interventions.

Documenting Classroom (Tier 1) Interventions

Behavior Intervention Toolkit

Defining Student Behaviors Using Checklists

Tools to Promote Teacher-Student Communication

Tier 2: Supplemental Interventions. Tier 2 interventions occur above and beyond core instruction--and can take the form of small group programs, mentoring support, or individual counseling. Tier 2 RTI-B interventions are often 'standard-protocol' programs that match common student intervention needs in a school.

Session 1: RTI and Behavior: The Big Picture/ Tier 1: Teaching Schoolwide Behavioral Expectations/ Tier 1: Best Practices in Classwide Behavior Management

Here are resources shared by Jim at session 1 (M 28 Sept 2015) of the RTI:Social-Emotional/Behavior workshop series.

PowerPoints (to be shared within your school or district only)

1. RTI-B Introduction

2. RTI-B: Needs Assessment

3. RTI-B: 'Classwide Management' Checklist

4. Motivating Through Classwide 'Nudges'

5. Big Ideas in Behavior Management

6. Building Staff Buy-In for RTI-B

Session 2: RTI: Tier 1: Classroom Interventions/ How to Define and Analyze a Student Behavior Problem/ How to Measure 'Intervention Integrity

PowerPoints from the training:

1. Session Introduction/Analyzing Student Behavior: A Step-by-Step Guide

2. The ABC Timeline: Changing Behaviors Through Antecedents, Positive Consequences, and Extinction Techniques

3. Monitoring Intervention Integrity. Checking the Quality of Behavior Plans

4. Homework for 13 Nov 2013 Session

Additional resources from the training:

Session 3: Behavior Intervention Plan/Tier 2: Supplemental Interventions/Self-monitoring Techniques

PowerPoint from the training:

RTI Problem-Solving Teams/Tier 2 Screening & Progress-Monitoring/Growth Feedback: Ideas for Learned Helplessness

PowerPoints from the training:

1. Session Introduction/Assembling a Behavior Intervention Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide

2. Tier 2 Services in the RTI-B Model: An Overview

3. How to...Conduct a Task Analysis & Create a Behavior Checklist

Additional resources from this training:

Here are websites that present information about RTI-B Tier 2/3 programs:

Session 4: Tier 2: Schoolwide Screening/Intervention Progress-Monitoring/Tier 3: RTI Problem-Solving Team

PowerPoints from the training:

Additional resources from the workshop:

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Social-Emotional RTI: Schools That Really Care: Expanding RTI to Address Social & Emotional Needs

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Go to:Workshop Materials Organized by: Tier 1: Class-Wide Management. Well-managed classrooms are built on a foundation that includes teaching behavioral expectations to students and using proactive strategies to manage group behaviors. Group Behavior Management Ideas: Tier 1: Classroom Interventions.

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Go to:Workshop Materials Organized by:

Tier 1: Class-Wide Management. Well-managed classrooms are built on a foundation that includes teaching behavioral expectations to students and using proactive strategies to manage group behaviors.

Group Behavior Management Ideas:

Tier 1: Classroom Interventions. Because the teacher is the Tier 1 (classroom) RTI 'first responder' who can potentially assist any struggling student, schools should prepare necessary resources and define clear guidelines for how to implement Tier 1 behavioral interventions.

Documenting Classroom (Tier 1) Interventions

Behavior Intervention Toolkit

Defining Student Behaviors Using Checklists

Tools to Promote Teacher-Student Communication

Tier 2: Supplemental Interventions. Tier 2 interventions occur above and beyond core instruction--and can take the form of small group programs, mentoring support, or individual counseling. Tier 2 RTI-B interventions are often 'standard-protocol' programs that match common student intervention needs in a school.

Session 1: RTI and Behavior: The Big Picture/ Tier 1: Teaching Schoolwide Behavioral Expectations/ Tier 1: Best Practices in Classwide Behavior Management

Here are resources shared by Jim at session 1 (M 28 Sept 2015) of the RTI:Social-Emotional/Behavior workshop series.

PowerPoints (to be shared within your school or district only)

1. RTI-B Introduction

2. RTI-B: Needs Assessment

3. RTI-B: 'Classwide Management' Checklist

4. Motivating Through Classwide 'Nudges'

5. Big Ideas in Behavior Management

6. Building Staff Buy-In for RTI-B

Session 2: RTI: Tier 1: Classroom Interventions/ How to Define and Analyze a Student Behavior Problem/ How to Measure 'Intervention Integrity

PowerPoints from the training:

1. Session Introduction/Analyzing Student Behavior: A Step-by-Step Guide

2. The ABC Timeline: Changing Behaviors Through Antecedents, Positive Consequences, and Extinction Techniques

3. Monitoring Intervention Integrity. Checking the Quality of Behavior Plans

4. Homework for 13 Nov 2013 Session

Additional resources from the training:

Session 3: Behavior Intervention Plan/Tier 2: Supplemental Interventions/Self-monitoring Techniques

PowerPoint from the training:

RTI Problem-Solving Teams/Tier 2 Screening & Progress-Monitoring/Growth Feedback: Ideas for Learned Helplessness

PowerPoints from the training:

1. Session Introduction/Assembling a Behavior Intervention Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide

2. Tier 2 Services in the RTI-B Model: An Overview

3. How to...Conduct a Task Analysis & Create a Behavior Checklist

Additional resources from this training:

Here are websites that present information about RTI-B Tier 2/3 programs:

Session 4: Tier 2: Schoolwide Screening/Intervention Progress-Monitoring/Tier 3: RTI Problem-Solving Team

PowerPoints from the training:

Additional resources from the workshop:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Social-Emotional RTI: Schools That Really Care: Expanding RTI to Address Social & Emotional Needs

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Go to:Workshop Materials Organized by: Tier 1: Class-Wide Management. Well-managed classrooms are built on a foundation that includes teaching behavioral expectations to students and using proactive strategies to manage group behaviors. Group Behavior Management Ideas: Tier 1: Classroom Interventions.

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Abstract

Many students with LD experience difficulties mastering the process of writing. We examine how schools can help these children become skilled writers. Six principles designed to prevent as well as alleviate writing difficulties are presented. These include: providing effective writing instruction, tailoring writing instruction to meet each child 's needs, intervening early to provide additional assistance, expecting that each child will learn to write, identifying and addressing academic and nonacademic roadblocks to writing, and deploying technological tools that improve writing performance.

The mn was sneB (translation: "The man was scared.")

I think theu shold no how to speek dififerint langwges. If theu go to like dutch countri sombodie might ask them something theu cold have two kinds of langage

The two compositions presented above were written by Arthur Dent ¹, a 5th-grade child with a learning disability (LD). The first was written at the start of 2nd grade in response to a picture of a young girl showing her father a large fish she had caught. The second exposition was Arthur's written reply to his 5th-grade teacher's query, "Should children have to learn a second language?" Although these two compositions make it clear that Arthur has made some progress as a writer during the 3 intervening years, they also highlight several continuing problems. One, his responses are inordinately short, containing few ideas and little elaboration, and two, it is difficult to decipher his writing, because of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization miscues.

Concern about Arthur's writing capabilities initially surfaced in 1st grade. His teacher observed that he was reluctant to write, often became frustrated while writing, and avoided working or sharing his writing with others. Teachers in 2nd and 3rd grade indicated that Arthur would hurry through writing assignments, doing little or no planning in advance, and writing quickly, taking short pauses to think about the spelling of a word or what to say next. They further noted that it was difficult to get him to revise his written work, and when he did revise, his efforts typically focused on making the paper neater, correcting spelling miscues, and changing a word here and there. As a consequence of his difficulties with writing, Arthur was tested for learning disabilities at the start of 4th grade. Although his intellectual capabilities were within the normal range, he scored 2 standard deviations below the mean on a norm-referenced writing test, qualifying him for special education services.

Unfortunately, Arthur's difficulties with writing are not unique. They are shared by many other children with LD. Just like Arthur, children with LD typically employ an approach to composing that minimizes the role of planning in writing. This approach to writing was illustrated in a recent Peanuts cartoon 2 where Charlie Brown's dog, Snoopy, is typing, "The light mist turned to rain." He pauses and continues, "The rain turned to snow." After another pause, he writes, "The story turned boring." Whereupon, he throws his paper away. Like Snoopy, children with LD often compose by drawing any information from memory that is somewhat appropriate, writing it down, and using each idea to stimulate the generation of the next one. With this retrieve - and-write process little attention is directed at the needs of the audience, the constraints imposed by the topic, the development of rhetorical goals, or the organization of text.

Another Peanuts cartoon involving Snoopy as well as his most ardent critic, Lucy, captures a second similarity between Arthur and other poor writers with LD. After typing, "Dear Sweetheart," Snoopy gives his paper to Lucy for feedback. She quickly informs him that he should use a more endearing greeting. He subsequently revises his introduction to read, "Dear Angel Food Cake With Seven Minute Frosting." Like Snoopy, when children with LD revise their writing, the result is generally ineffective. When asked to revise, they primarily employ a thesaurus approach to revising, correcting mechanical errors and making minor word substitutions. Not surprisingly, this approach has little impact on improving the quality of their writing.

A third similarity between Arthur and other students with LD can be revealed by returning to our friend Snoopy once again. After finding a seat in the back of the classroom at Charlie Brown's school, Snoopy tries to remember the "I before E" rule in case he is asked to spell a word. He has it all confused, however, thinking that it is the "I before C" rule, or maybe the "E before M except after G" rule, or possibly the "3 before 2 except after 10" rule. Like Snoopy, many children with LD struggle with the mechanics of writing. In contrast to classmates who write well, their papers are replete with spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and handwriting errors. Mechanical skills, such as handwriting fluency and spelling, however, play an important role in writing development, accounting for a sizable portion of the variance in writing quality and fluency.

A fourth characteristic common to Arthur and other students with LD can be illustrated in a Peanuts cartoon involving Charlie Brown's sister, Sally. While practicing her periods, Sally tells her brother that periods are very important, shouting that a "PERIOD" must be added at the end of every sentence. Like Sally, children with LD often overemphasize the importance of transcription skills, such as handwriting, spelling, punctuation, or capitalization. In comparison to classmates who write well, they are more likely to stress form when describing good writing and what good writers do. They are also less knowledgeable about writing and the process of writing.

In this paper, we examine how schools can help children like Arthur and other students with LD become skilled writers. The writing instruction that Many of these children currently receive is inadequate. Instruction for some of these students focuses almost exclusively on the teaching of lower-level writing skills, such as handwriting and spelling, with few opportunities to actually write. Others are placed in classes where frequent writing is emphasized, but little time is devoted to teaching needed writing skills and strategies, as it is assumed that these skills can be mastered through informal and incidental methods of learning. Still other children attend schools where virtually no time is provided for either writing or writing instruction. It is highly unlikely that children with LD will acquire all they need to know in programs like these. We believe that writing instruction for these students must emphasize both prevention and intervention; respond to the specific needs of each child; maintain a healthy balance between meaning, process, and form; and employ both formal and informal learning methods.

The design of such instruction is not an easy task, as it is not limited to a single teacher or grade. Instead, it requires a coherent, coordinated, and extended effort. The writing problems of children with LD are not transitory difficulties that are easily fixed. Our recommendations for providing such a program center on the following 6 principles:

1. Provide effective writing instruction;

2. Tailor writing instruction to meet the individual needs of children with LD;

3. Intervene early, providing a coherent and sustained effort to improve the writing skills of children with LD;

4. Expect that each child will learn to write;

5. Identify and address academic and nonacademic roadblocks to writing and school success; and

6. Employ technological tools that improve writing performance.³

Provide effective writing instruction

In a conversation with his friend Linus, Charlie Brown asks, "Do you know why English teachers go to college for four years?" Linus thinks for a minute and answers, "No." Charlie Brown already has an answer for his own question, however, as he screams out: "So they can make little kids write stupid essays on what they did all stupid summer!!"

Although we are not sure if Charlie Brown's lament is directed at a single assignment, a specific teacher, or teaching in general, there is little doubt that children's success as writers is intimately tied to the quality of writing instruction provided at school. Consequently, a crucial tactic in preventing writing difficulties, for children with and without LD, is to deliver effective writing instruction, starting in kindergarten and 1st grade and continuing throughout the school years. Although this approach will not eliminate all writing difficulties, it is advantageous for 3 reasons. One, it helps to maximize the writing development of children in general. Two, it minimizes the number of children who experience writing failure as a result of poor instruction. Three, it serves to ameliorate the severity of writing difficulties experienced by children whose primary problems are not instructional, such as children with LD.

What does effective writing instruction look like? We drew on multiple sources to answer this question, including research reviews of writing instruction for students with and without writing problems, recommendations for teaching writing to children with LD and other special needs, and studies of the instructional practices of outstanding literacy teachers. The results of our analysis are presented in Table 1.

The Early Literacy Project (ELP) developed by Englert and her colleagues provides an example of a literacy program that embodies many of the features presented in Table 1. This program was implemented with 1st through 4th grade students with special needs in resource room classrooms. Most of the children were identified by the schools as having a learning disability.

With the ELP program, writing and reading were integrated together around thematic units. During a thematic unit on wolves, for instance, students would read expository and narrative material about these animals and use writing as a means for responding to text as well as a mechanism for gathering additional information about wolves. Both skill (e.g., spelling) and strategy instruction for planning and revising such text occurred within the context of these units and was supported by teacher modeling, discussion, and guided practice in the application of these procedures. Opportunities to engage in meaningful writing were plentiful, as children not only responded in writing to the material they read, but kept a journal, generated personal -experience stories, and wrote reports that they shared with each other. Teachers further provided students with temporary supports that scaffolded their learning. For example, ELP teachers used word banks, pictionaries, and planning sheets as temporary aids to help children write when they could not do so without such support. A supportive classroom community was also created through the use of activities involving sharing and student collaboration. Students worked together to apply strategies modeled by their teacher, frequently engaged in talk with each other about what they were doing, and shared their own writing with the class either orally or through written publications. Finally, the ELP program was supplemented by more conventional skills instruction, as participants were explicitly and systematically taught phonemic awareness, spelling, and phonics skills.

The writing progress of students in the ELP program was compared to the performance of similar children in the same school district. In comparison to these control students, children who were taught by veteran ELP teachers made greater gains in writing. Their papers contained fewer spelling miscues, were longer, and better organized. These improvements were accomplished with just 1 year of instruction. It is likely that even greater gains would be realized if such instruction was provided on a consistent and regular basis each school year. For example, Mariage reported that 2 to 3 years of ELP instruction, starting in the primary grades, was enough to bring some students with special needs up to grade level performance.

Tailor writing instruction to meet the needs of children with LD

Adaptations

After placing her paper on the teacher's desk, Charlie Brown's sister, Sally, returns to her desk. She then tells the teacher that the paper is her book report and wistfully adds, "What are the odds on a little love and understanding?"

Outstanding writing teachers not only recognize the importance of "a little love and understanding," they also stress the importance of tailoring instruction to meet the individual needs of children experiencing difficulty learning to write, including those with LD. In a study by Pressley et al., for example, outstanding kindergarten through 2nd grade literacy teachers reported that they provided qualitatively similar instruction for all students, but that children experiencing difficulty with literacy learning received extra teacher support. This included devoting more attention to the development of critical skills, more explicit teaching of these skills, and more individually guided assistance. This approach was illustrated in a qualitative study by Dahl and Freepon, where teachers provided extensive personalized assistance to weaker writers, including scaffolding and guidance designed to help them refine and extend their writing skills. For instance, struggling writers in these teachers' classrooms received additional support with spelling, as their teachers spent extra time explicitly teaching them about letter-sound relationships.

Table 1

Features of exemplary writing instruction

A literate classroom environment where students' written work is prominently displayed, the room is packed with writing and reading material, and word lists adorn the walls.

Daily writing with students working on a wide range of writing tasks for multiple audiences, including writing at home.

Extensive efforts to make writing motivating by setting an exciting mood, creating a risk-free environment, allowing students to select their own writing topics or modify teacher assignments, developing assigned topics compatible with students' interests, reinforcing children's accomplishments, specifying the goal for each lesson, and promoting an "I can" attitude.

Regular teacher/student conferences concerning the writing topic the student is currently working on, including the establishment of goals or criteria to guide the child's writing and revising efforts.

A predictable writing routine where students are encouraged to think, reflect, and revise.

Overt teacher modeling of the process of writing as well as positive attitudes toward writing.

Cooperative arrangements where students help each other plan, draft, revise, edit, or publish their written work.

Group or individual sharing where students present work in progress or completed papers to their peers for feedback.

Instruction covering a broad range of skills, knowledge, and strategies, including phonological awareness, handwriting and spelling, writing conventions, sentence-level skills, text structure, the functions of writing, and planning and revising.

Follow-up instruction to ensure mastery of targeted writing skills, knowledge, and strategies.

Integration of writing activities across the curriculum and the use of reading to support writing development.

Frequent opportunities for students' to self-regulate their behavior during writing, including working independently, arranging their own space, and seeking help from others.

Teacher and student assessment of writing progress, strengths, and needs.

Periodic conferences with parents and frequent communications with home about the writing program and students' progress as writers.

Teacher adaptations

To gain a better understanding of how teachers tailor instruction to meet the needs of struggling writers, we recently surveyed 1st through 3rd grade teachers nationwide to determine the types of adaptations they make for these children (Graham, Harris, Fink, & MacArthur, 2000). Two different tactics were used to query teachers about their adaptations. First, teachers were asked to indicate how often they engaged or employed specific activities or instructional procedures when working with average as well as weaker writers. Respondents recorded their responses for each group of writers separately on a Likert-type scale (categories included: never, several times a year, monthly, weekly, several times a week, daily, and several times a day). Using this approach, we found that teachers devoted more attention to teaching handwriting, phonics for spelling, and punctuation and capitalization skills to weaker writers than to average writers. Teachers were also more likely to re-teach writing skills to weaker writers, provide mini-lessons responsive to their needs, and conference with these children about their writing.

The second tactic for determining teachers' adaptation was more open-ended and simply involved asking respondents to list all adaptations made for weaker writers in their classrooms. This approach yielded a variety of adaptations, ranging from procedures for circumventing writing problems to extra encouragement and praise. The most frequent adaptations involved additional one-on-one assistance. This included individual help from the teacher, adult tutors or volunteers, or older and same-age peers (including collaborative planning, writing, or revising with a peer). Another cluster of adaptations focused on difficulties with text production skills. To overcome problems with spelling skills, teachers indicated that they developed personalized spelling lists for weaker writers, directly helped them spell words they didn't know, or provided resources (e.g., word banks) designed to facilitate correct spelling. Teachers also sought to bypass text production difficulties by allowing weaker writers to dictate their compositions or write with a keyboard (e.g., Alpha Smart). A third cluster of adaptations centered on procedures for supporting the thinking and creative processes involved in writing. Teachers facilitated planning for weaker writers by having them talk out their story in advance of writing, using webs or graphic organizers to generate and sequence ideas, or drawing pictures depicting what would happen in the story. Children's revising efforts were supported through the use of revising checklists or via direct help from the teacher or a peer during revising. Other adaptations included help with selecting writing topics, shorter or easier writing assignments, small-group instruction, additional homework assignments, and extra instruction on grammar and sentence writing skills.

Unfortunately, not all the teachers who participated in the study made adaptations for struggling writers. Almost 20% made no adaptations, whereas another 24% reported only I or 2 adaptations. Furthermore, not all the reported adaptations, in our opinion, were positive ones. In comparison to their average writing classmates, for example, weaker writers in some teachers' classrooms were less likely to share their writing with peers, help others, select their own writing topics, or complete writing assignments at their own pace. Teachers are unlikely to maximize the writing success of students with LD and other struggling writers if no adjustments are made or if they make modifications that limit participation or reduce children's participation in decision making.

Balanced instruction

A critical aspect of tailoring writing instruction to meet the needs of students with LD is finding the right balance between formal and informal instruction, as well as between meaning, process, and form. We contend that each of these factors should be emphasized when developing a writing program, but that teachers should adjust the emphasis placed on each, depending on an individual child's needs (Graham & Harris, 1997b, 1997c).

Consider, for instance, the writing skill of spelling. In a recent review, Graham (2000) reported that children learn to spell some words incidentally or informally as they read or write, but that good spellers learn many more words via these methods than poor spellers. On the other hand, there is a considerable body of literature that demonstrates that direct spelling instruction improves the spelling performance of both good and poor spellers (e.g., Gordon, Vaughn, & Schumm, 1993; Graham, 1983), but it is unlikely that such instruction is extensive or complete enough to account for all the growth necessary to become a competent speller (Graham, 2000). To illustrate, adults can typically spell 10,000 or more words correctly, but are only taught how to spell about 3,000 words while in school, and not all those words are mastered. Consequently, both formal and informal methods should be stressed, as neither by itself is powerful enough to ensure the attainment of spelling competence. This does not mean, however, that equal amounts of both should be provided. Instead, the level of formal and informal instruction needed by individual children, including those with LD, will vary and should be adjusted accordingly. With balanced instruction, the fulcrum is the child, and balance depends on what the child needs.

This same principle also applies to considerations about the role of meaning, process, and form in writing instruction since skilled writing is dependent on all three (Graham & Harris, 2000, 1994). Teachers do struggling writers no favor when they suggest, even implicitly, that one or more of these are unimportant. Likewise, the amount of emphasis placed on each area should be adjusted so that it is consistent with the needs of the child. For example, Juel (1988) found that some children who were poor writers had difficulties with both form (e.g., spelling) and process (e.g., content generation), whereas others had difficulties with just one or the other. Thus, some of the students in her study would have benefited from additional help in both areas, whereas other students needed help in only one.

Table 2

Research-based procedures for teaching spelling vocabulary to students with LD

Before studying new spelling words, the student takes a pretest to identify the words that need to be studied.

After studying new spelling words, the student takes a posttest to determine the words that were mastered.

Immediately after taking a spelling test, the student corrects any misspellings.

The student is taught a systematic and effective strategy for studying new spelling words.

Study and testing of new spelling words occurs daily.

Students work together, using cooperative arrangements such as class wide peer tutoring (Maheady, Harper, Mallette, & Winstantley, 1991), to learn new spelling words.

The number of words to be mastered each week is reduced to 6 to 12 new unknown words, depending on the capabilities of the student.

While studying, the student monitors on-task behavior or the number of times words were practiced successfully.

Spelling words previously taught are reviewed to ensure retention.

Note. Adapted from Graham (1999).

Currently, spelling, planning, and revising are the areas we know most about tailoring writing instruction to meet the needs of students with LD. According to Graham (1999), an effective spelling program for students with LD includes 4 components. One, students with LD need to be taught how to spell words they commonly use when writing. Validated procedures for teaching spelling vocabulary to these students are summarized in Table 2. Two, students with LD need to learn how to generate plausible spellings for unknown words. Teachers can facilitate the development of this skill through instruction in phonological awareness (see O'Connor, Notari-Syverson, & Vadasy, 1998; Troia, Roth, & Graham, 1998), the alphabetic principle (i.e., teaching phoneme-grapheme associations, spelling patterns, spelling rules, and so forth), dictionary skills, and strategies for "figuring-out" unknown spellings, such as spelling by analogy (see Englert, Hiebert, & Stewart, 1985). Three, students with LD need to know how to check and correct any misspellings that occur. This includes learning to use spell checkers and other aides, such as a dictionary, soliciting editing assistance from others, and applying strategies such as reading text aloud to locate spelling miscues. Four, students with LD need to develop a desire to spell words correctly. Teachers can promote this inclination by modeling correct spelling when writing in class and providing plenty of opportunities for students to share, display, and publish their writing (to promote attention to correct spelling in practical and social situations).

Undoubtedly, the use of traditional procedures, such as a predictable writing routine where planning and revising are expected and reinforced (see Table 1 for other examples), increases the likelihood that students with LD will engage in these processes when writing. Nevertheless, many of these children benefit from more extended and explicit instruction in both planning and revising strategies (Englert, Raphael, Anderson, Anthony, Stevens, & Fear, 199 1; Graham & Harris, 1996; Harris & Graham, 1999; Wong, 1997). For example, in our own research (Graham, Harris, MacArthur, & Schwartz, 1991b; Harris & Graham, 1996), we have successfully taught students with LD to use the same kinds of planning and revising strategies that more skilled writers use when they compose. With this approach (i.e., Self-Regulated Strategy Development), the teacher first models how to use the target planning or revising strategy and then provides students with as much support as needed as they move towards independent use of the strategy. Support ranges from the teacher working as a partner in applying the strategy to peers helping each other apply the strategy to simple reminders to use part or all of the strategy. Students also learn any background knowledge needed to apply the strategy, develop a thorough understanding of how the strategy can support their writing, and systematically investigate where and how to apply the strategy beyond the initial learning situation (i.e., maintenance and generalization). Learning and application of the strategy is further supported through the use of self-instructions, goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation. To illustrate, children often develop and use a specific self-statement for managing some aspect of their behavior (e.g., impulsiveness) that interferes with using the strategy; they are encouraged to evaluate how the strategy helped them improve their writing; and they set goals for applying the strategy in new situations. Throughout instruction, the importance of effort and students' role as collaborators in the learning processes is stressed. Finally, instruction is criterion-based, as students do not move to later stages of instruction (e.g., from supported use to independent use of the strategy) until they have met at least initial criteria for doing so.

The Self-Regulated Strategy Model has been used to teach a variety of planning and revising strategies to children with LD (see Harris & Graham, 1999). These include brainstorming, semantic webbing, generating and organizing writing content using text structure (e.g., story grammar), reading to locate information, goal setting, revising using peer feedback, and revising for both mechanics and substance. Instruction in these strategies has led to improvements in 4 aspects of students' performance: quality of writing, knowledge of writing, approach to writing, and self-efficacy (Graham et al., 199 1 b). For readers interested in a more detailed presentation of these strategies or the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Model, see Harris and Graham (1996).

Intervene early

After waking Snoopy up, Charlie Brown's sister, Sally, asks for some writing advice. Snoopy's initial comment is, "Sure, but don't mention my name." Later when she asks the dog to render an opinion on her title, "Our Animal Friends," he muses, "It's probably a little presumptuous." He then justifies his unresponsiveness by asking, "How can I help? I don't know any animals."

Just as Sally recognized the need for additional assistance, there is an increasing interest in the use of early supplementary instruction or intervention to prevent or at least partially alleviate later writing difficulties (Graham & Harris, in press). This interest is based primarily on the assumption that early intervention programs yield more powerful benefits than efforts aimed at remediating problems in later grades. The basic goal is to help struggling writers catch up with their peers early, before their difficulties become more intractable. Such programs typically seek to accelerate the progress of struggling writers by providing them with additional instruction, either in a small group or through one-on-one tutoring.

To date, only 4 studies have examined the effectiveness of early intervention programs in writing. In each study, young children received extra instruction in either handwriting or spelling from an adult tutor, classroom aide, or a parent volunteer.

In the earliest study (Berninger et al., 1997), 1 st grade children with poor handwriting were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 handwriting treatment groups or a contact control condition (i.e., instruction in phonological awareness). The handwriting treatments evaluated 5 alternatives for learning how to write the lower-case letters of the alphabet: (1) write the letter after seeing the instructor write it; (2) write the letter after examining a copy of it containing numbered arrows showing the order and direction for each stroke; (3) write the letter from memory after examining an unmarked copy of it; (4) write the letter from memory after examining a copy containing numbered arrows; and (5) write the letter while looking at an unmarked copy. After 8 hours of instruction with a specially trained tutor, children in the 5 treatment groups made greater improvements in handwriting than students in the contact control condition, with the most successful treatment being the one where children wrote the letter from memory after examining a copy containing numbered arrows. This same group had higher scores on a norm-referenced measure of compositional fluency, assessing students' ability to craft sentences, than children in the contact control condition or the other handwriting conditions. This finding is especially noteworthy because it showed transfer from instruction in handwriting to composition fluency, at least for the group that made the largest handwriting gains.

A second investigation by Jones and Christensen extended this initial finding by demonstrating that supplemental handwriting instruction improved not only the handwriting of 1st grade children with poor penmanship, but the quality of their writing as well. Over the course of an 8-week period, the participating children received extra handwriting instruction (individually or in a small group) from a teacher aide or parent volunteer (10 minutes per day). Instruction focused on learning how to form the lower-case letters of the alphabet, correcting errors in letter formation, and writing letters fluently. At the end of the 8-week period, both the handwriting and story writing quality of children who received this extra instruction improved to the point where it was indistinguishable from that of their regular peers who were initially better hand writers and story writers.

A third study by Graham, Harris, and Fink replicated the earlier finding that supplemental handwriting instruction can boost compositional fluency, but it did not replicate the finding that it enhances writing quality as well. First-grade children with poor handwriting were randomly assigned to a handwriting treatment condition and a contact control condition (i.e., instruction in phonological awareness). The handwriting treatment included instruction in naming, identifying, and writing the lower-case letters of the alphabet as well as repeated writing exercises designed to increase handwriting fluency. After approximately 7 hours of instruction provided by specially trained tutors, students assigned to the handwriting condition made greater improvements in handwriting than those in the contact control group. They also evidenced greater gains in crafting sentences, as in Berninger et al., and generating text when writing a story. Handwriting instruction, however, did not improve the overall quality of the stories that these children produced. On 6-month follow-up probes, most of the advantages obtained by the handwriting group were maintained, including their superiority in crafting sentences (no conclusions could be drawn about story writing, though, as this measure was not administered at this point).

In contrast to the first 3 investigations, a fourth study by Berninger et al. focused on the impact of supplemental spelling instruction on writing performance. Second-grade children who were poor spellers were randomly assigned to 7 spelling treatment groups and a contact control condition (i.e., receiving instruction in phonological and orthographic awareness skills). Specially trained tutors provided approximately 8 hours of instruction to students. Children in the spelling groups made greater gains in spelling than those in the contact control condition. For one of the experimental groups, spelling instruction also resulted in improved writing performance (i.e., longer compositions). Students in this group were taught common phoneme- spelling associations; practiced new spellings by pointing to each letter in a left-to-right order while simultaneously saying the sound; and used their spelling words when writing a short composition. Although additional replication is needed, the findings from this study suggest that early and extra spelling instruction can also have a beneficial effect on compositional fluency.

These 4 studies demonstrated that early intervention programs that provide instruction in either handwriting or spelling can have a positive effect on one aspect of struggling writers' composing; namely, compositional fluency, as measured by children's ability to either craft sentences or generate text when writing. These finding have important implications for the prevention of writing problems, as data collected by Berninger and her colleagues indicate that impaired compositional fluency in the primary grades may serve as the developmental origin of writing problems in later grades. Some caution, however, must be exercised in the selection of early intervention programs for handwriting or spelling, as many of the approaches employed in the studies by Berninger et al. did not lead to improvements in writing performance.

Additional research is needed to identify other approaches for preventing writing problems. Early intervention practices that are likely to be effective include allocating additional time for writing, providing individually guided assistance when writing, and supplying additional help in mastering critical skills, such as planning, revising, and sentence construction. Such approaches would provide a broader and richer range of options for accelerating the writing progress of young children with LD and other struggling writers in the primary grades.

Expect that each child will learn to write

As is often the case, Snoopy is sitting on top of his dog house, banging away on his typewriter, when Lucy asks to look at what he has written. She quickly renders her decision: "This isn't a sad story; this is a dumb story." Frowning, Snoopy looks back over his story and notes, "That's what makes it so sad."

Just like Lucy's opinion of Snoopy's writing, teachers often view children with writing and learning difficulties negatively, setting low expectations for their performance and limiting their exchanges with them. During literacy instruction, such negative views may take the form of more criticism, less attention and praise, fewer interactions with the teacher, and briefer and less informative feedback. These children may be viewed as so challenging that a form of pedagogical paralysis occurs, as teachers are uncertain about what to do or lack confidence in their own capabilities to successfully teach these children.

However, the findings from the study by Englert and her associates (Englert et al., 1995) reviewed earlier, demonstrated that teachers are not powerless-children with special needs, including those with LD, can be taught to write. A critical element in designing a successful writing program for these students is recognizing that they are capable. This belief was evident in an interview with a first grade teacher who had been identified by her principal as an outstanding literacy instructor. She indicated that she approached each child as a competent learner-one who can learn to work productively and independently in the classroom. Another essential ingredient was articulated by a second outstanding literacy teacher. He indicated that the weaker students in his classroom are never shown disrespect. Instead, he constantly seeks to support and maintain these students' participation in class without stigmatizing them. For example, he has made sitting next to him a special honor in his class, so when he sits next to weaker students to support them, no stigma is attached to time spent interacting with the student. We believe that it is also important to ignore negative expectations (e.g., "Children with LD cannot learn to write well"); set high but realistic expectations for each child's writing performance; help students develop an "I can" attitude; monitor and improve the quality of classroom interactions for struggling writers; plan writing lessons so that all children can accomplish tasks successfully; and build a positive relationship with each child, accepting them as individuals and showing enthusiasm for their interests.

Identify and address academic and nonacademic roadblocks

In another Peanuts cartoon, Peppermint Patty sadly tells her teacher that she doesn't know the answer to the question. She goes on to explain that she felt smart when she woke up this morning, but it started to snow as she was walking to school and that all those snowflakes must have cooled down her brain.

A critical element in enhancing the writing development of children like Peppermint Patty, the perennial D student, is to identify and address obstacles that impede their success in learning to write. Children with LD may exhibit one or more maladaptive behaviors, including a low tolerance for failure, attention difficulties, and problems in activating and orchestrating the processes involved in learning. For instance, teachers at the Benchmark School, a facility for children with LD, identified 32 academic and nonacademic roadblocks experienced by their students. This included difficulties such as impulsivity, disorganization, inflexibility, lack of persistence, frequent absences, poor home support, and so forth. Less than 10% of the school's students were identified as having a single roadblock-the remainder had as many as 10 roadblocks to learning.

Teachers need to address these or any other 'roadblocks that might impeded the writing development of students with LD. An investigation by Sexton, Harris, and Graham provides one example of how this can be accomplished. This study focused on 5th- and 6th-grade students with LD who had writing difficulties and displayed a low level of motivation and maladaptive beliefs about the causes of success and failures. These students were not only taught a planning strategy to help them improve their written work, but instruction also included a component designed to address their maladaptive attributions. Students were encouraged to attribute their success to effort and use of the planning strategy. They also learned to use self-statements (e.g., "Good writing takes hard work") reflecting these attributions. Following instruction, students' papers became longer and qualitatively better, and there was a positive change in their attributions for writing.

An investigation by Harris, Graham, Reid, McElroy, and Hamby provides a second example of how interfering roadblocks can be addressed. This study involved 5th- and 6th-grade students with LD who had difficulty staying on task because of difficulties with attention. To address this situation, the participating students were taught to daily count and graph the number of words produced while writing. As a result of this simple self- monitoring procedure, there was a 50% increase in on-task behavior, and students' compositions became 2 to 3 times longer.

Take advantage of technological tools for writing

In a final Peanuts cartoon, Sally is sharing her report with the class. After telling the class her paper is about Walter Diemer, the man who invented bubble gum, she stops and blows a bubble. She then proceeds to inform the class that we are all grateful to Mr. Diemer, stopping once again to blow another bubble. When the teacher asks what she is doing, Sally responds, "Audio visuals, Ma'am."

Technology has clearly come a long way since Sally's "audio visuals." An expanding array of technological devices, many of them electronic, provide new options for minimizing the writing difficulties experienced by students with LD, allowing them to circumvent some problems and obtain support in overcoming others. As MacArthur noted, technological tools can make the process of writing easier as well as more motivating for students with LD. Word processing, for example, provides at least 3 possible advantages for these students: (1) revising can be done without tedious recopying, (2) the resulting paper can be presented in a wide range of professional-looking formats, and (3) typing provides an inherently easier means for producing text when fine motor difficulties are present. Technological tools can also provide support for planning and revising through the use of outlining and semantic mapping software, multimedia applications, and prompting programs. In addition, text production processes can be supported or even circumvented in some instances by using spell checkers, word prediction programs, grammar and style checkers, and speech synthesis. Finally, the use of computer networks allows children to collaborate and communicate easily with audiences that extend beyond their classroom.

The experiences of Christo Irving, a student attending a private school for youth with LD, captures technology's power for boosting writing performance. This senior, who had trouble writing and focusing his attention, typically produced what he referred to as "the bare minimum" when completing written assignments. Once he started composing on a computer that allowed him to dictate text, his papers became more complete, as he could now "write stuff in detail" because he could speak it in detail.

Although technology can support and even change how students with LD write, it is important to keep in mind that it does not make writing instruction superfluous. For instance, many of these students often fail to take advantage of the power of word processing when revising because they continue to revise in the same old way, mostly trying to correct mechanical errors. Teaching them to focus their attention on substantive changes when revising, however, can result in a much greater use of the editing features of word processing, as the students are more likely to make additions and rewrite parts of their text. Similarly, a spell checker will not eliminate spelling errors or the need for spelling instruction, as students with LD only correct about one-half of their errors when using such devices. Clearly, the impact of technological tools will be restricted if students with LD fail to develop the knowledge, skill, will, and self-regulation so critical to effective writing.

Closing comments

In this paper, we outlined 6 principles that we believe can help prevent as well as alleviate the writing difficulties experienced by children with LD. These principles should be viewed as necessary, but not sufficient, components of an overall response to these students' writing needs for 2 reasons. One, we focused only on what the school can do and not on other critical constituencies such as the family or the community. Two, individual schools or school systems will undoubtedly need to add additional principles that are responsive to their specific situations.

Although we have no doubt that a single, dedicated teacher can have a significant impact on a struggling writer's development, this is not a job for the Lone Ranger. Preventing writing difficulties and intervening successfully when such problems occur requires a sustained and concerted effort on the part of the school, parents, and the community. For many children with LD, writing problems are a chronic, not a temporary, condition. There is no quick or easy fix that will make their problems disappear. It is not only important to intervene early, but also to provide a sustained and coherent effort over time.

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Prevention and Intervention of Writing Difficulties for Students with Learning Disabilities

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This paper presents six principles designed to prevent writing difficulties as well as to build writing skills: (a) providing effective writing instruction, (b) tailoring instruction to meet the individual needs,(c) intervening early, (d) expecting that each child will learn to write, (e) identifying and addressing roadblocks to writing, and (f) employing technologies.

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Interventions to allow movement in the classroom

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Interventions to allow movement in the classroom

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I know I am not alone when I say that I struggle to sit through staff meetings without doodling on my paper, shifting in my seat, getting up to use the bathroom and occasionally whispering with my teacher friend next to me. Now, these are every other week, and only for an hour. Every time I leave, I think, "How are kids expected to do it all day?!?"

Teaching in an inclusion classroom, I have several students that struggle with hyperactivity and attention. Regardless of whether these struggles stem from a larger learning disability, are part of a complex sensory profile, or from psychological trauma, it can impact their ability to learn and feel successful in the classroom.

Today I thought I would share some of the strategies I have learned to support these kiddos (and all kiddos) in my classroom! Here are my 10 WAYS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WITH HYPERACTIVITY & ATTENTION NEEDS!

***Many of you have asked for help in finding the particular items found in this post. I have provided an affiliate link for all but the IKEA egg chair, because at this time you cannot purchase these online. This means that a small portion of any purchases will be given to this blog to support regular maintenance. ***

You have probably seen these Thera-Bands used in Pilates classes, but they work great for wrapping around the legs of chairs. It helps with those wriggly legs and keeps them from unintentionally kicking their desk (and their peers!) When they sit in their chair, they place their feet behind the Thera-Band and try and pull their legs forward (it's really hard to do!) It is a great way for them to expend energy, and helps them keep a safe body in the classroom. (And Yes! We wear slippers in my classroom... I like to be comfortable while I read and take in information, so I figure I should let my kids do the same!)

When I taught first grade, I had over a dozen of these move-and-sit cushions in my classroom. It helps students get sensory input as they sit, because the slightest movement causes a great shift in balance. It gives students the feeling of a lot of movement without it distracting those around them. I like to make them available to all of my students, because these cushions are great for developing core strength (a great combatant to the wriggles!)

For schools where chewing gum isn't allowed (or you just hate finding gum stuck under desks!) these chewable pencil toppers are great focus tools! Chewing is a great way to give students the sensory input they are seeking while they work. They chew and think, write something down, and then go back to chewing as they think. It works wonders! If you can't get your hands on these toppers, a bag of pretzels or goldfish crackers can be a great supplement!

Often students who struggle with attention also struggle with recognizing the passage of time. These are often the kiddos that you find still at the water fountain ten minutes later! Having a class time-timer (as well as smaller, independent ones available) has been a HUGE help in keeping kids on track and focused. It is a great visual reminder for students, and helps them feel more independent. Actually, one of the jobs in my classroom is the TIME CHECK. This student is responsible for setting the class time-timer at the beginning of each work block. I set individual ones, often at 10-15 minute intervals, saying, "When I come back, let's see if you can have 3 ideas on your paper." I cannot stress the value of this tool enough!

These are great for students that struggle with transitions. You know which kiddos I'm referring to... the rest of the class is cleaning up their work, putting things away, and making their way to the next activity, but they are spinning in circles with their arms out at meeting. Transitions can be incredibly over stimulating for some kids, and so modifying their transitions can really help! I bring you... the IKEA EGG CHAIR!

About two minutes before ringing the chime to begin the transition, I have my one or two students head to their "transition spot," where they generally have a book waiting for them. They have a quiet seat in the egg chair and pull down the chair cover. This blocks all visual stimulation for them. Then I have the rest of the class transition to the next activity, whether it is to meeting, to line up, or to a center. After the rest of the class is settled, my students in the egg chairs join us, having avoided the chaos of the transition completely. Now, I don't like to use this all year, as it doesn't offer them a chance to learn how to deal with transitions (which is a necessary skill in life!) I slowly pull back this support as the year progresses, sometimes completely.

10. Incorporating Movement into the Classroom

I know we are all weighed down by increasing demands in the classrooms with fewer resources and what feels like an ever-increasing student case-load. However, I have found that carving out even a two-minute movement break between activities actually ends up saving me time. Being proactive in this way means that I have to interrupt lessons less often with reminders and redirections. Also, when planning out my day, I try to be conscious of how long I am asking students to sit in the same place. Between longer blocks, I try and break it up with a quick movement break, or at least a change of setting (rug to desk). I also try and have more "hands-on" activities available during center time, although I could do better there! The book 99 Activities and Greetings has a lot of great ideas for quick activities that build community and incorporate movement.

I hope you found some of these ideas helpful. I'm curious to know strategies that you might use to support students in your classroom. I'm always looking for new ideas!

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10 Ways to Support Students with Hyperactivity & Attention Needs - Teaching with Jillian Starr

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I know I am not alone when I say that I struggle to sit through staff meetings without doodling on my paper, shifting in my seat, getting up to use the bathroom and occasionally whispering with my teacher friend next to me. Now, these are every other week, and only for an hour.

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2. Fidgets

Fidgets are small objects that help keep students' hands occupied. You can buy these on Amazon or use objects like beaded bracelets or Rubik's Cubes. Teacher tip: Avoid flashy objects like fidget spinners, which can be a distraction to other students.

3. Silly Putty

Silly Putty, Play-Doh, or Sticky Tack can also keep students' hands occupied.

4. Velcro

Tape a strip of the rough side of Velcro under the student's desk. It gives them something to touch. Many other objects can work, such as emery boards or straws.

5. Gum or Chewable Necklaces

Chewing gum can help keep some ADHD students focused. In no-gum classrooms, necklaces with chewable pieces can also work. You can also wrap airline tubing or rubber bands at the ends of pencils for students to chew.

6. Doodling

Doodling can help many students focus, not just ones with ADHD. Some students also benefit if they can draw during storytime or a lesson.

7. Background Noise/Music

A fan in the back of the room can help some students focus. Letting them listen to music on headphones (as long as it doesn't interfere with what's happening in class) can also help. One teacher had success with an aquarium in the back of the room-students liked hearing the calming swish of the water.

8. Chair Leg Bands

Tie a large rubber band (or yoga band) across both front legs of the chair for students to push or pull against with their legs.

9. Bouncy Balls

Also known as yoga balls, stability balls, or exercise balls. These are potentially great for all students, not just ones with ADHD.

10. Swivel Chairs

Kids can twist a little bit from side to side. A rocking chair also works.

11. Wobble Chairs

Similar to swivel chairs or disk seats, these chairs let students rock within their seats. Teacher tip: Don't let students wobble too much-they may fall off!

12. Disk Seats

These sit on a chair and allow students to rock in their seats, which is not as dangerous as rocking the entire chair. Cushions can also work.

13. Standing Desks

Great for all students, not just ones who need to fidget. Learn how students brought standing desks into their classroom in " Using Stand Up Tables in the Classroom." If it's within your budget, you can also use treadmill desks.

14. Desks with Swinging Footrests

A built-in footrest can help reduce the noise that comes with foot tapping.

15. Stationary Bikes

Putting a stationary bicycle at the back of the classroom is a great way to help students be active.

16. Classroom Space for Moving Around

Clear an area at the side or back of the room to let students stand, stretch, dance, pace, or twirl.

17. Flexible Work Locations

Students don't have to do their learning at their desk-they can work at the windowsill or move from one desk to another. Having different learning stations can benefit all types of students. For ideas on setting up your classroom, check out " 7 Learning Zones Every Classroom Must Have."

Many thanks to our Facebook commenters who contributed to this list:

Amanda Becker, Amanda Nagy Magee, Angela L. García, Angela Peery, Barbara Linkus, Beverly Becker Wood, Bonnie Reeves, Brian Gagnon, Cherish A Eagen, Crissy Fleetwood, Debbi Allred, Don Myers, Dot McGee, Fin Scott, Helen Zukauskas, Holly Zuidema, Hollyann Moriarty Pierce, Jana Colvin, Jane Reed, Jennifer Preuss Schmidt, Jim Hansen, John N Kelly Sefcik, Judith Anderson, Katharine Healey Dalton, Laura Maslin Bradley, Laura Miranda, Laurie Baumbach Krivitz, Lindsay Russell Hyland, Lissa L. Rapoport, MaLinda Luker, Mandy Eller, MaryAnne Finch, Matt Winkler, Moe Margetts, Olivia Christine, Pat Melvin, Risa Blum Mendelson, Robyn Gunther, Sandra Churchwell Voss O'Brien, Sarah Holmes, Shannon Costella, Sylvia Morales Lopez, Tana Williamson, Tricia Musson Wright, Valerie Wilmot, and Virgil Miller

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17 Ways to Help Students With ADHD Concentrate

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Fidgets are small objects that help keep students' hands occupied. You can buy these on Amazon or use objects like beaded bracelets or Rubik's Cubes. Teacher tip: Avoid flashy objects like fidget spinners, which can be a distraction to other students. Silly Putty, Play-Doh, or Sticky Tack can also keep students' hands occupied.

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Develop Attention Skills

Use Teacher's Cues

Your child may notice that her attention drifts in class. She was focusing one minute, then the next minute she is thinking of her upcoming game or outing with her friend. As a result, she misses important pieces of information during class time and isn't prepared for homework or tests.

Most high school children occasionally zone out in class because they are either tired or bored. But when your child chronically daydreams, this could indicate she is struggling with attention skills.
Attention is one of our executive functions: the set of skills that let us execute daily tasks.
Solution: Ask the teacher for support

Many teachers are happy to accommodate a request for support for attention problems. So it's important to ask for it. A teacher can support your child's attention problem in two ways:

Silently cueing your child. A teacher can discreetly walk past your child's desk and lightly touch it when she notices your child's attention is wandering.

Explicitly stating to the whole class when information is especially important. Most teachers do this automatically - they say something like, "Listen up, everyone, this part is important!"

Don't do this: Ask your child if she is paying attention in class.

Try this instead: Ask the child to ask the teacher for the support she needs.

Remember: Your child's attention wanders because her attentional control is weak. But she may also show a "hyper-focusing" tendency, indicating an ability to sustain attention when she is interested. She just needs some help with control.
It is perfectly normal for children to experience some degree of difficulty and frustration as they learn to execute new tasks. Toddlers can tantrum, school-aged children can yell and argue, and teenagers can ignore instructions. When deciding if executive function weaknesses require intervention, ask yourself: "How frequently is this occurring? How intense is the experience/significant the impact?" If your answer to these questions is "too much," "too often," "I don't know what to do to change this," or "it's only getting worse," you may benefit from a face-to-face conversation to help problem-solve your concern. Effective problem solving will help you clearly identify the problem, goal, steps it will take to achieve your goal, possible barriers, and available supports.

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Your child's teacher can be her best ally in keeping her focused when she zones out in class.

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Students who have chronic difficulties paying attention in class face the risk of poor grades and even school failure. Inattention may be a symptom of an underlying condition such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. However, teachers should not overlook other possible explanations for student off-task behavior. It may be, for example, that a student who does not seem to be paying attention is actually mismatched to instruction (the work is too hard or too easy) or preoccupied by anxious thoughts. Or the student may be off-task because the teacher's lesson was poorly planned or presented in a disorganized manner. It is also important to remember that even children with ADHD are influenced by factors in their classroom setting and that these students' level of attention is at least partly determined by the learning environment. Teachers who focus on making their instruction orderly, predictable, and highly motivating find that they can generally hold the attention of most of their students most of the time. Here are some ideas to consider to boost rates of student attending and on-task behavior:

Capture Students' Attention Before Giving Directions (Ford, Olmi, Edwards, & Tingstrom, 2001; Martens & Kelly, 1993). Gain the student's attention before giving directions and use other strategies to ensure the student's full understanding of them. When giving directions to an individual student, call the student by name and establish eye contact before providing the directions. When giving directions to the whole class, use group alerting cues such as 'Eyes and ears on me!' to gain the class's attention. Wait until all students are looking at you and ready to listen before giving directions. When you have finished giving directions to the entire class, privately approach any students who appear to need assistance. Quietly restate the directions to them and have them repeat the directions back to you as a check for understanding.

Class Participation: Keep Students Guessing (Heward, 1994). Students attend better during large-group presentations if they cannot predict when they will be required to actively participate. Randomly call on students, occasionally selecting the same student twice in a row or within a short time span. Or pose a question to the class, give students 'wait time' to formulate an answer, and then randomly call on a student.

Employ Proximity Control (Ford, Olmi, Edwards, & Tingstrom, 2001; Gettinger & Seibert, 2002; U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Students typically increase their attention to task and show improved compliance when the teacher is in close physical proximity. During whole-group activities, circulate around the room to keep students focused. To hold an individual student's attention, stand or sit near the student before giving directions or engaging in discussion.

Give Clear Directions (Gettinger & Seibert, 2002; Gettinger, 1988). Students will better understand directions when those directions are delivered in a clear manner, expressed in language the student understands, given at a pace that does not overwhelm the student, and posted for later review. When giving multi-step directions orally, write those directions on the board or give to students as a handout to consult as needed. State multi-step directions one direction at a time and confirm that the student is able to comply with each step before giving the next direction.

Give Opportunities for Choice (Martens & Kelly, 1993; Powell & Nelson, 1997). Allowing students to exercise some degree of choice in their instructional activities can boost attention span and increase academic engagement. Make a list of 'choice' options that you are comfortable offering students during typical learning activities. During independent seatwork, for example, you might routinely let students choose where they sit, allow them to work alone or in small groups, or give them 2 or 3 different choices of assignment selected to be roughly equivalent in difficulty and learning objectives.

Instruct at a Brisk Pace (Carnine, 1976; Gettinger & Seibert, 2002). When students are appropriately matched to instruction, they are likely to show improved on-task behavior when they are taught at a brisk pace rather than a slow one. To achieve a brisk pace of instruction, make sure that you are fully prepared prior to the lesson and that you minimize the time spent on housekeeping items such as collecting homework or on transitions from one learning activity to another.

Make the Activity Stimulating (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Students require less conscious effort to remain on-task when they are engaged in high-interest activities. Make instruction more interesting by choosing a specific lesson topic that you know will appeal to students (e.g., sports, fashion). Or help students to see a valuable 'real-word' pay-off for learning the material being taught. Another tactic is to make your method of instruction more stimulating. Students who don't learn well in traditional lecture format may show higher rates of engagement when interacting with peers (cooperative learning) or when allowed the autonomy and self-pacing of computer-delivered instruction.

Pay Attention to the On-Task Student (DuPaul & Ervin, 1996; Martens & Meller, 1990). Teachers who selectively give students praise and attention only when those students are on-task are likely to find that these students show improved attention in class as a result. When you have a student who is often off-task, make an effort to identify those infrequent times when the student is appropriately focused on the lesson and immediately give the student positive attention. Examples of teacher attention that students will probably find positive include verbal praise and encouragement, approaching the student to check on how he or she is doing on the assignment, and friendly eye contact.

Provide a Quiet Work Area (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Distractible students benefit from a quiet place in the classroom where they can go when they have more difficult assignments to complete. A desk or study carrel in the corner of the room can serve as an appropriate workspace. When introducing these workspaces to students, stress that the quiet locations are intended to help students to concentrate. Never use areas designated for quiet work as punitive 'time-out' spaces, as students will then tend to avoid them.

Provide Attention Breaks (DuPaul & Ervin, 1996; Martens & Meller, 1990). If students find it challenging to stay focused on independent work for long periods, allow them brief 'attention breaks'. Contract with students to give them short breaks to engage in a preferred activity each time that they have finished a certain amount of work. For example, a student may be allowed to look at a favorite comic book for 2 minutes each time that he has completed five problems on a math worksheet and checked his answers. Attention breaks can refresh the student -and also make the learning task more reinforcing.

Reduce Length of Assignments (DuPaul & Ervin, 1996; U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Students' attention may drift when completing overly long assignments. For new material, trim assignments to the minimum length that you judge will ensure student understanding. When having students practice skills or review previously taught material, break that review into a series of short assignments rather than one long assignment to help to sustain interest and engagement.

Schedule Challenging Tasks for Peak Attention Times (Brock, 1998). Many students with limited attention can focus better in the morning, when they are fresh. Schedule those subjects or tasks that the student finds most difficult early in the day. Save easier subjects or tasks for later in the day, when the student's attention may start to wane.

Select Activities That Require Active Student Responding (Gettinger & Seibert, 2002; Heward, 1994). When students are actively engaged in an activity, they are more likely to be on-task. Avoid long stretches of instructional time in which students sit passively listening to a speaker. Instead, program your instructional activities so that students must frequently 'show what they know' through some kind of active [visible] response. For example, you might first demonstrate a learning strategy to students and then divide the class into pairs and have students demonstrate the strategy to each other while you observe and evaluate.

Transition Quickly (Gettinger & Seibert, 2002; Gettinger, 1988). When students transition quickly between educational activities and avoid instructional 'dead time', their attention is less likely to wander. Train students to transition appropriately by demonstrating how they should prepare for common academic activities, such as group lecture and independent seatwork. Have them practice these transitions, praising the group for timely and correct performance. Provide additional 'coaching' to individual students as needed. During daily instruction, verbally alert students several minutes before a transition to another activity is to occur.

Use Advance Organizers (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). One strategy to improve on-task behavior is to give students a quick overview of the activities planned for the instructional period or day. This 'advance organizer' provides students with a mental schedule of the learning activities, how those activities interrelate, important materials needed for specific activities, and the amount of time set aside for each activity. All students benefit when the teacher uses advance organizers. However inattentive students especially benefit from this overview of learning activities, as the advance organizer can prompt, mentally prepare, and focus these students on learning right when they most need it.

Use Preferential Seating (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). Seating the student near the teacher is one tried-and-true method to increase on-task behavior. Preferential seating simply means that you seat the student in a location where he or she is most likely to stay focused on what you are teaching. Remember that all teachers have an 'action zone', a part of the room where they tend to focus most of their instruction. Once you have analyzed your 'action zone' as a teacher, place the student's seat somewhere within that zone. Of course, the ideal seating location for any particular student will vary, depending on the unique qualities of the target student and of your classroom. When selecting preferential seating, consider whether the student might be self-conscious about sitting right next to the teacher. Also, try to select a seat location that avoids other distractions. For example, you may want to avoid seating the student by a window or next to a talkative classmate.

References

Brock, S.E.(1998, February). Helping the student with ADHD in the classroom Strategies for teachers. Communiqué, 26 (5), 18-20.

Carnine, D.W. (1976). Effects of two teacher presentation rates on off-task behavior, answering correctly, and participation. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9, 199-206.

DuPaul, G.J., & Ervin, R.A. (1996). Functional assessment of behaviors related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Linking assessment to intervention design. Behavior Therapy, 27, 601-622.

Ford, A. D., Olmi, D. J., Edwards, R. P., & Tingstrom, D. H. (2001). The sequential introduction of compliance training components with elementary-aged children in general education classroom settings. School Psychology Quarterly, 16, 142-157.

Gettinger, M. (1988). Methods of proactive classroom management. School Psychology Review, 17, 227-242.

Gettinger, M., & Seibert, J.K. (2002). Best practices in increasing academic learning time. In A. Thomas (Ed.), Best practices in school psychology IV: Volume I (4th ed., pp. 773-787). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Heward, W.L. (1994). Three 'low-tech' strategies for increasing the frequency of active student response during group instruction. In R.Gardner III, D.M.Sainato, J.O.Cooper, T.E.Heron, W.L.Heward, J.Eshleman, & T.A.Grossi (Eds.), Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp. 283-320). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Martens, B.K. & Kelly, S.Q. (1993). A behavioral analysis of effective teaching. School Psychology Quarterly, 8, 10-26.

Martens, B.K., & Meller, P.J. (1990). The application of behavioral principles to educational settings. In T.B. Gutkin & C.R.Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology (2nd ed.) (pp. 612-634). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Powell, S., & Nelson, B. (1997). Effects of choosing academic assignments on a student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 30, 181-183.

U.S. Department of Education (2004). Teaching children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Instructional strategies and practices. Retrieved August 20, 2005, from http://www.ed.gov/teachers/needs/speced/adhd/adhd-resource-pt2.doc

Jim's Hints

ADHD Inattentive Type Fact Sheet. This handout addresses frequently asked questions about the inattentive type of ADHD. The handout was created by CHADD: Children and Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. (http://www.chadd.org).

Children's Health Topics: ADHD. Sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics, this page contains links to ADHD topics such as establishing and evaluating a treatment plan for children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Teaching Children With ADHD: Instructional Strategies. Published by the U.S. Department of Education, this 22-page booklet has great ideas to manage the academic and behavioral needs of children with attention problems.

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School-Wide Strategies for Managing... OFF-TASK / INATTENTION

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Students who have chronic difficulties paying attention in class face the risk of poor grades and even school failure. Inattention may be a symptom of an underlying condition such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. However, teachers should not overlook other possible explanations for student off-task behavior.

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The problem: "My child is easily distracted; he doesn't focus and listen."

Not focused on learning? Easily distracted at school and during homework? A student with attention deficit disorder ( ADHD or ADD) might not seem to be listening or paying attention to class material. He may be daydreaming, looking out the window, or focused on irrelevant noises or other stimuli. As a result, he misses lessons, instructions, and directions.

The reason: ADHD is not just an inability to pay attention - it's an inability to control attention. Children with ADHD have a lower level of brain arousal, which in turn decreases their ability to screen out distractions like noise in the hallway, movement outside, or even their own inner thoughts and feelings. Children with ADHD have an especially hard time tuning out distractions when an activity is not sufficiently stimulating. They lose focus easily.

The obstacles: Children with ADHD struggle to stay focused on lectures or any tasks that require sustained mental effort. Sometimes, this distractibility can appear intentional and annoying - which then works against students with ADHD in getting the help they need. Remarks such as "Earth to Amy!" or "Why don't you ever listen?" will not correct this attention deficit. If children could pay better attention, they would.

Read on to discover classroom and home solutions to end distractibility and help your child focus on his schoolwork.
[Free Checklist: Common ADHD Challenges at School - and Their Solutions]
Focus Solutions in the Classroom

Select seating wisely

Keeping kids with ADHD close to the teacher and away from doors or windows will help minimize potential distractions and provide the best stay-focused results.

Allow all students to use distraction-blockers

In order to prevent singling out children with ADHD, let everyone try privacy dividers, earphones, or earplugs to block distractions during seat work or tests.

Keep things interesting

Alternate between high- and low-interest activities and when possible, keep lesson periods short or vary the pacing from one lesson to the next.

Use a variety of strategies and teaching techniques to accommodate the multitude of learning styles in the room so all students have the opportunity to approach lessons the way they learn best.

Include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic facets to all lessons

Also, give students opportunities to work cooperatively, individually, and with the group.

Redirect rather than reprimand

Instead of scolding a student who becomes distracted, redirect him in a way that doesn't cause embarrassment. Sometimes, asking a child with ADD a question you know he can answer, or giving nonverbal cues, such as standing close and patting him on the shoulder, can bring the child back into focus.
[Free Resource: The Secret Power of Fidgets]
Focus Solutions at Home

Some children need to take a break between school and homework or may need frequent breaks between assignments. Figure out what works best for your child in order to help her avoid distractions and procrastination.

Help your kid with ADHD "set up" in a distraction-free environment

Sometimes the best learning environment can actually be the kitchen table with music playing in the background. Experiment until you find the ideal learning spot.

Get her started

Sit down with your child and make sure he understands what is required for each assignment.

Supervise as needed

Most children with ADHD need significant adult supervision to keep on task. As situations improve and the child matures, you can move away from constant supervision to frequent check-ins to make sure your child is on task.

Allow short breaks between assignments

Have your child stretch or have a snack once one assignment is complete. This can help make his workload seem more manageable.

Break down large assignments

Divide big assignments into "bites," each one with a clear goal. If your child feels like a task is manageable, he'll be less likely to become distracted.
[Quiz: How Well Do You Know Special Ed Law?]
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Easily Distracted? How to Tune Out Distractions & Focus on School

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Children with ADHD experience a lower level of brain arousal, which means they are easily distracted by internal and external stimuli. Use these school and home strategies to improve focus and comprehension.

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Classroom Management

Good classroom managers have efficient classrooms that meet the educational and psychological needs of their students. Classrooms are structured so that rules and routines are well known by the students and consistently followed. Transitions among lessons and activities are smooth. The teacher is able to give the impression that the he or she is aware of all activities by students in the classroom.Teachers with good classroom management skills meet the educational and personality needs of their students, regardless of their students' abilities and special needs. Student misbehavior especially misbehavior related to ADHD symptoms, can be prevented by careful attention to the following:

the physical environment of the classroom (including minimizing distracting classroom displays)

establishing and practicing with the students rules and procedures for routines and classroom tasks

organizing lesson plans and instruction in a way that minimizes interruptions

increasing teacher awareness in the classroom by letting students know you are aware of their actions at all times

Accommodations are intended to help students with ADHD learn the same information as other students. They are changes to the structures and/or the environment that provide support to help students access the curriculum. Accommodations work best when they are tailored for the individual needs of the student based on the severity and symptoms of their ADHD and any other co-occurring conditions. It is important to observe the student to see which accommodations are effective - and effectiveness of accommodations can change over time. Students can also be enlisted in figuring out what helps them the most. This will also ensure that the accommodations are seen as support instead of punishment. Teachers, parents, and students should partner together to address needs and supports.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition lists two categories of symptoms of ADHD-inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive. Students may have only one type, or they may have both types of symptoms. The accommodations that are appropriate for each student depend on the symptoms and on how much they impact the student.

Social Skills

Accommodating ADHD in the Classroom
ADHD: Inattentive Symptoms
Students with inattentive symptoms are easily distracted and have trouble focusing. Everything competes for their attention. They often struggle to follow through with instructions and have difficulty with organization.

To help students with managing inattentive symptoms, the following accommodations can be effective:

Seating the student in an area with fewer distractions where he or she can focus on the lesson. For example, near the teacher's desk, away from windows and the doorway, or in another area that has few distractions.

Seating the student next to positive role models, peers who are less likely to provide distractions and can help them stay on task.

Breaking long assignments into smaller parts. This allows students to see both the start and end of the task.

Making sure all assignments are clear and provided in writing in addition to giving them out loud.

Checking with the student before they complete an assignment to see if they heard and understood instructions. Ask them to repeat it back to verify understanding.

Allowing them to take tests in a different room, one that is quiet and has few distractions. Or using aids such as headphones or privacy boards to create quiet spaces in the classroom.

Giving more time to complete assignments, projects, and tests.

Using a timer or alarm to help with time management.

Providing breaks. Depending on the student, these could include stretching, walking to the board to complete a task, or handing out assignments or materials.

Limiting repetitive assignments, particularly those the students has already mastered, or tasks that are too far above the student's level. Students are most able to pay attention to tasks that present some challenge but are within their current learning zone.

Making sure that the student has the opportunity for physical activities because active movement increases the ability to focus. Recess should never be taken away as a punishment for misbehavior.

Providing tools to help with organization, such as different colored folders, a notebook with dividers, or a homework assignment book.

Using computers or tablets for work. Computers are visually stimulating and allow for more engagement and also help students organize their thoughts.

ADHD: Hyperactive-Impulsive Symptoms
Students with hyperactive-impulsive symptoms move a lot. They fidget, squirm, and have difficulty staying seated. They often talk excessively, blurt out answers, and have trouble taking turns.

To help students manage their hyperactive-impulsive symptoms, the following accommodations can be effective:

Seating the student in an area of the room where there will be the least disruption. This might be towards either side of the classroom rather than the center.

Allowing for the student to move around. You could allow the student to do their work while standing, sitting on the floor, or moving between desks.

Pairing the student with a peer who is a good role model and can model appropriate behavior.

Providing activity breaks. Depending on the student, these could include stretching, walking to the board to complete a task, or handing out assignments or materials.

Ignoring minor misbehavior.

Allowing the student to move or fidget in a non-distracting manner. They might tap their foot in the air or rotate their pen back and forth in their hands. Asking the student to offer suggestions is always a great way to get more ideas.

Allowing them to take tests in a different room. One that is quiet, has few distractions, and lets them move around without interrupting other students.

Praising when they exhibit appropriate behavior such as raising their hands and waiting to be called.

Limiting repetitive assignments, particularly those the students has already mastered, or tasks that are too far above the student's level. Fidgeting is often a symptom of boredom or overstimulation.

Making sure that the student has the opportunity for physical activities. Recess should never be taken away as a punishment for misbehavior.

Using a speaking stick or other object that gets passed around during class discussions as a cue to indicate whose turn it is to speak.

ADHD: combined symptoms
Many students with ADHD show a combination of inattention and hyperactive-impulsive behaviors. You can use a combination of accommodations from both lists. One of the best ways to identify which accommodations might work best is to observe the student's natural behavior.

Some sample behaviors and accommodations include:

Constantly moving in their seat

Try giving them options for how they can do their work and provide breaks.

Attention wavers, but when focused blurts out answers

Try consistent praise for raising their hands and seating them in an area with minimal distractions.

Has trouble completing assignments and tests in the allotted time because of distractions

Try an alternative test setting or breaking up assignments and tests into smaller sections. Allow extra time to complete tests.

Taps a pen constantly that is distracting to other students

Let the student know privately that tapping their pen is a distraction. Ask them if they have other suggestion for how they could focus. You might offer that they could wave their pen in the air, wiggle it between their fingers, or replace the pen with a soft object to tap that won't make noise.

References
Barkley, R. (2008). Classroom Accommodations for Children with ADHD. ADHD Report.

Dendy, C., Durheim, M., & Ellison, A. (2006). CHADD Educator's Manual. Lynchburg, VA: Progress Printing.

Parker, H. (2012). Accommodations Help Students with Attention Deficit Disorders. A.D.D. WareHouse.

Zentall, S. (2006). ADHD and Education Foundations, Characteristics, Methods, and Collaboration. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Chaban, P., McAuley, T., & Tannock, R. (2009). ADHD and Social-Emotional Abilities. www.AboutKidsHealth.ca.

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Classroom Management Good classroom managers have efficient classrooms that meet the educational and psychological needs of their students. Classrooms are structured so that rules and routines are well known by the students and consistently followed. Transitions among lessons and activities are smooth. The teacher is able to give the impression that the he or she...

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Visual spatial intelligence is crucial in many academic and professional fields. Despite the importance, it is rarely included in kindergarten or elementary curriculum. But we can help our children improve their visual spatial skills through simple and fun activities.

Basics Of Visual Spatial Intelligence Characteristics Of Visual Spatial Intelligence How To Improve Visual Spatial Intelligence Less Proven Activities To Increase Visual Spatial Intelligence Summary

What Is Spatial Thinking / Spatial Intelligence?

Spatial thinking, or spatial reasoning, concerns the positions of objects, their shapes, their spatial relations to one another and the movement they make. It involves understanding and remembering the relative locations of objects in the mind. Then through imagining or visualizing, objects are manipulated through mental movement or transformation to form new spatial relations.

Visual spatial intelligence is the ability to perform spatial thinking.

Here is an example where spatial reasoning is used.

In the following prism test, can you tell when 1 is folded to form a triangular prism, which of the followings (2-5) can be produced?

To come up with the answer, you need to mentally form a picture of the prism being folded. While doing it, you need to keep track of the relative positions of the different colored sides.

Answer: 2 and 3 are both correct.

The Importance Of Visual Spatial Skills

We use visual spatial skills frequently in day-to-day functioning.

A child imagines where a toy is inside his bedroom before walking into the room to get it.

When we pack our luggage, we visualize how different items can fit together to maximize the storage capacity.

To put together an easy-to-assemble furniture, we need to match the two-dimensional diagrams to the three-dimensional furniture parts.

Visual Spatial Skills And Math

Spatial skills are particularly important to mathematics learning.

A student creates a mental geometric object that can be measured, moved, and transformed to facilitate geometric calculation and pattern recognition.

A mathematician uses visual spatial thinking to enhance number sense, quantity comparison, and arithmetic.

Many studies have found that high visual spatial ability is linked to better math performance.

A $1 million pilot project supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development shows how improving spatial thinking can result in better math skills.

In this project, kindergarteners and first graders were randomly assigned to two afterschool intervention groups.

In one group, children were asked to construct and copy designs made from a variety of materials such as Legos, pattern blocks and construction papers.

The control group, on the other hand, was given a non-spatial curriculum.

After about 7 months, the children in the first group made a substantial improvement in their math performance. They moved from the 30th percentile nationwide in numeracy and applied math knowledge to the 47th percentile. In the control group, no gain in math score was observed.

The most striking part of this experiment was that math was not taught at all. The instructors never specified any connections between the activities and math.

Visual Spatial Skills And STEM

Visual spatial skills are also crucial in many academic and professional fields, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

A geoscientist mentally manipulates the movement of tectonic planes to see the process of earth formation.

A neurosurgeon visualizes different brain areas to predict the outcome of a surgery.

An engineer imagines how various forces may affect the design of a structure.

Research shows that college students who score high on spatial tests tend to major in STEM disciplines and go into STEM careers.

Is Visual Spatial Intelligence Fixed Or Malleable?

People have different preferred cognitive thinking styles.

Some are verbal thinkers who think in words. They are more comfortable with semantically and acoustically complex verbal tasks. Verbalizers usually prefer written and spoken explanations over pictures and diagrams.

Others are visual thinkers who think about subject matters using visual representation. There are two types of visualizers.

1. Spatial visualizers
They think in terms of schematic images, spatial relations among objects and spatial transformations. But the images they visualize lack visual details.

2. Object visualizers
They think in colorful, pictorial and high-resolutions images of individual objects.

Spatial visualizers usually possess better spatial skills than object visualizers or verbalizers.

So if your child is a visual spatial learner, then he/she has a head start in spatial thinking.
However, v isual spatial intelligence is not a fixed ability. Through training and practice, spatial reasoning, and in turn mathematics and STEM learning, can be boosted.
Although some people are better at spatial thinking than others, the good news is everyone can improve.

Although many studies suggest that male performs better than female in spatial reasoning tasks, that doesn't mean a boy is always better than a girl in spatial thinking.
One's belief in themselves and in the importance of effort can make a huge difference.
A recent study in Italy illustrates the importance of belief beautifully.

In the experiment, 152 high school students were divided into three groups and each group was given different instructions on a spatial relations test.

One group was told that women performed better than men in this task while another group was told men were better and the third group was not told any gender reference.

Results showed that women in the first group scored the same as the men.

Another Italian study shows that believing in effort over innate ability can improve spatial performance, too.

In this study, 120 high school students were divided into three groups. Before given a spatial test, one group was given instructions that stressed the importance of personal effort while the other the importance of genetically driven ability. The third group was the control and was only told that the test was very important.

The group that received effort emphasis instructions outperformed the other two groups.
How a child performs in spatial reasoning tasks can be affected given a different belief.
Unfortunately, stereotypes about gender permeate our society. But as parents, we can change this misconception by believing in our girls and encouraging them to keep practicing.
Even if one starts with a lower score in spatial reasoning, they, too, can improve substantially if they keep practicing.
For low-ability students, they need to do more work to get over an initial hump. The initial improvement may be slow, but if they persevere, faster improvement will come.

So even if your child does not show big improvement right away. Keep practicing!

Researchers also find that the more a group of men and women practices spatial thinking, the smaller the gender gap is in spatial skills.

There is also a study that shows the gender gap could be the result of nurture rather than nature. In a remote community in India where women have equal or more rights than men, such gender gap in spatial reasoning skills does not exist.

So, never imply nor believe that girls are supposed to do worse in spatial reasoning, math or STEM. Girls and boys should both believe in themselves and their efforts spent in learning.

Early Spatial Skills Education

Early education plays a large role in preparing our children for later success. Preschoolers' spatial skills can predict their future performance in math learning in middle and high school.

As children's first teachers, parents can start teaching young children, even toddlers, the basics of spatial thinking.

It is not too early to start familiarizing your toddler, boy or girl, with spatial thinking.

Neuroscientists find that specific regions in the brain responsible for thinking about location and spatial relationships develop in very early childhood. Infants as young as 4 months have been found to demonstrate abilities related to mental rotation.
Furthermore, spatial reasoning skills are cumulative and durable.
Those who master the skills in early childhood will have more opportunities to use it to acquire and organize additional information throughout their lives. So the earlier the education, the larger and longer lasting the improvement.

How To Improve Visual Spatial Intelligence

1. Use Spatial Language In Everyday Interactions

Parents can help children improve spatial intelligence by using more spatial terms in everyday interaction.

Spatial language is a powerful spatial learning tool. Babies learn better when the spatial relations are given names. Preschoolers whose parents use more spatial words (such as triangle, big, tall or bent) perform better in spatial tests than those whose parents do not use such language.

Here are some example spatial terms that can be added to daily interactions.

New Column

New Column

New Column

Mathematical names that describe two- and three-dimensional objects and spaces.

square, circle, sphere, triangle, pentagon

Terms that describe the size of spaces, objects and people.

large, small, long, short, big, tiny, tall

Terms that describe the features and properties of two- and three-dimensional spaces, objects and people.

Straight, bent, curvy, corner, side, line, corner, pointy, sharp, edge

Terms that describe the relative positions of space, objects and people.

inside, outside, under, around, corner, on top of, at the bottom of, in front of, behind, diagonal, across

But don't just speak at your child to teach spatial terms.
Ask your child to repeat the words back to you and explain what they mean. Encourage your child to use those terms, too. Kids who can use more spatial terms are found to perform better in spatial reasoning tasks.
You can help them make the connections between spatial relations and objects around them.

"Is the candy inside or outside of the glass?"

"Do you think the toy is under or behind the couch?"

"I see Lily across the street!"

2. Teach Using Gestures And Encourage Kids To Gesture

Gesture is a powerful communicating and teaching tool. Researches show that children often learn better when gestures are used by teachers than when speech is used alone. Gesture is also closely linked to spatial thinking. It promotes a focus on spatial information in speech.

Not only does gesture enhance the learning of spatial relations, it also plays an important role in exercising spatial reasoning.

A study has found that when children use gesturing to indicate movements of objects, their spatial reasoning ability improves. This improvement is also detected in children who do not spontaneously gesture but do so after being prompted to.

Visualization is using visual imagery to mentally represent an object not physically present. It is a powerful skill in spatial reasoning and problem solving.

Young children can be taught to use visualization to enhance their spatial thinking.

For example, young children often have "gravity bias". In an experiment, when a ball drops, preschoolers tend to think that it will appear directly below, even if the ball drops down a twisted tube. But when they are instructed to visualize the path of the ball before answering, more kids got the right answer.

4. Play The Matching Game

Play the construction matching game.

Start by putting together a simple structure using building blocks and then ask the kids to match it in shape and in colors.

You can also have one child build the structure while another copy.

As they become more familiar with building and more confident in matching, increase the complexity of the structures.

(Disclosure: I get a small commission for purchases made through the links below.)

5. Build Structures In A Storytelling Context

Playing with building objects such as Lego and wooden blocks can substantially increase a child's spatial thinking ability.

But you don't need perfectly crafted toys. Even a few cereal boxes or toilet paper rolls can be used to stack and build interesting structures.

Give them a problem to solve. A study show that when block building activities are carried out in a storytelling context, children's spatial thinking improves more.

For example,

"Oh, those are beautiful toy cars. Imagine you are the proud owner of these two cars. Can you build a garage that can fit them both in nicely by the house you just built?"

When they have completed the construction, ask them to walk around or rotate the structure to see it from different angles.

Another reason why block play can promote spatial thinking is that both children and parents tend to use more spatial language when playing with blocks.

6. Do Tangram And Non-Jigsaw Spatial Puzzles

Tangram is an ancient Chinese puzzles consisting of 7 pieces. The pieces can be rearranged into many different shapes such as animals, people or objects. It is a teaching tool that has been proven to increase students' spatial ability.

Jigsaw puzzle has been recommended by many sources to help increase children's spatial ability. It is probably because a study finds that preschoolers who play puzzles perform better in a mental transformation spatial task than those who don't. It also finds that the more frequently the child plays, they better they perform.

No doubt, there is a strong association between puzzle solving and spatial intelligence. However, no controlled studies have been found to establish a causal relationship between them.

The problem with jigsaw puzzles is that, unlike tangram, there is only one fixed way to fit the pieces together. A study has found that preschoolers who have played with a single-solution puzzle are less innovative and flexible in subsequent problem solving than children who have played with a multiple-solution block set.

It appears that singe-solution puzzles are inferior toys to multiple-solution puzzles when it comes to kids' creativity.

Therefore, until there is research that proves the values of single-solution puzzles, I recommend using multiple-solution puzzles, such as tangram, over jigsaw puzzles to help children improve their spatial skills.

Map reading can help children acquire abstract concepts of space and the ability to think systematically about spatial relations that are not otherwise experienced directly in the physical world.

Maps present spatial information that differs from direct experience navigating the world. Children learn to think about multiple large-scale spatial relations among different locations in a concrete way.

8. Read Spatially Challenging Books

Books such as Zoom and Re-Zoom are great picture books that can draw children into a world of visualization and spatial thinking. The increasing level of details helps illustrate the different spatial relations among objects.

When reading these books with the kids, parent can enhance the spatial learning by verbal explanation and gestures. Research shows that such support from parents is linked to children's higher spatial scores.

9. Play Video Games Such As Tetris

Playing spatial video games such as Marble Madness or Tetris, have shown to be beneficial to children's spatial intelligence. The improvement is more pronounced in low-ability kids.

More Activities To Increase Visual Spatial Intelligence

If you are looking for more activities to increase your child's (or your own) visual spatial intelligence, the following are less proven but still valid (and fun) ways to do so.

Visual perspective taking is the ability to imagine how things look like from another viewpoint different from one's own. Taking photos of objects at different angles can enhance children's ability to take on different visual perspectives and recognize changes in scale.

Practice Paper Folding (Origami)

Mental paper folding has long been used to increase mental rotational ability.

Although no research is found to link physical paper folding to spatial intelligence, it is not farfetched to believe that physical paper folding practice can enhance mental paper folding ability.

Several researches have found that learning to make music can raise spatial-temporal ability.

Spatial-temporal reasoning is the ability to think of spatial relations that change through time. This skill allows you to mentally pack your luggage one item after another to see how to fit the most items.

Notice that this is different from the controversial "Mozart Effect" theory that claims listening to music can enhance a variety of skills including spatial reasoning.

A meta-analytic review of 553 studies supports the theory that music instruction, rather than music listening, can enhance spatial skills.

Other than spatial-temporal ability, music can provide multiple benefits to children. For example, they could improve their self-esteem by building their confidence through music.

However, after understanding the benefit for children learning musical instrument, another question is that will pop-up in your mind. How do parents choose the right instrument for your children? There are several ways to make decision regarding this matter. This is important because children might not be mature enough to have their own decision. Parents should investigate and choose a suitable instrument for their children.

Here is HOW:

Here are more spatial relations activities for preschoolers.

References - Spatial Intelligence

More Evidence for Three Types of Cognitive Style: Validating the Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire Using Eye Tracking when Learning with Texts and Pictures. By Tim N. Hoffler, Marta Koc-Janucht and Detlev Leutner http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.3300/pdf

Understanding kindergarten teachers' perspectives of teaching basic geometric shapes: a phenomenographic research. By Hatice Zeynep Inan, Ozlem Dogan-Temur http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11858-010-0241-1

The coding of spatial location in young children. By Huttenlocher J, Newcombe N, Sandberg EH. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7956105

Geometric and Spatial Thinking in Young Children. By DH Clements http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED436232.pdf

Daniel l. shea, David lubinski, and Camilla P. benbow, "importance of assessing spatial ability in intellectually talented young adolescents: a 20-year longitudinal study," Journal of Educational Psychology 93, no. 3 (2001): 604-614.

Charles H. Wolfgang, laura l. stannard, and ithel Jones, "advanced Constructional Play with leGos among Preschoolers as a Predictor of later school achievement in mathematics," Early Child Development and Care 173, no. 5 (2003): 467-475.

http://eprints.me.psu.ac.th/ILS/info/Understanding_Differences.pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tea.3660220503/abstract

Children's Spatial Skills Seen as Key to Math Learning. By Sarah D. Sparks http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/05/15/31learning.h32.html

Are males always better than females in mental rotation? Exploring a gender belief explanation. By Angelica Moe
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/222271082_Are_males_always_better_than_females_in_mental_rotation_Exploring_a_gender_belief_explanation

Beyond genetics in Mental Rotation Test performance The power of effort attribution. By Angelica Moè, Francesca Pazzaglia https://www.gwern.net/docs/dnb/2010-moe.pdf

Picture This Increasing Math and Science Learning by Improving Spatial Thinking http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ889152.pdf

Durable and Generalized Effects of Spatial Experience on Mental Rotation: Gender Differences in Growth Patterns. By MELISSA S. TERLECKI, NORA S. NEWCOMBE and MICHELLE LITTLE. http://spatiallearning.org/publications_pdfs/terlecki_newcombe_2008.pdf

A Developmental Look at a Rigorous Block Play Program http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201503/YC0315_Tepylo.pdf

Spatial Thinking by Young Children: Neurologic Evidence for Early Development and "Educability". By Philip J. Gersmehl and Carol A. Gersmehl http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/courses/geog702/articles/spatial_educability.pdf

Differential Rooting Response by Neonates: Evidence for an Early Sense of Self. By Philippe Rochat and Susan J. Hespos http://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/Differential%20rooting.pdf

Dynamic metal representation in infancy. By Susan Hespos, Philippe Rochat http://www.psychology.emory.edu/cognition/rochat/lab/DynamicMentalRepresentationinInfacy.pdf

The Development of Infants' Spatial Categories. By Marianella Casasola
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00541.x?journalCode=cdpa'%20Spatial%20Categories_CurrDirPsychSci.pdf

Environmental input and cognitive growth: a study using time-period comparisons. By Huttenlocher J, Levine S, Vevea J.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9768484

Children's spatial thinking: does talk about the spatial world matter? By Shannon M. Pruden, Susan C. Levine, Janellen Huttenlocher https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3372906/

Building Foundations for Spatial Literacy in Early Childhood. By Susan L. Golbeck

Children learn When their teacher's Gestures and speech Differ. By Melissa a. Singer and Susan Goldin-Meadow

Imagining a Way Out of the Gravity Bias: Preschoolers Can Visualize the Solution to a Spatial Problem. By Amy S. Joh, Vikram K. Jaswal, and Rachel Keen https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3089714/

Early puzzle play: A predictor of preschoolers' spatial transformation skill. By Levine, S. C., Ratliff, K. R., Huttenlocher, J., & Cannon, J. (2012). Developmental Psychology, 48(2), 530-542. http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-24641-001

Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities. By Moshe Hoffman, Uri Gneezy, and John A. List

Parental Guidance in Preschoolers' Understanding of Spatial-Graphic Representations. By Lisa E. Szechter, Lynn S. Liben

Block Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play. By Katrina Ferrara, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Nora S. Newcombe, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Wendy Shallcross Lam

Using tangrams to teach geometry to young children. By Gerry Bohning, Jody Kosack Althouse

The Impact of Using Synchronous Collaborative Virtual Tangram in Children's Geometric. By Lin, Chiu-Pin; Shao, Yin-juan; Wong, Lung-Hsiang; Li, Yin-Jen; Niramitranon, Jitti

The Effects of Play on Convergent and Divergent Problem Solving. By Debra J. Pepler and Hildy S. Ross

Effect of video game practice on spatial skills in girls and boys. By Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Patricia M. Greenfield

Perspective-taking vs. mental rotation transformations and how they predict spatial navigation performance. By Maria Kozhevnikov, Michael A. Motes, Bjoern Rasch, Olessia Blajenkova

A social science of the arts: an emerging organizational initiative and an illustrative investigation of photography. By Lynn s. Liben and Lisa e. Szechter

Training Generalized Spatial Skills. By Rebecca Wright, William l. Thompson, Giorgio Ganis, Nora s. Newcombe, and Stephen m. Kosslyn

Learning to Make Music Enhances Spatial Reasoning. By Lois Hetland

The post 12 Easy Activities To Boost Kids' Visual Spatial Intelligence [Infographic] appeared first on Parenting For Brain.

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12 Easy Activities To Boost Kids' Visual Spatial Intelligence [Infographic]

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Visual spatial intelligence is crucial in many academic and professional fields. Despite the importance, it is rarely included in kindergarten or elementary curriculum. But we can help our children improve their visual spatial skills through simple and fun activities. Table of Contents Basics Of Visual Spatial Intelligence What Is Spatial Thinking / Spatial Intelligence?

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Spatial intelligence, visual spatial intelligence, or spatial IQ, is crucial in many academic and professional fields. It is one of the nine intelligences in the Theory of Multiple Intelligences proposed by psychologist Howard Gardner. Despite the importance, it is rarely included in the kindergarten or elementary curriculum. Fortunately, we can help our children improve their visual-spatial skills through simple and fun activities.

What is Spatial Intelligence
Spatial intelligence, also known as visual spatial intelligence or spatial reasoning, is the capacity to imagine or visualize in one's mind the positions of objects, their shapes, their spatial relations to one another and the movement they make to form new spatial relations. It is the ability to perform visualization and spatial reasoning in the head.
Spatial reasoning involves understanding and remembering the relative locations of objects in the mind. Objects can be manipulated through mental movement, rotation or transformation.

Spatial Intelligence Examples

Here are some examples of utilizing visual spatial intelligence.

In the following prism test, can you tell when 1 is folded to form a triangular prism, which of the following (2-7) can be produced?

To come up with the answer, you need to form a picture of the prism being folded mentally. While doing it, keep track of the relative positions of the different colored sides.

Answer: 2, 3 and 6 are the correct answers.

The Importance Of Spatial Intelligence & More Examples

We use spatial intelligence to create spatial awareness frequently in day-to-day functioning.

Here are some visual-spatial skills examples in our everyday lives:

A child imagines where a toy is inside his bedroom before walking into the room to get it.

When we pack our luggage, we visualize how different items can fit together compactly.

To assemble a furniture, we need to match the two-dimensional diagrams in the instructions to the three-dimensional furniture parts.

Spatial Intelligence And Math

Spatial skills are particularly important to mathematics learning. Studies have found that high visual spatial skills is linked to better mathematics achievement.

Spatial skills examples in mathematics:

A student creates a mental geometric object that can be measured, moved, and transformed to facilitate geometric calculation and pattern recognition.

A mathematician uses visual spatial reasoning to enhance quantity comparison, arithmetic, and number sense.

Visual Spatial Skills And STEM

Visual spatial skills are also vital in many academic and professional fields, such as computer, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Research shows that college students who score high on spatial reasoning tests tend to major in STEM disciplines and go into STEM careers.

Visual spatial skills examples in STEM:

A geoscientist mentally manipulates the movement of tectonic plates to see the process of earth formation.

A neurosurgeon visualizes different brain areas to predict the outcome of a surgery.

A civil engineer imagines how various forces may affect the design of a system.

Architects and engineers use material of various shapes and sizes to create stable structures.

Spatial Ability in Other Areas

STEMs are not the only domains that require good spatial ability to excel in. Other areas or work call for great spatial ability, too.

Spatial ability examples in society:

A designer uses visual spatial reasoning concept to enhance the user experience of his product.

An artist creates stunning visual arts.

A gymnast uses spatial awareness to perform a sequence of movements with the human body.

Have trouble dealing with toddler tantrums? Check out this step-by-step guide

Characteristics Of Visual Spatial Intelligence

Visual Spatial Intelligence Is Malleable

People have different preferred cognitive thinking styles.

Some are verbal thinkers who think in words. They are more comfortable with semantically and acoustically complex verbal tasks. Verbalizers usually prefer written and spoken explanations over pictures and diagrams.

Others are visual thinkers who think about subject matters using visual representation. There are two types of visualizers.

1. Spatial visualizers
They think in terms of schematic images, spatial relations among objects and spatial transformations. But the images they visualize lack visual details.

2. Object visualizers
They think in colorful, pictorial and high-resolution images of individual objects.

Spatial visualizers usually possess better spatial skills than object visualizers or verbalizers.

So if your child is a visual spatial learner, then they may have a head start in spatial thinking.

However, visual spatial intelligence is not a fixed ability. Although some people are better at spatial processing than others, the good news is everyone can improve through visual spatial activities.

Through training and practice, visual/spatial skill can be boosted.

Gender Difference In Spatial Skill Myth

Although there are old beliefs that boys are better in spatial thinking, and therefore STEM subjects, than girls, large amount of recent studies have debunked this myth.

In America, females, on average, do not perform as well as males on some spatial tasks - most notably mental rotation using spatial working memory. This phenomenon could result from the way children are raised in this culture.

In a recent study in Italy, 152 high school students were divided into three groups and each group was given different instructions on a spatial intelligence test. Participants in one group was told that women performed better than men in this task while another group was told men were better and the third group was not told any gender difference. Results showed that women in the first group had similar scores as the men.

Another Italian study shows that believing in effort over innate ability can improve spatial recognition skills, too.

Researchers also find that the more a group of men and women practices spatial thinking, the smaller the gender gap is in visual spatial skills.

Therefore, one's attitude and belief in themselves, and in the importance of effort, can make a huge difference in visual-spatial tasks performance.

Here's another proof that there are links between the gender gap and the way kids are raised. In a remote community in India where women have equal or more rights than men, such a gender gap in visual spatial intelligence does not exist.

Early Learning To Get A Head Start

Scientists have found that early education plays a large role in preparing our children for later success in spatial learning.

Neuroscientists find that specific regions in the brain responsible for thinking about location and spatial relation develop in very early childhood. In fact, preschoolers' spatial abilities can predict their future performance in math learning in middle and high school.

As children's first teachers, parents can start teaching young children, even toddlers, the basics of spatial thinking.

It is not too early to start familiarizing your toddler with spatial relations. Infants as young as 4 months have been found to demonstrate spatial perception abilities related to mental rotation.

Spatial ability and knowledge are cumulative and durable. Those who master the skills in early childhood, regardless of gender, will have more opportunities to practice and improve it.

How To Improve Spatial Intelligence
1. Use spatial language in everyday interactions
Parents can help children improve spatial intelligence by using more spatial terms in everyday interaction.

Spatial language is a powerful spatial learning tool. Using spatial terms in everyday life is one of the best spatial awareness activities for kids.

Babies learn better when the spatial relations are given names. Preschoolers whose parents use more spatial words (such as triangle, big, tall or bent) perform better in spatial tests than those whose parents do not use such language.

Here are some examples of spatial-terms.

Shape

square, circle, sphere, triangle, pentagon

Dimensional adjectives

large, small, long, short, big, tiny, tall

Spatial features

Straight, bent, curvy, corner, side, line, corner, pointy, sharp, edge

Spatial relations

inside, outside, under, around, corner, on top of, at the bottom of, in front of, behind, diagonal, across

But don't just speak at your child to teach spatial terms. Ask your child to repeat the words back to you and explain what they mean. Encourage your child to use those terms, too.

Kids who can use more spatial terms are found to perform better in spatial recognition tasks. You can help them make the connections between spatial relations and objects around them.

"Is the candy inside or outside of the glass?"

"Do you think the toy is under or behind the couch?"

"I see Lily across the street!"

2. Teach gestures and encourage kids to use them to explain spatial relations
Hand-gesture is a powerful communicating and teaching tool. Children often learn better when gestures are used by teachers than when speech is used alone.

When children use gesturing to indicate movements of objects, their visual spatial intelligence also improves. This improvement is also detected in children who do not spontaneously gesture but do so after being prompted to.
3. Teach children how to visualize using the mind's eye
Visualization is using visual imagery to mentally represent an object not physically present. It is a powerful skill in spatial learning and problem-solving.

Young children can be taught to use visualization to enhance their spatial ability. For example, young children often have "gravity bias". In an experiment, when a ball drops, preschoolers tend to think that it will appear directly below, even if the ball drops down a twisted tube. But when they are instructed to visualize the path of the ball before answering, more kids got the right answer.
4. Play the matching game
Play the construction matching game. Start by putting together a simple structure using building blocks and then ask the kids to match it in shape and in colors. You can also have one child build the structure while another copy.

As they become more familiar with building and more confident in matching, increase the complexity of the structures.
5. Play blocks and build objects in a storytelling context
Playing with building objects such as Lego and wooden blocks can substantially increase a child's spatial thinking ability.

But you don't need perfectly crafted toys. Even a few cereal boxes or toilet paper rolls can be used to stack and build interesting structures.

Give them a problem to solve. A study shows that when block building activities are carried out in a storytelling context, children's spatial intelligence improves more.
6. Play tangram, non-jigsaw and other open-ended spatial puzzles

Tangram is an ancient Chinese puzzle consisting of seven pieces. The pieces can be rearranged into many different shapes such as animals, people or objects. It is a teaching tool that has been proven to increase students' spatial ability.

The jigsaw puzzle has been recommended by many sources to help increase children's spatial intelligence. It is probably because a study finds that preschoolers who already play puzzles perform better in a mental transformation spatial task than those who don't. It also finds that the more frequently the child plays, the better they perform.

No doubt, there is a strong association between puzzle solving and spatial intelligence. However, no controlled studies have been found to establish a causal relationship between them.

The problem with jigsaw puzzles is that, unlike tangram, there is only one fixed way to fit the pieces together. A study has found that preschoolers who have played with a single-solution puzzle are less innovative and flexible in subsequent problem solving than children who have played with a multiple-solution block building set.

Until there is research that proves the values of single-solution puzzles, I recommend using multiple-solution spatial reasoning puzzles, such as tangram, over jigsaw puzzles to help children improve their visual spatial skills.
7. Expose children to map reading
Map reading can help children acquire abstract concepts of space and the ability to think systematically about spatial relationships that are not otherwise experienced directly in the physical world.

Maps present spatial information that differs from direct experience navigating the world. Children can learn to think about multiple large-scale spatial relations among different locations in a concrete way through map reading.
8. Read spatial-rich books
Books such as Zoom and Re-Zoom are great picture books that can draw children into a world of visualization and spatial thinking. The increasing level of detail helps illustrate the different spatial relations among objects.

When reading these books with the kids, the parent can enhance spatial intelligence by verbal explanation and gestures.
9. Play spatial reasoning games such as Tetris
Playing video spatial reasoning games such as Marble Madness or Tetris, have shown to be beneficial to children's spatial intelligence. The improvement is more pronounced in low-ability kids.

10. Help your child explore photography
Visual spatial perspective-taking is the ability to imagine how things look like from another viewpoint different from one's own.

Taking photos of objects at different angles can enhance children's ability to take on different visual perspectives and recognize changes in scale.
11. Play Origami and practice paper folding
Mental paper folding has long been used to increase mental rotational ability.

Although no research is found to link physical paper folding to spatial intelligence, it is not farfetched to believe that physical paper folding practice can enhance mental paper folding ability.
12. Learn to play music
Several studies have found that learning to make music can raise spatial-temporal ability.

Spatial-temporal reasoning is the ability to think of spatial relations that change through time. This skill allows you to mentally pack your luggage one item after another to see how to fit the most items.

Notice that this is different from the controversial "Mozart Effect" theory that claims listening to music can enhance a variety of skills including spatial thinking.

A meta-analytic review of 553 studies supports the theory that music instruction, rather than music listening, is associated with better spatial intelligence.
13. Make three-dimensional crafts
Try some of these spatial activities for preschoolers: https://www.rookieparenting.com/spatial-reasoning-activities-visualize-shapes-through-play/

References

1. Newcombe NS. Picture This: Increasing Math and Science Learning by Improving Spatial Thinking. American Educator. 2010;34(2):p29-35.

2. Rochat P, Hespos SJ. Differential rooting response by neonates: evidence for an early sense of self. Early Dev Parent. Published online September 1997:105-112.

3. Tepylo DH. Preschool: A Developmental Look at a Rigorous Block Play Program. YC Young Children. 2015;70(1):18-25.

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Spatial Intelligence - What it is & 13 ways to improve it

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Spatial intelligence, visual spatial intelligence, or spatial IQ, is crucial in many academic and professional fields. It is one of the nine intelligences in the Theory of Multiple Intelligences proposed by psychologist Howard Gardner. Despite the importance, it is rarely included in the kindergarten or elementary curriculum.

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© 2016-2019 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Spatial skills predict a young person's achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They are crucial for the mechanic, visual artist, architect, and surgeon.

Yet traditional schooling does relatively little to foster the development of these abilities, and that's troubling. Studies indicate that people can improve their spatial skills with training, sometimes with dramatic results. What are the practical applications of this research? How can we help kids develop excellent spatial skills?

Here is a list of evidence-based tactics and activities.

1. Encourage active, physical exploration of the real world

Experiments suggest that infants can learn rapidly about three dimensional shapes. Within days of birth, babies seem to understand that the apparent size of an object will change as it moves closer or farther away.

As I explain in this article, newborns also show signs of visually recognizing objects they have previously touched, but not seen. This suggests babies can map tactile information onto some sort of internal, visual simulation of the 3-D world (Streri et al 2013; Slater et al 1990).

So the capacity is there, but it doesn't develop by magic. Children need raw data. They need to feel shapes and textures, and explore objects hands-on.

By 9 months, researchers have detected differences in the spatial skills of infants. The babies with superior mental rotation abilities are the ones who spend more time handling and investigating objects (Schwarzer et al 2013).

Other experiments indicate that hands-on experiences with objects can improve a toddler's ability to track items through space (Frick and Wang 2014).

When we insist that kids "look but don't touch" we are likely hampering the development of spatial skills.

2. Seize everyday opportunities for spatial thinking and spatial talk

In their review of the research on spatial skills in young children, psychologists Nora Newcombe and Andrea Frick (2010) note that opportunities to practice spatial skills are everywhere. Adults can stimulate spatial thinking by asking kids questions, and engaging them in conversation:

"Which way does the sheet fit on the bed? Does the left shoelace go over or under-and which one is the left? Will the groceries fit in one bag? Which shapes do I get if I cut my bagel the other way-and will it still fit in the toaster? For young children, these questions are challenging and provide ample opportunities to learn and think about space."

These conversations are also opportunities for children to learn new vocabulary -- words that will help kids reason about spatial properties, like over and under. Tall and short. Bent and curvy. Triangle, rectangle, cube, and sphere.

Common sense suggests that kids who learn such terms are more likely to use them when they talk, and that will help them tap into the power of verbal explanation. Studies show that children learn concepts better when they are asked to explain what they discover to other people.

Moreover, longitudinal research hints that youngsters who are chatty about spatial concepts end up with superior spatial skills.

When Shannon Pruden and her colleagues tracked the development of 52 babies, the researchers found that early exposure to spatial language predicted higher spatial ability later on.

Kids who had heard and used a lot of spatial terminology scored higher on spatial skills tests when they 42 months old (Pruden et al 2011).

For details, see my article, "Spatial intelligence: What is it, and how can we enhance it?".

3. Provide kids with tools for building structures, and boost enthusiasm by getting involved yourself

An array of evidence suggests that children develop better spatial skills when they build and create with blocks. For more information, see this article and the accompanying list of tips for sparking a young child's interest in block play.

4. Introduce construction games that challenge kids to "match the design"

Research hints that a particular form of block play, called structured block play, may be especially valuable. This is when kids are shown the "blueprints" for a structure and given a set of blocks to recreate it.

In recent experiments, 8-year-old children showed measurable improvements in their mental rotation abilities after just five, 30-minute play sessions. Post-training, they also showed changes in brain activity, suggesting that these kids had changed the way they processed spatial information (Newman et al 2016).

You can create your own sessions of structured block play at home with wooden blocks, interlocking plastic blocks (like Lego

or Mega Bloks

, Keva planks

,Lincoln Logs, and Tinker Toys.

For the budding engineer, I also like the FoxMind Equilibrio Game , a set of 18 plastic blocks that come with 60 illustrations of structures to be erected. As the name suggests, part of the challenge is getting the structures to remain in balance, so concentration and fine motor skills are required.

And whatever your chosen medium, don't forget to keep up the conversation. "Match-the-design" construction games may be helpful, in part, because they stimulate spatial talk (Ferrara et al 2011).

5. Try origami

Have you ever thought through the steps required to construct a box from a flat piece of cardboard? Or tried to predict how a paper object would look after folding one of it's faces?

People who are good at such tasks -- folding in the mind's eye -- have strong spatial skills. But what's especially interesting is that "mental folding" ability predicts a student's performance in STEM fields.

For instance, a study of British primary school students found that kids with stronger mental folding abilities scored better on tests biology, physics, and chemistry (Hodgkiss et al 2018).

And researchers suspect they can boost mental folding ability by training kids in origami -- the traditional Japanese art of paper-folding.

In a preliminary study, researchers found that school children improved their performance on a very challenging mental folding task after just a few hours of instruction in and hands-on exploration of origami (Burte et al 2017).

6. Encourage children to use and create maps

By the age of 3 or 4, most kids are ready to learn simple lessons about maps. For instance, young children can learn to interpret a map of their living room floor plan, and then use a map to show where, in the real room, they have hidden a toy (Shusterman et al 2008; Vasilyeva and Huttenlocher 2004).

Older kids can handle more complex maps, and they benefit from structured mapping activities, especially ones that require them to explain their choices.

For example, in a study of American 4th graders, kids were given incomplete maps of their school yard and asked to (1) locate unmarked features (like a flagpole) and (2) place stickers on their maps to indicate where these features could be found (Kastens and Liben 2007). Some kids were quite accurate. Other kids were far off the mark. But when kids were asked to write down what clues they used to decide where the stickers should go, they performed much better.

It's a finding that's consistent with other studies: Kids learn better when they have to explain how they solve problems.

Do such mapping exercises improve a child's general spatial skills, and, if so, how?

That's not yet clear. But the sticker-placement study suggests that guided activities force children to pay close attention to spatial cues and shifting visual perspectives. They're practicing spatial thinking, and they are learning how to read maps - which is an important spatial skill.

So researchers and educators promote the use of maps with children.

Start with simple tasks, and keep in mind that it's normal for kids to have trouble translating their first-person spatial knowledge into a bird's eye view.

In one study, less than 30% of first and second graders could identify their own school's distinctive U-shaped building plan from a bird's eye view map (Liben and Downs 1989).

Looking for resources to help teach kids about maps? For very young children, I recommend As the Crow Flies (Rise and Shine)

. It helps children think about seeing the world from a bird's eye view. For children in primary school, another helpful book is Mapping Penny's World

.

7. Expose kids to tangrams and other spatial puzzles

I haven't seen any controlled experiments testing the effects of tangrams or jigsaw puzzles on the development of spatial skills. But it seems pretty clear that puzzle-solving ability and spatial intelligence are linked.

For example, in an observational study, researchers tracked the behavior of toddlers from the age of two, and then tested the children's spatial abilities when they were four and a half. The more frequently kids played with puzzles, the more likely they were to finish the study with high test scores (Levine et al 2011).

The U.S. National Council of Teacher's Mathematics promotes the use of tangrams to teach spatial skills. You can read more about tangrams -- and find a printable template for making you own tangrams -- in this Parenting Science article.

8. Let kids experiment with photography

As Nora Newcombe points out, photography encourages kids to experiment with different camera angles and different senses of scale (Newcombe 2010). For ideas to inspire children's photography projects, see my article "Digital cameras for kids: Cool tools and windows into the minds of children."

9. Play action video games (and Tetris too)

We sometimes hear bad things about video games. Some people are concerned about the effects that too much game time can have on a child's homework performance, physical fitness, and ability to pay attention in school.

There is also evidence that violent video games can have short-term affects on behavior, temporarily switching players into a more aggressive mode.

But studies suggest that video game technology may have important applications for the training of spatial skills.

For example, young adults with weak spatial skills have made substantial improvements after playing high-paced, "first-person shooter" action video games. [Read more about it in this Parenting Science article).

If such games sound violent, they usually are. But it's the spatial information, not the violence that makes these games useful for spatial training. And some non-violent first-person shooter games do exist -- like Mirror's Edge, Greg Hastings Paintball, and Pirate Blast.

If you're looking for age-appropriate, non-violent first-person shooter games, try searching the Common Sense Media website for recent reviews.

In addition, you might try the classic video game, Tetris.

In an experiment on college undergraduates, Melissa Terlecki and colleagues (2008) asked undergraduates to take weekly practice tests of mental rotation. In addition, some students were randomly assigned to spend an hour each week playing Tetris. Other students were assigned to play a non-spatial computer game (Solitaire).

At the end of twelve weeks, both groups had made big improvements on the mental rotation task. But unlike the non-gamers, the students with the supplemental Tetris training also showed transfer effects -- improvements on other, related tests of spatial thinking. These improvements were still evident when the students were re-tested 2-4 months later.

10. Encourage kids to use gestures when solving spatial problems

Experiments demonstrate that adults and children solve problems more readily when they are allowed to gesture.

In one study, people were better at performing mental rotation tasks (a key measure of spatial thinking) when they were encouraged to use their hands (Chu and Kita 2011). In another, 5-year-olds who spontaneously gestured during spatial problem-solving were more like to get the right answer (Ehrlich et al 2006).

Read more about the many cognitive benefits of gesturing in my article, "The science of gestures: Why it's good for kids to talk with their hands."

11. Be prepared for gradual progress

In a popular article for American Education, Nora Newcombe (2010) stresses that students with poor spatial skills are often slow to improve - in the beginning. So if you start a program of spatial skills training, don't be discouraged if kids don't show improvements right away. It may take 6 sessions or more before you notice a difference.

More reading about spatial skills

For a quick overview of the evidence that we can improve spatial skills with training, see my article, "Spatial intelligence: Why training matters."

In addition, check out the writings of Nora S. Newcombe, a professor of cognitive development and expert in the development of spatial cognition. Her article "Picture this: Increasing math and science learning by improving spatial thinking" is a non-technical review for school teachers.

For the academically-inclined, I also recommend her review "Early education for spatial intelligence: Why, what and how," coauthored with Andrea Frick. You can download this, on many other academic papers, at Newcombe's personal website. Finally, pay a visit to the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, an impressive online resource created by researchers and associated with the National Science Foundation.

References: Tips for improving spatial skills in children and teens

Burte H, Gardony AL, Hutton A, Taylor HA. 2017. Think3d!: Improving mathematics learning through embodied spatial training. Cogn Res Princ Implic. 2(1):13.

Chu M and Kita S. 2011. The nature of gestures' beneficial role in spatial problem solving. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2011 Feb;140(1):102-16.

Ehrlich SB, Levine SC, Goldin-Meadow S. 2006. The importance of gesture in children's spatial reasoning. Dev Psychol. 2006 Nov;42(6):1259-68.

Ferrara K, Golinkoff R, Hirsh-Pasek K, Lam W and Newcombe N. 2011. Block Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play. Mind, Brain and Education 5(3): 143-151.

Frick A and Wang SH. 2014. Mental spatial transformations in 14- and 16-month-old infants: effects of action and observational experience. Child Dev. 85(1):278-93.

Hodgkiss A, Gilligan KA, Tolmie AK, Thomas MSC, Farran EK. 2018. Spatial cognition and science achievement: The contribution of intrinsic and extrinsic spatial skills from 7 to 11 years. Br J Educ Psychol. 88(4):675-697.

Joh AS, Jaswal VK, and Keen R. 2011. Imagining a way out of the gravity bias: preschoolers can visualize the solution to a spatial problem. Child Dev. 82(3):744-5.

Kastens KA and Liben LS. 2007. Eliciting self-explanations improves children's performance on a field-based map skills task. Cognition and Instruction, 25, 45-74.

Liben LS and Downs RM. 1989. Understanding maps as symbols: The development of map concepts in children. In H. W. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 22, pp. 145-201). New York: Academic Press.

Levine SC, Ratliff KR, Huttenlocher J, and Cannon J. 2011. Early puzzle play: A predictor of preschoolers' spatial transformation skill. Dev Psychol. 2011 Oct 31. [Epub ahead of print]

Newcombe NS. 2010. Picture this: Increasing math and science learning by improving spatial thinking. American Educator: Summer 2010, 29-43.

Newcombe NS and Fricke A. 2010. Early education for spatial intelligence: Why, what, and how. Mind, Brain, and Education (3), 102-111.

Newman SD, Mitchell Hansen T, and Gutierrez A. 2016. An fMRI study of the impact of block building and board games on spatial ability. Frontiers in Psychology 7: 1278.

Pruden SM, Levine SC and Huttenlocher J. 2011. Children's spatial thinking: Does talk about the spatial world matter? Developmental Science (14): 1417-1430.

Sann C and Streri A. 2007. Perception of object shape and texture in human newborns: evidence from cross-modal transfer tasks. Dev Sci. 10(3):399-410.

Schwarzer G, Freitag C, and Schum N. 2013. How Crawling and Manual Object Exploration are Related to the Mental Rotation Abilities of 9-Month-Old Infants. Front Psychol. 4:97

Shusterman A, Ah Lee S, Spelke ES. 2008. Young children's spontaneous use of geometry in maps. Dev Sci. 11(2):F1-7.

Slater A, Mattock A, and Brown E. 1990. Size constancy at birth: Newborn infants' responses to retinal and real size. J. Exp. Child Psychol. 49:314-322.

Terlecki MS and Newcombe NS. 2008. Durable and generalized effects of spatial experience on mental rotation: Gender differences in growth patterns. Applied Cognitive Psychology 22: 996-1013.

Vasilyeva M and Huttenlocher J. 2004. Early development of scaling ability. Dev Psychol. 2004 Sep;40(5):682-90.

image of girl peering through rectangle by Yoshihito / flickr

image of mother and boy by Bill Strain / flickr

image of boy with map by ZIP / wikimedia / flickr

Image of paper icosohedrons by Andrew Turner / flickr

Image of girl by Nevit Dilmen / wikimedia commons

Content last modified 2/2019

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Improving spatial skills in children and teens: 10 evidence-based tips

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Spatial skills predict a young person's achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They are crucial for the mechanic, visual artist, architect, and surgeon. Yet traditional schooling does relatively little to foster the development of these abilities, and that's troubling. Studies indicate that people can improve their spatial skills with training, sometimes with dramatic results.

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Students with writing disabilities typically find the act of writing to be both difficult and unrewarding. These students' resulting lack of motivation to write can lock them into a downward spiral, in which they avoid most writing tasks and fail to develop those writing skills in which they are deficient. Indeed, for some students, a diagnosed writing disability may not be neurologically based but instead can be explained by the student's simple lack of opportunities to practice and build competent writing skills.

MacArthur and colleagues (MacArthur, Graham, & Schwartz, 1993) have developed an integrated approach to classroom writing instruction designed to accommodate the special needs of disabled writers, as well as those of their non-disabled peers. In this instructional approach, the student writes about authentic topics that have a 'real-world' purpose and relevance. Student writing is regularly shared with classmates and the instructor, with these audiences creating a sustaining social context to motivate and support the writer. Students receive instruction and feedback in an interactive manner, presented both in lecture format and through writing conferences with classmates. Technology (particularly computer word processing) is harnessed to help the writing disabled student to be more productive and to make use of software writing tools to extend his or her own capabilities in written expression.

The instructor follows a uniform daily instructional framework for writing instruction. First, the instructor checks in with students about the status of their current writing projects, then teaches a mini-lesson, next allows the group time to write and to conference with peers and the teacher, and finally arranges for the group to share or publish their work for a larger audience.

Status-checking

At the start of the writing session, the instructor quickly goes around the room, asking each student what writing goal(s) he or she plans to accomplish that day. The instructor records these responses for all to see.

Mini-Lesson.

The instructor teaches a mini-lesson relevant to the writing process. Mini-lessons are a useful means to present explicit writing strategies (e.g., an outline for drafting an opinion essay), as well as a forum for reviewing the conventions of writing. Mini-lessons should be kept shore (e.g., 5-10 minutes) to hold the attention of the class.

Student Writing

During the session, substantial time is set aside for students to write. Their writing assignment might be one handed out by the instructor that day or part of a longer composition (e.g., story, extended essay) that the student is writing and editing across multiple days. When possible, student writers are encouraged use computers as aids in composing and editing their work. (Before students can compose efficiently on computers, of course, they must have been trained in keyboarding and use of word-processing software).

Peer & Teacher Conferences.

Writers need timely, gentle, focused feedback from readers of their work in order to improve their compositions. At the end of the daily writing block, the student may sit with a classmate to review each other's work, using a structured peer editing strategy. During this discussion time, the teacher also holds brief individual conferences with students to review their work, have students evaluate how successfully they completed their writing goals for the day, and hear writers' thoughts about how they might plan to further develop a writing assignment.

Group Sharing or Publishing.

At the end of each session, writing produced that day is shared with the whole class. Students might volunteer to read passages aloud from their compositions. Another method of sharing might be for the students to post their work on the classroom wall or bulletin board for everyone to read and respond to. Periodically, polished student work might be displayed in a public area of the school for all to read, published in an anthology of school writings, read aloud at school assemblies, or published on the Internet.

References

MacArthur, C., Graham, S., & Schwarz, S. (1993). Integrating strategy instruction and word processing into a process approach to writing instruction. School Psychology Review, 22, 671-681).

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Students with writing disabilities typically find the act of writing to be both difficult and unrewarding. These students' resulting lack of motivation to write can lock them into a downward spiral, in which they avoid most writing tasks and fail to develop those writing skills in which they are deficient.

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The Common Core State Standards place a heavy emphasis on writing skills. Yet writing instruction in schools often falls short in training students to be accomplished writers (Graham, McKeown, Kiuhare, & Harris, 2012). As a help to teachers, this article identifies nine elements of writing instruction found to be effective in classrooms ranging from later elementary to high school.

Several meta-analyses are the source for these instructional recommendations (Graham, McKeown, Kiuhare, & Harris, 2012; Graham & Herbert, 2010; Graham & Perrin, 2007). Meta-analysis is a statistical procedure that aggregates the findings of various individual studies--all focusing on one writing-instruction component--to calculate for that component a single, global estimate of effectiveness. The results of these meta-analyses are calculated as 'effect sizes'. An effect size is the estimate of the difference between a treatment group (in this case, students receiving a specific writing-instruction treatment) and a control group that does not receive the treatment (Graham & Perrin, 2007). The larger the effect size, the more effective is the treatment. Below is a scale that can be used to evaluate the importance of the effect-sizes that appear with each writing-instruction element (Cohen, 1992; Graham & Herbert, 2010):

0.20: Small effect size

0.50: Medium effect size

0.80: Large effect size

Teachers are encouraged to use this listing of effective writing-instruction practices as a checklist against which to evaluate the quality of their own writing programs. However, the following considerations should be kept in mind:

1. Recommendations are general--not specific. Descriptions of these elements of writing instruction are quite general. This lack of specificity is an unavoidable product of the meta-analysis--which isolates from a collection of varied studies the broad, underlying instructional practice common to them all. Nonetheless, teachers can have confidence that, so long as their own classroom practice incorporates these general writing recommendations, they are likely to deliver high-quality writing instruction.

2. Ordering and weighting of writing strategies is unknown. While the instructional strategies presented here have demonstrated their effectiveness in improving student writing, researchers do not yet know the relative importance that each component has in developing student writing skills or in what order the components should appear (Graham & Hebert, 2010). Teacher judgment in the weighting and ordering of each component is required.

3. Writing components should be explicitly taught. Struggling writers will need explicit instruction in the various writing components (e.g., in how to work effectively on collaborative writing projects) in order to enjoy the maximum benefit from them (Graham & Hebert, 2010).

Recommended Writing-Instruction Components
Listed in descending order of effectiveness are these components of effective writing instruction:

Students are explicitly taught how to summarize and/or reflect in writing on texts that they have recently read. Each of the following writing activities has been found to be effective in promoting writing skills -- as well as improving reading comprehension:

paraphrasing the original text as a condensed student summary

analyzing the text, attempting to interpret the text's meaning, or describing the writer's reaction to it

writing notes (e.g., key words or phrases) that capture the essential text information

Students produce more writing. Effect size: 0.30 (Graham, McKeown, Kiuhare, & Harris, 2012).

Students have more writing included in their daily instruction (e.g., through daily journaling).

Students are given models of the kinds of writing that they will be asked to produce: e.g., argumentative or informational essays. Students closely study the structure of these models and attempt to incorporate the important elements of each model into their own writing.

References

Cohen, J. (1992). Statistical power analysis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1(3), 98-101.

Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2010). Writing to Read: Evidence for how writing can improve reading. Alliance for Excellence in Education. Washington, D.C.

Graham, S., McKeown, D., Kiuhare, S., & Harris, K. R. (2012). A meta-analysis of writing instruction for students in the elementary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(4), 879-896.

Graham, S., & Perrin, D. (2007). Writing Next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high school. Alliance for Excellence in Education. Washington, D.C.

Robinson, L. K., & Howell, K. W. (2008). Best practices in curriculum-based evaluation and written expression. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 439-452). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

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How To: Teach Student Writing Skills: Elements of Effective Writing Instruction

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The Common Core State Standards place a heavy emphasis on writing skills. Yet writing instruction in schools often falls short in training students to be accomplished writers (Graham, McKeown, Kiuhare, & Harris, 2012). As a help to teachers, this article identifies nine elements of writing instruction found to be effective in classrooms ranging from later elementary to high school.

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Good reading comprehension requires that students monitor their understanding while reading a passage. At the point of performance--when a student picks up a text and prepares to read--there are 3 crucial phases that improve comprehension (Pressley & Wharton-McDonald,1997): pre-reading (the reader creates a reading plan), reading (the reader monitors his or her understanding of the text while reading and applies strategies to clarify understanding of the text), and post-reading (the reader continues to think about the passage after reading and encode key details into long-term memory).

Poor readers often lack the skills to effectively monitor their comprehension of assigned passages and apply fix-up skills when needed. One means to help students to develop these self-monitoring skills is to teach them a cognitive strategy : ART: Ask-Read-Tell (McCallum et al., 2010). Whenever the student is assigned a challenging passage, he or she is trained to apply a 3-step ART sequence, which maps to the pre-reading/reading/post-reading timeline:

1. ASK: Before reading the text, the student looks over the title of the passage, asks what the topic is likely to be, considers what he or she already knows about that topic, and generates 2 questions that the student hopes to answer through reading.

2. READ: While reading, the student stops after each paragraph to query whether he or she has adequately understood that section of the passage and, if necessary, applies comprehension fix-up skills.

3. TELL: After reading, the student attempts to answer the 2 questions posed earlier based on the content just read. Finally, the student meets with a peer partner, and participants tell each other what questions and answers they produced.

Preparation. In preparation for each ART session, the teacher:

Procedures. This intervention is student-directed. A full explanation of the ART steps can be found in the attached ASK-READ-TELL (ART): Student Worksheet. When using the ASK-READ-TELL strategy, the teacher:

1. hands out the reading passage.

2. directs students to read the passage independently (either in-class or as a take-home assignment).

3. instructs students to complete the pre-reading, reading, and post-reading sections of theASK-READ-TELL (ART): Student Worksheet as part of the reading assignment.

4. pairs students off after the assignment to compare the questions and answers that each generated from the assigned passage.

Training. The ASK-READ-TELL strategy is simple to use. However, the teacher should ensure that students are trained in the proper use of this strategy, beginning with teacher demonstration and moving to group practice with instructor feedback before students are directed to use ASK-READ-TELL independently.

References

McCallum, R. S., Krohn, K. R., Skinner, C. H., Hilton-Prillhart, A., Hopkins, M. Waller, S., & Polite, F. (2010). Improving reading comprehension of at-risk high-school students: The art of reading program. Psychology in the Schools, 48(1), 78-86.

Pressley, M., & Wharton-McDonald, R. (1997). Skilled comprehension and its development through instruction. School Psychology Review, 26(3), 448-467.

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How To: Improve Reading Comprehension With a Cognitive Strategy: Ask-Read-Tell

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Good reading comprehension requires that students monitor their understanding while reading a passage. At the point of performance--when a student picks up a text and prepares to read--there are 3 crucial phases that improve comprehension (Pressley & Wharton-McDonald,1997): pre-reading (the reader creates a reading plan), reading (the reader monitors his or her understanding of the text while reading and applies strategies to clarify understanding of the text), and post-reading (the reader continues to think about the passage after reading and encode key details into long-term memory).

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Students periodically check their understanding of sentences, paragraphs, and pages of text as they read. When students encounter problems with vocabulary or comprehension, they use a checklist to apply simple strategies to solve those reading difficulties.

Reserve at least a full instructional session to introduce this comprehension strategy.

Materials

Overhead transparencies of practice reading passages and My Reading Check Sheet, transparency markers

Student copies of practice reading passages (optional) or reading/text books, My Reading Check Sheet

Preparation:

Prepare overheads of sample passages.

Steps to Implementing This Intervention

Step 1: Tell students that they will be learning ways to read more carefully. Hand out student copies of My Reading Check Sheet (see attachment at the bottom of this page).

Review all of the reading strategies on the student handout.

Instruct students that, during any reading assignment, when they come to:

The end of each sentence, they should ask the question, "Did I understand this sentence?" If students understand the sentence, they say "Click!" and continue reading. If they do not understand, they say "Clunk!" and refer to the strategy sheet My Reading Check Sheet to correct the problem.

The end of each paragraph, they should ask the question, "What did the paragraph say?" If they do not know the main idea(s) of the paragraph, students refer to the strategy sheet My Reading Check Sheet to correct the problem.

The end of each page, they should ask the question, "What do I remember?" If they do not remember sufficient information, students refer to the strategy sheet My Reading Check Sheet to correct the problem.

Read through a sample passage with the class. At the end of each sentence, paragraph, and page, "think aloud" as you model use of the comprehension checks. (As you read each sentence, be sure to call out "Click!" when you and the class understand a sentence and "Clunk!" when you do not.)

Step 2: When students have learned to use the "Click or Clunk?" strategy, have them use it in independent reading assignments.

References

Anderson, T. (1980). Study strategies and adjunct aids. In R. J. Spiro, B. C. Bruce, & W. F. Brewer (Eds.) Theoretical Issues in Reading Comprehension, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Babbs, P. J. (1984). Monitoring cards help improve comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 38(2), 200-204.

Jim's Hints

Create Silent "Click/Clunk" Signals. Although it may seem rather silly to have students call out "Click" and "Clunk" as an aid to monitor their own reading, .the technique is actually quite valuable. When students must make regular summary judgments about how well they comprehend at the sentence level, they are more likely to recognize-and to resolve-comprehension errors as these mistakes arise.

You might find, however, that students start to distract each other as they call out these comprehension signals. Once you see that students consistently use the technique, you can train them to softly whisper the signal. Or confer with your students to come up with an unobtrusive non-verbal signal (e.g., lightly tapping the desk once for "Click" and twice for "Clunk") that is obvious enough to allow you to monitor readers' use of the technique without distracting other students.

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"Click or Clunk?": A Student Comprehension Self-Check

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Students periodically check their understanding of sentences, paragraphs, and pages of text as they read. When students encounter problems with vocabulary or comprehension, they use a checklist to apply simple strategies to solve those reading difficulties. Reserve at least a full instructional session to introduce this comprehension strategy.

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As classroom managers, teachers regularly use commands to direct students to start and stop activities. Instructors find commands to be a crucial tool for classroom management, serving as instructional signals that help students to conform to the teacher's expectations for appropriate behaviors.

Teachers frequently dilute the power of their classroom commands, however, by:

presenting commands as questions or polite requests. Commands have less impact when stated as questions or requests, because the student may believe that he or she has the option to decline. The teacher who attempts, for example, to quiet a talkative student by saying, "Tanya, could you mind keeping your voice down so that other students can study?" should not be surprised if the student replies, "No, thank you. I would prefer to talk!"

stating commands in vague terms. A student may ignore a command such as "Get your work done!" because it does not state specifically what behaviors the teacher expects of the student.

following up commands with excessive justifications or explanations. Because teachers want to be viewed as fair, they may offer long, drawn-out explanations for why they are requiring the class or an individual student to undertake or to stop a behavior. Unfortunately, students can quickly lose the thread the explanation and even forget the command that preceded it!

Using Effective Commands

Teachers can reduce problems with student compliance and make their commands more forceful by following research-based guidelines (Walker & Walker, 1991):

Effective commands:

are brief. Students can process only so much information. Students tend to comply best with brief commands because they are easy to understand and hard to misinterpret.

are delivered one task or objective at a time. When a command contains multi-step directions, students can mishear, misinterpret, or forget key steps. A student who appears to be noncompliant may simply be confused about which step in a multi-step directive to do first!

are given in a matter-of-fact, businesslike tone. Students may feel coerced when given a command in an authoritarian, sarcastic, or angry tone of voice. For that reason alone, they may resist the teacher's directive. Teachers will often see greater student compliance simply by giving commands in a neutral or positive manner.

are stated as directives rather than questions. Perhaps to be polite, teachers may phrase commands as questions (e.g., "Could we all take out our math books now?"). A danger in using 'question-commands' is that the student may believe that he or she has the option to decline! Teachers should state commands as directives, saving questions for those situations in which the student exercises true choice.

avoid long explanations or justifications. When teachers deliver commands and then tack lengthy explanations onto them, they diminish the force of the directive. If the instructor believes that students should know why they are being told to do something, the teacher should deliver a brief explanation prior to the command.

give the student a reasonable amount of time to comply. Once the teacher has given a command, he or she should give the student a reasonable timespan (e.g., 5-15 seconds) to comply. During that waiting period, the instructor should resist the temptation to nag the student, elaborate on the request, or other wise distract the student.

References

Walker, H.M. & Walker, J.E. (1991). Coping with noncompliance in the classroom: A positive approach for teachers. Austin, TX:: Pro-Ed, Inc.

Jim's Hints

Monitor Your Use of Commands. By tracking your use of teacher commands in the classroom, you can gain a better understanding of how frequently you give then and how effective those commands are. Check out the Teacher Command Monitoring Chart (see attachment at the bottom of this page) as an example of one instructor self-rating form.

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As classroom managers, teachers regularly use commands to direct students to start and stop activities. Instructors find commands to be a crucial tool for classroom management, serving as instructional signals that help students to conform to the teacher's expectations for appropriate behaviors.

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Communication between home and school is important not just for teachers and parents but also for the student. Both parents and teachers can work together to provide a support system that helps children thrive and succeed in school.

Most educators are on the same page by recognizing that family participation in schooling can make a huge difference in a student who feels confident and enjoys learning. That's especially true if they struggle with both the academic and social aspects of schooling.

When parents and teachers regularly share information about a child and what's happening in the classroom, it supports the learning process from all sides, setting up students for success.

What open communication means to parents, teachers, and students

Parents are the first teachers in a child's life, being there to guide them through those early milestones. Putting their children into the education system places parents at a disadvantage when they're no longer the prime educator. They no longer become the main link to learning. This is when the parent-teacher relationship becomes crucial. Communicating with teachers lets parents stay involved so they can support what's happening in the classroom.

But parents who are involved in their children's education and regularly connect with teachers aren't only there to make sure that homework gets done at the end of the day. They're able to encourage their child and participate in the academic program with them, showing that they're invested in their child's education. This interest leads to children who perform better in school both academically and socially.

For teachers, being able to communicate with parents helps them better understand a child's strengths and their own individual personality and learning style. The more information they have about a student, the more teachers can focus on teaching and being able to address and overcome challenges along the way that may be unique to each child.

It's the student who benefits the most from communication between home and school, resulting in numerous positive advantages:

Improved academic achievement.

A more positive attitude toward learning.

A feeling of empowerment and confidence.

Enhanced relationships with parents, peers, and teachers.

Regular class attendance.

Communication strategies for teachers

Building a relationship through effective and open communication is the core of a successful educational experience for children. Here are 10 strategies that parents and teachers can use to build relationships that benefit and support children through the learning process:

1. Initiate first contact

As soon as teachers know which students they have in their classroom for the year, they can initiate contact with the parents. This can be as simple as sending an introductory email or making a phone call. In any case, it gives both parents and teachers an early opportunity to introduce each other and open the lines of communication. Knowing they can talk to their child's teacher right from the start gives a parent the peace of mind that they're going to be involved in the learning process.

2. Consistent communication

In order to be effective, communication needs to be consistent and frequent. Parents want ongoing feedback from teachers about how their child is doing when it comes to both learning and their behavior and attitude. Consistent feedback is also beneficial for teachers, who can discuss both the successes of a student as well as any areas of concern. This consistent communication also shows students that their education is part of a greater whole and takes place both at school and at home.

Don't underestimate the usefulness of parent-teacher conferences. This is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to sit down face to face and openly discuss how and what a child is doing in school. It's also a good time for parents to talk about anything that's happening at home that could impact the behavior and learning of their child in the classroom.

4. Parent-teacher-student conferences

Similar to a parent-teacher conference, this variant includes the student in the meeting; it's a great way to give them more responsibility for their own learning and education. Both parents and teachers can encourage students to talk openly about any questions or concerns they may have. During these conferences, many students respond well to any feedback or criticism their teacher has about their grades or behavior. They feel supported by both their parent and teacher, which can lead to better school performance.

5. Student work folders

Sending student work folders home each week allows teachers and parents to communicate on an ongoing basis. These folders are a valuable tool and can include information about not only grades and performance but also classroom behavior. Teachers can also share positive feedback with parents, providing encouragement for each individual student.

Parents can use these work folders as a way to review and stay involved in their child's progress, helping to reinforce what's happening in the classroom. As an organizational tool, folders clearly outline the expectations for everyone.

6. Classroom newsletters

The traditional newsletter is still a great way to communicate what's happening at school. Newsletters are easy for teachers to prepare by using a template that can be either emailed or printed and sent home with each student. The newsletter can include information about classroom events, upcoming meetings, and what the class is currently learning. Consider including a "parent" section, where parents can provide their feedback to share with each other.

7. Social media

Most parents and teachers use technology to communicate in their daily lives. Using social media for communication makes it simple for everyone to stay on the same page. Set up one or multiple social media accounts for parents to follow. Much like a classroom newsletter, social media allows for effective and quick communication so both parents and teachers stay updated on what's happening. Encouraging students to join in builds an even stronger channel of communication that can bridge the gap between what's happening at school and at home. Social media platforms to use include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

8. Class website

Most schools already have a website, but a dedicated classroom website allows for quick communication between teachers and parents. Easy to build and maintain, busy parents can visit these pages to know what's happening in their child's classroom. Teachers can provide a bit of information about themselves, building a connection with parents on a more personal level. Consider including the following information on your class webpage:

Announcements about events both in and out of the classroom.

Current assignments that students are working on.

Upcoming curriculum so parents and students can prepare.

Useful information and tips about homework, education, and learning.

Featured student of the month and/or other awards.

Frequently asked questions and answers.

Photo credit: Rob Hampson

9. Mobile phone and apps

There's an app for everything, including parent-teacher communication. Specific apps give parents and teachers an easier and better means for frequent communication. Teachers can send reminders and messages to the entire class, to parents, or to specific individuals. Building a classroom community using one of these apps, such as Classcraft's messaging feature, means that parents and teachers can stay in touch about what's happening at school with tools they already use every day.

10. Home visits

Another good way to build a relationship and strong communication is through home visits. Done once or twice a year, these informal and relaxed visits give teachers a personal insight into a student's home life and environment. Teachers can learn how the child is supported at home. They can also gain a better understanding of the family's values and goals. All of this information enables parents, teachers, and students to work together in making education a success.

Final thoughts

Developing and improving communication between parents and teachers takes effort on all sides. Using these strategies, you can improve communication to build respect and trust throughout a child's educational experience.

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10 strategies for improving home and school communication - Classcraft Blog

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Communication between home and school is important not just for teachers and parents but also for the student. Both parents and teachers can work together to provide a support system that helps children thrive and succeed in school.

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The time that students spend in the classroom actually working on academic subjects is sometimes referred to as 'engaged time.' During independent seatwork, difficult-to-teach students may not have effective strategies to ask for teacher help. Instead, when these students encounter a problem or work example that they cannot complete on their own, they may start to act out, distract peers seated around them, interrupt the teacher (who may be working with another group of students), or simply sit passively doing nothing. The help-signal is a flexible procedure that the student can use to get teacher assistance during independent seatwork. It allows the student to signal the teacher unobtrusively for help while continuing to work productively on alternative assignments.

Steps in Implementing This Intervention:

Step 1: Select a Student Signal. Decide on a way that the student can signal that they require teacher help. One approach is to prepare a 'help-flag' (a strip of colored, laminated posterboard) with the word 'Help' or similar word written on it. Attach a Velcro tab to the flag and affix a corresponding adhesive Velcro strip to the student's desk.

Step 2: Create an Alternative Work Folder. Create a student work folder and fill it with alternate assignments or worksheets that the student can work on independently. For example, you might insert into the folder math worksheets, a writing assignment, or lists of reading vocabulary words to be practiced.

Step 3: Introduce the Program to the Student. Set aside time to meet with the student to introduce the help-signal routine.

Show the student how to post the help-flag or other help signal.

Instruct the student that he or she should post the help-signal whenever he or she becomes stuck on seatwork and needs instructor assistance.

Tell the student that--after posting the help-signal--the student should next check over the current work assignment to see if their other problems or items that he or she can work on while waiting for the teacher.

Show the student the alternative-work folder. Tell the student that, if he or she cannot continue on any part of the seatwork, the student should pull out the folder and to begin to work on an alternative assignment. The student is to continue working on that assignment until the teacher or other staff member can get to the student's desk to provide assistance. Also, be sure that your student knows during what activities and times during the school day that he or she is to use the help-signal to indicate that adult attention is needed.

Give the student a chance to try out the help-signal under your guidance, and offer feedback about the performance. Let students know that if they stand and approach you for help directly rather than posting the help-signal, you will remind them to use the signal and then send them back to their seat.

Step 4: Begin the Intervention. Start the help-signal as soon as you feel that the student understands and will comply with the system. Take care to scan the room periodically when you are free during student independent seatwork to see if any students might need your assistance.

Jim's Hints

Tailoring Help-Signals to Fit the Classroom. The help-signal intervention can be tailored to fit the circumstances of different classrooms. For example, you might:

train all students to use the help-signal as a classwide intervention.

select a 'secret' signal that for the student to use that is clearly observable to the teacher but is unlikely to draw the attention of other children. You might, for instance, pick a red folder to hold the student's alternative work and tell the student simply to pull out that folder and begin working from it whenever he or she needs instructor. help. Whenever you see the red folder open on the student's desk, you will know that the child needs help.

provide rewards to the student for following the help-signal routine and include mild negative consequences (e.g., temporary loss of a classroom privilege) if the student refuses to comply.

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The time that students spend in the classroom actually working on academic subjects is sometimes referred to as ‘engaged time.’ During independent seatwork, difficult-to-teach students may not have effective strategies to ask for teacher help. Instead, when these students encounter a problem or…