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THURSDAY, June 11, 2020 (HealthDay News) - For children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), parents reported worsened ADHD behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak, with children's and parents' moods positively associated with behavior, according to research published online in the June issue of the Asian Journal of Psychiatry.

Jinsong Zhang, from Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined the mental health-related conditions of children with ADHD during the COVID-19 outbreak by surveying 241 parents of school-aged children with an ADHD diagnosis. Parents rated their children's ADHD behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak.

The researchers found that compared with their normal state, the average of children's ADHD behaviors was significantly worsened. Children's overall mood (B = 0.17), parents' overall mood state (B = 0.13), and children's study time (B = −0.09) significantly predicted children's ADHD behaviors.

"Consistent with previous studies, we found children's negative mood state was associated with ADHD symptoms. Our results showed that parent's mood state also impact children's ADHD symptom," the authors write. "Our results have significant clinical implication in placing the importance of treatment and control of negative mood."
Abstract/Full Text
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Worsened ADHD Behaviors Reported for Children During COVID-19

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THURSDAY, June 11, 2020 (HealthDay News) - For children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), parents reported worsened ADHD behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak, with children's and parents' moods positively associated with behavior, according to research published online in the June issue of the Asian Journal of Psychiatry.

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1/3 Of Michigan Teachers Might Not Return To The Classroom | Patch

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Michigan educators are planning for next fall as the current academic year comes to a close. But almost one-third of the profession is considering not returning due to COVID-19 concerns, according to a done by the Michigan Education Association (MEA).

More than 15,000 Michigan educators were surveyed May 14 to 22 by the teachers' union on COVID-19-related impacts on public education, including health risks, reopening plans and testing.

Of the teachers and support staff surveyed, 2% said they are leaving the profession, 12% said they are considering leaving, 5% said they are retiring sooner than planned, 12% said they are considering retiring sooner than planned and 1% are retiring as planned this year.

"That's a significant jump in turnover at a time when we are already facing a shortage of educators in our state," s aid Doug Pratt, MEA's director of public affairs. "If others choose to leave the profession as well, it could get even worse. That's why it's so important that as we look at how to safely reopen schools that educators be engaged in that decision."

What teachers want students and parents to know during the COVID-19 school shutdown

While school administrators put together safe plans to reopen schools, they are also faced with the reality of an almost $1.2 billion revenue hit to the state's School Aid Fund in the current 2020 fiscal year and an estimated cut of about $650 per student.

Fiscal Year 2021 starts on Oct. 1 and the School Aid Fund is estimated to have another $1.1 billion hole.

Like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats, Pratt said that aid from the federal government is crucial right now.

"It's essential for Congress to take action and pass funding to help states continue to provide a quality education," Pratt said. "We know part of the driver in terms of the shortage so far has been driven by pay, and budget cuts are going to make that even worse."

Whale the Democratic-led U.S. House last month passed another COVID-19 relief package, leadership in the GOP-controlled Senate declared it "dead on arrival."

3rd graders were supposed to be held back if they couldn't read. Then COVID-19 hit.

The MEA also surveyed educators on what standards and practices should be in place for the next school year.

Overwhelmingly, 91% of teachers agree that smaller classrooms will be necessary to enforce social distancing and 90% of teachers said that the state should do away with standardized testing and the third-grade reading law until normal school operations resume.

"This survey shows us health and safety are top of mind for Michigan's hard-working, dedicated public educators. They know their students, parents and communities best, and want to be part of decision-making in safely reopening our school buildings," MEA President Paula Herbart said.

"Just like nurses, doctors and other public health experts have been relied on during this crisis, we will urge our lawmakers to heed the findings of this survey as we chart a path back to school."

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1/3 of Michigan teachers might not return to the classroom ⋆ Michigan Advance

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Michigan educators are planning for next fall as the current academic year comes to a close. But almost one-third of the profession is considering not returning due to COVID-19 concerns, according to a survey done by the Michigan Education Association (MEA). More than 15,000 Michigan educators were surveyed May 14 to 22 by the teachers' [...]

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Teaching Children Calming Strategies - YouTube

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How to Help Your Kids Handle Disappointment | Child Mind Institute

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Among the many painful effects of the coronavirus pandemic on children is the distress of losing the chance to participate in important events - sports playoffs, significant birthdays, school plays and graduations, or that big family trip to Disney World.

As the crisis goes on, even missing out on regular day-to-day activities, like sleepovers or going out for pizza, continues to be upsetting for many kids. And with summer on the horizon and kids wondering whether camp and other activities will be possible, the situation is getting tougher. Adults are going through some of the same kinds of difficulties, but they often have plenty of experience processing such challenges. Kids, on the other hand, may be experiencing these intense emotions for the first time.

Click here to see all resources related to the coronavirus crisis.

"The disappointments are huge," says Madeline Levine, PhD, author of Ready or Not: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Uncertain World. "We weren't prepared for this, and we need to be incredibly compassionate."

The specific letdowns will vary from child to child, as will their ability to cope with them, but experts in child development agree that the basic tools for managing disappointment are largely the same across age groups.

Listen and Validate

As parents, our first impulse is often to try to fix problems for our children. But there's no way to fix our current reality. What you can do is listen to and acknowledge children's frustration and disappointment, says Carey Werley, LCSW, a clinical social worker at the Child Mind Institute. Werley points out that drilling down on the specifics of what your child is most disappointed about is helpful.

"We may make some assumptions about what it is about each event," she says. "We may be thinking that, for example, it's the prom experience in general that a teenager is upset about, but for one kid, it might be the prom photos that they're not going to get to do. For another, it might be the prom dress, or the prom outfit, or the prom activity. So, it's important to really listen ... and meet them where they're at."

It's also important to avoid judging their reactions. Being upset about not getting a prom dress might sound silly to us, but invalidating the pain that our children are feeling (by telling them it's not a big deal, for example) will only make them feel more isolated. What's more, focusing on the dress might be a way for your child to process bigger feelings - like fear and sadness around the crisis in general - that they can't quite confront yet.

Instead, emphasize that you hear your child and express your support for how they're handling this. This situation is genuinely challenging for all of us, and your kids are no exception. Reassure them that even though we don't know what the future holds, you're proud of them for dealing with the loss of things that were important to them.

Provide Perspective

Kids, especially younger ones, don't have the perspective adults have as a result of having lived through our share of disappointments. Instead, children may see things in black and white. "So, a kid might be feeling, 'Oh my god, this is never going to end. I'm never going to go back to school,'" says Lindsay Gerber, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute.

Again, validating this fear is a good place to start, especially under these unprecedented circumstances. "Saying, 'You know, I hear it feels like for you like it's never going to end, and I agree that it can be really hard not knowing when school will start again." Avoid false reassurances - you don't want to give your child unrealistic ideas about what the future will hold, since right now we just don't know when things like school will resume (or what they'll look like when they do).

At the same time, Werley adds that it's reasonable to emphasize to kids that, while we don't know when or how it will happen, eventually our current circumstances will change. They will see friends again and enjoy the activities they are missing right now -even though things are changing, there's still a lot to look forward to. You might share your own past experiences of change and uncertainty, including how you dealt with those challenges and what the results were.

Also, it's probably best to avoid giving young kids a lot of information that will only increase their anxiety, says Dr. Levine. "So, you know, if they ask why are we not seeing Grandma this week, reassure them that you'll see her as soon as you can. Don't say 'we can't see her this week because she's in a very high risk group for coronavirus.'"

Seek Solutions

You can't change the fact that your child's 10 th birthday party is not going to play out as it was supposed to, or that graduation isn't happening in the high school auditorium as planned or you won't be going to a baseball game this summer. But as the pandemic continues, people are becoming increasingly creative at compensating for these losses. Virtual birthday parties and graduations can be celebrated using one of the numerous video chatting apps - or if your daughter is missing being on the soccer team, you might suggest she use this time to practice her skills in the back yard, so she'll be ready to go when things eventually resume. Games held in empty arenas can be streamed together with friends.

Werley also suggests reminding kids that they're not alone in all of this, which may be comforting. "Everybody who plays sports is missing out on the spring season," she says. "And all the graduating classes of 2020 are going through the same thing at the same time." You can also encourage your child to talk about what they're going through with their friends - bonding with peers over their shared disappointment can help kids put things in perspective and maybe even strengthen friendships.

Give Them a Sense of Control

By far the hardest and scariest part of this pandemic is that we have no control-over when school will re-open, for example, or what the summer will look like. But we do have some control over how our days look and what would make them easier to tolerate.

Working with your child to plan out their days is one way to give them a sense of control over what's happening. How do they want to spend their free time? What projects might they enjoy digging into? Many kids will even get excited about giving input into meal planning or household chores. Having a sense of purpose and knowing that you value their ideas can make even disappointing situations a lot easier for children to bear. Plus, having children's buy-in when it comes to daily tasks and schedules can make parents' lives easier, too.

You can also model coping behavior by telling your child what your go-to coping skills are and helping them come up with some of their own, Dr. Levine says. You and your child are already demonstrating coping skills every day, just by getting out of bed and going through your days as a family. Ask yourself: what are the tools that help you and your child do this? For you, maybe it's checking in with extended family, cooking meals you enjoy, or taking care of pets.

Coping might look similar for your kids, or they might use their own particular skills. Maybe they value watching a funny movie at the end of the day, or having their favorite flavor of ice cream, or writing their feelings down in a journal. "Talk about the box of coping skills you have [and then ask them] 'What helps you the most?'"

Have Faith in Them

While the disappointments related to the coronavirus criris are on a much bigger scale than the ones we all experience in normal life, the fact is that kids have to learn how to live with disappointment, says Dr. Levine.

Remind your kids of things they've tolerated before, she says, whether it was not being cast in the school play, getting a lower-than-expected grade, or losing a big game. Let them know that even though this situation is different, they can use some of the same skills to get through it.

"Ideally, it's a succession of small disappointments," says Dr. Levine. "I was talking to a girl who can't visit her college and has to make a choice about whether to commit. And she's feeling kind of lost. She's being introduced to a sort of adult disappointment at 18, not at 24, and in the best possible world, that wouldn't happen. But that is what's happening. I think that being introduced to adult issues a little earlier is not the end of the world."

Hopefully this experience will make that muscle of tolerating disappointment more robust, says Dr. Levine. "I think that's the message that parents need to be aware of, which is some iteration of, 'I think you can handle this. I know it's really hard, but you got this.'"

Click here to see all resources related to the coronavirus crisis.

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How to Help Your Kids Handle Disappointment | Child Mind Institute

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Among the many painful effects of the coronavirus pandemic on children is the distress of losing the chance to participate in important events - sports playoffs, significant birthdays, school plays and graduations, or that big family trip to Disney World.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is an epidemiological crisis, but also a psychological one. While the situation provokes anxiety, stress and sadness, it is also a time of collective sorrow, says Sherry Cormier, PhD, a psychologist retired from private practice who now focuses on grief training and mentoring. "It's important that we start recognizing that we're in the middle of this collective grief. We are all losing something now."

Many people are confronting the loss of a loved one to the novel coronavirus-a challenge made even more difficult by physical distancing orders that prevent them from saying goodbye in person or gathering with others to mourn. Deaths aren't the only losses that people are reckoning with, however. Millions of people are facing loss of employment and financial upheaval as a result of the pandemic. Yet even people who haven't lost anything so concrete as a job or a loved one are grieving, Cormier says. "There is a communal grief as we watch our work, health-care, education and economic systems-all of these systems we depend on-destabilize," she says.

The crisis isn't just shaking our faith in those systems. It's upending our understanding of the world around us, says Robert Neimeyer, PhD, director of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Memphis. "The losses include our sense of predictability, control, justice, and the belief that we can protect our children or elderly loved ones," he says.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists will play a key role in helping people manage the many losses they're mourning, Neimeyer adds. "We'll have an immense challenge as a profession, but also a vast opportunity to help people address these elements of suffering."

Grieving a living loss

Research from the bereavement literature shows that the nature of a person's attachments has an effect on their grief reactions. Of course, we aren't only attached to other humans, Neimeyer says. "We're capable of losing places, projects, possessions, professions and protections, all of which we may be powerfully attached to," he says. "This pandemic forces us to confront the frailty of such attachments, whether it's to our local bookstore or the routines that sustain us through our days."

Many of the losses we're experiencing now are so-called ambiguous losses. "These lack the clarity and definition of a single point like a death," Neimeyer explains. That fuzziness can make it hard to move forward. As the pandemic has evolved, people have had to confront a series of losses: the loss of a sense of safety, of social connections and personal freedoms, of jobs and financial security. Going forward, people will experience new losses we can't yet predict. "We're talking about grieving a living loss-one that keeps going and going," he says.

We don't only grieve for what's missing, but also for the ways in which those losses affect our senses of self, says George Bonanno, PhD, a psychologist who heads the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. "You can experience grief over anything that feels like a loss of identity." Research shows, for instance, that losing a job can trigger a period of prolonged grief distinct from anxiety or depression. That prolonged grief seems to be related to the impacts of job loss on self-esteem and belief in a just world (Papa, A., & Maitoza, R., Journal of Loss and Trauma, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2013).

Though grief is difficult, it helps to recognize that it's natural and useful, Bonanno says. "Grief is really about turning inward and recalibrating, and thinking: 'This is not the way the world is anymore, and I need to adapt,'" he says. "It's okay to feel grief over what we're losing. When we do that, it allows us to let grief do its job, so that we can move on."

His research suggests that once a crisis has passed, most people are able to bounce back and move on with their lives. Grief is also transient, even when we're in the midst of its clutches. People should expect to fluctuate between moments of sadness and mourning, and moments of acceptance or even happiness, he says. "People who cope well with loss usually move in and out of those states. It's OK to allow yourself to be distracted and entertained, and even to laugh."

It helps to 'name and claim' our grief

With almost the whole world confronting losses large and small, how can people cope as they mourn their pre-pandemic lives? For starters, mental health providers can help patients "name it and claim it," Neimeyer says. "People often have a vague sense of anxiety or wordless suffering. We can help them wrap language around that," he explains. "We can ask people to consider what they're losing in the context of this pandemic, what they can do to strengthen those ties." It's not a fatalistic view, he says. Rather, it's an organized way of taking action to help people cope with their losses, from jobs and relationships to sources of self-worth and self-efficacy.

Cormier suggests people keep journals to put words to losses and to help identify ways to move forward. As the work of psychologist James Pennebaker, PhD, at the University of Texas at Austin, has shown, writing about emotional upheavals can improve both physical and mental health (Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2018). "Name what you're losing, individually and collectively, and write about your personal strengths and coping skills," Cormier suggests. "Most of us have never been through anything like this, but we've been through other challenging transitions. It can help to write about how you got through a divorce, or losing your job, or other challenging transitions. How did you heal and recover?"

Social support is another well-established tool that can be critical in helping move on from grief, instead of getting stuck in it. That poses a problem in an age of physical distancing, when people are isolated in their homes away from loved ones. "During this time, there may be an erosion of social support and the meaningful social roles that buttress our identities," Neimeyer says.

Psychologists can encourage people to stay connected with their social support networks through phone calls, text messages, video chat and social media. And those reminders should continue even after we emerge from isolation, says Erika Felix, PhD, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who treats and studies survivors of trauma and disasters. "One thing we've learned from disasters is the ongoing importance of social supports. The lesson is to keep checking in on people, and keep the support going even after this period of lockdown ends," she says. "For some people, the stress will continue after quarantine ends, especially if their jobs or relationships are affected."

Saying goodbye in the age of physical distancing

While we're mourning the loss of our pre-pandemic lives, many people will also face the grim task of mourning the deaths of friends or family members. Whether it's sitting shiva, lining up for a New Orleans-style jazz procession or sharing a meal with loved ones after a secular memorial service, cultures and customs around the world share a key element of mourning: social connection. In the age of COVID-19, physical distancing is driving a wedge in those moments of connection.

"One of the most time-tested ways of coping with grief is to practice social connection, to be with other mourners. Now, we may be having to cope with grief and sorrow alone, socially isolated, where we don't get the physical comfort we need from friends and family," says Cormier. "We're having to figure out new systems and new rituals for trying to honor death when everything else around us is shifting."

The act of saying goodbye to a loved one often begins well before a funeral or burial. For many people, the days and hours at the end of a loved one's life are especially poignant. "Normally, we can hold a loved one's hand, have meaningful conversations, affirm the bond, make amends," says Neimeyer. "When we are able to practice these things, it softens the blow of loss."

With strict isolation measures in place in most hospitals, people are missing out on those final farewells. That's true when people die from COVID-19, but also from more familiar causes such as heart attacks or cancer. While critical to slowing the spread of the disease, those measures also make it hard for mourners to come together to grieve. Some people have begun filling that void with virtual shiva and funerals, but technology is an imperfect substitute for an in-person embrace. "Being in close physical proximity with friends or other mourners helps us produce feel-good hormones like oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin," Cormier says.

When people aren't physically present to say goodbye and grieve with other mourners, they may be more likely to experience a sense of ambiguous loss, she adds. "With an ambiguous loss, it's very hard to get closure. There's often a lot of frustration and helplessness, because people feel disempowered," she says. "The question becomes, how can we construct new rituals to help us cope with death and dying for this situation that we're in right now? We're facing the question of needing to find some new way for honoring the dying process and also coping with our grief. And we might have to look to psychologists, along with faith leaders and others, to find those new mechanisms."

Prolonged grief disorder

Such difficult circumstances may increase the odds that a bereaved person will develop complicated grief, also known as prolonged grief disorder, says Neimeyer. Prolonged grief is an intense grief that is distinct from depression. The DSM-5 favors the term "persistent complex bereavement disorder," defined as prolonged grief lasting at least 12 months. A proposed addition to the forthcoming ICD-11 defines prolonged grief as lasting at least six months. Though those diagnostic criteria disagree on the timepoint at which grief becomes prolonged, they agree on the key feature of the condition: grief that endures and interferes with normal functioning. "It keeps going and going like the old Energizer bunny," Neimeyer says.

Prolonged grief is marked by persistent longing and sadness for the deceased, and a sense of disbelief or inability to accept the loss, as M. Katherine Shear, MD, at Columbia University, has described. Without treatment, prolonged grief increases the risk of substance use, sleep disorders, impaired immune functioning and suicidal thinking (New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 372, No. 2, 2015).

Over the past decade, researchers have learned a lot about prolonged or complicated grief, Neimeyer says. Risk factors include social isolation, attachment insecurity, anxiety and experiencing a loss that is sudden and inexplicable. "The circumstances under which deaths are now occurring, with plenty of unresolved relational issues, represent a perfect storm for producing complicated grief," he says.

Depression and anxiety can coexist with prolonged grief, and pharmacological treatments can sometimes help address those co-occurring symptoms. But for prolonged grief disorder itself, psychotherapy is the gold standard. Shear, for instance, found that adding an antidepressant to her complicated grief treatment did not improve symptoms of prolonged grief (JAMA Psychiatry, Vol. 73, No. 7, 2016). "The core of complicated grief is unaffected by pharmacotherapies. The only evidence-based treatment is psychological," Neimeyer says.

Psychology can embrace its purpose

Even after the COVID-19 crisis has subsided, many people will continue to struggle with grief and trauma for some time, says Felix. "As things return to normal, most of us will also return to a kind of normal, albeit changed by going through this experience. But there is a subset of people who will be chronically disrupted and will need support," she says.

Psychologists may have to build their expertise on grief and trauma to meet that need, through continuing education in areas such as disaster mental health, psychological first aid and trauma-focused therapies, Felix adds. "When working with people who have experienced trauma, it's important to know your strengths and to know what you can and can't do."

Unfortunately, grief and loss are given cursory attention in many psychology training programs, Neimeyer says. "Few of us have any serious training for dealing with grief and loss. Deepening competencies around treating grief will need to be a priority of many psychologists for years to come."

But the field is up to the challenge, he adds. "One thing about crisis is that it can galvanize creativity and commitment," he says. "Psychology has a purpose and direction in this crisis that is quite clear. We can retreat from it, or we can embrace that moment."

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The COVID-19 pandemic is an epidemiological crisis, but also a psychological one. While the situation provokes anxiety, stress and sadness, it is also a time of collective sorrow, says Sherry Cormier, PhD, a psychologist retired from private practice who now focuses on grief training and mentoring.

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Make working from home fun (yes, really) – Work Life by Atlassian

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Remote work can be exhausting if you don't have the right habits. It's hard to stay motivated without the buzz of the office around you. It's easy to work too much and forget to take essential breaks.

Of course, you've read up on work from home tips and tricks, but why not have a little fun gamifying your work from home experience? A few weeks ago, I created this remote work bingo game to make staying healthy and productive just a little bit easier. Play along with us! You can download the bingo card here and print it out or save it to your desktop.

How to play: When you complete one of the tasks on the board, mark it out. When you've got Bingo, which is 5 completed squares in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line, share it with us @Atlassian using the hashtag #embraceremote. Can you fill in the whole board and get blackout?

For more on remote work, productivity, and getting it done with your team, subscribe to the Work Life newsletter.

Subscribe to Work Life

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Make working from home fun (yes, really) - Work Life by Atlassian

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Remote work can be exhausting if you don't have the right habits. It's hard to stay motivated without the buzz of the office around you. It's easy to work too much and forget to take essential breaks. Of course, you've read up on work from home tips and tricks, but why not have a little fun gamifying your work from home experience?

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Rethinking Family Engagement During School Closures | Teaching Tolerance

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Rethinking Family Engagement During School Closures

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Taking time to check assumptions about family engagement can make a huge difference in the lives of your students and their caregivers.

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How to Help Your Kids Handle Disappointment | Child Mind Institute

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Among the many painful effects of the coronavirus pandemic on children is the distress of losing the chance to participate in important events - sports playoffs, significant birthdays, school plays and graduations, or that big family trip to Disney World.

As the crisis goes on, even missing out on regular day-to-day activities, like sleepovers or going out for pizza, continues to be upsetting for many kids. And with summer on the horizon and kids wondering whether camp and other activities will be possible, the situation is getting tougher. Adults are going through some of the same kinds of difficulties, but they often have plenty of experience processing such challenges. Kids, on the other hand, may be experiencing these intense emotions for the first time.

Click here to see all resources related to the coronavirus crisis.

"The disappointments are huge," says Madeline Levine, PhD, author of Ready or Not: Preparing Our Kids to Thrive in an Uncertain World. "We weren't prepared for this, and we need to be incredibly compassionate."

The specific letdowns will vary from child to child, as will their ability to cope with them, but experts in child development agree that the basic tools for managing disappointment are largely the same across age groups.

Listen and Validate

As parents, our first impulse is often to try to fix problems for our children. But there's no way to fix our current reality. What you can do is listen to and acknowledge children's frustration and disappointment, says Carey Werley, LCSW, a clinical social worker at the Child Mind Institute. Werley points out that drilling down on the specifics of what your child is most disappointed about is helpful.

"We may make some assumptions about what it is about each event," she says. "We may be thinking that, for example, it's the prom experience in general that a teenager is upset about, but for one kid, it might be the prom photos that they're not going to get to do. For another, it might be the prom dress, or the prom outfit, or the prom activity. So, it's important to really listen ... and meet them where they're at."

It's also important to avoid judging their reactions. Being upset about not getting a prom dress might sound silly to us, but invalidating the pain that our children are feeling (by telling them it's not a big deal, for example) will only make them feel more isolated. What's more, focusing on the dress might be a way for your child to process bigger feelings - like fear and sadness around the crisis in general - that they can't quite confront yet.

Instead, emphasize that you hear your child and express your support for how they're handling this. This situation is genuinely challenging for all of us, and your kids are no exception. Reassure them that even though we don't know what the future holds, you're proud of them for dealing with the loss of things that were important to them.

Provide Perspective

Kids, especially younger ones, don't have the perspective adults have as a result of having lived through our share of disappointments. Instead, children may see things in black and white. "So, a kid might be feeling, 'Oh my god, this is never going to end. I'm never going to go back to school,'" says Lindsay Gerber, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute.

Again, validating this fear is a good place to start, especially under these unprecedented circumstances. "Saying, 'You know, I hear it feels like for you like it's never going to end, and I agree that it can be really hard not knowing when school will start again." Avoid false reassurances - you don't want to give your child unrealistic ideas about what the future will hold, since right now we just don't know when things like school will resume (or what they'll look like when they do).

At the same time, Werley adds that it's reasonable to emphasize to kids that, while we don't know when or how it will happen, eventually our current circumstances will change. They will see friends again and enjoy the activities they are missing right now -even though things are changing, there's still a lot to look forward to. You might share your own past experiences of change and uncertainty, including how you dealt with those challenges and what the results were.

Also, it's probably best to avoid giving young kids a lot of information that will only increase their anxiety, says Dr. Levine. "So, you know, if they ask why are we not seeing Grandma this week, reassure them that you'll see her as soon as you can. Don't say 'we can't see her this week because she's in a very high risk group for coronavirus.'"

Seek Solutions

You can't change the fact that your child's 10 th birthday party is not going to play out as it was supposed to, or that graduation isn't happening in the high school auditorium as planned or you won't be going to a baseball game this summer. But as the pandemic continues, people are becoming increasingly creative at compensating for these losses. Virtual birthday parties and graduations can be celebrated using one of the numerous video chatting apps - or if your daughter is missing being on the soccer team, you might suggest she use this time to practice her skills in the back yard, so she'll be ready to go when things eventually resume. Games held in empty arenas can be streamed together with friends.

Werley also suggests reminding kids that they're not alone in all of this, which may be comforting. "Everybody who plays sports is missing out on the spring season," she says. "And all the graduating classes of 2020 are going through the same thing at the same time." You can also encourage your child to talk about what they're going through with their friends - bonding with peers over their shared disappointment can help kids put things in perspective and maybe even strengthen friendships.

Give Them a Sense of Control

By far the hardest and scariest part of this pandemic is that we have no control-over when school will re-open, for example, or what the summer will look like. But we do have some control over how our days look and what would make them easier to tolerate.

Working with your child to plan out their days is one way to give them a sense of control over what's happening. How do they want to spend their free time? What projects might they enjoy digging into? Many kids will even get excited about giving input into meal planning or household chores. Having a sense of purpose and knowing that you value their ideas can make even disappointing situations a lot easier for children to bear. Plus, having children's buy-in when it comes to daily tasks and schedules can make parents' lives easier, too.

You can also model coping behavior by telling your child what your go-to coping skills are and helping them come up with some of their own, Dr. Levine says. You and your child are already demonstrating coping skills every day, just by getting out of bed and going through your days as a family. Ask yourself: what are the tools that help you and your child do this? For you, maybe it's checking in with extended family, cooking meals you enjoy, or taking care of pets.

Coping might look similar for your kids, or they might use their own particular skills. Maybe they value watching a funny movie at the end of the day, or having their favorite flavor of ice cream, or writing their feelings down in a journal. "Talk about the box of coping skills you have [and then ask them] 'What helps you the most?'"

Have Faith in Them

While the disappointments related to the coronavirus criris are on a much bigger scale than the ones we all experience in normal life, the fact is that kids have to learn how to live with disappointment, says Dr. Levine.

Remind your kids of things they've tolerated before, she says, whether it was not being cast in the school play, getting a lower-than-expected grade, or losing a big game. Let them know that even though this situation is different, they can use some of the same skills to get through it.

"Ideally, it's a succession of small disappointments," says Dr. Levine. "I was talking to a girl who can't visit her college and has to make a choice about whether to commit. And she's feeling kind of lost. She's being introduced to a sort of adult disappointment at 18, not at 24, and in the best possible world, that wouldn't happen. But that is what's happening. I think that being introduced to adult issues a little earlier is not the end of the world."

Hopefully this experience will make that muscle of tolerating disappointment more robust, says Dr. Levine. "I think that's the message that parents need to be aware of, which is some iteration of, 'I think you can handle this. I know it's really hard, but you got this.'"

Click here to see all resources related to the coronavirus crisis.

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How to Help Your Kids Handle Disappointment | Child Mind Institute

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Among the many painful effects of the coronavirus pandemic on children is the distress of losing the chance to participate in important events - sports playoffs, significant birthdays, school plays and graduations, or that big family trip to Disney World.

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Quarantine Blues: If You're Feeling Lonely, Here Are 5 Ways To Stay Connected : Shots - Health News : NPR

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We are social creatures. So it's no surprise that quarantine fatigue has begun to set in.

"Humans are wired to come together physically," says psychologist Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University. But, loneliness has become widespread in modern life. And, social distancing has just exacerbated the problem, Moskowitz says.

Social connection is essential to our well-being, since prolonged isolation can increase the risk of depression and anxiety, says Dr. Sandro Galea of Boston University's School of Public Health. "We know from other events, the longer the isolation, the more risk," Galea says.

Social distancing recommendations will remain in place for months to come, and until there's a vaccine, limits on big gatherings will likely continue. For the elderly or those who live alone, the isolation can be particularly grueling. But, people are finding new ways to interact with each other, even under extraordinary circumstances.

Here are some strategies to connect with others.

Note: If you're feeling persistent sadness or anxiety that interferes with day-to-day life, consider seeing a therapist (which you can do online, too).
1. Don't scroll, but do connect online, with real-time activities
When it comes to our emotional health, social media platforms can be a double-edged sword. Simply scrolling through a Facebook, TikTok or Instagram feed may not help you connect with other people in a meaningful way.

So instead of cultivating that empty FOMO (fear of missing out) feeling, use the power of virtual platforms to connect more intentionally, more deeply.

Start by asking yourself: What matters to you? Do you have a hobby you'd like to resurrect, or take up for the first time? A whole world of online, live-streamed classes has opened up, from ceramics to languages to bread-making. Always wanted to play the banjo? "Find a banjo class," says Judith Moskowitz, a psychologists at Northwestern University.

The face-to-face, real time connections allow us to pick up on facial expressions and body language to better simulate real-world gatherings. A live, synchronous class, Moskowitz says, "is one way to get to know people and to broaden your social network."

Outside of classes, if you use social media to stay in touch with friends, instead of just commenting on posts, make the effort to interact one-on-one, says Joe Walther, who directs the Center for Information Technology & Society at the University of California Santa Barbara. "It's the intimacy of the messages, and the depth of the interactive conversation that will sustain us," he says.
2. Making art is a social act: Express yourself and share.
Looking for a place to connect with others who use art to express themselves? The UnLonely Project has created a community through its Stuck At Home Together initiative. You can watch a short film, then participate in an online conversation. You can view others' art or share your own. And for motivation to get started, the group has designed creative challenges, like crafting a self-portrait from objects around the house.

The group behind these initiatives includes physicians and researchers who document how the creative processes can help people maintain good health and fend off disease. "When you make art, you are in the moment - you are with [your] thoughts and feelings," says Jeremy Nobel, who founded the program and is also on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.

And by sharing what you create, it's as if you're sharing a "representation of your thoughts and feelings, whether it's a painting, a poem, a baked good, or a garden," Nobel says.

He says loneliness isn't just about lacking companionship. "Often loneliness starts with a sense of estrangement or disconnection from who you are. How do you fit into the world?" Nobel says.

Art can be very powerful for centering and positioning - a way to explore your own identity. "And I actually believe for many people, that's an essential first step to connecting with other people in an authentic way," Nobel says.
3. Reach out to the elderly
For many elderly people, social distancing has brought layers of challenges. "It's not just the lack of contact with others," says physician Kelli Tice Wells who is a senior medical director at health insurer Florida Blue. It's also "not being able to navigate things that can be critical to your life" such as on-line grocery shopping or getting prescriptions, Wells says.

Florida Blue now offers virtual companionship and assistance to seniors through a program called Papa Pals, which matches elderly adults with younger people, who are paid to provide assistance.

Miriam Membreno, of Miami, Fla., who is trained as a social worker, recently started working as a Papa Pal, after her hours at her regular job were cut short. She meets with a few elderly people virtually.

"I do feel like I'm helping them be less lonely," Membreno says. She says sometimes they just want to share stories, and she likes to listen. Other times, during a virtual visit, she says, they share worries that they have bottled up. "Just having those stress and concerns released," is worthwhile, she says.

Another program for seniors, Live a Dream, collects video montages to brighten a senior's day. Young people can submit a short video to share. You can tell a joke, play an instrument, or just give some encouraging words.

There are numerous efforts to connect elderly people in senior living facilities with younger people around the country. Check with local groups to find one where you live.
4. Become a citizen-scholar, a online tutor, or assistant to the visually impaired: Find your way to volunteer, virtually
As many community organizations struggle to keep up with rising needs and shrinking budgets, volunteer options - even contactless ones - abound.

Does the idea of becoming a citizen scholar sound intriguing? The Smithsonian has digital volunteer opportunities. For instance, "citizen scholars are invited to transcribe historic documents including diaries and working papers of prominent Americans," according to the Smithsonian website. To get involved, you can check out the Smithsonian Transcription Center.
5. Keep friendships alive, with small acts of kindness
Or, you could help people with low-vision, a program called Be My Eyes, is an app that connects people who are blind or have low-vision with volunteers who offer virtual assistance.

VolunteerMatch, a database of volunteer opportunities has a searchable site for virtual volunteering, with thousands of postings around the country, calling for all kinds of skills from tutoring kids to making face masks. Find more options on Idealist.org.

Sometimes, a small gesture can help you reconnect. Even though we can't bake together, think about dropping off some cookies to a friend. Ask your neighbor if you can pick up some grocery items for them on your next trip. Organize a puzzle or game swap.

During these strange and difficult times, "you can feel like you're really depleted and you have nothing to give," says Judith Moskowitz. "But just a simple act of helping someone else out comes back and bolsters you as well," she says. An act of kindness can lift our spirits. "And that really feels good."
Elena Renken contributed to this report.
Look for creative ways to nourish your friendships, like working through a cookbook together, or watching movies together, suggests Lydia Denworth, author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond. And don't miss the opportunity for small touch points throughout the day: Even sharing a joke over text can make you feel less alone, she says.

"Friendship is critical in times of stress - that's what friendship is for," Denworth says.

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Too Much Alone Time? Tips To Connect And Find Joy While Social Distancing

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We are social creatures. So it's no surprise that quarantine fatigue has begun to set in. "Humans are wired to come together physically," says psychologist Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University. But, loneliness has become widespread in modern life. And, social distancing has just exacerbated the problem, Moskowitz says.

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Self Care for ADHD Brains in a Quarantine

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Self care is important for ADHD brains, we know. But in normal times, it is also easy to ignore or delay. During the quarantine, with stress and anxiety pushing in from all sides, ADDitude readers are finding new resolve and new ways to practice self care through connections, therapy, gardening, exercise, and more. Learn about their strategies for maintaining psychological health here.

Senior Woman Potting Plant In Garden At Home

Jobs have been lost. Graduations cancelled. Parents left to balance remote work and distance schooling. There isn't one right way to handle these pandemic-related challenges, but many ADDitude readers are harnessing the power of self care to get through this time.

Recently, we asked, "How are you nurturing your and your family's mental and emotional wellness during this time? What have you been doing for self-care?" Our readers' tips range from daily exercise to driving around the neighborhood for "date night." Here are 11 self care strategies that are working for other ADHD families right now.

1. Connecting with Loved Ones

"My husband and I drive by our parent's and children's homes and do 'porch drops' of items they need. We can at least chat from the car and see the grandchildren. It helps keep our spirits up."

" We talk about events and news. We also made a COVID-19 time capsule - trying to give our children the ability to share their concerns is healthy."

"My husband and I have been going on drives around the neighborhood for 'dates' a couple times a week to connect without the kids."
[Use This Free Guide to ADHD Coping Mechanisms]
"We try to do one family activity most nights of the week to help build positive memories and experiences together. We switch off who gets to decide what we are doing so everyone gets a choice."

"I live alone, but I have tried to videotape myself reading to my grandchildren and sending it to them."

2. Pursuing Therapy for Coping Skills

"I have increased my telehealth appointments to once a week (from twice a month), and I have been practicing Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)."

"I have started going back to therapy (virtually) for the first time in years! I have the flexibility to schedule appointments since my time is less structured, and I realized I had no reason not to start finding better coping skills."
[Use This Free Resource To Make Mindfulness Work for You]
3. Spending Time Outside in Nature

"I've started a container garden outside my apartment. It's soothing to water all of the baby plants, and absorb some sunshine while I'm at it."

"We've bought a fire pit for our backyard and do nearly daily fires and star gazing when weather permits."

"We are 'staying at home' out of doors: doing yard work, planting gardens, and expanding our growing landscape. We are feeding birds, planting pollinator seeds, chasing squirrels, and watching deer and smaller critters."

"I am focusing on growing my vegetables and it's so rewarding. Nature keeps moving on and it's not held back by the virus."

4. Experimenting with Cooking and Trying New Recipes

"I've been cooking in bulk because I find it a struggle to cook most days unless I'm full of energy or hyper-focused. Freezing meal portions and taking them out as needed has been great for my partner and me."

"We've been eating fresh, home-cooked meals three times a day."

"We purchased an Instant Pot and an Air Fryer, which has led to doing lots of experimenting with recipes with my daughter."

5. Exercise for Structure and Endorphins

"We exercise every day, beginning the day with 20 minutes of yoga/pilates/HIIT. Then we do meditation and three gratitude breaths, followed by one good intention breath."

"We have been finding it absolutely vital to exercise every day. We take the dog out together in the morning and then either run or do circuits later in the day."

"Family exercise activities have greatly helped (we love catching the live streaming's of Dance Church, which is a great cardio workout disguised as a dance party)."

"My son who has ADHD plays basketball in the house with his older brother using a mini basketball and two clothes hampers at either end of our hallway. He also counts the activity toward his gym requirements."

6. Sewing Masks for Family and Healthcare Workers

"I dusted off my sewing machine and started making fabric masks for myself and some co-workers (and my family) using fun fabrics like Avengers and Star Wars."

"Sewing masks and scrub caps for people has been very rewarding."

7. Using Apps For Mindfulness

"I have been more active in mindfulness and emotional well-being apps like Happify. I spend more time doing the modules and really paying attention to how I am answering and progressing through them."

"We try to listen to mindfulness apps like Insight Timer."

"I'm using my Calm app for meditation and to help me sleep."

8. Actively Practice Mindfulness

"Look for the positive and shun the negative. Promote wellness and find ways to deflect unhealthy thinking and redirect conversations and activities into positive motivational teaching moments."

"I've been taking time to think more deeply about the things that bring me joy and am beginning to develop a plan for what I want my life to look like moving forward, including changes I can make in the immediate."

"I started a bullet journal to help me keep track of my daily goals but also to draw and doodle and let my mind wander."

9. Practice Setting Boundaries

"I'm setting boundaries for myself: instead of compromising, I have prioritized doing what I know is best for me."

"I've been practicing say no - this has been a big problem in the past, but I'm learning it is not selfish to take care of yourself."

"I'm giving myself the freedom to not "be perfect". It's okay that I'm having a hard time, and I can acknowledge and accept that."

"I am trying to go easy on myself and let the kids have chill time when they ask for it, otherwise it just back fires."

"We are taking days off and being careful to consume media that is beautiful and uplifting, not just news or video games."

"I'm taking time to just be without pressure to perform. If stuff doesn't get done today, it's ok. It will get done later and I don't need to berate myself for not meeting my perfectionist expectations."

10. Cleaning and Getting Organized

"I've been going through my apartment and cleaning out or organizing different spaces that I see everyday and tell myself - it will only take a couple of minutes to do. After I am finished, I feel a sense of accomplishment from making home a place that I want to be at."

"Keeping a calm and collected house (keeping it tidy and clean) has helped with my family's sense of normalcy."

"Even though I can't remove anything from the house at the moment, I've begun going through the Kon Mari method to winnow down my possessions in preparation for my Dad moving in with us."

11. Sleep More and When You Please

"Go to sleep early and don't set an alarm clock. Get up when your body tells you to."

"I am getting plenty of rest by going to bed when I please and getting up when I please."
[Read This Next: Pandemic Stress Has Upended Life. Maybe an ADHD Coach Can Help.]
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Updated on May 18, 2020

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Self Care for ADHD Brains in a Quarantine

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Self care is important for ADHD brains, we know. But in normal times, it is also easy to ignore or delay. During the quarantine, with stress and anxiety pushing in from all sides, ADDitude readers are finding new resolve and new ways to practice self care through connections, therapy, gardening, exercise, and more.

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The COVID-19 pandemic is an epidemiological crisis, but also a psychological one. While the situation provokes anxiety, stress and sadness, it is also a time of collective sorrow, says Sherry Cormier, PhD, a psychologist retired from private practice who now focuses on grief training and mentoring. "It's important that we start recognizing that we're in the middle of this collective grief. We are all losing something now."

Many people are confronting the loss of a loved one to the novel coronavirus-a challenge made even more difficult by physical distancing orders that prevent them from saying goodbye in person or gathering with others to mourn. Deaths aren't the only losses that people are reckoning with, however. Millions of people are facing loss of employment and financial upheaval as a result of the pandemic. Yet even people who haven't lost anything so concrete as a job or a loved one are grieving, Cormier says. "There is a communal grief as we watch our work, health-care, education and economic systems-all of these systems we depend on-destabilize," she says.

The crisis isn't just shaking our faith in those systems. It's upending our understanding of the world around us, says Robert Neimeyer, PhD, director of the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition and professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Memphis. "The losses include our sense of predictability, control, justice, and the belief that we can protect our children or elderly loved ones," he says.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists will play a key role in helping people manage the many losses they're mourning, Neimeyer adds. "We'll have an immense challenge as a profession, but also a vast opportunity to help people address these elements of suffering."

Grieving a living loss

Research from the bereavement literature shows that the nature of a person's attachments has an effect on their grief reactions. Of course, we aren't only attached to other humans, Neimeyer says. "We're capable of losing places, projects, possessions, professions and protections, all of which we may be powerfully attached to," he says. "This pandemic forces us to confront the frailty of such attachments, whether it's to our local bookstore or the routines that sustain us through our days."

Many of the losses we're experiencing now are so-called ambiguous losses. "These lack the clarity and definition of a single point like a death," Neimeyer explains. That fuzziness can make it hard to move forward. As the pandemic has evolved, people have had to confront a series of losses: the loss of a sense of safety, of social connections and personal freedoms, of jobs and financial security. Going forward, people will experience new losses we can't yet predict. "We're talking about grieving a living loss-one that keeps going and going," he says.

We don't only grieve for what's missing, but also for the ways in which those losses affect our senses of self, says George Bonanno, PhD, a psychologist who heads the Loss, Trauma, and Emotion Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University. "You can experience grief over anything that feels like a loss of identity." Research shows, for instance, that losing a job can trigger a period of prolonged grief distinct from anxiety or depression. That prolonged grief seems to be related to the impacts of job loss on self-esteem and belief in a just world (Papa, A., & Maitoza, R., Journal of Loss and Trauma, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2013).

Though grief is difficult, it helps to recognize that it's natural and useful, Bonanno says. "Grief is really about turning inward and recalibrating, and thinking: 'This is not the way the world is anymore, and I need to adapt,'" he says. "It's okay to feel grief over what we're losing. When we do that, it allows us to let grief do its job, so that we can move on."

His research suggests that once a crisis has passed, most people are able to bounce back and move on with their lives. Grief is also transient, even when we're in the midst of its clutches. People should expect to fluctuate between moments of sadness and mourning, and moments of acceptance or even happiness, he says. "People who cope well with loss usually move in and out of those states. It's OK to allow yourself to be distracted and entertained, and even to laugh."

It helps to 'name and claim' our grief

With almost the whole world confronting losses large and small, how can people cope as they mourn their pre-pandemic lives? For starters, mental health providers can help patients "name it and claim it," Neimeyer says. "People often have a vague sense of anxiety or wordless suffering. We can help them wrap language around that," he explains. "We can ask people to consider what they're losing in the context of this pandemic, what they can do to strengthen those ties." It's not a fatalistic view, he says. Rather, it's an organized way of taking action to help people cope with their losses, from jobs and relationships to sources of self-worth and self-efficacy.

Cormier suggests people keep journals to put words to losses and to help identify ways to move forward. As the work of psychologist James Pennebaker, PhD, at the University of Texas at Austin, has shown, writing about emotional upheavals can improve both physical and mental health (Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2018). "Name what you're losing, individually and collectively, and write about your personal strengths and coping skills," Cormier suggests. "Most of us have never been through anything like this, but we've been through other challenging transitions. It can help to write about how you got through a divorce, or losing your job, or other challenging transitions. How did you heal and recover?"

Social support is another well-established tool that can be critical in helping move on from grief, instead of getting stuck in it. That poses a problem in an age of physical distancing, when people are isolated in their homes away from loved ones. "During this time, there may be an erosion of social support and the meaningful social roles that buttress our identities," Neimeyer says.

Psychologists can encourage people to stay connected with their social support networks through phone calls, text messages, video chat and social media. And those reminders should continue even after we emerge from isolation, says Erika Felix, PhD, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who treats and studies survivors of trauma and disasters. "One thing we've learned from disasters is the ongoing importance of social supports. The lesson is to keep checking in on people, and keep the support going even after this period of lockdown ends," she says. "For some people, the stress will continue after quarantine ends, especially if their jobs or relationships are affected."

Saying goodbye in the age of physical distancing

While we're mourning the loss of our pre-pandemic lives, many people will also face the grim task of mourning the deaths of friends or family members. Whether it's sitting shiva, lining up for a New Orleans-style jazz procession or sharing a meal with loved ones after a secular memorial service, cultures and customs around the world share a key element of mourning: social connection. In the age of COVID-19, physical distancing is driving a wedge in those moments of connection.

"One of the most time-tested ways of coping with grief is to practice social connection, to be with other mourners. Now, we may be having to cope with grief and sorrow alone, socially isolated, where we don't get the physical comfort we need from friends and family," says Cormier. "We're having to figure out new systems and new rituals for trying to honor death when everything else around us is shifting."

The act of saying goodbye to a loved one often begins well before a funeral or burial. For many people, the days and hours at the end of a loved one's life are especially poignant. "Normally, we can hold a loved one's hand, have meaningful conversations, affirm the bond, make amends," says Neimeyer. "When we are able to practice these things, it softens the blow of loss."

With strict isolation measures in place in most hospitals, people are missing out on those final farewells. That's true when people die from COVID-19, but also from more familiar causes such as heart attacks or cancer. While critical to slowing the spread of the disease, those measures also make it hard for mourners to come together to grieve. Some people have begun filling that void with virtual shiva and funerals, but technology is an imperfect substitute for an in-person embrace. "Being in close physical proximity with friends or other mourners helps us produce feel-good hormones like oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin," Cormier says.

When people aren't physically present to say goodbye and grieve with other mourners, they may be more likely to experience a sense of ambiguous loss, she adds. "With an ambiguous loss, it's very hard to get closure. There's often a lot of frustration and helplessness, because people feel disempowered," she says. "The question becomes, how can we construct new rituals to help us cope with death and dying for this situation that we're in right now? We're facing the question of needing to find some new way for honoring the dying process and also coping with our grief. And we might have to look to psychologists, along with faith leaders and others, to find those new mechanisms."

Prolonged grief disorder

Such difficult circumstances may increase the odds that a bereaved person will develop complicated grief, also known as prolonged grief disorder, says Neimeyer. Prolonged grief is an intense grief that is distinct from depression. The DSM-5 favors the term "persistent complex bereavement disorder," defined as prolonged grief lasting at least 12 months. A proposed addition to the forthcoming ICD-11 defines prolonged grief as lasting at least six months. Though those diagnostic criteria disagree on the timepoint at which grief becomes prolonged, they agree on the key feature of the condition: grief that endures and interferes with normal functioning. "It keeps going and going like the old Energizer bunny," Neimeyer says.

Prolonged grief is marked by persistent longing and sadness for the deceased, and a sense of disbelief or inability to accept the loss, as M. Katherine Shear, MD, at Columbia University, has described. Without treatment, prolonged grief increases the risk of substance use, sleep disorders, impaired immune functioning and suicidal thinking (New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 372, No. 2, 2015).

Over the past decade, researchers have learned a lot about prolonged or complicated grief, Neimeyer says. Risk factors include social isolation, attachment insecurity, anxiety and experiencing a loss that is sudden and inexplicable. "The circumstances under which deaths are now occurring, with plenty of unresolved relational issues, represent a perfect storm for producing complicated grief," he says.

Depression and anxiety can coexist with prolonged grief, and pharmacological treatments can sometimes help address those co-occurring symptoms. But for prolonged grief disorder itself, psychotherapy is the gold standard. Shear, for instance, found that adding an antidepressant to her complicated grief treatment did not improve symptoms of prolonged grief (JAMA Psychiatry, Vol. 73, No. 7, 2016). "The core of complicated grief is unaffected by pharmacotherapies. The only evidence-based treatment is psychological," Neimeyer says.

Psychology can embrace its purpose

Even after the COVID-19 crisis has subsided, many people will continue to struggle with grief and trauma for some time, says Felix. "As things return to normal, most of us will also return to a kind of normal, albeit changed by going through this experience. But there is a subset of people who will be chronically disrupted and will need support," she says.

Psychologists may have to build their expertise on grief and trauma to meet that need, through continuing education in areas such as disaster mental health, psychological first aid and trauma-focused therapies, Felix adds. "When working with people who have experienced trauma, it's important to know your strengths and to know what you can and can't do."

Unfortunately, grief and loss are given cursory attention in many psychology training programs, Neimeyer says. "Few of us have any serious training for dealing with grief and loss. Deepening competencies around treating grief will need to be a priority of many psychologists for years to come."

But the field is up to the challenge, he adds. "One thing about crisis is that it can galvanize creativity and commitment," he says. "Psychology has a purpose and direction in this crisis that is quite clear. We can retreat from it, or we can embrace that moment."

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The COVID-19 pandemic is an epidemiological crisis, but also a psychological one. While the situation provokes anxiety, stress and sadness, it is also a time of collective sorrow, says Sherry Cormier, PhD, a psychologist retired from private practice who now focuses on grief training and mentoring.

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Parenting children with chronic disease during COVID

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Acknowledge and discuss concerns

It is essential to talk to children about their concerns in a caring and supportive way. Ask questions about what they are thinking and how they're feeling about COVID-19 Provide basic information in a matter-of-fact way that is appropriate to your child's developmental level. Try to avoid frightening or inflammatory language.

Establish a plan with your medical professional

The risks of experiencing severe illness from COVID-19 for both adults and children with chronic conditions are genuine. It is crucial to have a clear understanding of your child's risk and your provider's recommendations for precautions to take to protect your family.

Limit media coverage

Research has shown that repeated exposure to news coverage can be very distressing for children. Teens may have interest in watching the news, but limit it to once a day. View a reputable news source and talk afterward about what they may have heard and their reactions to the reports.

Provide healthy distractions

While screen time has increased for everyone, having a list of go-to activities your child can do to stay busy during downtime is important. Try to vary screen time with bursts of physical and creative activities, like craft projects or indoor games.

Maintain a routine

Routines give children a sense of security and predictability; both compromised during the pandemic. Their routine should include regular mealtimes with healthy food choices, physical activity, work time, playtime and sleep.

Inject fun and joyful moments into each day

Amidst all the bad news and distress, it is important to laugh and have fun. Try throwing an impromptu dance party, cooking a new recipe, baking together, playing as a family outside, creating art together or pulling out old board games. Brainstorm ideas with your child based upon his/her preferences.

Provide developmentally appropriate ways to process negative thoughts and emotions

Younger children may benefit from reading books about COVID-19 (see the additional resources listed below), creating art and playing with themed materials, like a play doctor kit and mask. These activities allow them to express their feelings. Older children may want to keep a journal, use art supplies or complete workbook activities. Teens need opportunities to talk to peers and trusted adults about what is happening and how it is impacting their lives.

Seek professional support

Many children are experiencing increased irritability, worry, sadness, loneliness, acting out behaviors, family conflicts, sleep difficulties and changes in eating habits. For patients with chronic conditions, this may impact their medical regimen. Mental health professionals can help families work through these issues and develop healthy coping skills. Many psychologists now offer telemedicine visits via phone or computer, so do not hesitate to seek support.

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Parenting children with chronic disease during COVID

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It is essential to talk to children about their concerns in a caring and supportive way. Ask questions about what they are thinking and how they're feeling about COVID-19 Provide basic information in a matter-of-fact way that is appropriate to your child's developmental level. Try to avoid frightening or inflammatory language.

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Browse our free, downloadable activities. Download, print, and go!

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Browse our free, downloadable activities. Download, print, and go! This website uses JavaScript to apply discounts. To be eligible for discounts, please enable JavaScript for your browser.

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Helping Seniors Cope During COVID-19 - Beverly Hills Therapy Group

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Spring for high school and college Seniors usually means experiencing the delight of "senioritis", experiencing the remaining time you have with your friends for the last few weeks before graduation. It's also a time of many major life events such as prom, graduation parties and ceremonies, and other local traditions. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many high school and college seniors are missing out on what they imagined being one of the most memorable times of their lives.

While school continues online for many and the ability to connect with friends via video chat platforms keeps us somewhat connected, it's not the same experience seniors were expecting. If you're a student, or the parent of a student, this is a difficult time. We've compiled a list of ways to help cope with having a senior year ended abruptly.

Allow for Grieving
Seniors are grieving their senior year being cut short, as well as the life milestones that are a part of this time. Parents should be sensitive to the loss their child is likely experiencing. Try to show empathy to your child and acknowledge their feelings.

Parents should allow themselves to grieve as well. After all, you may be missing out on the opportunity to see your child walk across the stage or take prom photos on the front lawn. It's OK to be sad about losing these experiences from the standpoint of the parent as well. Be mindful of projecting your emotions onto your child, however.
Check In
Let your child take the lead on having conversations about their feelings during this time. Ask them if they need anything, but don't force the conversation. Just let them know that if they'd like to chat, you're available to listen. You cannot fix what is happening, but you can always have an open ear.

Many seniors may have anxiety about "what's next?". Will they start school in the Fall? Will they be able to find a job in the current market? These feelings are normal and should be validated. Remind them to shift their focus on what they can control in their lives and help them envision how they will be able to celebrate and move forward in the future.
Encourage Routine and Connectivity
Having a regular routine, even if your child isn't completing any school work, is important for mental health for all of us during this time. Be flexible with them on creating a "schedule" for themselves, but encourage them to find time to be active each day, complete a task, or schedule times to virtually meet with loved ones and friends.

Young adults also need to lean on their friends. Encourage them to stay connected to their friends virtually with online activities, group chats, or even virtually watching movies together.
Be Creative
There are many ways you can still celebrate your senior if they'd like to do so (check with them first). You could have a small party with everyone who is self-isolating in your home, or have a mini-graduation via zoom in your backyard.

Consider different ways you can mark the occasion and go all out!

If you, your senior, or anyone else you are aware of is struggling, reach out to a friend, family member, or mental health professional. Remember that you are never alone. During this time, our office is providing Telehealth services in order to best serve you. Learn more here.

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There are many ways you can still celebrate your senior if they'd like to do so (check with them first). You could have a small party with everyone who is self-isolating in your home, or have a mini-graduation via zoom in your backyard.

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Coronavirus: Tips for Parenting Young Children | University Hospitals

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April 09, 2020

Parenting is, at times, challenging for many moms, dads and other caregivers. This is especially true in times of stress and upended routines, such as we're experiencing now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are tips from UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital licensed clinical psychologist Kimberly Burkhart, PhD, to help those who take care of young children.

Work with your child to identify activities that you can do together each day.

Possible options include stacking cups or blocks, building with blocks, coloring/drawing, baking/cooking, taking a walk, reading books, sharing pictures, exercising to your child's favorite music and playing board games or games like "I Spy" and "Hide 'n' Seek."

Set aside at least 15 minutes to spend individual time with your child each day.

Let your child lead the play. Avoid questions, criticisms and commands during this time.

Take multiple breaks from electronics together each day.

Look for ways to engage in tech-free fun like arts and crafts, physical activity or imagination play.

Keep a daily routine.

Get your child's input and give him/her a choice when there are options for ordering tasks.

Praise your child immediately and frequently.

Praise the positive opposite. For example, if you want your child to stop running, you should state, "Please use your walking feet, thanks." If you want your child to stop yelling, you should state, "Please use your inside voice, thanks." Take note of when they start the behavior you want to see and praise this immediately. Praising more often leads to quicker behavior change than using consequences.

Direct carefully.

Keep calm when giving directions. Give only one direction at a time. If your child is having difficulty, model the behavior you want to see.

Take exercise breaks.

Remember that it is hard for children to sit still. Exercise can even take place in the home. Possible exercises include jumping rope, jumping jacks, wall pushes and jogging in place.

Practice listening and reflecting back what you think your child is saying.

Listen carefully to what they are trying to tell you and repeat back to them what you heard to show you understand.

Use social and emotional coaching.

Label how you think your child is feeling. You do not have to agree, but your child benefits from knowing that you are trying to understand. Help your child to identify a problem and possible options. Coach your child on how to share with siblings.

Ignore minor misbehavior.

Redirect behavior before a problem presents.

Use consequences as a last resort.

If you praise often and frequently and ignore minor misbehavior, there should be little need to use consequences. When consequences are needed due to noncompliance about safety or because of aggression, time out and/or removal of a privilege can be used.

The general rule of thumb is that time out should be one minute for every year of age. For example, if the child is 5 years old then time out should last for five minutes.

Removal of a privilege is more effective for older children. Consequences should be short and opportunities to earn back the privilege should be given.

At this time when children are physically away from friends and peers, consider only taking away passive media time (like watching a movie) rather than taking away the ability to communicate with friends (such as texting or playing video games together).

Choose at least one relaxation activity per day.

Options of relaxation activities include deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, calm place visualization and mindfulness. Free relaxation apps can be downloaded to offer guided relaxation. Remember to be patient with yourself, engage in self-care and identify as a family one positive aspect to each day.

Related links

University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital has the region's largest coordinated network of pediatric primary care providers, committed to delivering the very best care to children of all ages. Find a pediatric practice near you.

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Coronavirus: Tips for Parenting Young Children

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April 09, 2020 Parenting is, at times, challenging for many moms, dads and other caregivers. This is especially true in times of stress and upended routines, such as we're experiencing now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are tips from UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital licensed clinical psychologist Kimberly Burkhart, PhD, to help those who take care of young children.

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Helping kids wear a face mask: Covid-19 - The Autism Helper

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Helping kids wear a face mask: Covid-19 - The Autism Helper

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Resources, tips, and materials to help you, help children with autism

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How couples can grow closer together amid COVID-19

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Mastering the art of communication is the most beneficial way to strengthen a relationship. (Photo: Getty Images)

Connecting with loved ones is hugely beneficial for our mental health, especially when we're experiencing something as stressful as a pandemic. But as many couples are sheltering-in-place and working from home, they're realizing that spending 24 hours a day, seven days a week together can be the ultimate relationship test.

Mastering the art of communication is the most beneficial way to strengthen a relationship. It's all about learning the best ways to communicate with each other.

Knowing the rule of two is also important: It takes two to ruin a relationship and two to save it. Both parties have to be willing to work together. Relationships are like muscles-they need to be strengthened every day or they get weakened. You don't just work out your right arm and leave out your left arm-both sides need to be invested.

Jay Weiss, M.A., LLP (Photo: Courtesy Henry Ford Health System)

Here are ways to enhance your relationship, and maybe have fun in the process.

1. Give each person a time out. After work (whether or not you're working from home) take turns letting each person have fifteen to 30 minutes of alone time. After saying hello, your partner should not engage with you at all. Change clothes, shower, take a nap-do whatever you need to do to decompress. Then give your partner a chance to do the same. Stress is cumulative and it builds up. If you don't have time apart, you might blow up and say something you don't mean.

2. Make quality time for each other. Having time together is equally important-and sitting around scrolling through Instagram doesn't count. Because you're together non-stop, it can be difficult to carve out dedicated time together. After the kids go to bed, change clothes and have a picnic in the kitchen, play a board game, pick a movie and cuddle on the couch.

3. Designate a safe space for honest communication. Choose a room of the house where you two can go to create a non-threatening, non-judgmental environment. Anything you say in this room should be taken genuinely, sincerely, and seriously.

4. Make sure you understand the message. Listen to the context of what your partner is saying. Take the word bow: it could refer to something to wrap a present with, something you play the violin with, a type of pasta, a way to exit a situation gracefully, the sound a dog makes, something you use to shoot an arrow. This three-letter word has several definitions, depending upon the context. Context is everything.

5. Remember that your partner isn't a mind reader. One of worst things you can say is, "I shouldn't have to tell you." Why shouldn't you have to tell them? The more explicit you are, the better.

6. Know that intimacy can be shown in many ways. Have a romantic dinner or snack together, sneak kisses throughout the day, take a bath together. Anxiety can reduce sexual intimacy, so if your partner is feeling anxious, hold hands, give them a massage-small gestures can really help. Let that person know you're there for them. It's not always about making love-sometimes we can gain emotional and passionate connections in other ways.

7. Divide chores equally. I often recommend making a grid and assigning household chores based upon who is better at what, or who enjoys doing certain chores more than others. After the chores are dispersed, you have to actually let your partner do them. One of the most common arguments I hear regarding the household is how to load the dishwasher. One person will stop loading it because they were constantly told they weren't doing it correctly. Sometimes they feel they'll be disparaged.

8. Validate the other person's feelings. Never dismiss how someone feels-always acknowledge them first. Then you can explain or question. Validating doesn't mean you agree, it means saying, "I'm sorry you feel that way." It's letting them know that their feelings are real, and that you didn't realize you were hurting them.

9. Don't always try to solve your partner's problems. Sometimes we just need a listening ear. And if that's the case, let that person know. Say, "all I need is a bobble head right now-I don't need you to solve anything, I just need to vent."

10. Dating someone new? Let your relationship dictate milestone moments, not the virus. If this is a person you'd like to live with and spend time with, that should be why you should do so. If you cook caramel too quickly, you'll burn it. If you rush things, you could ruin it. If you shelter-in-place separately, date virtually through video chat or watch a movie together while on the phone. You can keep the relationship going in other ways. Forcing something too early ends up putting more pressure on it.

The overarching theme here: Don't overthink it. We make so much extra work for ourselves. There's an acronym called KISS, which stands for "keep it simple, stupid." At the end of the day, we just have to let people know what our needs are.
Want more advice from Henry Ford experts? Subscribe today to the Henry Ford LiveWell health and wellness blog to receive weekly emails of our latest tips. Jay Weiss, M.A., LLP, is a certified health and wellness coach and an employee assistance program therapist at Henry Ford Health System. Members of the editorial and news staff of the USA TODAY Network were not involved in the creation of this content.
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How couples can grow closer together amid COVID-19

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Mastering the art of communication is the most beneficial way to strengthen a relationship. (Photo: Getty Images) Connecting with loved ones is hugely beneficial for our mental health, especially when we're experiencing something as stressful as a pandemic.

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21 SPD Exercises and Sensory Toys for Children in Quarantine

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Children with sensory processing disorder may bristle and bolt at loud noises, pick their skin, and even bump into and fall over things. They may also want to wrestle all the time. Use these sensory-friendly, OT-approved activities and sensory toys to help them manage their senses at home right now.

Father Pushing Daughter On Garden Swing At Home

Children with sensory processing disorder (SPD) may feel things intensely - or not at all. They may be hypersensitive to noise, fluorescent lighting, cafeteria smells, and new movement. Or they may feel their senses are muted and physically seek out stimulation - playing rough, bouncing boundlessly, or touching everything and everyone all the time.

Understandably, these sensory challenges often interfere with learning, especially for students with SPD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who already battle impulsivity. At school, these students may work regularly - and in person - with an occupational therapist (OT). Right now, those services are either canceled, limited, or delivered using an online platform, which is not ideal.

However, during school closures and summer months, parents can make a difference by addressing their kids' sensory needs at home. Use the list below to incorporate sensory input in fun indoor and outdoor activities that will help your child achieve better focus and reduce unwanted sensory behavior.

What Your Child's OT Wants You to Know About Sensory Challenges

Sensory input allows us to experience the world more intimately through our emotions. Feeling comfort from a strong, reassuring hug or from petting a fluffy cat; crying during a movie with an evocative score; being drawn to the smell of freshly washed sheets.

Most brains have the ability to receive sensory input from the world, process it, and respond. But some brains have trouble organizing and responding to the information they receive from the senses. Children with these challenges may hurt a peer by squeezing them too tightly (stimulant-seeking) or jolt away and cry when a classmate touches their hand (stimulation-avoiding).
[Click To Read: How to Treat Sensory Processing Disorder]
Self-harming in response to a loud or bright environment or requiring extra verbal cues are also common manifestations of SPD, which frequently co-occurs with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and other developmental delays.

Gauging whether your child's behavior is sensory-seeking (needing extra squeezes and hugs) or sensory-avoiding (having a meltdown to avoid a handshake) can help you determine what type of activity to use. For example, a child who continually picks at or rips things may benefit from a paper-tearing activity; a texture-filled scavenger hunt can help a child with an aversion to touch by exposing them to how different objects feel.

Two Unfamiliar Senses and How They Impact Your Child

Sight, sound, hearing, taste, and touch. Everyone knows these five senses, but OTs also use sensory integration techniques to redirect problematic responses associated with the sixth and seventh senses involved with movement and balance: proprioception and the vestibular sense.

Proprioception, the sixth sense, has to do with understanding your body, recognizing your own strength, and knowing where the body parts are. Proprioception allows you to touch your ears when your eyes are closed and stand a safe distance from cars on a busy road. Receptors for this information are in the muscles and joints. Children with proprioceptive challenges misjudge how much force to use when picking up objects and may play too roughly with others. Some enjoy the feeling of pressure (like being squeezed) and may prefer wearing tight clothing.
[Could Your Child Have Sensory Processing Disorder? Take This Self-Test]
Clumsiness and bumping into things also cause safety concerns and may be signs of difficulty with balance - the seventh or vestibular sense. Fluid in the inner ear helps the brain detect motion and tells us how fast we're moving. It can be stimulated by changes in the head's position. Kids with challenges in this area may rock, spin, or tilt their heads frequently or avoid changes in position and move slowly to keep from getting dizzy.

The ideas below can give your child the sensory input they need to feel more in control of their body. Activities are grouped into three sensory areas. Incorporate as many as you can into your child's week on a regular basis or use them as needed during times of boredom, low energy, or distress.

Teach Touch Tolerance and Foster Tactile Awareness

If you notice your child obsessively touching objects or picking at their skin or hair, they are seeking tactile sensory stimulation. Offer these activities instead.

#1. Paint with your fingers. Break open the finger paint or use a large baking sheet to "paint" with shaving cream. (Substitute ranch dressing if your child can't stand the smell of those items.) Use this activity when your child shows sensory-seeking behavior.

#2. Explore sensory bins. Fill containers with rice, dried beans, or water beads. Mix in cheap, plastic toys, erasers in various sizes and shapes, or other objects for your child to feel for with the hands. Fill another container with different kinds of fidgets - small stretchy tubes, poppers, switches, pieces of fabric, squishy objects, or stress balls.

#3. Create a texture-filled scavenger hunt. Challenge your child to find three or more objects around the house. In Round One, they can seek soft items. In subsequent rounds, they can find sticky, hard, or rough items.

#4. Make bumpy play dough. Add beads or buttons to putty or playdough and have your child pull out the objects.
#5. Tear paper or rip apart Velcro.
#6. Play with water. Turn on the sprinkler. Break out the water guns or fill spray bottles (you can color the water with food coloring if your child isn't sensitive to dyes) and have water fights. Or, glide across the backyard on Slip'nSlide for classic outdoor fun.

#7. "Cook" with your hands. Make dough from flour, water, and salt. Knead it, roll it or form round "cookies" with it.

Use Muscles and Joints to Build Body Awareness

If your child is showing signs of irritation, low energy while playing with others, seeking hand or body squeezes, or bumping into things, they are looking for proprioceptive input - sensations from joints and muscles. These lifting, pushing, and pulling activities can help.

#8. Build an obstacle course indoors and/or out. Use a variety of furniture, mats, boxes, chairs, and other objects to create a dynamic course that requires running, jumping, moving, and lifting objects, using the body's weight, rolling, and balancing. Set time limits and goals, and get involved yourself to increase motivation.

#9. Exercise using their own body's weight 15 minutes at a time. Begin with a 5-minute warm-up, then complete a minimum of three sets, 10 reps of five or more exercises such as push-ups, planks, sit-ups, and wall squats. End with a few minutes of slower-paced moves to cool down. Encourage your child to do these workouts twice a day several times each week.

#10. Drop down to the floor and play. If floor mats aren't available, play using soft items such as pillows, mattresses, blankets, or soft furniture. Encourage coordination through climbing, jumping, moving, pushing, and rolling on, around, or through these items.

#11. Crawl like a spider. Imitating how animals move can be a great motivator during transition times. Challenge your child to climb like a cat. Move like a monkey. Or call out different animals and have your child show you how they move.

#12. Play with pillows. Have an old-fashioned pillow fight or get inside the pillowcase and have a sack race across your playroom. Body socks are another form of sensory-stimulating fun.

#13. Give body massages at least once a day. Focus on the arms, legs, and back and use different levels of pressure to foster greater awareness of body parts.

#14. Use weighted products. Weighted blankets, vests, or shoulder straps can be useful during stationary tasks or when making transitions. You can also fill a backpack or fanny pack with toys to add weight.

Improve Balance and Coordination to Strengthen the Vestibular Sense

Any type of movement can stimulate the vestibular receptors - centered in the fluid found in the inner ear. Use these activities during transitions between activities or prior to starting a new, challenging task. You can also offer them when a child is spinning, running, or jumping excessively.

#15. Use sensory swings. I recommend purchasing a swing set online. They can be pricey but worth the money. Regular swings are an acceptable - though somewhat limited - substitute. Tire swings or a Sit n' Spin are great, but you can also take your child for a spin on the grass or carpet using an old sheet. *Important Note: To avoid overstimulation, do not permit spinning for more than 15 minutes at a time and be sure there are 30-minute breaks in between spin sessions.

#16. Jump for joy. When your child appears dysregulated, take movement breaks on a mini trampoline or the one outside in your backyard. You can also have them jump in place. Be sure to set limits on how much they should jump and explain when jumping is socially appropriate.

#17. Have a daily dance party. Dancing to music or playing dance video games is a great social and stimulating activity. Encourage dancing several times each day for at least five minutes at a time.

#18. Scoot around on scooters. Your child will have a lot more fun getting where they need to go on a scooter. The best ones are flat and can accommodate both sitting or reclining positions.

#19. Practice gymnastics. Gymnastics forces the brain to work in coordination with the body and helps with motor skill development. Rope swings and backyard rings are good options. A vinyl balance beam is another great way to build awareness about the body while balancing.

#20. Use yoga balls instead of chairs. Your child can bounce to their heart's content seated on a yoga ball.

#21. Use wobble seats and swivel cushions. When your child needs to be stationary for a while, these seating options are a better way to go.
[Read This Next: Now Is the Time for Realistic Expectations (and More ADHD Advice for a Pandemic)]
Sources
¹Schaaf, R., Benevides, T., Mailloux, Z., Faller, P., Hunt, J., Hooydonk, E., ... Kelly, D. (2013). An Intervention for Sensory Difficulties in Children with Autism: A Randomized Trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi: 10.1007/s10803-013-1983-8 ² Case-Smith, J. & O'Brien, J. C. (2015). Occupational Therapy for Children and Adolescents (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier https://www.elsevier.com/books/case-smiths-occupational-therapy-for-children-and-adolescents/obrien/978-0-323-51263-3 ³Schoen, S., Lane, S., Mailloux, Z., May‐Benson, T., Parham, L., Roley, S., & Schaaf, R. (2018). A Systematic Review of Ayres Sensory Integration Intervention for Children with Autism. Autism Research. doi: 10.1002/aur.2046 ⁴Thompson-Hodgetts, S. & Magill-Evans, J. (2018). Sensory-Based Approaches in Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Influences on Occupational Therapists' Recommendations and Perceived Benefits. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(3). doi: 10.5014/ajot.2018.024729
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Updated on May 27, 2020

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21 SPD Exercises and Sensory Toys for Children in Quarantine

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Children with sensory processing disorder may bristle and bolt at loud noises, pick their skin, and even bump into and fall over things. They may also want to wrestle all the time. Use these sensory-friendly, OT-approved activities and sensory toys to help them manage their senses at home right now.

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Misinformation is spreading quickly right now. And if you're having trouble keeping track of what's real and what's fake, think about kids, who often get their news from YouTube and Instagram. Kids will be seeing lots more viral content, including memes, TikToks, and YouTube videos in the days to come. Some of it may be entertaining and thought-provoking, but lots of it will be fake. Now's the perfect time to sharpen your family's news literacy skills so you can get the vital information you need-and not be duped by misinformation.

Be skeptical. Between the bad actors who create deceiving content and the folks who share it, fake news travels faster than real news. To help kids learn how to separate fact from fiction, encourage them to think critically about what they're hearing and seeing. Challenge them to always verify the source and to withhold commenting and sharing until they know something is legit. More tips:

Build critical thinking skills. Walk kids through an analysis of a piece of news or information by asking: Who made this? Why did they make it? Is it for or against something or someone? Are they trying to get a big reaction from me or just inform me? How can I tell? What's left out of this content?

Notice your feelings. Clickbait and fake news strive for extreme reactions. If the news you're reading makes you really angry, scared, or smug, take note. Check multiple sources before trusting.

Investigate the source. Look for unusual URLs, site names, or social media profiles that try to look like legitimate news or information sites, but aren't. Also, learn more about who wrote or created the content: Are they credible? Biased?

Put it in context. Consider whether other credible, mainstream news outlets are reporting the same news. If they're not, it doesn't mean it's not true, but it does mean you should dig deeper.

Cross-reference. Go to Snopes and other fact-checking sources before trusting or sharing news that seems too good (or bad) to be true.

Understand different types of content. Talk to kids about the wide variety of information sources and types of content: investigative journalism, research studies, opinion pieces, self-published blogs, punditry, firsthand accounts from friends or family, government reports, memes, and satire.

Play "fact or opinion?" Using the radio, TV, or other source, see if kids can pick out what's an indisputable fact and what's an opinion. With older kids, talk about bias and subjectivity and see if they can identify them in an article or video.

Ask who they trust. Kids tend to prefer news that's personal and relatable, such as first-person coverage of a conflict or a report from an embedded journalist. That's fine, but explain the professional standards that established news organizations follow, and discuss how that compares to, say, a citizen journalist recording an incident on a cellphone.

Watch out for viral videos or social posts. Content that circulates around the internet may or may not contain nuggets of real news, but it rarely represents the whole situation. And, like photos, videos can be doctored and edited to bend the truth.

Identify credible sources. While we can't shield our kids from all misinformation, we can help them figure out where to go for accurate, up-to-date knowledge.

Both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control have published authoritative information about the coronavirus and are constantly updating their websites. State and city websites and health departments should also have trustworthy updates. If your kid is on TikTok, ask them to show you the WHO's (kinda cringey, but accurate) channel.

Share the news sources you use with your kid, focusing on trusted news outlets that follow standard journalistic practices and ethics. Ask your kid to share their sources (friends on the playground, celebrities, YouTube gamers?) and discuss the differences.

Think about the differences between firsthand accounts from a family member in Milan or Seoul and a post from someone you don't know but who claims to have unique or authoritative information. Which is more trustworthy? (It's OK if you can't figure out the answer, but the process of thinking this through is instructive.)

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How to Help Kids Sort Fact from Fiction About the Coronavirus

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Misinformation is spreading quickly right now. And if you're having trouble keeping track of what's real and what's fake, think about kids, who often get their news from YouTube and Instagram. Kids will be seeing lots more viral content, including memes, TikToks, and YouTube videos in the days to come.

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How to Teach Social-Emotional Learning When Students Aren't in School

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Tens of millions of students are dealing with massive upheaval to their educations and daily lives with their schools shuttered indefinitely to thwart the spread of the coronavirus.

Add to that fears over a pandemic that could sicken them or loved ones, students now more than ever need strong coping skills to adjust to this new reality that will likely, for many, extend through the end of the school year and beyond.

But should social-emotional learning really be a focus for educators right now as they scramble to figure out how to teach their classes remotely?

And how can educators even continue to foster students' social-emotional skills when they aren't in class together?

To answer that first question, yes, said Marc Brackett, a professor at Yale University and the director of its Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Social-emotional learning is critical to managing anxiety at this time, he said.

"Because if you don't know how to deal with the lack of control of your future, or the feelings of uncertainty that you're having, your brain is going to stay in a constant fight or flight mode," he said. "And if our brain is in fight or flight mode, then it's not in learning mode."

To answer that second question-about how to teach social-emotional skills remotely-EdWeek talked to experts to ask what SEL skills, exactly, schools should be encouraging and how teachers can do it.

Simple Things Teachers Can Do

One place to start, said Brackett, is to try a technique he calls psychological distancing.

Teachers can encourage students to stop thinking about themselves and instead ask: "'Well, what would I do to support my best friend who was telling me they were really worried about the coronavirus? What would I say to them?'" Brackett said.

"And all of the sudden, they start thinking about all of these strategies that they would use to be compassionate to someone, but that they may not use for themselves."

Students should examine what they are saying to themselves-consciously or not-inside their heads and to ask themselves, 'is their self-talk helpful?'

"It's about doing [something], as opposed to being in your head all the time about it," Brackett said.

Many educators are already trying out different tactics to teach or infuse social-emotional learning into their remote lessons, said Karen VanAusdal, the senior director of practice at the Collaborative of Academic and Social Emotional Learning, or CASEL.

"It can be simple things, such as sending daily notes, or, as some educators are doing, morning meetings with their classes where they can build community and do check-ins with young people to see how it is going," said VanAusdal. For younger students, some teachers have been reading books aloud to their students virtually and then reflecting on the social-emotional skills of the characters in the books, said VanAusdal.

For older students, VanAusdal recommends teachers ask students to examine the social-emotional attributes they're seeing in leaders right now and to ask students how those qualities are helping the country through the crisis.

Some SEL skills educators should be highlighting in others and fostering in their students, said VanAusdal, are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and responsible decision-making.

Showing Kids They Can Reduce Risk

Examples for when those skills are necessary abound, said Catherine Bradshaw, a developmental psychologist and professor at the University of Virginia Curry School of Education and Human Development.

"Kids may have a lower risk of contagion so they have to be mindful that while they may not get sick, they have to wash hands to reduce other people's risk," said Bradshaw.

"So that's a clear opportunity to understand how their actions and choices affect others."

It's also important to keep traditions and build supportive environments even when the class is scattered well beyond the classroom walls, said VanAusdal.

"Keeping up rituals, like a spirit week," she said. "Have students wear crazy socks and take a picture of it and send it in."

VanAusdal said she has seen several examples of principals and teachers making videos of supportive messages and sending them to their students.

Those are also ways to reach students who may be struggling to connect because they don't have a computer or internet access at home, said VanAudal.

"I think we're finding that students do have cellphone access, and there are ways they can still see video messages," she said.

Some SEL curriculum providers are offering resources that are easy for students to use on their own and don't require teacher or parent supervision, she said.

There are other exercises that students can do largely on their own.

Simple breathing exercises are beneficial.

Journaling is another. Teachers can provide students with prompts.

"It's helpful for expressing emotions, but it's also an interesting artifact to look back on when kids get older," said Bradshaw.

But, while it's important to talk to students about what's going on in the world, it's also important not to overwhelm students with too much information about the pandemic, said Bradshaw.

Teachers need to be sensitive to that, she said, and parents probably should not have cable news on in their house all day long.

And, she said, it's important for educators to recognize that these are uncharted waters, and that there's nothing that can really prepare people emotionally for dealing with a pandemic.

Kids-and adults-rely on social connections to get through difficult times. But the era of social distancing has upended all of that.

"So, we have a lot fewer tools in our tool kit to manage stress in these situations," said Bradshaw.

"That's why a lot of interpersonal skills are really going to be critical to helping kids manage this kind of stress."

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How to Teach Social-Emotional Learning When Students Aren't in School

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Experts offer tactics to teachers on how they can tend to students' SEL development in this chaotic time.

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National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)

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COVID-19 has caused the closure of nearly all schools in the United States, affecting more than 55 million students. Efforts to continue education for children via remote instruction have been highly variable, ranging from daily contact via the web with the student's regular teacher(s) to no contact at all. In fact, in the Los Angeles Times, Blume and Kohli reported that one third of high school students in L.A. Unified had not checked in daily online with their teachers since schools had closed, and a much smaller number (15,000) had never checked in at all.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic raised immediate worries about students including their access to a safe and supervised environment comparable to what they would get in school, access to food programs, access to routine and compensatory special education services for students with disabilities, and the provision of general instruction toward important grade-level objectives necessary for success as children continue in school.

Schools are working now to determine when and how students and staff may return to school safely. One of the challenges that schools must address is the significant disruption to the learning process. Because students' experiences during remote learning were highly variable, schools will need to assume that children have lost about 25% of the prior grade level's instruction because most schools were closed for 8-10 weeks of the typical 36-week school year. Compounding the problem of lost instruction will be missing assessment data. Children are routinely screened for important milestones in reading, math, and writing and participate in year-end accountability assessments to quantify the degree to which the schools are providing instruction that is sufficient to help most children attain proficiency. Because of the timing of the closures, spring screenings and year-end accountability assessment data will not be available.

These converging events-loss of instruction and an absence of data-create a perfect storm for school psychologists who are responsible for helping schools meet the needs of diverse learners, including identifying and making eligible those students who are in need of special education. NASP has developed a series of resources and webinars to provide actionable how-to advice to cope with missing academic data, identify children in need of instructional supports, and use the resulting data to inform referral and eligibility decisions. These are available in the NASP COVID-19 Resource Center at www.nasponline.org/COVID-19. Importantly, many students will be returning to school with increased social-emotional and mental health issues associated with the crisis, which will complicate school function in many ways. It will be imperative that schools attend to the mental wellness of students on a school-wide, classroom, and individual basis as intentionally as academic interventions and supports. Resources regarding students' mental health are also available in the NASP COVID-19 Resource Center.

New Screening Procedures Will Be Required

Schools-and school psychologists-will be eager to collect fall screening data to make decisions as quickly as possible upon a return to face-to-face learning. However, fall screening must proceed differently than it has in the past.

There will be a higher prevalence of academic risk in nearly all schools. Children will be arriving at the next grade level having only received about a 75% dose of the prior year's academic instruction. To deal with this higher base rate of risk, screening procedures must account for base rates.

The figure below shows the posttest probabilities of academic failure across varying levels of risk. The greater the prevalence of risk (move toward the right on the x-axis), the less accurate the screening will be for ruling students out as not needing academic intervention, which is the purpose of academic screening. Negative posttest probability is the probability of academic failure when a student has passed the academic screening. So at 50% risk, 10% of students passing a screening that has .90 sensitivity and .90 specificity will actually experience academic failure. As prevalence increases, negative posttest probability climbs. Once negative posttest probability is greater than 10% (VanDerHeyden, 2013), or greater than your local base rate of risk which you can estimate from past year's proficiency rates on the year-end test, the screening is not useful to rule students out as needing more intensive academic intervention than is currently provided in their general education environment. The key message here is that single-point-in-time screenings will not be sufficient for determining academic risk in the fall.

Use Class-Wide Intervention to Improve Decision Accuracy and Provide Learning Gains for Students

How can the school psychologist proceed in an environment in which academic screenings will not be useful to determine who is really at risk? Introduce instructional trials as rapidly as possible and measure students' learning gains as the second screening gate. Class-wide intervention (e.g., PALS, class-wide peer tutoring, PRESS center reading, Spring Math class-wide intervention) lowers the base rate of risk to allow for academic screenings to function more accurately.

In a recent study, decision accuracy was examined for fall screening, winter screening, and response to class-wide intervention with above 20th percentile performance on the year-end test as the gold standard for students in kindergarten and grades 1, 3, 5, and 7 in mathematics. Negative posttest probabilities were stronger (lower) when response to class-wide intervention was used as the screening criterion (VanDerHeyden, Broussard, & Burns, 2019).

Here is another way to view the effect of class-wide intervention as a screening gate. In this class, at the beginning of intervention, the score range is highly restricted, which makes distinguishing which children are truly at risk technically difficult if not impossible. Introducing a daily 15-min class-wide intervention increases the score ranges over weeks of intervention and makes apparent the student who really requires intensified instruction or a comprehensive eligibility evaluation.

The figures below, reprinted from VanDerHeyden (2013) shows that the same screening is not useful due to a high base rate of risk before intervention, but following class-wide intervention becomes very useful for ruling students out as needing academic intervention.

Accuracy of the Mathematics Screener for Students Who Receive a Free or Reduced-Price Lunch

Illustration of the Use of Intervention to Reduce Overall Risk and Permit More Accurate Screening Decisions

Note. From "Universal Screening May Not Be for Everyone: Using a Threshold Model as a Smarter Way to Determine Risk," by A. M. VanDerHeyden, 2013, School Psychology Review, 42, p. 410. ( https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2013.12087462). Copyright 2013 by the National Association of School Psychologists. Reprinted with permission.

Relying on a Period of Waiting for General Education to Improve Base Rates Is Inefficient and Unlikely to Work

There will likely be a sense of urgency around completing pending evaluations and perhaps even new evaluations. All evaluation teams are required to determine if a student's academic concerns are a result of a lack of instruction when considering specific learning disability (SLD) identification regardless of the approach to eligibility determination that is used. Assessing the quality of instruction provided during the COVID-19 school closing is fraught with problems. Whether the instruction at home was delivered by caregivers or through an internet connection with teachers, decision teams cannot presume that the quality of core instruction replicated what would have happened in school. Except in unusual cases, the quality of instruction likely cannot be ruled sufficient.

Instruction as a cause (the most likely cause) of poor performance can only be ruled out by delivering a dose of instruction and measuring the child's response directly. There is no substitute for that step and even if you choose to use a method other than response to intervention (RTI) to satisfy criterion 1 and 2, you still must satisfy criterion 4 to determine eligibility for SLD.

School psychologists may be tempted to institute waiting periods before recommending Tier 2 or 3 interventions as a means to avoid overpopulating those intervention groups and depleting resources. Waiting times have not been shown to lower risk over time. At best it is a tactic that will be highly variable (i.e., dependent on the quality of core instruction and teacher-initiated supplementation of core instruction) and at worst, it will be less efficient.

School psychologists should not enter a hands-off waiting period with schools. Rather, school psychologists should return to school equipped to help teachers boost their core instruction, given that children will likely be arriving with skill gaps. School psychologists can support teachers in delivering class-wide intervention and small groups to provide acquisition instruction for missing prerequisite skills and fluency-building intervention for skills that are foundational for subsequent learning at each grade level.

Decision teams can use the resulting performance data of students to determine who really needs a diagnostic assessment, individualized instruction, and potentially an eligibility evaluation. Controlling the dose of instruction allows this identification to occur in a more rapid and nimble fashion than would be possible otherwise. It is possible to make a decision about the need for more intensive academic intervention following only 4 weeks of well-implemented class-wide intervention.

Delivering High-Quality Class-Wide Intervention Requires Focus on Implementation

A new survey study out by Silva et al. (in press) examines actions taken in the name of multitiered systems of support (MTSS) and RTI. This survey replicates the findings of an earlier study (Burns, Peters, & Noell, 2008) finding that very particular barriers continue to interfere with the capacity of school psychologists to help schools use MTSS to improve achievement. School psychologists encounter the same barriers now as we did in 2008: we struggle to interpret the data we collect, to effectively get interventions underway, and to use implementation science to ensure high-quality implementation of academic interventions. In the Silva et al. (2020) study, only 7% of respondents reported looking at intervention integrity when an intervention was not working as planned.

In a context of elevated base rates of academic risk, we must do better. When children return to school, hopefully this fall, there will be an opportunity for school psychologists to be highly useful instructional allies to teachers. We can use our rapport and trust with teachers to connect, support, and empower them to do what works. Implementing class-wide academic intervention will produce achievement gains for students and as a wonderful side effect, will give us the best data upon which to base referral and eligibility decisions.

This series of resources and webinars will equip you to move forward with the right actions to screen, implement class-wide interventions in reading, writing, and math, and to use the resulting data for referral and eligibility decision making regarding SLD.

References

Blume, H., & Kohli, S. (2020, March 30). 15,000 L.A. high school students are AWOL online, 40,000 fail to check in daily amid coronavirus closures. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-30/coronavirus-los-angeles-schools-15000-high-school-students-absent

Burns, M. K., Peters, R., & Noell, G. H. (2008). Using performance feedback to enhance implementation fidelity of the problem-solving team process. Journal of School Psychology, 46, 537-550. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2008.04.001

Silva, M. R., Collier-Meek, M. A., Codding, R. S., Kleinert, W. L., & Feinberg, A. (2020). Data Collection and Analysis in Response-to-Intervention: A Survey of School Psychologists. Contemporary School Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-020-00280-2

VanDerHeyden, A. M. (2013). Universal screening may not be for everyone: Using a threshold model as a smarter way to determine risk. School Psychology Review, 42, 402-414.

VanDerHeyden, A. M., Broussard, C., & Burns, M. K. (2019). Classification Agreement for Gated Screening in Mathematics: Subskill Mastery Measurement and Classwide Intervention. Assessment for Effective Intervention. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534508419882484
Contributor: Amanda VanDerHeyden Please cite as:
National Association of School Psychologists. (2020). Considerations for academic assessments and interventions upon a return to school [handout]. Author.

© 2020, National Association of School Psychologists, 4340 East West Highway, Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814, 301-657-0270, www.nasponline.org

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COVID-19 has caused the closure of nearly all schools in the United States, affecting more than 55 million students. Efforts to continue education for children via remote instruction have been highly variable, ranging from daily contact via the web with the student's regular teacher(s) to no contact at all.

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How Teachers Can Help K–12 Students Through a Period of Grief | Edutopia

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Covid-19 has meant a lot of loss for students of all ages-with more loss likely to come. Teachers can engage and support them in processing their emotions.

Educators often face challenges supporting students through loss and grief, in part because neither teachers nor principals are generally trained as grief counselors. Yet in the coming weeks and months, many students will experience losses of loved ones and of ways of life, and schools are in a unique position to collectively engage and support them with compassion in the grieving process.

With a new loss, previous losses are remembered, previous trauma may be re-experienced, and new fears emerge. Children may fear that a parent will die. If their parents are unemployed, children may fear that they'll become homeless. Teens might worry that they must give up hopes for college and a future. And with this pandemic, losses are likely to be compounded over time, and students may become unable to focus on their education.

Teachers can play a critical role in helping students understand their responses to these losses and move through the grieving process, which gets us in touch with our humanity and offers an opportunity to more fully experience our aliveness, and life itself.

Teaching Students to Acknowledge Feelings

Educators can encourage students to fully experience the feelings and physical sensations-tightness, tension, or numbness, for example-that come with loss. Healing occurs when a person accepts and moves through the emotions of fear, anger, and sadness to integrate a new reality, understanding what has been lost.

For younger students: Young kids don't have words to express these feelings. They may absorb anxiety they sense around them or on the news, and they may vacillate between happily engaging one minute and acting out irritably the next. Teachers may observe regressive behaviors, violent play, and a lack of focus.

Allow these younger students to express their grief, listening without offering quick solutions or telling them how to feel. Calm their fears without minimizing their emotions. Respond honestly to questions-and admit when you don't know the answers. Encourage conversations, play, and physical outlets with symbolic activities using drawings and stories. Be patient, nurturing, and consistent.

For older students: As they get older, children understand more and try to make meaning of what's happening. Some are better than others at expressing emotions. Many repress their feelings or are in denial, appearing OK when they're not. Others act out, exhibiting addictive or self-destructive behavior.

Do a needs assessment to find out what students are feeling and needing. Give them permission to express grief and space to process feelings. Listen patiently without judgment. Give straightforward answers. Build trust using ground rules for compassionate and safe interactions. Adjust distance learning expectations to their specific needs.

Children of all ages can be supported to express emotions-even anger and frustration-in healthy ways, developing a language to describe feelings and identifying physical sensations associated with them. They can do mindfulness and movement exercises to release tension and stress. When they're feeling bad, they can learn to identify what they can hold on to that brings a sense of safety or comfort, such as people, places, images, colors, or sounds.

Facilitating Supportive Partnerships

Prioritizing activities that nurture connection and relationship-building increases the likelihood that students will not feel alone and will feel safe to grieve. Create simple ways of checking to find out how they're doing. Use low-tech and high-tech options to ensure access-phone, video conferencing, emails. Invite, but don't require, students to share their stories to ensure they know they aren't alone in their experiences. They can contribute to school newsletters and community blogs, with videos, art, or writing as an outlet. Recognize and honor individuals and groups for their contributions.

For younger students: Contact each child regularly. Even paper packets can include interactive activities such as journal prompts or poems about their feelings, expressive art projects, or SEL lessons like a feelings scavenger hunt. If your students can access the internet, create online lessons to strengthen social skills like brainstorming kind words or dealing with disappointment.

For older students: Assign advisory groups of students to individual teachers to ensure regular one-to-one check-ins with every student. Many teachers schedule office hours with drop-in times, and some teachers whose students who weren't showing up for class sessions or answering calls have planned home visits-while maintaining social distancing.

Teachers can continue to foster peer connections using video conferencing. It may be best to allow students to choose not to use cameras-some are embarrassed about their noisy or crowded homes.

During synchronous sessions, assign online group work in smaller breakout rooms for facilitated collaboration. Design structured conversations and teach students to use open-ended questions, paraphrase with reflective listening strategies, use affirming statements, and carry out empathy interviews that acknowledge strengths and feelings in a safe non-judgmental way.

Creating New Rituals During Times of Grief

Many communal approaches to grief, like funerals and community gatherings, cannot occur during social distancing, but it's still important to recognize loss and hold those who are grieving. Try to be aware of cultural differences in expressing grief and honoring the dead, and use input from students and their families to create community rituals to support those who've experienced a loss and to honor life. This might include writing letters to the family of the deceased, planting a tree, or making a piece of art to remember the person.
More resources:
Each of us can be a sanctuary for those who are grieving to stay connected and feel hope. Reminders of what is growing, thriving, and alive will keep our hearts open. Sharing strengths like creativity, resilience, generosity, gratitude, and care that exist within communities will go a long way toward healing.

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Helping Students Through a Period of Grief

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Covid-19 has meant a lot of loss for students of all ages-with more loss likely to come. Teachers can engage and support them in processing their emotions. Educators often face challenges supporting students through loss and grief, in part because neither teachers nor principals are generally trained as grief counselors.

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NAIS - Coronavirus (COVID-19 Resources): Coping With Loss and Grief

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Updated April 22, 2020

NAIS has compiled resources to help schools support their staff members, students, and families who are experiencing loss and grief during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Please note: The following links and content are for informational purposes only, and do not constitute legal, medical, or other professional advice. The opinions expressed in these resources are those of their respective author(s), and do not necessarily reflect NAIS positions or policies. NAIS does not endorse, promote, or guarantee any products or services referenced in these resources.

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Coronavirus (COVID-19 Resources): Coping With Loss and Grief

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Updated April 22, 2020 NAIS has compiled resources to help schools support their staff members, students, and families who are experiencing loss and grief during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Please note: The following links and content are for informational purposes only, and do not constitute legal, medical, or other professional advice.

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Quarantine Blues: If You're Feeling Lonely, Here Are 5 Ways To Stay Connected : Shots - Health News : NPR

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We are social creatures. So it's no surprise that quarantine fatigue has begun to set in.

"Humans are wired to come together physically," says psychologist Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University. But, loneliness has become widespread in modern life. And, social distancing has just exacerbated the problem, Moskowitz says.

Social connection is essential to our well-being, since prolonged isolation can increase the risk of depression and anxiety, says Dr. Sandro Galea of Boston University's School of Public Health. "We know from other events, the longer the isolation, the more risk," Galea says.

Social distancing recommendations will remain in place for months to come, and until there's a vaccine, limits on big gatherings will likely continue. For the elderly or those who live alone, the isolation can be particularly grueling. But, people are finding new ways to interact with each other, even under extraordinary circumstances.

Here are some strategies to connect with others.

Note: If you're feeling persistent sadness or anxiety that interferes with day-to-day life, consider seeing a therapist (which you can do online, too).
1. Don't scroll, but do connect online, with real-time activities
When it comes to our emotional health, social media platforms can be a double-edged sword. Simply scrolling through a Facebook, TikTok or Instagram feed may not help you connect with other people in a meaningful way.

So instead of cultivating that empty FOMO (fear of missing out) feeling, use the power of virtual platforms to connect more intentionally, more deeply.

Start by asking yourself: What matters to you? Do you have a hobby you'd like to resurrect, or take up for the first time? A whole world of online, live-streamed classes has opened up, from ceramics to languages to bread-making. Always wanted to play the banjo? "Find a banjo class," says Judith Moskowitz, a psychologists at Northwestern University.

The face-to-face, real time connections allow us to pick up on facial expressions and body language to better simulate real-world gatherings. A live, synchronous class, Moskowitz says, "is one way to get to know people and to broaden your social network."

Outside of classes, if you use social media to stay in touch with friends, instead of just commenting on posts, make the effort to interact one-on-one, says Joe Walther, who directs the Center for Information Technology & Society at the University of California Santa Barbara. "It's the intimacy of the messages, and the depth of the interactive conversation that will sustain us," he says.
2. Making art is a social act: Express yourself and share.
Looking for a place to connect with others who use art to express themselves? The UnLonely Project has created a community through its Stuck At Home Together initiative. You can watch a short film, then participate in an online conversation. You can view others' art or share your own. And for motivation to get started, the group has designed creative challenges, like crafting a self-portrait from objects around the house.

The group behind these initiatives includes physicians and researchers who document how the creative processes can help people maintain good health and fend off disease. "When you make art, you are in the moment - you are with [your] thoughts and feelings," says Jeremy Nobel, who founded the program and is also on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.

And by sharing what you create, it's as if you're sharing a "representation of your thoughts and feelings, whether it's a painting, a poem, a baked good, or a garden," Nobel says.

He says loneliness isn't just about lacking companionship. "Often loneliness starts with a sense of estrangement or disconnection from who you are. How do you fit into the world?" Nobel says.

Art can be very powerful for centering and positioning - a way to explore your own identity. "And I actually believe for many people, that's an essential first step to connecting with other people in an authentic way," Nobel says.
3. Reach out to the elderly
For many elderly people, social distancing has brought layers of challenges. "It's not just the lack of contact with others," says physician Kelli Tice Wells who is a senior medical director at health insurer Florida Blue. It's also "not being able to navigate things that can be critical to your life" such as on-line grocery shopping or getting prescriptions, Wells says.

Florida Blue now offers virtual companionship and assistance to seniors through a program called Papa Pals, which matches elderly adults with younger people, who are paid to provide assistance.

Miriam Membreno, of Miami, Fla., who is trained as a social worker, recently started working as a Papa Pal, after her hours at her regular job were cut short. She meets with a few elderly people virtually.

"I do feel like I'm helping them be less lonely," Membreno says. She says sometimes they just want to share stories, and she likes to listen. Other times, during a virtual visit, she says, they share worries that they have bottled up. "Just having those stress and concerns released," is worthwhile, she says.

Another program for seniors, Live a Dream, collects video montages to brighten a senior's day. Young people can submit a short video to share. You can tell a joke, play an instrument, or just give some encouraging words.

There are numerous efforts to connect elderly people in senior living facilities with younger people around the country. Check with local groups to find one where you live.
4. Become a citizen-scholar, a online tutor, or assistant to the visually impaired: Find your way to volunteer, virtually
As many community organizations struggle to keep up with rising needs and shrinking budgets, volunteer options - even contactless ones - abound.

Does the idea of becoming a citizen scholar sound intriguing? The Smithsonian has digital volunteer opportunities. For instance, "citizen scholars are invited to transcribe historic documents including diaries and working papers of prominent Americans," according to the Smithsonian website. To get involved, you can check out the Smithsonian Transcription Center.
5. Keep friendships alive, with small acts of kindness
Or, you could help people with low-vision, a program called Be My Eyes, is an app that connects people who are blind or have low-vision with volunteers who offer virtual assistance.

VolunteerMatch, a database of volunteer opportunities has a searchable site for virtual volunteering, with thousands of postings around the country, calling for all kinds of skills from tutoring kids to making face masks. Find more options on Idealist.org.

Sometimes, a small gesture can help you reconnect. Even though we can't bake together, think about dropping off some cookies to a friend. Ask your neighbor if you can pick up some grocery items for them on your next trip. Organize a puzzle or game swap.

During these strange and difficult times, "you can feel like you're really depleted and you have nothing to give," says Judith Moskowitz. "But just a simple act of helping someone else out comes back and bolsters you as well," she says. An act of kindness can lift our spirits. "And that really feels good."
Elena Renken contributed to this report.
Look for creative ways to nourish your friendships, like working through a cookbook together, or watching movies together, suggests Lydia Denworth, author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond. And don't miss the opportunity for small touch points throughout the day: Even sharing a joke over text can make you feel less alone, she says.

"Friendship is critical in times of stress - that's what friendship is for," Denworth says.

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Too Much Alone Time? Tips To Connect And Find Joy While Social Distancing

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We are social creatures. So it's no surprise that quarantine fatigue has begun to set in. "Humans are wired to come together physically," says psychologist Judith Moskowitz of Northwestern University. But, loneliness has become widespread in modern life. And, social distancing has just exacerbated the problem, Moskowitz says.

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Architectural Photographer Captures Beautiful Libraries Around the World

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German architectural photographer Reinhard Görner has been working in the field since 1982, photographing both historical and contemporary architecture. Attending photography classes during university, he was intrigued by architectural photography after attending a lecture by Julius Shulman and being inspired by his book Architectural Photography. For more than 40 years he has made a name for himself in the field, exhibiting his work around the field.

Görner-who has also pursued fine art photographer over the past 12 years-often works in series, which are continual collections of international interiors. For instance, his Libraries portfolios, which he began in 2008, has him capturing these areas of educational contemplation, demonstrating the wide variety of interior styles from Berlin to Oxford.

His photographs of over 50 extraordinary libraries show the mesmerizing symmetry and lush opulence of the book palaces, shelves stacked high with knowledge just waiting to be learned. Through his interior photographs, the viewer appreciates the space not only as an educational area, but as a work of art unto themselves.

"My purpose is always to open spaces, in each sense, visual, mental and spiritual. I want to transcend the peoples' mind in a calmer, more creative realm," Görner shares with My Modern Met via email. "If you look at one of my pictures, the world expands, tells stories and enlightens your everyday life. To photograph architecture is a question of composition and focus. When I photograph I am very concentrated and in a state of flow consciousness. I want to induce through my pictures a similar state of mind in the beholder."

Architectural photographer Reinhard Görner has spent almost 10 years photographing interiors of the world's most beautiful libraries.
Reinhard Görner: Website
My Modern Met granted permission to use photos by Reinhard Görner.

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Photographer Spends Almost 10 Years Photographing the Most Beautiful Libraries Around the World

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German architectural photographer Reinhard Görner has been working in the field since 1982, photographing both historical and contemporary architecture. Attending photography classes during university, he was intrigued by architectural photography after attending a lecture by Julius Shulman and being inspired by his book Architectural Photography .

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How to get free mental health help during the coronavirus pandemic - ABC News

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How to get free mental health help during the coronavirus pandemic

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45% of adults in the U.S. say coronavirus pandemic is having a negative effect on their mental health, according to a poll.

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Disengaging from distance learning - CNN

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disengaging from distance learning - cnn

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Amid the Covid-19 crisis, many families are finding the new system, in which parents work full time and teach their children, untenable. Many kids aren't participating because they can't. But in some cases, kids are opting out without dropping out.

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Got Major Anxiety Right Now? Here Are 6 Cheap Mental Health Resources | HuffPost Life

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At this point, who isn't excessively worrying about coronavirus? I am certainly struggling; I've woken up numerous times in a clammy sweat from dreams about it this week alone.

It's perfectly OK to feel every single emotion you're experiencing lately. "Being anxious right now is completely understandable as anxiety stems, in large part, from uncertainty and that is everywhere," said Jessica Gold, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis.

Gold said that self-care can help mitigate some of the negative feelings coming up during this pandemic. That means getting enough sleep, eating proper meals, taking a break from the news, and connecting with loved ones over FaceTime. This also means asking for mental health help when emotions become overwhelming, she stressed.

Of course, that can be easier said than done. Therapy can be expensive. Even if you have insurance, it can still be taxing on your wallet.

Thankfully, there are some affordable mental health resources. We rounded up a few options, which range from helping you address low-level anxiety to support you should use when you're in a crisis. Take a look at them below, and know there's no shame in getting some outside help:

Crisis Text Line

Mental health counselors are just a quick text away thanks to the Crisis Text Line, which is a free national text messaging service. Just text "home" to 741-741 to get started. And know that you're not the only one who is struggling with coronavirus fears lately: Approximately 77% of Crisis Text Line texters said they have stress or anxiety related to coronavirus, according to data sent to HuffPost from the organization.

Teletherapy or other digital services

Online therapy services like BetterHelp and Talkspace may offer more affordable options than your insurance provider or other in-person therapists. Plans can start anywhere from $40 to $60 a week, depending on the company. Some even offer financial aid or other payment options. (Talkspace is also offering free online therapy for frontline medical workers during this crisis.)

Real, a new mental health platform, is offering free online help this month in response to coronavirus concerns. The company will provide a selection of services for users ― including group sessions, virtual events and one-on-one sessions ― which will be led by trained mental health professionals.

Sliding scale

Many providers do offer sliding scale payment options, meaning you discuss what you can afford with your therapist and settle on a session rate together. This could be a useful option if you're not insured or working right now, or if you're currently seeing a therapist who isn't covered under your plan.

Ask mental health professionals if they do sliding scale. You can also search for sliding scale treatment through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Websites like Thero.org can also help you search for a sliding scale therapist.

Of course, all of this should be done via telephone or online if you're social distancing or self-isolating.

Richard Drury via Getty Images

Meditation apps

These aren't a replacement for therapy. However, they're a great supplement. Research shows that meditation can help ease stress, help you sleep better and more. Programs like Headspace, Calm and Insight Timer are all offering trials or free coronavirus-related options for users. Seems like there's no better time to try it out.

Social media support groups and accounts

Like the meditation apps, social media shouldn't be your only form of help; there's no substitute for talking to a mental health professional. That said, there are some great support options where you can connect with others who are going through the same thing. They're a great reminder that you're not alone.

Talkspace has a series of groups on Facebook where people can come discuss coronavirus anxiety, some of which are moderated by a licensed professional.

I also like following mental health-related Instagram accounts, which break up the doom in my feed and offer some excellent advice. Some of my favorites include the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, The Wellful and Sad Girls Club.

State and national hotlines

Some resources are being developed to specifically address mental health concerns tied to the coronavirus pandemic. This week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a search for mental health professionals willing to voluntarily provide services. There's also a free coronavirus mental health helpline people can use.

Calling a hotline can be especially important if you're in crisis. If you're at risk for self harm or suicide, please call someone immediately. The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is a free and confidential phone service you can call if you're dealing with a mental health issue; to speak with someone, just dial 1-800-273-8255.

Above all, don't shove your feelings below the surface and tell yourself you'll be fine. You deserve to feel OK and taken care of right now.

"I think we sit with our emotions and don't know what they mean or where they come from, and don't allow ourselves to process them. Mental health support is great for this," Gold said.

A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus

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health mental health coronavirus wellness therapy crisis text line

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Got Major Anxiety Right Now? Here Are 6 Cheap Mental Health Resources

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At this point, who isn't excessively worrying about coronavirus? I am certainly struggling; I've woken up numerous times in a clammy sweat from dreams about it this week alone. It's perfectly OK to feel every single emotion you're experiencing lately.

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Working from home? Why detachment is crucial for mental health

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Working from home? Why detachment is crucial for mental health

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Ten tips for lockdown from a specialist psychologist.

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A Healthy Distraction: 20 Journal Prompts to Explore

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When we're dealing with difficult times, turning to healthy distractions can help. One of my favorites is journaling: It's a great way to get to know ourselves better, get grounded, reconnect to our imagination, and brighten our perspective.

As such, here's an array of journal prompts to play with and explore. The first nine prompts come from Marina Greenway's book Listify: List and Journal Your Way to Balance, Self-Discovery, and Self-Care.

1. List the books, movies, and games that give you comfort.

2. List five nice things that happened today.

3. If you could only own five items (besides necessities like toothpaste) for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

4. List your favorite things about your favorite people.

5. For one month, keep track of one thing you're learning every day.

6. List or doodle your favorite creatures, real or fictional.

7. What are your favorite scents?

8. What would be your magical power? What is your non-magical superpower right now?

9. "Books let us live multiple lives without ever leaving our couches!" What are your all-time favorite books or short stories?

10. Write a 3-line poem about the sunrise or sunset every day for 30 days.

11. Write about the funniest thing that's ever happened to you.

12. Jot down a list of your favorite things in your house.

13. What would your children's book be about? (Bonus: Draw the cover and title it.)

14. List 10 books you'd like to read right now.

15. Write about last night's dream. (You might want to keep your journal on your nightstand and jot it down right after you wake up.)

16. Write a paragraph-long description of a mysterious character who appears in your new mysterious novel.

17. Write 50 things about the sky. Yes, really, 50.

18. List 10 ways you love to move your body (and do one today).

19. Look out your window, and list a few beautiful things you see.

20. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and jot down one intention for your day, week, or month.

As always, pick whatever prompts resonate with you-and absolutely skip the rest. I hope a few of these ideas give you some comfort during this time!
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash.

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A Healthy Distraction: 20 Journal Prompts to Explore

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When we're dealing with difficult times, turning to healthy distractions can help. One of my favorites is journaling: It's a great way to get to know ourselves better, get grounded, reconnect to our imagination, and brighten our perspective. As such, here's an array of journal prompts to play with and explore.

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16 Ways To Stay Connected To Your Loved Ones During Lockdown

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1. Video call group chats
There are lots of great apps which allow you to video call loved ones. All you need is a device with a camera, microphone and internet access. Video calls can be more personal than just a phone call, because even though you can't be in the same room, you can at least see each other's faces.
2. Video call quiz night
Taking turns to host a group video call quiz night can be a lot of fun. We've been using our weekend nights to do quiz nights with family members, and it's been so much fun and given us all some social interaction to look forward to.
3. Group text chats
With smartphones, we have the ability to create group chats via text message or through apps like Whatsapp. This allows us to have that social element of a group conversation.
4. Sending each other regular pictures, videos and voice memos
Staying connected by sending pictures, videos and voice memos of what we're up to can be really uplifting. Take pictures and videos of anything and everything, even silly little things. It can really be nice to actually see what your loved ones are up to.
5. Creating fun challenges
You could create all sorts of fun challenges. For example, we've sent each other word games (such as finding as many words as you can from one long word). You could see who can make the funniest video, get the most beautiful photo, do the most steps in one day, or make the most interesting meal. Get inventive and encourage each other to do something fun.
6. Playing online games together
There are lots of ways you can play online games together, from using your smartphone to using a games console.
7. Using social media
Social media is a great way to stay in touch with friends old and new. Even if you don't usually use social media, now could be a great time to start, to make you feel more connected to others.
8. Sending each other uplifting quotes and encouragements
My loved ones and I send each other inspirational quotes or simply words of love and encouragement each day. It's comforting to know someone else is thinking about you.
9. Make plans for the future together
Making plans for the next time you are going to meet up with family, the next night out you're going to have with friends or the next girls holiday you're going to go on can be a lot of fun, and can help you to think about positive things that can happen once this is all over.
10. Helping each other set daily goals
If one of your loved ones is struggling with something or trying to do something specific, for example trying to eat a healthier diet or get some daily chores done, encouraging each other to set and achieve daily goals can make you feel less alone, and more motivated because you're accountable.
11. Share one positive thing from your day each day!
I've done this with my little community on twitter before, sharing one positive thing from each day with each other no matter how small. It can be so uplifting to hear what other people have found positive, and it can help you to actively search for a positive to share within your day.
12. Have a virtual dinner date or drinks date
Why not use a video call app to 'meet' for drinks or dinner. How fun to make your own cocktails or cook a meal, and sit down to chat on camera while you enjoy it.
13. Have a virtual dance party
Put some music on and get dancing over video call with each other. You might not be able to go out dancing, but you can bring the party to your living room!
14. Have a movie night
You could arrange to watch the same movie at the same time, and text to chat with each other throughout. Netflix even offers a 'watch party' feature, allowing you to watch a movie together.
15. Create a group video work out session
You could take turns to make up a workout session and take the lead on a group video chat. That way you get to have a giggle and get fit at the same time!
16. Set regular video call appointments
My loved ones and I have found it really useful to set regular times each week for quizzes or video calls, so that there's something to look forward. We choose weekends so that it feels like we're getting some sort of social night.

Whatever you choose, I hope you are all managing to stay connected with those you love, and that you're all doing as well as you can be. I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments if you want to share them!

16 Ways To Stay Connected To Your Loved Ones During Lockdown

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16 Ways To Stay Connected To Your Loved Ones During Lockdown

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It's really difficult right now to stay connected to those we love and don't live with because of lockdown. We're no longer able to pop around and visit them, to arrange to meet up or to give each other a cuddle. That's tough,...

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Create a Flat Teacher as a Way to Cross the Distance Learning Divide

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We all miss our students, and most of them miss us too! To help bridge the distance learning gap, many teachers are sending out Flat Teacher versions of themselves, based on the ever-popular book Flat Stanley.

The Flat Stanley Project was created to encourage schoolchildren to write letters and document their adventures with the Flat Stanley cutout. Many teachers are using this same concept and sending out Adventure sheets to their students as well. Whether you use your Bitmoji or print a photo of yourself, your students will appreciate having you close by. Not sure where to start? Just check out some of our favorite Flat Teachers and how they are being used during quarantine.

You've Got Mail!

This letter is adorable and encourages kids to take photos of themselves with the Flat Teacher!

Send With a Flipgrid

Encourage your students to bring you to Zoom meetings, thus attending class!

Adventure Grid Take 2!

This one encourages going outside and doing homework together.

Specific Assignments

We love that this one discusses the enrichment packet. Get specific for specific results!

Varied Poses

We love that this teacher varied the Flat Teacher versions. It makes for varied responses from the kids.

Use Real Photos

We love this photo version of a Flat Teacher and her template for students uploading their photos.

Get Laminated

This is so brilliant for longevity!

The Anticipation

Sending them out and waiting for the photos ... something to look forward to!

Oh the Feels

The students' interactions are so sweet!

And Laughter Too

This teacher was surprised to find out who she'd been hanging with all day!

And Creativity

Getting measured with LEGO bricks is a lot easier when you're small!
Have your own virtual Flat Teacher to share? Come join us in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook! Plus, check out how teachers are creating Virtual Bitmoji Classrooms!

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Teachers Are Making Flat Versions of Themselves for Kids to Take on Adventures

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We all miss our students, and most of them miss us too! To help bridge the distance learning gap, many teachers are sending out Flat Teacher versions of themselves, based on the ever-popular book Flat Stanley. The Flat Stanley Project was created to encourage schoolchildren to write letters and document their adventures with the Flat Stanley cutout.

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6 Ways to Support Children with Autism During the Pandemic

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6 Ways to Support Children with Autism During the Pandemic

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A child psychiatrist provides support resources for children with autism, and their caregivers, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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22 Scavenger Hunts to Keep Students Busy at Home - WeAreTeachers

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Who doesn't love a good scavenger hunt? These free activities will keep kids busy at home, on the road, or in the classroom. Teachers: Try assigning them as a fun homework alternative for families during spring break or for an unexpected snow day. They're also awesome for sub folders and time fillers at the end of the day. This big roundup of scavenger hunt ideas works as well in kindergarten as it does with high school kids!

1. Start with ABC

Scavenger hunts like this one work for kids of any age and can be used in a bunch of different ways. Try having kids find items only in their room, around the backyard, or in their favorite book.

Learn more: The Many Little Joys

2. Move on to 123

Looking for scavenger hunt ideas that incorporate counting? Try to find items that come in a set of each number from 1 to 10. For instance, you might spot eight pencils in a jar or four drawers in the filing cabinet. For each one, have kids draw a picture of their find.

Learn more: Emma Owl

3. Scan magazines for place value

Pull out a stack of old magazines or newspapers and arm kids with scissors and paste. Then send them on a search to find numbers that fit the place value clues. ( Get more fun place value activities here.)

Learn more: Primary Theme Park

4. Track down some animals

Taking a field trip to the zoo? This hunt is perfect to help little ones explore. For older kids, ask them to write one interesting fact they learn about each animal as they find them.

Learn more: Making Mom Magic

5. Find things to be thankful for

We love this sweet twist on traditional scavenger hunts. Kids search for things to be grateful for, like something that's their favorite color or something that makes them laugh. These are things really worth finding.

Learn more: Natural Beach Living

6. Spot the shapes all around us

The world is full of shapes in all sizes and colors. When kids really start to look around, they'll be surprised by just how many they can see. Free printable at the the link below!

Learn more: The Many Little Joys

7. Use the five senses

Our own selection of free printable scavenger hunts includes the Five Senses hunt. This open-ended activity challenges students to find items they can see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Get all of our free scavenger hunt activities here.

8. Draw what you see

To complete this hunt, you've got to sketch pictures of each item. This is one of those activities you can use from kindergarten through high school, since kids are always building and refining their drawing skills.

Learn more: Buggy and Buddy

9. Go on a geography scavenger hunt

Who's looking for geography scavenger hunt ideas? Travel the world from your classroom or living room! Pull out the atlas or use Google Earth to complete these free geography scavenger hunts. Explore the whole United States or just the state where you live, and learn while you have fun.

Learn more: Little Bins for Little Hands

10. Search for sight words

You'll need to do a little prep work for this one. Hide letter cards around the room. Once kids find them all, have them use those cards to spell out the sight words they're currently practicing.

Learn more: Hands On as We Grow

11. Take a road trip

Ready to hit the road? Take this scavenger hunt along for the ride! It's got enough items on it to keep you busy for miles and miles and miles.

Learn more: Honest and Truly

12. Get out and move

Add even more movement to your hunts with this smart sensory adventure. Kids try to find something they can jump over, something they can roll, and more.

Learn more: The Inspired Treehouse

13. Search the bookshelves

Visit the library to search for a wide variety of book types. Maybe you'll find a new favorite read! (This one works with online library catalogs too.)

Learn more: Scholastic

14. Hunt through the pages of a book

You can use this free printable for scavenger hunts over and over again with any books your kids are reading. It's a fun way to encourage deeper reading.

Learn more: I Love 2 Teach

15. Locate creepy-crawlies

Bugs are fascinating when you get to know them. Take some time to learn facts about each one as you find it.

Learn more: Worth Writing For

16. Turn a muffin tin into a scavenger hunt bin

How cute is this? Get the free printable sheet for your child to cut out and color. Then, take the tin outside and find as many items as you can!

Learn more: Mama Papa Bubba

17. Explore the city

If you live in a big city (or are visiting one), use this free printable to look for items like street performers or someone hailing a cab.

Learn more: Lady and the Blog

18. Chase after colors

There are so many scavenger hunts you can do with this free printable. Hunt around the house or classroom, head outside to the playground or park, or try to find items of the right color in your favorite movie or video game.

Learn more: Rock Your Homeschool

19. Identify trees and leaves

You can use these hunts to look for different types of trees and leaves any time of year. Or break it out in the autumn to find foliage of various hues.

Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me

20. Count and hunt

This simple scavenger hunt gets kids counting while they look. If you like the concept, it's easy to make more hunts like this.

Learn more: Fun at Home With Kids

21. Investigate the art museum

If you're looking for ideas to incorporate scavenger hunts into your next field trip, many museums have their own scavenger hunts available to help kids explore. But you can also take this one with you to give kids a real challenge!

Learn more: Summer of Funner

22. Two is twice the fun

With the two scavenger hunts at the link below, kids can compete to see who finishes first! Bigger groups can work in teams.

Learn more: The Pragmatic Parent

23. Listen instead of looking

Close your eyes and use your ears instead to complete this neat scavenger hunt! It really encourages kids to take notice of everything going on around them.

Learn more: Homeschool Share

24. Snap a selfie

Teens will definitely want to get in on this one! Little ones can borrow your phone as they have fun taking selfies in this incredibly cool scavenger hunt.

Learn more: iMom

25. Crack the code

We love this hunt for older kids. First, they track down all the code image cards. Then, they use the key to help solve the puzzle and read the secret message.

Learn more: The Dating Divas

26. Have a look around the house

Here's a great scavenger hunt for a snow day or rainy afternoon. Have kids check each one off the list, or actually collect the items and bring them to a central location. (Be sure they put everything away when they're done!)

Learn more: About a Mom

27. Search by flashlight

You can use this idea with any scavenger hunt-just turn out the lights and hand out flashlights for kids to use. It works inside and out!

Learn more: Life Is Sweeter by Design

28. Take a walk outside

Take this scavenger hunt to the playground or the backyard! This one has differentiated options, with picture clues for younger seekers and words for older ones.

Learn more: Homemade Heather

29. Seek while you shop

Keep kids occupied during a trip to the supermarket with these cute hunts. The basic version is free, plus you can purchase the others for a small cost. Teachers, use this one in the classroom by having kids explore grocery store newspaper ads instead.

Learn more: Fun With Mama

30. Look to the sky

Stay up late and turn your eyes to the sky with this fun nighttime scavenger hunt. Learn more about the phases of the moon and how to identify constellations.

Learn more: Real Life at Home

31. Wander through winter

Stroll through the winter wonderland and find all the treasures of the frosty season. This hunt encourages kids to draw many of their finds, making it even more entertaining.

Learn more: Thrifty Mommas Tips

32. Get the picture

Gather the family for a neighborhood stroll and work your way through this scavenger hunt together. The free printable lists 30 photos you need to take, capturing everything from a group yoga pose to a jagged rock. This one's fun for class team building too.

Learn more: East Coast Mommy

33. Find a friend

Need scavenger hunt ideas for the first day of school? This one is terrific for back-to-school icebreakers or helping kids make new friends. Make it even more challenging by only letting each student initial one square on any one page.

Learn more: Polliwog Place

34. Leaf through the newspaper

Grab a Sunday edition and get ready to explore the pages! This is another one of those scavenger hunts you can reuse over and over with fresh newspapers.

Learn more: Playtivities

35. Take up bird-watching

Spark their inner ornithologist with this fun little hunt that you can do in your own backyard or on a walk through the neighborhood.

Learn more: Red Tricycle

36. Perform acts of service

This hunt was created to inspire kids to do acts of service around their neighborhood. You can also use it for household chores.

Learn more: One Creative Mommy

37. Discover a world of books

This scavenger hunt will take some time to complete, but it's great for book lovers and reluctant readers alike. Kids read books that fit a variety of criteria, like one that's been made into a movie or was written more than 20 years ago.

Learn more: Modern Parents Messy Kids

38. Bag it up

Looking for classic scavenger hunt ideas? Try this one. Kids love to pick up stuff like rocks and sticks, so this scavenger hunt gives them a little bit of purpose. Give each kid a paper bag with the list of items to find, then have them fill the bag and bring it to you when they're done.

Learn more: How To Nest for Less

39. Page through the dictionary

Kids don't necessarily spend much time with a dictionary these days since it's easier to look things up on the internet. But, there's still a benefit to knowing how to use a dictionary. If you don't have a printed one, try using the Dictionary.com app instead.

Learn more: Moms and Munchkins

40. Seek out different emotions

This social-emotional learning scavenger hunt can be used in a variety of ways. Use it while observing others, whether out and about or at home watching TV. Check out the link for the printable and other ideas for using it.

Learn more: Mosswood Connections

Clipboards are a must for scavenger hunts, but there are lots of other clever ways to use them in the classroom and beyond. Learn more here.

Plus if you liked this roundup of scavenger hunt ideas, sign up for our newsletters to get all the latest teaching ideas and info straight to your inbox!

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Search the classroom, living room, or neighborhood with these free scavenger hunt ideas for kids that combine learning with active fun!

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Kids Feeling Stressed? Try This Mental Health Checkup 

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Who would have ever guessed that words like coronavirus , or would become part of our daily vocabulary? When stressful times occur, like now, it's just as important to make sure we are feeling good emotionally as it is physically, because your mental health is your first line of defense to staying healthy. One scientifically proven way to boost the immune function is by thinking and acting optimistically . In other words, dreaming and setting life goals can be good for your health !

Dr. Sara E. Williams , one of the authors of Magination Press book, Dream It! A Playbook to Spark Your Awesomeness , provides a Mental Health Checkup & Toolkit to help your family learn an optimistic mental health strategy that will not only teach them how to manage their stress and stay physically healthy but also get them excited about the future.

How fear and stress cause illness

When the mind and body are in a state of fear and stress, our autonomic nervous system (the body's "engine") revs up and hits the gas pedal, giving us lots of extra energy to protect ourselves. This is also known as the fight or flight response. Then, when the danger has passed, our body slows down and hits the brakes, which allows us to recover and restore. This is known as the rest and digest response. This balance of "on" and "off' works great until we hit a period of chronic stress, in which case our body stays in the fight or flight response for longer than usual. This becomes a drain on the body's resources and doesn't give us enough time in the rest and digest cycle to restore and rebuild. Instead of stress wearing us down, managing stress can help us be strong and healthy.

Here's the Good News!

You can learn how to turn off the fight or flight response and put your body in the rest and digest cycle. You do this by changing your thoughts and actions in optimistic ways. These stressful times provide the perfect opportunity for your family to learn a few strategies to not only survive, but thrive in the face of stress. As a parent, you are your children's most important role model. Showing them how you handle stress will go a long way to help them manage their own stress.

Overall, the goal is to acknowledge that stress is part of life-stress can be big, small, and every size in between. The most powerful thing we can do is teach children how to handle stress in a healthy way both physically and emotionally. This lets them make a positive, intentional change in their lives. Learning skills like self-awareness and self-management can help your child learn to effectively identify and manage stress. Learning and practicing these skills leads children to develop physical and emotional resilience, and acceptance that even when challenges occur in life, they have the ability to confront and manage those challenges.

Get a Checkup!

Now that you know a little about how stress works, let's do a mental health checkup! A mental health checkup lets you see how stressed you may be feeling, The toolkit helps you learn social-emotional skills to "hit the brakes" to h elp turn off the stress response and boost immune system fu nction. It will not only help you feel better but also help make a plan for the future. Below, you can do the checkup here, online, or you can get your free, downloadable version of the Mental Health Checkup & Toolkit by click here! The printable PDF is great for the young family, as opposed to more screen time.

Taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of your physical health. The exercises in the mental health checkup can help you recognize and cope with emotions like worry, stress, or feeling upset. They can also help with situations that you feel you can't do much about. Give these exercises a try - they might help you feel better!

Here's a link to download a copy of the Mental Health Checkup & Toolkit: Mental-Health-Checkup-and-Toolkit-06

Instructions

1. Pause and take a moment to check up on yourself. Try taking a deep breath. How do you feel? Can you identify a problem? Until we know what is bothering us, it's hard to know how to manage it.

2. Consider the four tools below, starting with the Distraction Tool. Take some time to learn how each one works.

3. Which tool do you think will help you feel better right now? (On a different day, it might be a different tool.)

4. Now, pick one and give it a try! If it helps you, great! If you need more help, try changing categories or adding a category, such as listening to music while taking a walk.

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Kids Feeling Stressed? Try This Mental Health Checkup & Toolkit!

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Who would have ever guessed that words like coronavirus, COVID-19 or pandemic would become part of our daily vocabulary? When stressful times occur, like now, it's just as important to make sure we are feeling good emotionally as it is physically,

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What day is it: There's a good reason why you have trouble remembering - CNN

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what day is it: there's a good reason why you have trouble remembering - cnn

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The pandemic is messing with our concept of time

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If it feels like your brain is turning into mush, you're not alone. Experts say it all has to do with how the pandemic is affecting our cognitive health -- meaning, our ability to clearly think, learn and remember.

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How to Reduce the Stress of Homeschooling on Everyone

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How to Reduce the Stress of Homeschooling on Everyone

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With nationwide school closures in effect, many parents are now monitoring homeschooling while at the same time trying to make a living in the midst of a terrible economic crisis. In this environment of broken routine and uncertainty, chances are your child is showing big feelings and challenging behaviors.

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No, this is not the new normal | The Thomas B. Fordham Institute

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This is not the new normal.

"Remote learning" will not be the primary way most American children are educated for very long, certainly not any time soon. Neither have we transformed ourselves into a nation of homeschoolers or "unschoolers" any more than passengers thrown from a sinking ship into lifeboats can be said to have taken up rowing.

Kids will go back to brick-and-mortar schools-yes, even "government schools"-at the earliest possible moment. Most of them want to go. Their parents mostly want it even more strongly. The act of sending our kids every morning to a place called a school is a cultural habit formed over many generations. It persists because we value it, not for want of a better idea or a more efficient delivery mechanism for education. Except at the margins, such as the 4 percent or so of U.S. kids who were already being home-schooled, COVID-19 changes none of that. The old normal will be back, and in some places sooner than we think. So let's think about what that will look like, and whether we will be ready.

Start with the obvious: To throw all or even most of our efforts into remote learning is "shoe bomber" planning, responding to the last attack instead of anticipating the next one. Twenty-one states have already closed schools for the remainder of the year. It is a fantasy to believe that we can stem the effects of months without real school by ginning up instructional capacity on the fly in unfamiliar forms in the midst of a public health crisis. By all means, distribute devices and attack the digital divide. Signal to apprehensive students and parents that education must go on, keep kids attached, and strive for normalcy. Schools that have found ways to continue high-value instruction deserve attention and praise. But let's not gull ourselves into thinking this is some sort of durable solution. It's an emergency response, nothing more.

The availability of online learning, whether organized by schools or independently by engaged and motivated parents, will mitigate some of the worst effects of months without real school. But as Paul von Hippel of the University of Texas at Austin noted, parents "are even more unequal than technology." The child spending these weeks sequestered at home with two college-educated parents with flexible work schedules and the bandwidth to supervise and contribute to learning will get more help and enrichment than a single parent with three children and a high-school education. "We've known since the 1966 Coleman Report that families are much more unequal than schools," von Hippel wrote in Education Next. "We're about to see what happens when we turn up the volume on families and turn it down on schools."

What will happen is foreseeable. A report last week from the Northwest Evaluation Association's (NWEA) Collaborative for Student Growth Research Center estimates that students will return to school in Fall 2020 with "roughly 70 percent of the learning gains in reading relative to a typical school year." In math, the COVID-19 slide will be even greater. School children are likely to return with "less than 50 percent of the learning gains and in some grades, nearly a full year behind what we would observe in normal conditions," according to Beth Tarasawa and Megan Kuhfeld, the report's authors.

Local conditions will dictate local responses, but a few common themes seem certain. The youngest children are the most likely to be seriously harmed by extended school closures. Kindergarten through second grade are the most critical years in a child's formal education, and very young children are least likely to get any value from remote learning without an active and engaged parent or caregiver working directly and extensively with them. Their social development will also suffer. As one veteran early childhood educator put it, "First grade is going to feel a lot like kindergarten."

The first priority for forward-thinking district superintendents planning for the resumption of school is staffing. "If I was in a district, I would be asking, 'Who has their teaching credential in the district office and can teach for the first six weeks of next year?'" says Chris Minnich, CEO of NWEA. "Anyone who has the expertise should be in the classroom because making sure that kids, especially in the early grades, get targeted instruction in the beginning of the year is essential."

At least at the elementary and middle school levels, where the effects of lost learning time will be acute, "we have to think differently about the first six to eight weeks of school," Minnich adds. "I'd let the experts tell us how long that should go on for, but it needs to be a fairly focused period of time, primarily focused on the previous grade standards."

Candice McQueen, the former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education who now leads the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) expects one of three possibilities for next year, depending on the district. "We're back in brick and mortar; we are fully virtual for some period of time; or we're in some hybrid approach. Leaders need to take a blank sheet of paper now and say, 'What would we do in each of these scenarios?'" she counsels. Echoing Minnich, she stresses human capital. "Let's staff and hire differently for what we think we will need. And let's give people the right job description, training, and support for what we need them to do."

Some district superintendents are already thinking ahead. In the first days of the crisis, Clark County (Nevada) Superintendent Jesus Jara's first priority, as with many of his counterparts, was to "get the students engaged. Obviously take care of their social, emotional [needs]." But with digital devices in the hands of fewer than two-thirds of the district's 325,000 students, Jara's attention turned almost immediately to preparing for school to resume. Digital learning is "enrichment only." De-emphasizing what can be done to advance learning right now have brought howls of derision in some quarters, particularly when the perception exists that districts would prefer no learning to inequitable instruction. But the decision is more sensible and defensible when considering how little can be reasonably accomplished under emergency circumstances versus the prodigious foreseeable challenges that lie ahead.

"I said to the team, 'Guys, we've got to get ready.' We've got to keep everybody calm, but our focus is moving into what is school going to look like when we return," Jara told me. The gaps are going to be "larger for our students of color, our free and reduced lunch, our English language learners, our special ed students," and for the 7 percent of Native American children in the district, the nation's fifth largest. "We have to accelerate and start planning the return."

Plans to make up for lost time require urgency, but should avoid complexity and stay well within the talents and capacity of existing staff. Adding complexity to a teacher's job and stealing time away from the urgent task of remediation should be set aside. One idea worth considering is stepped-up use of assessment-driven ability grouping, at least in the younger grades and for the concentrated period of time suggested by Minnich. This would allow for targeted instruction with minimal differentiation. The district's strongest teachers should be in front of the students who have fallen the furthest behind. Top-down district control of curriculum and planning may also be necessary for a time, so that classroom teachers can focus exclusively on assessment and remediation. "Teacher leaders and master teachers will be key in design and implementation," McQueen says.

While this is no time for "moonshots" and grandiose schemes, with massive unemployment looming and a terrible job market for new college grads, there may be an opportunity to press non-professionals into emergency service for several weeks or months of targeted, high-dosage tutoring in high-needs schools.

Keep it simple. Keep it focused, intense, achievable, and time-limited. The most attention should be on those who have fallen the furthest behind. If we aren't planning for the resumption of schools, and for the foreseeable conditions we will face, we will be caught flat-footed a second time.

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To throw all or even most of our COVID-19 recovery efforts into remote learning is "shoe bomber" planning: responding to the last attack instead of anticipating the next one. The old normal will be back, and in some places sooner than we think.

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Rethinking Family Engagement During School Closures | Teaching Tolerance

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Rethinking Family Engagement During School Closures

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Taking time to check assumptions about family engagement can make a huge difference in the lives of your students and their caregivers.

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Your friends on Sesame Street are here to support you during the COVID-19 crisis. Our site is filled with rich content you can use with children to spark playful learning, offer them comfort, and help your whole family thrive.

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Using Baseball to Teach Math - Stress Free Math for Kids

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As spring fever starts you might want to consider using baseball to teach math. There is no sport that is more a game of mathematics!

"Properly played, baseball consisted of mathematics, geometry, art, philosophy, ballet, and carnival, all intertwined like the mystical ribbons of color in a rainbow." (W.P. Kinsella)

When I began researching activities to incorporate baseball into math instruction, my first surprise was how many wonderful resources have been developed directly by Major League Baseball. Let's start with those and then move into the many other things available for teachers.

Educational Resources From MLB

The Blue Wahoos baseball team has an amazing curriculum page for elementary students with all kinds of free baseball themed educational resources! See Kazoo University for Ballpark Math, Baseball Math: Dimensions, Word Problems, Graphs, and so much more. They even have videos for using baseball to teach math! Here's an example:

Summer Slugger is a free baseball-themed and gamified math and literacy course developed by the MLB for 4th and 5th graders to complete at home. Topics covered in the 36 Summer Slugger series include units of measure, place value, arithmetic, geometry, spelling, phonemic awareness, vocabulary and comprehension. Each series is designed to take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

Real Life Math: Baseball In this PBS video for grades 6-12 the assistant general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks explains how he uses math. Attached activities include a frequency table and practice with mean, median, mode, and range.

Hands On Games For Small Group, Homeschooling, or Tutoring

Math Facts Baseball. This is a fabulous game for developing number sense and fact fluency, as well as introducing the idea of probability/possible outcomes,

Also see printable games at the bottom of this post!

Classroom Games

Classic Baseball Math just like when I was in elementary school! This can be used with any math problems you want. Divide students into two teams. Draw a baseball diamond on your whiteboard (or make actual bases in your classroom if you want.). One team will start at bat. They can choose a question worth one, two or three bases depending on difficulty. The teacher "pitches" the questions. If the answer is correct the batting team moves a magnet to the appropriate base (or the player moves to the base). If the batting team answers incorrectly, the other team can respond correctly to earn an out. After three outs, switch sides. Play until one team hits 10 runs.
Here's a modern version of the classic game using Google Slides
Baseball Math from Scholastic. This game is for upper elementary/middle school students to learn in a practical way the relationship between fractions, decimals and percentages. This is designed to be an ongoing game taking about 10 minutes a day for 10 days.

Online Games

Baseball Math Games on math-play.com has multiple games which use the same format of answering a question and then clicking on a moving ball to advance to bases. Choices for game content include all four operations, decimals, fractions, place value, rounding, and time change. Graphics are very basic.

Baseball Pro Multiplication practices multiplication facts. Players have to swing their baseball bat at the correct time to hit the ball, then answer a question. It may be my laptop, but hitting the ball was harder than I expected!

Grand Slam Math Addition on Math Playground has multi step word problems using addition and subtraction. A multiplication/division version is also available. This game advances players automatically with a correct answer and does not require actually hitting the ball.

Math Baseball on FunBrain for K-5. Solve math problems to advance to bases and score runs. This game advances players automatically with a correct answer and does not require actually hitting the ball. You can choose any or all of the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,) difficulty level, and whether you want the problems to be algebra style. This site also has multiple ads, including an ad you must watch before you can play.

Printable Resources

Mash Up Math Baseball Activities for Grades 1-8 includes puzzles, which one doesn't belong activities, and think notice wonder prompts.

Baseball Addition Printable game from Math Geek Mama for grades 2-3 Baseball Multiplication Game Mat
Printable Home Run Division Game for grades 2-5

Mr. Nussbaum Baseball Card Math for grades 4 and above.

Baseball Math Printable Book for grades 4-8 includes realistic activities involving baseball, including score keeping, team travel budgets, schedules, and players' salaries.. Free download from Teacher Vision.

Lesson Plans

These plans for using baseball to teach math mostly focus on statistics and economics. They are appropriate for middle and high school students, though some are adaptable for lower grades.

Student Explorations in Mathematics: The Mathematics in Basebal l from the NCTM
Free lesson plans and virtual field trips from the Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball Stats for middle school from Science Net Links

Baseball Economics for middle school from EconEdLink

Lesson plans from PBS for grades 6-12 to accompany movie The Tenth Inning (some are adaptable for lower grades)
Statistical Analysis to Rank Baseball Players for grades 11-12

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Using Baseball to Teach Math - Stress Free Math for Kids

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As spring fever starts you might want to consider using baseball to teach math. There is no sport that is more a game of mathematics! "Properly played, baseball consisted of mathematics, geometry, art, philosophy, ballet, and carnival, all intertwined like the mystical ribbons of color in a rainbow." (W.P.

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Emotional Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Outbreak : Lifeline

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This page is regularly updated with new resources and information.

What is Coronavirus (COVID-19)?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have described the coronavirus, or COVID-19, as an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that has now been detected in more than 100 locations internationally, including in the United States. The virus has been named "SARS-CoV-2" and the disease it causes has been named "coronavirus disease 2019" (abbreviated "COVID-19"). You can read more about COVID-19 on the CDC's " Situation Summary " page.

Infectious disease outbreaks such as COVID-19, as well as other public health events, can cause emotional distress and anxiety. Feeling anxious, confused, overwhelmed or powerless is common during an infectious disease outbreak, especially in the face of a virus with which the general public may be unfamiliar. These feelings of distress and anxiety can occur even if you are not at high risk of getting sick.

Coping Tips

People that are feeling emotional distress related to COVID-19 can take actions to help support themselves and others.

Set a limit on media consumption, including social media, local or national news.

Stay active. Make sure to get enough sleep and rest. Stay hydrated and avoid excessive amounts of caffeine or alcohol. Eat healthy foods when possible.

Connect with loved ones and others who may be experiencing stress about the outbreak. Talk about your feelings and enjoy conversation unrelated to the outbreak.

Get accurate health information from reputable sources. For health information about COVID-19, please contact the Centers for Disease Control at cdc.gov, your local healthcare provider, or your local 211 and 311 services, if available.

The national Disaster Distress Helplineis available to anyone experiencing emotional distress related to COVID-19. Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to speak to a caring counselor.

If you're experiencing emotional distress related to COVID-19, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or your local crisis line.

For coping tools and resources, visit the Lifeline website at suicidepreventionlifeline.org or Vibrant Emotional Health's Safe Space at vibrant.org/safespace.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline has highly trained advocates available 24/7 to ensure services and continue to support survivors.

Helpful Resources

Reliable sources of information about COVID-19:

Other Helpful Resources to Support Your Mental and Emotional Wellbeing:

CDC's "Manage Anxiety and Stress"page provides what stress can look like and tips to manage that stress.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has a guide for parents and caregivers to help families cope with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Mental Health America has compiled a range of resources and information on their "Mental Health and COVID-19" page.

ThriveNYC's "Mental Health Support New Yorkers Can Access While Staying Home" page lists free mental health services for New Yorkers, regardless of insurance coverage or immigration status.

SAMHSA's "Coping With Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks" page outlines the signs of stress and steps you can take to alleviate stress.

SAMHSA's "Taking Care of Your Behavioral Health" page provides tips for social distancing, quarantine and isolation during an infectious disease outbreak.

SAMHSA's "Talking With Children: Tips for Caregivers, Parents, and Teachers During Infectious Disease Outbreaks" page provides parents, caregivers, and teachers with strategies for helping children manage their stress during an infectious disease outbreak.

Vibrant Emotional Health's Safe Space provides interactive coping tools to help users when they need it.

Through stories of hope and recovery, Strength After highlights the resilience of individuals and communities while providing a resource for other survivors and responders that may be trying to cope and move forward themselves.

If you feel you or someone you know may need emotional support, please visit the Lifeline's website at suicidepreventionlifeline.org for helpful resources or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Lifeline is free, confidential, and available to everyone in the U.S. You do not have to be suicidal to call the Lifeline.

The NYS Office of Mental Health's "Managing Anxiety in an Anxiety Provoking Situation" resource page provides tips for all on how to manage anxiety surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak.

If you're worried that someone in your life may be suicidal, you can use the Lifeline's 5 steps to help someone that may be in suicidal crisis.

Action Alliance's COVID-19 Messaging Guidance page provides guidance for messengers speaking about mental health and COVID-19, as well as resources for specific groups.

The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) has compiled a selection of web pages and information sheets on mental health and coping with the effects of COVID-19.

The Dulwich Centre has compiled stories to support the community amid the COVID-19 crisis, from mental health service users, survivors and former patients.

The Action Alliance is mobilizing diverse sectors to collectively lead a coordinated mental health and suicide prevention response effort during and in the aftermath of COVID-19. Learn more here.

About Lifeline Crisis Centers

The accessible and free mental health crisis services that Lifeline crisis centers offer are especially vital during times of social distancing, and can be considered an essential service. Lifeline crisis centers may be used to overcome barriers of access to services caused by distance or unavailability of in-person mental health support, and can prevent unnecessary exposure during a pandemic. When individuals may be experiencing heightened anxiety, depression, and stress caused by infectious disease outbreaks and accompanying social-isolation measures, having access to trained and caring counselors may be critical for a community's mental wellbeing.

To find your local crisis center and learn how you can support it, visit the Our Crisis Centers page.

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Emotional Wellbeing During the COVID-19 Outbreak

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This page is regularly updated with new resources and information. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have described the coronavirus, or COVID-19, as an outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that has now been detected in more than 100 locations internationally, including in the United States.

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We Are Doctors Who Study Trauma. Here's How To Cope With The COVID-19 Crisis. | HuffPost

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A patient calls in a panic. She was diagnosed a week ago with COVID-19, and her shortness of breath has been escalating at home. She is no longer allowed to visit her mother, who is dying in a nursing home. By video conference, we determine that her breathlessness likely stems more from her anxiety than the virus itself. Instead of sending her to the ER, I practice breathing techniques with her to calm her surging adrenaline and elevated blood pressure - and it helps.

A week later, her breathing and blood pressure are improved, but the evening news triggers a new tidal wave of dread. Traumatic images flood her thoughts as the grim reality of post-pandemic life (and perhaps another outbreak in winter?) sets in. Will work, school, relationships and even grocery shopping ever feel safe? The shortness of breath returns.

Over a month into the pandemic, we recognize this as a mental health crisis. It's called trauma.

We are experiencing collective trauma unlike anything previously experienced in America in our lifetimes. It is devastating to our individual and shared well-being. The virus' invisibility, asymptomatic spread and ubiquity are uniquely terrorizing. The absence of safe spaces, the possibility of another mass outbreak, and the tragic realities broadcast into our living rooms promote further fear.

And just when we most need our normal coping strategies like exercise, sports and congregating with friends to manage stress and loss, they are severely constrained for our own - and others' ― good.

But naming this disaster as a collective trauma helps introduce a set of specific recommendations for coping - now, and for the long haul.

We are doctors. One of us connects with patients one on one, treating physical and mental health in parallel. The other interviews thousands of people who've experienced tragedies, both personal and collective. And from our combined 60 years of clinical and research experience, we have seen the immediate and lasting emotional, behavioral, medical and societal effects of traumatic life events. We also know how to help individuals and communities process, cope and move beyond suffering.

Feeling intermittently (or constantly) on edge, worried or sleepless are normal 'fight-or-flight' reactions to this trauma. We are not going crazy. We are simply coping with a new reality - whether we are sick or not.

First, let's explicitly recognize that our mental health not only informs our physical health ― it defines our health and humanity. Addressing mental health in the doctor's office is not a luxury; it is essential for optimizing patients' health.

Let's also acknowledge that feeling intermittently (or constantly) on edge, worried or sleepless are normal "fight-or-flight" reactions to this trauma. We are not going crazy. We are simply coping with a new reality - whether we are sick or not.

We can also help ourselves by developing adaptive coping strategies like limiting media exposure, avoiding mistruths, and practicing breathing, yoga or meditation. Asking for help is crucial for some, and can add structure and support to the coping process. Virtual social connections ― whether it's a weekly online happy hour with friends or joining a support group - can help us make sense of this crisis.

Some may find the dread is too overwhelming, in which case professional help through psychotherapy or grief counseling, for example, may help the patient manage acute stress while developing strategies to cope with ongoing uncertainty.

Our decades of research on personal and collective traumas also make clear that people are incredibly resilient, despite whatever life throws at them. A man who lost his home in a firestorm - only to lose his business in an earthquake a month later - was able to rebuild his life with the support of family and a sense of unwavering optimism.

Research after tragedy tells us that people often find meaning in adversity and can recognize strengths they did not realize they had. During the pandemic, we are reaching our friends and loved ones through new means, becoming more capable with technology, and finding new ways to connect with neighbors ― all of which can help us make sense of this crisis.

Recognizing that all of us working together to practice social distancing is helping us save lives can turn feelings of isolation into a sense of purpose. When we realize and yield to our own capabilities, we are better equipped to get through it.

Recognizing that all of us working together to practice social distancing is helping us save lives can turn feelings of isolation into a sense of purpose.

Taking care of our mental health is not a luxury. The trauma of COVID-19 is having immediate effects on people's emotional and physical health. From worry, hopelessness and panic to breathlessness, chest tightness and sleep disturbance, our bodies and minds are on high alert and exhausted at the same time. And when we feel this vulnerable, behaviors like self-medication, substance abuse and self-harm can ensue.

Unfortunately, the trauma will persist even if we're able resume some sort of normalcy. Large-scale crises like the COVID-19 pandemic have lasting effects, particularly when trauma is repeated and prolonged. The emotional, physical and behavioral ramifications of PTSD have been well-studied. In the aftermath of SARS in Hong Kong, for example, nearly two-thirds of survey respondents expressed helplessness, and nearly half reported moderate or severely deteriorated mental health.

Not only does trauma affect us emotionally; there are also compounding physical ramifications. Patients who have experienced adverse childhood events are at significantly higher risk for developing subsequent health problems like obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Individuals who were acutely stressed by watching the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath on TV were more likely to develop heart problems over the ensuing three years.

We need to get comfortable talking with our doctors about mental health. Primary care providers have never been more well-positioned to help. Although assessing raw data like weight, blood pressure and cholesterol is important, the role of health care providers should also include recognizing, affirming and incorporating the emotional and behavioral factors that give way to the medical outcomes that directly inform our human experience. Health care providers need access not only to our data but to our true selves, inside and out.

After all, how could a blood pressure reading possibly measure all we've been through?
Lucy McBride, M.D., is a practicing internal medicine physician in Washington, D.C. For 20 years, she has focused on treating patients' physical and mental health in tandem. She did her medical training at Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins Hospital and as a Fulbright scholar earned a master's in Pharmacology at Cambridge University, U.K. Roxane Cohen Silver, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Science, the Department of Medicine, and the Program in Public Health at the University of California, Irvine. She has spent almost four decades studying personal traumas and larger collective events such as war, school shootings and other international community disasters. She received her Ph.D. in social psychology from Northwestern University.
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We Are Doctors Who Study Trauma. Here's How To Cope With The COVID-19 Crisis.

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A patient calls in a panic. She was diagnosed a week ago with COVID-19, and her shortness of breath has been escalating at home. She is no longer allowed to visit her mother, who is dying in a nursing home. By video conference, we determine that her breathlessness likely stems more from her anxiety than the virus itself.

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APA Applauds Administration, CMS for Approving Phone-Only Telehealth Coverage for Medicare Recipients

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WASHINGTON - The American Psychological Association applauded the administration and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services for expanding Medicare coverage for audio-only phone services during the coronavirus pandemic, including psychotherapy, health behavior assessment and intervention services, and other behavioral health services.

Previously, Medicare recipients who wanted to take advantage of psychotherapy through telehealth could do so only via videoconferencing. This was a significant limitation for people without access or capability to use those technologies.

"To curb the spread of the coronavirus and help our communities heal, we cannot leave any of our neighbors behind," said Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, CEO of the American Psychological Association. "The American Psychological Association is grateful to our members and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle for tirelessly advocating for these needed phone services."

"Psychologists can now use their specialty skills to improve the health of all the communities we serve, including older adults, people with lower income or education, individuals with disabilities and people in rural areas," he added. "Yesterday, some of the most vulnerable people in our country did not have access to psychological care. Today, they do."

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APA Applauds Administration, CMS for Approving Phone-Only Telehealth Coverage for Medicare Recipients

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WASHINGTON - The American Psychological Association applauded the administration and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services for expanding Medicare coverage for audio-only phone services during the coronavirus pandemic, including psychotherapy, health behavior assessment and intervention services, and other behavioral health services.

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How to Support Teachers’ Emotional Needs Right Now

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At the end of March, our team at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, along with our colleagues at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), launched a survey to unpack the emotional lives of teachers during the COVID-19 crisis.

In the span of just three days, over 5,000 U.S. teachers responded to the survey. We asked them to describe, in their own words, the three most frequent emotions they felt each day.

The five most-mentioned feelings among all teachers were anxious, fearful, worried, overwhelmed, and sad. Anxiety, by far, was the most frequently mentioned emotion.

The reasons educators gave for these stress-related feelings could be divided into two buckets. The first is mostly personal, including a general fear that they or someone in their family would contract COVID-19, the new coronavirus. The second pertains to their stress around managing their own and their families' needs while simultaneously working full-time from home and adapting to new technologies for teaching.

Once distance learning had gone into effect, we heard from one educator who shared:

My vision of finally having someone else take care of my own kids' education, even virtually, was smashed to smithereens. This requires 100 percent parent involvement, actually 200 percent because my kids are in two different grades!

Given the unexpected new demands our educators are facing, we might assume that how teachers are feeling now is entirely different from the emotions they were experiencing before the pandemic. But is it?

In 2017, our center conducted a similar survey on teachers' emotions. A national sample of over 5,000 educators answered the same questions about how they were feeling.

Back then, the top five emotions were frustrated, overwhelmed, stressed, tired, and happy. The primary source of their frustration and stress pertained to not feeling supported by their administration around challenges related to meeting all of their students' learning needs, high-stakes testing, an ever-changing curriculum, and work-life balance.

Our research findings are echoed across a growing body of research on teachers' stress and burnout.

In one study, 85 percent of teachers reported that work-life imbalance was affecting their ability to teach. Other research has shown that at least 30 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching. Like our research, these studies found that the general causes of teacher stress and burnout are related to a lack of strong leadership and a negative climate, as well as increased job demands, especially around testing, addressing challenging student behaviors, a lack of autonomy and decision-making power, and limited to no training in social and emotional learning (SEL) to support educators' and students' emotional needs.

So, before the pandemic, America's teachers were already burning out. Add in new expectations of becoming distance-learning experts to support uninterrupted learning for all their students and caring for the ever-evolving demands of their families, and it's no surprise that 95 percent of the feelings they reported recently are rooted in anxiety.

We can't control what is happening to us and around us, but we can control how we respond to it.

Emotions matter

An anonymous teacher who filled out our most recent survey described the balancing act like this:

There is this huge dissonance right now between the messages such as "be well" and "take care of yourself" at the end of emails, and "in this time of uncertainty." Yet we have to partake in multiple seminars, read links related to online instruction, legal requirements in special ed, due process, timelines, etc. Everyone needs to be reminded again about how the brain works.

At the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, we study how emotions drive effective teaching and learning, the decisions educators make, classroom and school climate, and educator well-being. We assert that educators' emotions matter for five primary reasons:

Emotions matter for attention, memory, and learning. Positive emotions like joy and curiosity harness attention and promote greater engagement. Emotions like anxiety and fear, especially when prolonged, disrupt concentration and interfere with thinking. Chronic stress, especially when poorly managed, can result in the persistent activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Prolonged release of this and other neurochemicals impacts brain structures associated with executive functioning and memory, diminishing our ability to be effective educators and undermining student learning.

Emotions matter for decision making. When we're overwhelmed and feeling scared and stressed, the areas of our brains responsible for wise decision making also can become "hijacked." In contrast, the experience of more positive states like joy and interest tend to help people evaluate individuals, places, and events more favorably compared to people experiencing more unpleasant emotions. Pleasant emotions also have been shown to enhance mental flexibility and creativity, which are key to navigating the novel and evolving demands of living through a pandemic.

Emotions matter for relationships. How we feel and how we interpret the feelings of others send signals for other people to either approach or avoid us. Teachers who express anxiety or frustration (for example, in their facial expressions, body language, vocal tone, or behavior) are likely to alienate students, which can impact students' sense of safety in the classroom-and likely at home in a virtual learning environment-thereby having a negative influence on learning. Further, dysregulated emotions can undermine healthy relationships between teachers and parents. For most students, a successful distance-learning experience will require a solid partnership between teachers and families.

Emotions matter for health and well-being. How we feel influences our bodies, including physical and mental health. Stress is associated with increased levels of cortisol, which has been shown to lead to both physical and mental health challenges, including depression and weight gain. Both the ability to regulate unpleasant emotions and the experience of more pleasant emotions have been shown to have health benefits, including fostering greater resilience during and after traumatic events.

Emotions matter for performance. Chronic stress among teachers is linked to decreases in teacher motivation and engagement, both of which lead to burnout. Teachers who are burned out have poorer relationships with students and are also less likely to be positive role models for healthy self-regulation-for their students and their families. It's no surprise that teachers who are burned out are more likely to leave the profession, which impacts student learning and puts a huge drain on schools. You get the picture: When educators answer the question about how they feel at school-or, in our most recent study, as an at-home educator-we learn they spend a big part of their workday in a pretty dark place.

Research we and others have conducted has shown two possible protective factors for teachers' emotional well-being. First, teachers with more developed emotion skills tend to report less burnout and greater job satisfaction. These skills include the ability to recognize emotions accurately, understand their causes and consequences, label them precisely, express them comfortably, and regulate them effectively. But the challenge is that most teachers have not received a formal education in emotion skills.

Second, teachers who work in a school with an administrator with more developed emotion skills tend to experience fewer negative emotions and more positive emotions. These teachers also are likely to have better-quality relationships with their students. When students have stronger connections with their teachers, they, in turn, are more engaged and committed to learning; they're also more willing to take risks and persist in the face of difficulty.

We need a greater focus on teachers' health and well-being now, so they can thrive through this pandemic and be psychologically ready to return to school after this has passed.

Supporting educators' well-being

We know how anxious teachers (and, really, everyone else) are feeling right now. But have we thought about how we want to feel?

Previously, we asked teachers how they want to feel at school, and they answered loud and clear. A few of the top hoped-for emotions were happy, inspired, valued, supported, effective, and respected.

The more sensitive we can be to our educators' emotional needs today, the better we'll be able to support them now and when schools reopen. The space between how we feel and how we want to feel presents an opportunity to work together to improve the emotional climate of our homes and schools. The emotional climate is the feelings and emotions a learning space evokes; that space includes both the physical one and the learning climate that is evoked through the interactions between and among educators and students. This can be applied to traditional school settings and to virtual ones.

We need to understand how our teachers want to feel, again, and then support them with what they'll need to experience these feelings.

In the same survey we conducted at the end of March, we asked teachers to share some reflections about what they need to have greater emotional balance. Responses included time to adjust to the new normal of online learning and ways to make virtual learning fun and engaging. Teachers also expressed a strong need for honesty, respect, kindness, flexibility, and patience from their school administrators. Further, they requested more realistic expectations, including boundaries around working around the clock. Among the top requests were strategies to support their own and their students' wellness and resilience.

Building a charter

Putting our emotional needs in writing has a way of making them real for everyone. It acts as a reminder for those times when we might feel anxious or frustrated or any other uncomfortable feeling. It also serves as a contract between ourselves and our colleagues (and even students and families) to help during moments when we are anything but calm and considerate.

As part of RULER, our center's approach to SEL, thousands of schools across the nation have gone through the process of creating an "Emotional Intelligence Charter" with their faculty and staff with positive results.

The process of building a charter or agreement requires us to be vulnerable, and that can be hard, especially in times like these. And some educators are somewhat self-conscious and apprehensive about the process of asking colleagues how they want to feel. It can be scary. Often, how we want to feel is an indicator of what hasn't been working at our schools. But we've found that when schools have the courage to ask, the benefits outweigh the risks.

Specifically, a charter reflects the agreed-upon feelings and behaviors of the members of a learning community. Here, we describe the process of building a faculty and staff charter. The same process can be applied to the classroom or home environment.

It starts with a deceptively simple question: How do we want to feel as a faculty/staff? A principal or group of teachers can pose the question to the faculty and staff at their school. Once everyone shares their top three or four hoped-for feelings, the goal is to narrow them all down to a "top five" list reflective of the entire faculty.

The second question is: What do we need to do for everyone to feel this way? Here, faculty and staff share specific ideas that would support them in experiencing each of the feelings. The goal is to come up with two or three observable behaviors that are realistic and attainable for each feeling. For example, in order for teachers to feel supported around distance learning, what exactly will everyone agree to do differently so everyone feels supported? If teachers want to feel more valued, what are the specific things schools can do? Perhaps everyone can agree to respond to virtual inquiries in a timely manner.

Once the five feelings and related behaviors are compiled, the charter can be created and distributed to each member of the faculty and staff. In this virtual world of education, be creative about ways to disseminate it to everyone. If your school or district uses a learning management system, perhaps the charter can be "public" there.

Importantly, the charter should be a living document-it will evolve as your learning community does throughout the pandemic. Consider weekly reflections and opportunities for teachers to share ideas based on their hoped-for feelings. For example, if teachers want to feel more engaged, perhaps create opportunities for them to share their best virtual lesson of the week and why it worked so well. Even weekly quotations that remind everyone about the desired feelings can help to sustain a positive climate. And when we are all finally able to return to our schools, it will be important to revisit the charter. How we want to feel and what we need to support our health and well-being is fluid.

We are living through a pandemic that most of us could never have imagined. And, as we've shared, our educators are not in the best emotional shape. Today's teachers, counselors, and school leaders are experiencing greater anxiety, stress, and burnout than ever before. If we just hope for the best, more and more educators will fall by the wayside. Fortunately, an increasing number of schools are seeing the benefits of SEL, not just for students, but for educators' own skill development.

The time has come for all schools to address the missing link in what will help educators' thrive-a greater focus on all adults' health and well-being. If we want our educators to be successful-both personally and professionally-schools must be places that bring out the best in them.
This article was originally published on EdSurge as part of the guide Navigating Uncertain Times: How Schools Can Cope With Coronavirus. Read the original article.
Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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How to Support Teachers' Emotional Needs Right Now

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At the end of March, our team at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, along with our colleagues at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), launched a survey to unpack the emotional lives of teachers during the COVID-19 crisis. In the span of just three days, over 5,000 U.S.

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My heart goes out to all our teachers, students, and families right now. Let's face it! All our routines have been disrupted with the COVID-19 pandemic school closings

Are you wondering:
* How can I make remote teaching work for me & ALL my students, including those with IEPs? * How can I strengthen my collaboration with my colleagues & families?
It's time for each of us to do our part! I want to help YOU!

--- and still be a parent with my kids at home???

Drawing on 50 years of professional experience in inclusive education, I create systemic support for schools and districts to transform their inclusive/ collaborative special education practices.

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My heart goes out to all our teachers, students, and families right now. Let's face it! All our routines have been disrupted with the COVID-19 pandemic school closings Are you wondering: * How can I make remote teaching work for me & ALL my students, including those with IEPs?

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Learning at home | Monterey Bay Aquarium

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These free guided activities for parents and educators support children's learning at home.

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Don't have a G Suite for Education account? Check out the schools tab to learn how your administrator can sign up for our free suite of tools.

How do I teach remotely with video calls?

Set up your home for video calling

Find a location with a strong WiFi signal, plenty of natural light and a clear background.

How do I manage a virtual classroom?

How do I make lessons accessible to all?

How do I keep my students engaged?

How do I keep in touch with other teachers?

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Don't have a G Suite for Education account? Check out the schools tab to learn how your administrator can sign up for our free suite of tools. Set up your home for video calling Find a location with a strong WiFi signal, plenty of natural light and a clear background.

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A School Psychologist on How to Help Your Kids Cope With the Coronavirus Pandemic | SELF

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Let's face it: Raising kids is one of the toughest jobs out there-and child-rearing in the time of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has made it exponentially more challenging. From juggling the demands of working (or not working) from home to school closures that are now extending through to the end of the school year in many places to no more in-person playdates, society's new normal has been not only unsettling but downright unsustainable for many parents. Throw in worrying about your child's psychological well-being, and your stress levels are no doubt through the roof.

Research from the University of Michigan conducted in the early stages of the pandemic reveals that conflict between parents and kids is on the rise, with more and more incidences of yelling as well as the use of harsh language. What's more, according to the study, 15% of parents acknowledged that they have upped their use of discipline during this time.

If any of this sounds familiar, you're not alone in your experience. Even some experts in this space aren't having the easiest time navigating parenthood in the pandemic. "Although I am a school psychologist-I practiced in elementary, middle, and high schools before making the transition to academia-I am not an early-childhood educator or homeschool educator," nationally certified school psychologist Erin A. Harper, Ph.D., NCSP, an assistant professor of school psychology at Texas A&M University-Commerce, author of the comedic book Dear Mom, You Don't Get to Have Nice Things, and mother to a four-year-old son, tells SELF. "These educators have special skill sets, so I'm setting reasonable expectations for myself and doing the best I can."

I spoke with Harper via email about how parents can try to support their children's emotional and mental health right now, why parents need to extend themselves grace as they navigate this new landscape, and how to best thrive during this time. Don't worry-according to Harper, we are all learning as we go.
SELF: This pandemic has put us all in a precarious position, and we have all been affected in some way. When it comes to kids, what might they be feeling at this time?
E.H.: Children and youth may be experiencing a number of feelings. The reactions of the adults and others with whom they interact will impact what they pick up on and feel. It's natural (and okay) for adults to be anxious and worried in these uncertain and stressful times. Understanding that the children and youth in our lives, regardless of age, will pick up on our feelings, we will want to try our best to put coping mechanisms- connecting with friends and family members who are supportive, engaging in physical activity/exercise, getting adequate sleep, mindfulness activities such as meditation and journaling, et cetera-in place to manage our emotions so that when we interact with our children, we can model a sense of calm, listen carefully to what they have to say, and provide thoughtful responses.

For me, creating, especially comedy, brings me joy and helps me to cope with stress-and hopefully brings joy to others. When I'm not doing work stuff, I'm in a sketch-comedy troupe called FCC Presents in Dallas, and I write comedic books for parents to help them cope with parenthood in a fun and funny way. I'm not able to do comedy at the Dallas Comedy House theater where I usually perform, because of closures, so making home learning videos with my son has been a creative outlet for me.
What is the best way to talk to kids of various ages about what's going on?

Preschoolers will have a limited understanding of what's going on, but they may recognize changes in their daily routine and express concern. For example, since school has been closed, my four-year-old has been asking if he can go to school to see his friends. I explain to him that we can't go to school or other places right now because many people outside aren't feeling well, so it's safer for us to stay home while people get well enough for us to go out again. He doesn't fully grasp this explanation yet, but I tell him anyway. I also let him know that we can talk to friends and family via video chat. I then turn his attention to a new subject because distraction works well with children this age.

When it comes to elementary school children, your best bet is to keep the language simple, balancing facts about the pandemic with reassurances that adults are doing what they can to help keep them safe.

Middle schoolers are likely to be more vocal in their quest to understand what is happening. Your goal: Ensure they understand the difference between the reality of what is going on and those things that are simply not true. Since junior high and high school students are typically able to understand and discuss more details about these types of issues, tell them the truth, provide up-to-date facts, and direct them to credible resources. Doing so offers them a sense of control over one aspect in their life during this time.
What is the best way to support kids emotionally right now? Do they need structure or more flexibility than usual? How do you weigh creating structure against everything else you have going on?
Children and their caregivers definitely need lots of flexibility right now, but structure is helpful for promoting a sense of calm. A daily schedule is one example. If you create a schedule and following it feels stressful, then the schedule probably needs to be reevaluated and adjusted.

When I found out schools would be closed, I made a schedule for my four-year-old (and myself) right away. I try to keep roughly the same lunchtime and nap time that he has at day care. This is what I do during holiday breaks as well. I usually work or take quiet time for myself during his nap time. At school, Friday is pizza day, so I do the same at home. I've also allowed him to choose whether he wants to sleep on the nap mat that he takes to day care versus his bed during nap time. Doing little things like this helps to create a sense of normalcy.

Since creating the schedule several weeks ago, I've made several adjustments to make the day flow better for us and as fun as possible. Some of these adjustments have been based on his interests/responses to the activities. I've also been making an effort to make weekends feel different than the weekdays, but we do try to keep the same sleep and eating schedules.
What if a parent just can't juggle it all: work, homeschooling, sanity?
If parents can't juggle it all, it's okay! We must be gentle with ourselves and give ourselves grace. Trying to homeschool one or more children is a huge undertaking for parents, and many of us are not trained educators. If children are stressed and worried, their learning may be impacted negatively anyway, so we need to focus on helping them feel safe and loved. Encourage children to practice self-care and listen to their feedback about what they want their days to be like. Work together to plan their days.

If you feel like everything in your household has gone off the rails, is there anything you can do?
The first thing parents can do is not feel bad. We are navigating a pandemic! If everything has gone "off the rails," try to get back on when you can and however you can, even if it takes a while. For example, if you find yourself giving your child the iPad more often so that you can attend Zoom meetings for work or tend to other responsibilities or you just need a break for self-care, one option is to make sure the iPad content is high-quality educational content.
What are signs parents should look out for that kids may be scared or are having a hard time processing?
Generally, children in different age ranges will experience different reactions. Regardless of age, parents will want to look for behaviors that are outside of the norm for their child.

When feeling stressed, preschoolers may display regressive behaviors such as being overly clingy and having more toileting accidents or tantrums than usual. Changes in eating and sleeping habits are also common signs of stress in children this age.

Those in elementary school may present changes in mood such as increased irritability, sadness, worry, and difficulty controlling emotions. Like younger children, they may be clingier than usual and experience eating and sleeping changes. Their concentration levels may also take a hit.

While stressed adolescents may also experience poor concentration, changes in mood, and disruptions in sleeping and eating patterns, other signs to be on the lookout for include acting out and physical health complaints. Again, these are just some of the signs that children may begin to exhibit.
What are some resources for overwhelmed parents right now? Especially if they have children with special needs who usually get a lot of help and fulfillment from school?
I would look into virtual support groups such as Facebook groups for parents dealing with similar issues. These may be especially helpful for coping and finding resources in your area. And, if possible, stay connected to your children's schools. Parents can also take advantage of companies and online platforms currently offering free learning opportunities- PBS LearningMedia is one.

This time of physical/social distancing may be especially tough for children with disabilities and their parents, especially children and parents who rely on services that can't be provided or are difficult to provide through online platforms. Special educators and other care providers such as psychologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and behavior analysts, to name a few, have highly specialized skill sets that parents rely on to help meet their children's needs. Many of the schools and community-based organizations that employ these professionals are still trying to figure out how to provide these services during a pandemic. Schools and community-based organizations serving children with disabilities should be keeping in contact with the families they serve, realizing that the parents who rely on these services are likely overwhelmed and need help.

If parents are able to, they should contact school and community-based service providers to see what (and how) services are available. Those conversations may provide guidance on how to access the therapies, supplies, et cetera that children rely on. For children with medical or other therapeutic needs, contacting these providers may also provide insight on whether to stay at home or go to a facility where these services are provided.
How do you think this experience could affect children long-term?
This is a complex question. One reason it's hard to answer is because we do not know when social/physical distancing will be over. We do not know for how long or how many times we will be required to social/physical distance over the next few months or year(s).

While parents certainly should not minimize the importance of their children missing milestones such as prom or graduation, you may find comfort in knowing that the disruption of these milestones is unlikely to cause serious long-term negative effects in most children and adolescents.

What we do know is some children, especially those belonging to vulnerable populations, have already had experiences related to COVID-19 that may affect them long-term, such as the death of a parent or other loved one. In the United States, the odds of having a family member die of COVID-19 are higher if you are a child in an African American or Latinx household, since African American and Latinx individuals are dying from the disease at disproportionately higher rates than others. It is important to note that these racial health disparities are due to America's legacy of structural racism, which has restricted African American and Latinx communities' equitable access to a range of support systems that would decrease the odds of experiencing negative outcomes during a pandemic.

Putting support in place to help children and youth thrive in the face of adversity and build resilience will be especially important as we navigate our new "normal." Children and youth will need adults-at home, at school, and in the community-to provide protective experiences for them, such as mentoring and culturally responsive youth development groups that will help them to build upon their existing strengths and healthy coping skills. Efforts to provide this kind of support in under-resourced communities where the long-term effects of COVID-19 will disproportionately impact children and families may be more important than ever before.
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A School Psychologist on How to Help Your Kids Cope Right Now

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Let's face it: Raising kids is one of the toughest jobs out there-and child-rearing in the time of the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has made it exponentially more challenging.

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Yale's 'Science of Well-Being' Online Course Is Free | Mental Floss

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Yale Is Offering Its 'Science of Well-Being' Course for Free Online

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Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns has a reputation for presenting audiences with incredibly comprehensive, detail-oriented portraits of American history, covering everything from baseball to the Brooklyn Bridge. His documentaries are just as informative as they are engrossing, and you might walk away considering yourself an unofficial expert on whatever topic Burns lends his talents to.

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It's safe to say many of us are wading through uncharted waters as we each experience the pandemic in our own way. You're likely adjusting to a new normal - navigating government guidelines and restrictions, managing the drastic shift in your daily routine, or dealing with economic turmoil. Maybe on top of all this change, your pre-existing health condition or disability makes you or your loved one at higher risk. Maybe the emergence of difficult emotions is impacting your mental health.

While there's no instruction manual for how to perfectly navigate the ups, downs, twists and unexpected turns you're encountering right now, we hope this digital resource toolkit lends you or someone you know a supportive (or distracting!) hand.

Here's what's included in The Mighty's Digital Toolkit for Uncertain Times:
P.S. Everything included in this toolkit is downloadable, printable and shareable!
Print or download one or all three of these sheets for yourself or a neighbor/friend who could use a little pick-me-up in the form of gentle reminders.
Take what you need by clicking on an image from the list below:

Click above to view.

Click above to view.

Click above to view.

Fill out one or both of these digital postcards by clicking the images below, saving the files to your computer/phone and uploading the images to canva.com (or any other free image-editing software). Then pass them along to someone who is also spending their time burrito-ed in bed or parked on the couch.

Download and print one of the three original Mighty coloring sheets below. Take your pick from dogs, cats or an uplifting message!

Throw it back to the days when MadLibs were all the rage! Get as clever, serious or creative as you'd like.

We compiled a list of 10 journaling prompts from our Mighty members! Take a quick break and put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard by responding to one or more of the suggestions below:

1. Ask yourself what you need to hear right now. Write it down, and then read it back to yourself as often as you need to. -

2. What's on your bucket list? To start, try writing a list of 10 items, activities or milestones you'd like to check off. - via @togetherwestumble

Stay connected on social media with the shareable templates below. Click any one of the three images, save or screenshot it on your phone and upload it to Instagram or Facebook with your answers. Spread the Mighty vibes by tagging your friends and @themightysite when you share!

What would you add? Share it with us in the comments below. (And in case no one has told you this today, we're really proud of you for showing up even when it's hard.)

Thank you to the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson whose support made this toolkit possible.

(Janssen Global Services, LLC is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies)

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A Digital Resource Toolkit for Getting Through Uncertain Times

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A resource toolkit for anyone who's struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. Materials include: a guide for self-care, a guide for support, a guide for distraction, virtual postcards, coloring sheets, MadLibs, journaling prompts and sharable social templates. All materials are printable and downloadable.

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Free Workouts to Stream—11 Fitness Classes You Can Stream From Home Right No | Weight Watchers US

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Desperately missing your gym or favorite fitness class? A home workout can improve your mood, boost your energy levels, and help you feel less stir-crazy when you're cooped up at home.

The best part: Your options are abundant. Gyms, boutique fitness companies, and trainers are actively posting free workouts online, most of which require just a little bit of space and little or no equipment.

Check out this list of free virtual workouts available right now:

If you prefer audio workouts: Aaptiv

What: Live workouts that range from circuit-training to combat-style HIIT, meditations, and yoga flows

When: Anytime!

How to stream it: Follow @ aaptiv on Instagram and tap on their profile photo to view their Instagram Stories during scheduled workouts. If you can't tune in during designated time slots, don't worry. You can listen later by tapping on their Instagram Stories highlight. They're also available on Apple Podcasts.

Bonus! Aaptiv audio workouts are always available to WW members via the WW app.

If you miss your morning workouts: Blink Fitness

What: Virtual strength training workout sessions, which are led by personal trainers

When: Every weekday at 8 a.m. EST

How to stream it: Watch via Facebook Live here.

If you like ending your day with strength training: Planet Fitness

What: Work-"ins," i.e., 20-minute daily bodyweight strength-training workouts

When: Daily at 7 p.m. EST

How to stream it: Visit the Planet Fitness Facebook page.

If you've got pent up aggression: Rumble

What: Boxing-inspired cardio and bodyweight workout classes hosted in their trainers' living rooms

When: Changes daily; follow @DoYouRumble's Instagram post notifications to get updates on when the trainers are going live.

How to stream it: Tap on the profile icon on Rumble's Instagram profile page to tune into Instagram Live.

If you just want to dance: 305 Fitness

What: Live cardio dance classes hosted by 305 founder, Sadie Kurzban

When: Live streams at noon and 6 p.m.

How to stream it: Visit 305 Fitness's Youtube page.

If you tend to wake up on the wrong side of the bed: Outdoor Voices

What: "Virtual recess," aka a 10- to 15-minute morning cardio dance party to start your day with a boost of endorphins

When: 9 a.m. on weekday mornings

How to stream it: Follow along every morning by going to their IGTV channel.

If you like to mix things up: Peloton

What: Free 90-day fitness app trial with access to equipment-free yoga, meditation, strength-training, stretching, and cardio videos

When: At your leisure.

How to stream it: Start your trial here.

If you're a yogi through and through: Sky Ting Yoga

What: Live-stream yoga flows

When: Dates and times are announced by @SkyTing on Instagram and on the Sky Ting Live TV page.

How to stream: Visit Sky Ting's live stream page.

If you want to break a serious sweat: Barry's Bootcamp

What: Twenty-minute bodyweight workouts

When: Dates and times are posted on @Barrys Instagram Stories and in their profile's highlights.

How to stream: Visit @Barry's Instagram TV channel.

If you desperately miss strength training: Orangetheory Fitness

What: Thirty-minute daily videos featuring household items in lieu of equipment

When: Whenever you're ready! New workouts are posted daily.

How to stream: Visit OrangeTheory.com.

If you bore easily: FitOn

What: Ready-to-stream boxing, high-intensity interval training, Pilates, and circuit-training fitness videos.

When: Anytime.

How to stream: FitOn's app or website.

Updated 3/20/20. Offerings are subject to change.

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Lucy Shanker is a copywriter at WW (formerly Weight Watchers). Beyond WW.com, the Chicago-born, NYC-based food and culture writer's work has appeared on Consequence of Sound, The Independent, Spindle Magazine, and more.

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Speaking of Psychology: COVID-19 and the Loss of Rituals, Formation of New Ones with Michael Norton, PhD

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Kim Mills: Almost daily, the news is full of stories of high school and college seniors missing out on their graduation ceremonies and of people being unable to see and touch their loved ones who are suffering from COVID-19. Some of the more heartbreaking accounts feature families having to bury loved ones without funerals or formal mourning. The coronavirus is keeping us from experiencing some of the deepest and most meaningful rituals of our lives.

What is this doing to us psychologically? How important are rituals to our mental health and wellbeing? What new rituals might we be creating? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that explores the links between psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills. Our guest today is Dr. Michael I. Norton, a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and a member of Harvard's Behavioral Insights Group. His research covers a gamut of fascinating topics from money to daydreaming, from greed to deception, but I asked him here today to talk primarily about rituals in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, Dr. Norton.

Michael Norton: Thank you so much for inviting me.

Kim: I think we probably all have an idea of what rituals are, but it always helps to have a common language. Is it, for example, a ritual to take a coffee break every day at 10:15, or is that just a habit? What are the differences between rituals and habits? Could you define for our listeners what constitutes a ritual?

Michael: They certainly lie on a continuum. There are a lot of habits that have some ritualistic elements and there are a lot of rituals that of course look a lot like habits. It's hard to differentiate them into pure, that's purely a habit and that's purely a ritual, but one way to think about that continuum is if I asked you in the morning, "Do you first brush your teeth and then take a shower, or do you first take a shower and then brush your teeth?" Crazily, when I ask that question, in countries all over the world, actually about 50% of people do it one way, and 50% of people do it the other way.

They have this thing they do every morning and they really think their way is the good way and the other way is the bad way. Now, then if I ask, "Imagine in your head," and you can do this yourself, "Imagine in your head doing them in the opposite order tomorrow morning. Really simulate that you would, instead of brushing your teeth first, you'd get in the shower first."

When I ask people that, a lot of people make a face like, "I don't like that. That feels weird to me." or "That feels wrong to me." but a lot of people say, "No problem at all. I'm happy to switch the order." We can see in there the difference between a habit and a ritual. If you like to do things a certain way, but then if I say, "Switch it." you don't mind. It's more like a habit. In the morning, you need to brush your teeth, need to take a shower. You have the habit of doing that. The order doesn't really matter, but if you're one of those who felt a little weird when you thought about doing it differently, now, that's a little bit further down the continuum toward the ritual because now, the order in which you do things really matters to you when it really shouldn't matter necessarily. It feels like it matters, and that means that it's a little bit more important to you.

Kim: Rituals seem to be ubiquitous. I can't think of a culture or a time in history when humans did not engage in rituals. They can seem trivial like buying a weekly lottery ticket, or they can be really profound like a funeral mass. My question is, are we physically hardwired to perform rituals? What does the science tell us about where this drive comes from?

Michael: One of the interesting things about studying rituals is of course that many different disciplines have tackled the topic. I'm certainly not the first person to start studying rituals. If you look in anthropology and sociology, of course in clinical psychology, which I hope we'll talk about as well, people have been looking at what rituals are and how ubiquitous they are. In fact, if you think about how we identify that some humans had some culture way back when, we often look to see if they buried their dead in a ceremonious fashion or not. If they don't, then we say maybe they didn't have culture in a sense, but when there's shells around the body, we use that to say they must have felt differently about death. They must have had beliefs about deaths. They must have wanted to honor that person as a group. Rituals, in a way, are one of the ways we identify when humans became human.

Kim: Sheltering in place and needing to keep at least six feet away from most other people are actions that have radically altered our lives and prevented us from doing so many things. What's the long-term impact of missing out on some of the rituals I mentioned earlier, especially not being able to fully grieve loved ones we've lost to the coronavirus?

Michael: I think our research would suggest that there is good news and bad news. One of the first projects that we did on rituals, I did with my colleague Francesca Gino on grieving rituals. One of the things we saw is, we thought we would be studying grief in terms of the public communal rituals. We all think of often religious rituals as well, but when we ask people, "Think of someone who you loved who passed away." and we ask them just, "What did you do after that?" Many people wrote something like there was a funeral, but then they would write something very private that they did just for that person just by themselves that often no one else even knew about.

One of the examples that always stays with me is an older woman whose husband had passed away and she wrote, "I washed his car every week as he used to." Now, that's clearly not an established public ritual that's thousands of years old. Cars don't even exist until fairly recently. We know that that woman made that ritual up herself, but as you listen to it, you can see how meaningful and important it was to her.

What we find in our research, and this is the good news, is that even those private ones that we make up ourselves, those are associated with less grief and better coping. Now, that's not to say that the communal ones aren't incredibly important because we need social support. We need all kinds of things to get through grief. That's the bad news, that losing those really does have an impact. The good news is we can have a little bit of flexibility of creating our own, and those can help too.

Kim: One of the rituals that you've studied is the simple handshake. That's something else that we can't engage in right now. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has suggested maybe facetiously that we may never shake hands again. Do you think that's the case? Can you talk about some of the types of communication that are inherent in handshaking? Why it's so important.

Michael: In research that was led by Juliana Schroeder who's at Berkeley, we tried to look to see what really handshakes are all about. In fact, there's, I think it's apocryphal, unfortunately, but there is a story that the reason handshakes began way back when is because by shaking hands, you would dislodge any daggers from your sleeves and they'll fall on the ground so you would know you can trust the person. That's probably not true, but if you think about this psychological element there, it's really showing that you can trust me, that we can be close enough to each other to touch and nobody's going to get killed. Handshakes are a sign of trust.

Now, that's exactly what we see in our research actually, is that when people shake hands, they tend to trust each other more. The reason is that by shaking hands, I'm signaling that I care about you and that you can trust me back. That's the bad news because, as you said, we can't shake hands right now and who knows if we'll get back to that ritual, but the good news is that it's not really the handshake itself that matters, it's the ability to communicate that you care about someone else and that you trust them.

We ran a study, and this is years ago before the current crisis, where we had someone refuse to shake hands with somebody else. In general, people think the person's a jerk, but if the person says, "Hey, the reason I'm not shaking your hand is because I've had a cold." Now, suddenly the person who shakes hands is a jerk because they're giving you a cold and the person who doesn't by not shaking your hand is showing they care about you and they can trust you. Again, I think even our handshakes are so ubiquitous, we do have some flexibility in how we try to accomplish the goal that handshakes were doing. Again, we can be a little bit freelancing on to figure out how we can actually signal those things.

Kim: Quite a few athletes engage in some peculiar behaviors during or before games. For example, you noted in an article in Scientific American that Wade Boggs, the former third baseman for the Boston Red Sox woke up exactly at the same time each day, ate chicken before each game took precisely 117 ground balls in practice, took batting practice at 5:17 and ran sprints at 7:17. Is that kind of behavior a little crazy, or does it serve an important purpose?

Michael: One of my favorite things about that, I'm from Boston. Wade Boggs played for the Boston Red Sox. He also used, at every at-bat, he would write the Hebrew word for life in the dirt. The best part of that is that he wasn't Jewish. He just decided that he would adopt something from another religion that seemed to be pretty good, then bring it into his performance. We do see these performance rituals that are so ubiquitous. When athletes do them, they can be incredibly elaborate. We think that we're a little unusual, but we don't really think it's a problem.

Rafael Nadal has a very elaborate pre-serve ritual that he does every time. If you ask these players, "Why do you do it?" They'll say, "It's a ritual and it helps me perform better." They're doing it on purpose to try to accomplish this goal. Some of them, they think, "If I did one of those crazy rituals before I taught a class, I'd be fired because nobody thinks that teaching is as hard as playing tennis." We have context-specific rituals that we're allowed to do and not allowed to do.

Even for mundane things like people like us who aren't playing professional sports, but we have to teach or lead a meeting or give a presentation that we're worried about, Alison Wood Brooks, another colleague of mine at HBS lead this project on, do rituals help calm us down in those situations? The answer is that they do actually. When we're feeling anxious, the worst thing to do is tell yourself to calm down. By the way, that's the most important takeaway, maybe, of the whole thing is, never try to tell yourself just to calm down, we just can't do it. Doing a little ritual before we perform, actually can calm us down a little bit, and then help us perform a little bit better.

Kim: I've seen videos that you've done on the internet where you have people do these rituals to demonstrate group cohesion. I think you have found that that they do that, but on the other hand, people who are excluded from those rituals become an out-group because they are excluded from the rituals. It's just a peculiar thing that we tend to do even without thinking. Can you talk about group cohesion and the importance of rituals, what they do for the people who are in the groups, and how they may harm the people who are out?

Michael: Yes, this is one of the paradoxes of rituals is that they're not just good. Of course, we know that because rituals taken too far can become a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which we know isn't good. We know that it's not just that more rituals is better. I would never want anyone to think that what I'm saying is more rituals is better. They have to be used when it's appropriate, but another way that they're not good for us as well as you're absolutely right they bond us together, but in the bonding us together, they can drive us apart from other people.

When I talk about this, I do have people stand up and perform a ritual in groups, and I made it up. I just say, "Here's something I made up, can we all do it together?" It's things like clapping, stomping your hands and things like that. All I say to the group is, "Go ahead." What happens is people start the ritual, and they very quickly get in sync so that everyone starts clapping at the same time and then stomping at the same time, and they really like it. They feel good about each other. They're looking around, smiling. It's like, "This is our ritual, it's great."

You also see that if someone, "messes up" meaning that I clapped instead of stomp at the wrong time, people get very angry at the person. They look at them, "What's wrong with you?" When I asked them at the end, "What did you think about those people?" They say, "He was doing it wrong." Now, remember, I told them, I just made up this ritual that they've never done before.

Kim: There's no, wrong.

Michael: There's no wrong, there's no right. I just made it up. I told them I just made it up. Yet immediately, that quickly, we can say, "This is the good way. We do it this way." If you do it the other way, I don't like you." We do see that in two separate projects, so with Tami Kim, we showed that rituals can bond us together, and with Nick Hobson, we showed actually that rituals can drive us apart in exactly this way.

Kim: Let's talk for a minute about rituals and clothing. A lot of us have spent the last almost two months in sweatpants or pajamas most of the day. A popular meme on social media asked when was the last time you wore pants with buttons? I think we know that clothing has meaning in pretty much every culture. What are some of the actual rituals surrounding clothing, and how do they affect us psychologically?

Michael: One of the very first things we did when we started studying rituals was we asked research assistants to find every grieving ritual that any human group had ever enacted in human history. That was their task, and we set them loose, and pretty much every recorded culture has a grieving ritual. It's something that often has communal elements, and we know this, whatever culture you're in, you know exactly the one in your culture.

One of the things that we found in that research is, color plays an extremely important role in grieving, but it's not very consistent from culture to culture. Many, many cultures, of course, have black as the color associated with grief. You wear black to the funeral, et cetera. Other colors, though, have white. That's the color that is associated with grief. If you wore black to that funeral, people would be furious at you. If you wore whites to a funeral where black is the appropriate color, those people would be furious at you. There's other cultures where red or green are associated with grief as well.

It's really interesting to me, in this way, because it's clear that people want to use color to help cope with their grief. They use the color of their clothing in particular, but then there's a little bit of flexibility on exactly which color you end up using. I think the good thing about wearing colors that we really lost is that we used to be able to signal to other people where we were in our process of grief. When people were black for a year, for example, you would know that they'd lost someone, and that might help you support them.

Now, of course, many cultures have gotten rid of those grieving rituals. When I meet someone, I don't know if they'd lost a loved one yesterday or the year before or never, so it changes my ability to support them. The plus side is, of course, not everyone knows my business, and I might be a private person. There's these trade-offs between giving up rituals, could get us some things, but we also often lose some things along the way.

Kim: Are still some cultures where you have to wear color, for say, a year? I know in my family, which is Italian, that you were supposed to wear black for a year if you were a widow. Is that still prevalent?

Michael: Some cultures do. Actually, speaking of professional sports, you'll see sports teams often wear a black armband for a season if someone important to the sports franchise passes away. We still see people using clothing in order to signal something important, but the variability from culture to culture, and even within culture and subculture is very wide in terms of exactly what people do to show that they're grieving over time.

Kim: Something else a lot of us are also experiencing during our physical distancing is not being able to get our hair cut, or doing it ourselves, or having someone we live with do the job. When does caring for our hair move from being just a habit, I get my hair cut every month or an actual ritual?

Michael: This is a hard one to answer because I'm bald [chuckles]. Sadly, I don't have this problem, but even here, we see, even speaking just within grief again, there, we see again that people often do something with hair when they're grieving, but it varies extremely widely, again, from culture to culture. In some cultures, you shave your head when someone passes away. In other cultures, you grow your beard when someone passes away. In other cultures, you take a snippet of the person's hair and keep it in a locket to honor them

Even within the domain of, specifically, hair, again, it seems like just with color, it seems people want to do something to honor that loss. They look around for what's available. It might be clothing, it might be their own bodies, and then they do something in order to try to enact a ritual to help them and to help others cope with that loss.

Kim: Another obsession for some of us during the pandemic lockdown is food. We're cooking at home, or a lot of people are baking, or starting sourdough starters, which brings to mind food rituals. I know you've also looked at those. I'm wondering about some rituals such as saying grace before dinner or having a sommelier go through a whole elaborate, ceremony and pouring wine. Does this make food somehow better for us?

Michael: Bizarrely enough, it seems to. In research led by Kathleen Voss, we actually look to see, does performing rituals around food actually make the food taste better? Should it taste better? Probably not. The way you prepare something doesn't necessarily mean it will taste better, but when people prepare and consume food ritualistically, we can show that they actually enjoy the experience more.

The very simplest one is we gave people free chocolate, and some people, we just said, "Go ahead and eat it." Other people, we said things like, "First break it in half, then unwrap that half, then eat that half, then unwrap the other half." Not very complicated, but still an orderly progression through eating the chocolate a little bit ritualistic. We find that people like eating the chocolate more, in part, because when you do a ritual around food, it immerses you much more in the experience.

Think typically about eating food, you might be on your phone, you might be watching TV, you might be distracted, you're not really engaged in the consumption act. Rituals seem to bring us into the act so that we end up savoring the food more. We're literally leaving the chocolate in our mouth longer and enjoying it more because it focused our attention on what we're doing.

Kim: Are there any rituals you would recommend that our listeners engage in right now so that they can feel more in control and less stressed?

Michael: In a project that we have just started since this crisis, my student, Ximena Garcia-Rada, is leading this. We've surveyed parents and asked them about-- Ximena studies decision making in couples, which is a fascinating topic in its own merit, but we looked to see what's happened to parenting during the crisis because almost everyone's parenting has changed in very different ways, but there's been change. We asked people a very simple question, "Have you created any new rituals as a parent with your kids since the crisis began?" A huge number of people have. I think 50% to 60% say that they have. Those parents tend to feel a little better about their parenting, and they're a little bit happier with their lives in general.

Now, it's obviously possible that people who are happy with their parenting have the time to create rituals, though we don't know the causal direction in this case, but it does seem as though with the world gives us uncertainty, we tend to look to rituals as a way to cope with the uncertainty. Parents are doing rituals around handwashing. They're doing rituals around wearing masks. They're helping their kids through the process of learning how to do that, just like the way we do at bedtime, or at mealtime with our kids where even we have this particular bunny, and then this story, and then we sit over there and mommy comes in. We have this whole elaborate thing for kids that we do all the time. Parents use rituals like crazy. Then, for some reason, we think when we're growing up, "Those are silly. We don't need them." Maybe if they work for kids, they might work for us, too.

Kim: We're going to be singing Happy Birthday as we wash our hands for the rest of our lives, right?

Michael: It's almost like an earworm, I bet people will have it way more in their head now as they're washing than they ever did before.

Kim: Dr. Norton, thank you so much for joining Speaking of Psychology. This has been really interesting and I hope our listeners have learned a lot from hearing about your research.

Michael: Thank you so much.

Kim: To our listeners, thank you for tuning in to our podcast. This is one of the series we have produced regarding psychology's role in helping us understand and navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find other resources and tip sheets about coping through the pandemic on our website at apa.org. You can also find previous episodes of speaking of psychology on Apple, Stitcher, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All episodes are available on our website at www.speakingofpsychology.org. If you have comments or ideas for future podcasts, email us at speakingofpsychology@apa.org, that's speaking of psychology, all one word, @apa.org. Thank you for listening. For the American Psychological Association, I'm Kim Mills.

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Speaking of Psychology: COVID-19 and the Loss of Rituals, Formation of New Ones with Michael Norton, PhD

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Kim Mills: Almost daily, the news is full of stories of high school and college seniors missing out on their graduation ceremonies and of people being unable to see and touch their loved ones who are suffering from COVID-19. Some of the more heartbreaking accounts feature families having to bury loved ones without funerals or formal mourning.

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Coping During COVID-19: How to Support LGBTQ  Youth

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National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)

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We are living in unprecedented times. Schools across the country are closed with indefinite return times and, at the time of writing, most states have "stay-at-home" orders in place or strongly recommended. Families are increasingly strained by economic pressures there are increased concerns for physical health and people are socially isolated from friends, extended families, and support systems. LGBTQ+ youth are especially vulnerable to the effects of social distancing because many of them rely on school staff and friends for validation and affirmation. Schools often provide a needed inclusive sanctuary where they can be their authentic selves.

This document provides resources so that school staff can continue to inspire, empower, and promote protective factors for already resilient LGBTQ+ outh. Coping skills are necessary for everyone when things are stressful in everyday life. They are not a substitute for counseling, therapy, or medication, but can be used alongside treatments . Isolation can be that much more damaging for LGBTQ+ youth who are surviving in unsupportive homes and unable to be their authentic selves. Together, with the support of the caring adults they depend on, youth can feel less alone.

ROLE OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND SCHOOL STAFF

School psychologists and other staff can continue to provide the needed validation and affirmation LGBTQ+ young people need even virtually. Knowing you continue to be seen and heard can save lives.

When overwhelmed, young people in particular can forget learned coping skills. Without expected and predictable school schedules, kids and teens may feel even more overwhelmed. As adults, it's our job to remind them of existing capabilities and capacities. The NASP website has numerous resources on coping during periods of trauma. Below are some questions to consider when assessing how students are coping:

Are they keeping a daily sleep/wake schedule?

Are they using phone apps for meditation, calming, and stress release such as Calm, ACT Companion, Headspace, and

Are they listening to music?

Are they engaging in the recommended 1 hour of physical activity each day? Go Noodle and Nike Training Club are free websites and apps which help keep you active and exercising.

Have they cut off friends via social media or text?

Do they have a trusted adult they can reach out to? Is a trusted adult checking in on them?

Are they taking care of themselves?

If youth aren't able to effectively use coping skills to deescalate and refrain from self-harm, emergency services may be needed.

We are fortunate to live in a time in w hich we can connect virtually. Virtual resources can be a source of support especially for closeted youth. There are organizations that assist parents in supporting LGBTQ youth and, alternatively, organizations which can temporarily provide 'parental' affirmation when such is lacking.

Ally parents are parents of trans* youth across the country who volunteer their time to support young people who may lack or not yet have parental support. Youth can text or call ally parents by location across the country.

Sometimes the best support is the love of one's own family. PFLAG helps family members come to understand and accept one's gender identity and/or sexuality.

Free and confidential peer support and local resources.

CHAT ROOMS SUPPORTING LGBTQ+ YOUTH

Sometimes the best support is the ability to talk to others who understand and don't question one's identity and/or orientation. We know from crisis intervention research that reconnecting with peers is essential.

Please cite this document as:

National Association of School Psychologists. (2020). Coping During COVID : How to Support LGBTQ+ Youth [handout]. Author.

Please visit the NASP COVID-19 Response Center at www.nasponline.org for additional resources. Contributors: Greenspan, NASP LGBTQI2-S Committee.

, National Association of School Psychologists, 4340 East West Highway, Suite 402, Bethesda, MD 20814, 301-657-0270, www.nasponline.org

Communiqué Handout: November 2008, Volume 37, Number 3

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Coping During COVID-19: How to Support LGBTQ+ Youth

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We are living in unprecedented times. Schools across the country are closed with indefinite return times and, at the time of writing, most states have "stay-at-home" orders in place or strongly recommended.

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The ABC’s of COVID-19: A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Parents | Sesame Workshop

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Hosted by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Erica Hill, along with Sesame Street's Big Bird on Saturday, April 25 at 9 am, ET on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español
CNN and Sesame Street will join together for a very special Town Hall this Saturday morning to help children and parents deal with issues surrounding Coronavirus. The special, The ABC's of COVID-19, will be hosted by CNN Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and CNN anchor Erica Hill, along with America's favorite feathered friend Big Bird on Saturday, April 25 at 9am, ET on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español. The 90-minute special will provide information and tools for families, and answer the big questions both parents and kids have about the coronavirus pandemic.

The ABC's of COVID-19 will also feature the beloved Sesame Street Muppets, including Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Rosita and Grover, as well as appearances by Sesame Street's Alan Muraoka and Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, SVP of Curriculum and Content for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street.

The ABC's of COVID-19 will stream live, without requiring a cable log-in, on CNN.com's homepage and across mobile devices via CNN's apps for iOS and Android. It can also be viewed on CNNgo (at CNN.com/go on your desktop, smartphone, and iPad, and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Android TV). The special will also be available on demand to subscribers via cable/satellite systems, CNNgo platforms and CNN mobile apps.

The ABC's of COVID-19 builds on Sesame Workshop's new Caring for Each Other initiative, which provides free content designed to help parents provide comfort and manage anxiety as well as creating routines, fostering playful learning at home, and staying physically and mentally healthy. Free resources can be found at SesameStreet.org/caring, which is regularly updated to meet the needs of families as the situation evolves.

About Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, the pioneering television show that has been reaching and teaching children since 1969. Today, Sesame Workshop is an innovative force for change, with a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. We're present in more than 150 countries, serving vulnerable children through a wide range of media, formal education, and philanthropically-funded social impact programs, each grounded in rigorous research and tailored to the needs and cultures of the communities we serve. For more information, please visit http://www.sesameworkshop.org.

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The ABC's of COVID-19: A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Parents | Sesame Workshop

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CNN and Sesame Street will join together for a very special Town Hall this Saturday morning to help children and parents deal with issues surrounding Coronavirus. The special, The ABC's of COVID-19, will be hosted by CNN Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and CNN anchor Erica Hill, along with America's favorite feathered friend Big Bird on Saturday, April 25 at 9am, ET on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español.

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Walking Is One of the Easiest Forms of Mindfulness | Forge

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Coronavirus: Tips for Taking Care of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers | University Hospitals

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April 08, 2020

Many adults think that young children, especially infants and toddlers, don't really notice or understand what is going on around them. Sometimes adults might think, "They will never remember this, so it doesn't really matter to them."

However, even infants notice what is happening around them and can be affected by stress, especially the stress of their parents and caregivers.

Young children don't have the ability to understand the world like older children or adults do. So changes in routines and in people around them can easily make young children worried or anxious, even though they often cannot explain or tell us about their worries.

What young children need the most is a sense of safety and security from parents, which they feel when caregivers hold them, reassure them, stay calm with them and listen to them.

Common Reactions to Stress in Young Children

It's important for adults to remember that young children don't have the language or skills to talk about what is upsetting them.

But young children do show us when they are stressed, worried or upset. It's important for adults and caregivers to pay attention to young children's behaviors and think about how these behaviors might be showing us how children are feeling inside. Common reactions to stress in young children include:

Increased crying

Trouble being soothed or comforted

Sleep problems

Toileting problems

Increased worries such as when separated from parents or at nighttime

Bad dreams

Temper tantrums

Clingy or needy behaviors

What Caregivers Can Do

Young children need their parents to comfort them and to keep them feeling safe and secure; they are too young to do this for themselves. It is hard to comfort children when caregivers or parents are stressed themselves, so do the best you can. Some effective ways of helping young children when they are upset or worried or stressed include:

Reassuring them that you will keep them safe through verbal reassurance (for children who understand language) and/or through physical closeness and comforting movements such as rocking or swaying while holding.

Keeping the home quieter, like turning the TV volume down, playing soothing music, dimming lights, etc.

having patience even when there is an increase in problematic behavior, keeping in mind that problem behaviors in young children are a sign of stress and not from being a "bad" kid.

Encouraging expression of feelings through play and books and stories.

Maintaining regular routines.

Keeping good eating and sleep habits, but being aware that short-term changes in sleep arrangements may be necessary, such as if a small child is very anxious at night or when separated They may need some extra time being physically close with a caregiver.

Getting fresh air and physical movement/exercise.

Limiting children's exposure to TV and media about COVID-19, limiting exposure to adult discussions about COVID-19 and related stresses, such as loss of a job.

For children who ask questions about the current outbreak, providing simple and brief information that is age-appropriate, followed up with reassurance that you and lots of helpers, such as doctors and teaches, love them and will take care of them.

Keeping yourself calm; children take their cues from their caregivers about how they should feel and act. You are your child's most important role model.

Stress Management for You and Your Young Children

Parenting is hard, even in the best of times. It can be even harder when parents or caregivers are stressed themselves about what is happening around them. Be kind and gentle to yourself. A few important things to keep in mind to take good care of yourself during this time:

Know that the current COVID-19 outbreak is causing an increase in anxiety for many people and may even trigger memories from stressful past events. If this is happening to you, you are not alone.

Shift your expectations and priorities to focus more on what gives you a sense of calm, peace, purpose and fulfillment.

Reach out and stay connected to people you trust through video chats or phone calls or other safe ways of communicating.

Reach out for professional help if needed. Call your health care provider or your child's health care provider -- they can help connect you with needed resources. Or consider calling a national helpline, such as the National Parent Helpline, 1-855-427-2736 (Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST).

Ideas for Activities to Promote Positive Interactions

Face-to-face positive games such as peek-a-boo, patty cake.

Quiet time reading books, looking at pictures or playing with toys.

Playing with chalk or taking a walk or playing with bubbles outside when the weather permits these activities -- even very young children may enjoy a walk outside in the rain with raincoats or umbrellas.

Singing or dancing and listening to music.

Snuggling together while watching educational shows or videos such as those on PBSKids.

Compiled by the pediatric experts in UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Division of Developmental/Behavioral Pediatrics & Psychology.
Related links

University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital has the region's largest coordinated network of pediatric primary care providers, committed to delivering the very best care to children of all ages. Find a pediatric practice near you.

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Coronavirus: Tips for Taking Care of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers

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April 08, 2020 Many adults think that young children, especially infants and toddlers, don't really notice or understand what is going on around them. Sometimes adults might think, "They will never remember this, so it doesn't really matter to them."

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Fostering a Strong Community in a Virtual K–12 Classroom | Edutopia

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Fostering a Strong Community in a Virtual Classroom

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The shift to working online requires teachers to think a little differently about how to build the culture they want with their students.

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Zoom Games: 6 Ways to Play Games Over Zoom and Video Chat App | SELF

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To get started: If you're playing the online version, get everyone set up on video chat and choose one person to host. The host will go here and share their screen with the group. (Everyone will need a pen and paper to record their answers.) From there, hit the timer and start playing!

2. Jackbox Party Pack

Jackbox Party Packs are bundles of zany party games (like Drawful, which is Pictionary-esque but more ridiculous, and Fibbage, a bluffing game) that you can play on just about any device (phone, tablet, PC, gaming consoles). Although these games are intended to be played by people in the same place (using their devices to input answers, draw clues, et cetera, which then show up on one big screen everyone is looking at), you can do it remotely too. In fact, Jackbox Games recently published a blog post explaining how to easily play their games remotely (along with a video tutorial). Only one person in your group has to own the game; everyone else just goes to jackbox.tv and inputs a code sent by the host, and you're good to go. Also: The Party Packs are on deep sale for just about every platform right now.

To get started: Whoever is hosting the game will choose their platform (PC, Mac, Xbox One, Playstation 4, et cetera) and buy the corresponding version here. From there, the host will start a video chat (just use an app that allows screen sharing; Zoom and FaceTime are both great options) and open the game. The host will then provide players with a code that they'll use to join the game by going to jackbox.tv on their device (you can use a smartphone, tablet, or computer-whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you). The host will share their screen and, once everyone is ready, start the game. Step-by-step video instructions are available here.

3. Codenames

This game-which can be played with four to eight players-is one of my favorite party games. It's a guessing game where teammates give each other coded hints to get them to correctly guess the words on the board. Again, the barrier to entry is relatively low in terms of rules to learn, and it's equal parts challenging and fun. Thanks to developer jbowens, you can now play Codenames online by going here, choosing your language, and then firing up a video chat. The online version doesn't come with the rules, so if you've never played the game before, read up on the rules here before getting started.

To get started: Once you've reviewed the rules of the game, just set up a video chat with all participants. The host goes here and creates the session and then shares that link with participants. From there, you start up a video chat, divide into two teams (red and blue), and use the virtual game board to start playing.

4. Houseparty

This app (which you can download on your computer or mobile device) is basically a video-chat app with built-in games. You can choose from trivia, guessing games, and drawing games, and play them with up to eight people. Once you download the app and create an account, starting games is easy and quick. This is a great option for people who want chill, fun party games without too much prep or infrastructure to make it happen.

To get started: Download the app and sign up for a (free) account. From there you can find or invite friends. You can start a game by connecting with a friend and choosing a game once the chat begins, by opening up a room that you invite participants into, or by tapping on the dice icon to choose a game and then invite participants to it.

5. #ZoomJam games

If you're down to get a little experimental or perhaps bring out the role-player in you, you should definitely check out #ZoomJam, which is a collaboration of the game-design program at University of Southern California and Situation Lab. For this game jam, game designers create games specifically to be played over Zoom while we're social distancing. It's actually a game-design competition, but until it's over and the best of the best have emerged, browse the archives and find a fun game to play, like the goofy drawing game Masterpiece, or the Messenger, which makes use of Zoom's breakout-rooms feature for a collaborative storytelling game. Check back often, because designers are submitting games all the time.

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6 Games You Can Play via Video Chat Since Talking Is Getting Old

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To get started: If you're playing the online version, get everyone set up on video chat and choose one person to host. The host will go here and share their screen with the group. (Everyone will need a pen and paper to record their answers.) From there, hit the timer and start playing!

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How Covid-19 Social Distancing Recreates Your Childhood Emotional Neglect | Dr. Jonice Webb

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Just Letting You Know: On Saturday, 4/4 at 3 p.m. EST I'll be on Instagram Live answering your questions about coping with the social distancing and anxiety of this pandemic. Join me at @drjonicewebb! I would love to connect with you during this difficult time.
As the psychologist who literally wrote the book on Childhood Emotional Neglect or CEN, I have heard thousands of people describe what it was like for them to grow up in a family that avoided talking about meaningful or emotional topics, and who treated feelings as irrelevant or burdensome.

In case your reaction to the paragraph above was, "What's the big deal about that," I will take a moment to explain.

Childhood Emotional Neglect

Your emotions are biologically wired into you for a reason. They go far beyond just the fight-or-flight mechanism. They are also an expression of your deepest self. Your feelings tell you what you like, love, enjoy, dislike, abhor, want and need, what harms you, and much, much more. Your emotions are like your rudder; they ground you and direct you. They also connect you.

When, as a child, your family is generally uncomfortable with the vital resource of emotions embodied in each of its members, when your family treats your feelings as if they do not exist or are a burden, you learn to do the opposite of what is healthy.

You learn to push your feelings away and wall them off. You learn to view them as a problem instead of the solution they are meant to be. You grow up separated from the deepest expression of who you are.

Then, as an adult, instead of listening to your gut, you ignore it. Instead of knowing what you want, you ignore it. Instead of seeking what you need, you ignore it. On and on and on, you miss the cues that should be your roots, your rudder, and your meaning.

You are literally living your life without taking your own feelings into account. But that does not mean that they are gone.

3 Feelings That Take Root in the CEN Child and Persist in the CEN Adult

Alone. The lack of meaningful communication and emotional support and validation communicates to you, the child, that you are alone in the world. The CEN child feels, on some deep level, that they are on their own. Then, as an adult, you find it hard to ask for help or to accept it; deep down you feel something lacking in your friendships and relationships.

Insecure. Being taught to literally ignore yourself takes away your ability to learn who you are and what you're made of. This leaves you feeling unmoored and unprepared as a child. What's going to happen next? Will I be ready for it? Can I handle it? Will I have help? The CEN child feels unprepared and unsure far too often, and this feeling revisits you often as an adult.

Lost. Separated from your true rudder, feeling alone in the world, having little to rely on and feeling deeply insecure, you go through your childhood feeling somewhat adrift and at sea. As an adult, you find it easier to go where the tide takes you rather than making confident and clear decisions for yourself.

The Power of Core Feelings

Core Feelings: The feelings you had most often as a child. They can be positive feelings or negative ones. They are the feelings you had so often as a kid that they have become a part of who you are. They reside in your body, with or without your awareness of them.

Every adult alive has brought feelings forward from their childhood, whether they realize it or not. The vast majority of emotionally neglected children are easily revisited by the alone, insecure, and lost feelings they felt so often as kids. These 3 emotions simmer under the surface of their adult lives, easily touched off by current events that recreate them in some vague way.

Enter the Covid-19 Epidemic. Enter quarantines, sheltering-in-place, and social distancing.

Hello, Core Feelings.

How Covid-19 Social Distancing Recreates Your Childhood Emotional Neglect

I hope that as you read this you are already thinking about how the feelings of your own childhood may be touched off by our current situation. And now I'm going to give you some help with that.

First, I want you to know that most everyone is feeling these 3 feelings during this extraordinary time, even those who did not grow up with CEN.

Alone: Social distancing is keeping the population physically isolated from each other, and so most people are naturally feeling alone right now. But when "alone" is your core feeling, this situation returns you back there in an achy sort of way. The aloneness you naturally feel now as an adult gets combined with the aloneness you felt as a child and you feel it with extra power and pain.

Insecure: Everyone is wondering what's going to happen tomorrow and in the future, and so everyone's feeling of security is threatened right now. But if you were instilled with a deep sense of insecurity as a child, you are more at risk of doubting yourself and your ability to handle whatever is to come. You may be feeling some anxiety and wondering how - and if - you will be able to cope.

Lost: Just as it happened for you as a child, your feelings of aloneness and insecurity threaten to undermine the roots you have planted for yourself. Since this feeling has been with you for so very long you are vulnerable to helplessness and hopelessness about finding your way through this worldwide crisis.

1. Know that every situation that taps your core feelings is an opportunity for growth. This one is no exception.

2. Becoming aware of your core feelings is one giant step toward your emotional health and strength, and also toward healing your Childhood Emotional Neglect. Now is your chance to do just that.

3. As you go through this epidemic pay attention. Tune in to your body and make an effort to notice when you are feeling alone, insecure or lost. When you do, focus on that feeling and ask yourself, "How much of this feeling is about now, and how much is about the past?" Trying to sort this out is a key part of processing an old feeling and that takes away some of its power over you.

4. Us your brain to process the feeling. Why did you feel this as a child? Why do you feel it now? Is the intensity of the feeling in keeping with the intensity of the situation now? How often have you felt this feeling during your life? How has it affected your choices, your actions, your confidence in yourself?

Even though you may feel alone, insecure, or lost right now, please know that you are not. Your feelings are expressions of your emotional truth but they are not necessarily a reflection of external reality.

When you let your feelings run rampant on their own, you are at their mercy.

When you own them, consider them, and process them, you can put the past where it belongs, choose the emotions that are helpful, and put the rest in their place.

You can use this pandemic to become more authentic. You can claim your power to shape your choices, your future, and your life by taking this chance to face your feelings and heal your Childhood Emotional Neglect.

To learn how to take the steps to recover your feelings, process them, and use them see the book . To join an online community of CEN people going through the healing steps together see the Fuel Up For Life Program.

To find out if you grew up with CEN Take The Emotional Neglect Test. It's free.
On Saturday, 4/4 at 3 p.m. EST I'll be on Instagram Live answering your questions about coping with the social distancing and anxiety of this pandemic. Join me at @drjonicewebb! I would love to connect with you during this difficult time.

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How Covid-19 Social Distancing Recreates Your Childhood Emotional Neglect

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Just Letting You Know: On Saturday, 4/4 at 3 p.m. EST I'll be on Instagram Live answering your questions about coping with the social distancing and anxiety of this pandemic. Join me at @drjonicewebb! I would love to connect with you during this difficult time.

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20 Small But Substantial Ways You Can Use Covid-19 Isolation to Emotionally Grow

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As a psychologist who specializes in the effects of Childhood Emotional Neglect or CEN on adults, I can tell you that scores of people have brought a big dose of those 3 feelings forward from their childhoods and have been coping with them for years. And now, in this current situation, we are now handed an extra dose of them plus a whole lot more.

Whether you grew up in a family that ignored the emotions of its members (CEN) or not: If you are stuck at home, feeling stressed, lost, confused, terrified, alone, helpless or hopeless, sad, worried, or angry, I want you to know that there is a way to turn this around for yourself.

The Importance of Control in an Uncontrollable Time

Much of this situation is truly out of your control, but not all of it. It is possible to reframe your current situation into an opportunity. An opportunity to do things you were never able to do because of time, stress, and all the life demands that you've always been juggling.

I believe you can survive the challenges of this pandemic. But I want you to do better than survive. I want you to keep on growing in surprising ways. I want you to thrive.

Not all of the ideas I'm going to offer below seem psychological, but believe me, they are. Each has the potential to greatly impact your emotional health now, and also continue once this pandemic eases up. They will all return you to your regular life as an improved version of your current self.

20 Ideas to Help You Survive & Thrive Through the Epidemic

1. Declutter your house. Is your clutter getting out of control because of your busy life? Use this time to get organized. Go through the papers and unnecessary objects in your house and sort it and get rid of some detritus. It will feel so good. It's you taking control in an uncontrollable situation.

2. Learn a new language. It has so many benefits. It not only improves your brain, but it also connects you to a different culture and that is a good thing in today's world.

3. Write. Writing, no matter what kind you do taps into an expressive, thoughtful part of your inner self. Have you had an idea for a novel or a memoir? Is there a part of your life that you would like to remember? Some unprocessed painful memory? Write about it.

4. Clean the small spaces in your home. You know those little corners behind furniture, under furniture, window sills or the tops of windows and doors? Now is a great chance to attack those. You'll feel so good about it.

5. Improve your cooking. Cooking is a form of creativity and it's also a way to practice self-care.

6. Explore new music. It's easy to fall into a rut of listening to the same artists or styles over and over. Get yourself out of it and try something new.

7. Sharpen a music interest or talent. Always wanted to learn the guitar or how to sing in tune? Now's your time.

8. Improve your relationship with an important person. This might be anyone who you've always wanted to have a better relationship with. Amazing progress can be made when you have the time and energy to focus on it.

9. Become more familiar with your emotions. This would benefit almost every human alive today. Why? Because your feelings are amazing tools that you could be harnessing better than you probably are to assist you in self-knowledge, self-expression, and decision-making. This is also one of the steps of healing Childhood Emotional Neglect or CEN.

10. Practice and learn meditation and mindfulness. This will help you find your center better and control your own brain, both of which are helpful when dealing with stressful situations.

11. Make a list of the strengths that got you through previous life setbacks. I know you have some. Being aware of them allows you to consciously call upon them when you need them.

12. Be grateful every morning when you wake up healthy and alive. Be grateful for the lives and health of your loved ones. Gratitude has been found to be a major contributor to life happiness. No matter what is going on around you, there are, without a doubt, some genuine things you should still be thankful for.

13. Think of a goal that's achievable now that could not have occurred to you in the pre-Covid world. This might be anything positive and healthy.

14. Reach out to someone you cared about before but lost track of due to hectic life. An old childhood friend, a cousin, aunt or uncle, or a college buddy. Reconnection is enriching and enlivening.

15. Practice or learn a new skill that applies to your career. Take an online course or read a book. Or simply practice what you already know to get better at it.

16. Choose an intimidating exercise you can do at home and do it every day. For example, 10 push-ups or pull-ups/day. Tailor it to your own body and abilities.

17. Give. Find a way to help in person or online and offer to help them. Like gratitude, research shows that helping others makes a person happier.

18. Let your mind wander. There is a great shortage of this simple pleasure in today's world. Just sit. Ponder. Let your mind go. It's good for you, I promise.

19. Read a challenging book. This could be any book you've wanted to read but haven't had the time or energy for.

20. Reach out to someone you wronged in the past and apologize. Virtually everyone has a nagging sense of guilt about having behaved in some negative or harmful way in the past, even if unintentional. This is your opportunity to wipe your guilt away by offering an explanation or apology. Or, if you cannot reach out to the person, think it through, learn a lesson from it, and put it behind you.

The way you are feeling now as an adult mimics, in many ways, the feelings of an emotionally neglected child. Lost, alone and uncertain, you wonder what comes next.

But now you know that the answer to that is in large part up to you. You can use this painful time to improve yourself and become stronger for whatever your future holds.

What feeds your self-respect, self-like and self-love more than watching yourself take the lemons the world is handing you and turn them into lemonade?

There is no stronger sign of emotional health than resilience. And growing yourself in any one of these impactful ways during a global crisis rife with setbacks is definitely a sign of just that.
On Saturday, 4/4/20 at 3 p.m. EST join me on Instagram Live! I'll be answering your questions about coping with the social distancing and anxiety of this pandemic. Join me at @drjonicewebb! I would love to connect with you during this difficult time.
For concrete suggestions on how to deepen and improve your relationships with the central people in your life see my book, Running On Empty No More: Transform Your Relationships (find the link below).

Childhood Emotional Neglect is often invisible and unmemorable so it can be hard to know if you grew up with it. To find out if you grew up with CEN, Take the Emotional Neglect Test. Link below! It's free.

Stay healthy and safe.

20 Small But Substantial Ways You Can Use Covid-19 Isolation to Emotionally Grow

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20 Small But Substantial Ways You Can Use Covid-19 Isolation to Emotionally Grow

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Has anyone else been thinking lately about the endless ways that life can challenge us? Because I sure have. Whatever negative events you may have imagined happening in your future, the coronavirus pandemic was probably not one of them. It seems that...

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MSU’s free virtual classes on gardening and houseplants are green-thumb therapy - mlive.com

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With many people stuck at home and still adapting to social distancing, Michigan State University Extension is launching a line of virtual classes aimed at sharing the joy of gardening -- regardless of your gardening experience and whether or not you even have a yard.

Each session in the new weekly " Cabin Fever Conversations " from MSU Extension will feature a guest speaker on a different gardening-related topic, such as seed saving, container gardening, flower bulbs, and caring for house plants.

Isabel Branstrom, one of the program's coordinators and a consumer horticulture educator with MSU Extension, said these online sessions are meant to educate as well as spread some spring cheer.

"We saw a need to brighten people's lives and remind them that in their own spaces, the garden is still there, and that it can be a place to find peace and to learn," she said. "We're hoping it'll just be a really nice space to take a break from whatever you're doing and get your mind in the garden and start to get inspired."

The free Cabin Fever Conversations will be held every Friday at 10 a.m. indefinitely. The first class is scheduled for April 3.

Each class will be less than an hour long, and will be held over the Zoom web conferencing platform. Interested participants can learn more and register here.
RELATED: Pure Michigan offers stay-home virtual travel, from museum tours to film festival live streams

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MSU's free virtual classes on gardening and houseplants are green-thumb therapy

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With many people stuck at home and still adapting to social distancing, Michigan State University Extension is launching a line of virtual classes aimed at sharing the joy of gardening -- regardless of your gardening experience and whether or not you even have a yard.

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7 Sunny Yoga Poses for Dark Days - Fitbit Blog

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Humans have been honoring the sun for years, and for good reason: It brings warmth and light. And the Sun Salutations you'll find in yoga classes can deliver similar benefits to your body. A combination of high and low stretches, the postures that make up these ubiquitous sequences loosen nearly every muscle in your body, and can warm you up for any sort of workout. They're also excellent for gently releasing tight hip and shoulder joints, along with a sore back. As for the light: Sun Salutations simply feel good-and that can brighten any type of day.

The following poses make up Sun Salutation A, which is the most basic variation of the sequence. Listen to your body, and perform as many repetitions as you'd like.

To begin, stand at attention, with feet hip-distance, and palms together in front of your chest.

Mountain Pose

Standing Forward Fold

Half-Way Lift

Plank

Chaturanga

Upward Facing Dog

Downward Facing Dog

Half-Way Lift

Standing Forward Fold

Mountain Pose
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or condition. Always check with your doctor before changing your diet, altering your sleep habits, taking supplements, or starting a new fitness routine.
Lara Rosenbaum

Lara Rosenbaum is a writer, certified fitness trainer, and dog lover with a serious passion for the outdoors. Formerly Fitbit's fitness editor, Lara has held editorial positions at several magazines, including Women's Health, where she was the founding fitness editor. Lara is also a former elite athlete, and has traveled the world as a member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team.

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7 Sunny Yoga Poses for Dark Days - Fitbit Blog

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Humans have been honoring the sun for years, and for good reason: It brings warmth and light. And the Sun Salutations you'll find in yoga classes can deliver similar benefits to your body. A combination of high and low stretches, the postures that make up these ubiquitous sequences loosen nearly every muscle in your body, and can warm you up for any sort of workout.

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Sesame Street's Coronavirus Response: Tons of Free eBooks | Fatherly

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Keeping cooped-up kids occupied as the coronavirus keeps their schools close is easier said than done. Entertaining them and helping them learn something along the way? That's practically Herculean, but it is possible if you have the right tools.

The Sesame Workshop is doing its best to equip parents suddenly faced with these challenges. For instance, it just made a trove of eBooks available for free. That translates to hours and hours of time reading and learning for kids, hours and hours of time parents won't have to worry about keeping them occupied.

The 110 (!) total titles can be downloaded from all the major eBook platforms (Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo). There's not even an expiration date at the moment.

Just as impressive as the sheer amount of content parents gained access to in one fell swoop is their variety. Everything from letters and numbers to animals to music to reading is covered by books centered around Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, and other members of the Sesame Street Gang. The books are pegged to different age levels and

The eBook release was mentioned almost in passing on a press release from the Sesame Workshop touting its new platform, designed for parents suddenly faced with the challenges of supervising and educating their kids on the weekdays.

" Caring for Each Other " is a portal full of activities to keep kids busy and learning that will receive regular updates while folks are stuck at home. Along with the eBooks, it's sure to be a lifesaver to parents struggling to keep their kids entertained and free up the time and bandwidth to get work done themselves.

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Sesame Street Just Made 110 Ebooks 100 Percent Free

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Keeping cooped-up kids occupied as the coronavirus keeps their schools close is easier said than done. Entertaining them and helping them learn something along the way? That's practically Herculean, but it is possible if you have the right tools. The Sesame Workshop is doing its best to equip parents suddenly faced with these challenges.

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FREE Registration - Spots Limited 100% Online Webinar Event

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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Supports Educators, Students and Families Impacted by COVID-19 - Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

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10 best ways to entertain yourself when you're in quarantine - CNET

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You -- and much of the rest of the world -- are in quarantine, shelter in place or some other form of lockdown, which means that your usual means of entertainment are probably off the menu. At some point, even the most introverted of us is going to go stir crazy after a bit -- especially if you've got kids cooped up inside.

The good news is, the internet is responding, with more options for social gatherings than ever before, including free online concerts (more below) and ways to create your own sense of community even if you're living alone. We've rustled up some of our favorite ways to stay entertained if you're self-quarantined or practicing social distancing in the weeks to come.

For more How To
Read more: Free entertainment to help you survive coronavirus social distancing
Take a digital museum tour

Thanks to technology, spending the day at a museum is still an option, even if you can't leave the house. Travel and Leisure has a list of 12 museums that offer virtual tours. You can check out famous locations in the US or abroad in Seoul, Berlin, Florence and more.

You can also get your art fix with the Google Arts and Culture app for iPhone and Android. The app lets you view paintings in AR, read up on masterpieces, and find your famous painting doppelganger. Don't forget to see what you can find in Google Maps if you're in the mood to explore.

The Georgia Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium have turned on web cams so you can still watch otters, fish and penguins without the crowds.

Host a Netflix viewing party

If you and your friends or family have a Netflix subscription, you can schedule a time to watch a movie or show synced together. A free Google Chrome extension called Netflix Party syncs video playback so you can play and pause at the same time. It also has a group chat feature so you can keep the conversation going while you watch. Everyone in the party has to have a Netflix account though, so it's not entirely free.

Do some spring cleaning now

Some of us reserve cleaning for weekends, but if you're stuck at home, you've likely got some extra time on your hands. CNET has a list of tips if you want to sanitize your , your , your , and even the dryer vent and the kitchen sink. Plus, learn how to clean smarter, not harder, how Alexa can help you clean, and all the places you shouldn't forget to clean. While you're cleaning, don't forget to tidy your tech, too.

Stream a concert, opera or TV show

Since the US government has encouraged social distancing to slow the spread of the illness, performers are trying to find a way to share their art. Artists such as Pink, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Keith Urban, Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, and John Legend are streaming live concerts on Instagram. Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty, who also streamed a session, tagged at least a dozen other artists to encourage them to do the same. American DJ Diplo will host nightly music streams.

The Grammy Museum is putting some of the recorded Q&A performances online from artists like Billie Eilish, Brandi Carlile and Greta Van Fleet. The initial rollout will include nine artists. All of the sessions were filmed in the 200-seat Clive Davis Theater inside the museum, located in the LA Live complex, according to a report from Variety. In addition, the Metropolitan Opera will show Nightly Met Opera streams.

Read more: Netflix's coronavirus boom seems obvious. Is it a fantasy?

When you've got downtime on a regular day, turning to a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu is a clear option. There's always a show to binge -- new or old -- regardless of the service you're subscribed to.

You might also check out a platform you're not subscribed to, like live TV streaming service Sling TV or YouTube TV. And don't forget about Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV and Disney Plus. If you need help choosing, CNET has compared all of your options.

Read something new

If you're like me, you have more than enough books on your shelves -- and tablet -- to keep you busy for a while. But you can also buy or borrow books, magazines and newspapers fast on Nook, Kindle and the Apple News app for iOS. But be warned: Even though digital books are often discounted, the cost can still add up if you're a reading fiend.

Read more: How to get free digital magazines from your library

There are also ways to download free eBooks to your tablet, computer or phone. Websites such as Authorama and Project Gutenberg have hundreds of public domain works including Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland available for download. Check out these 10 different ways to download free books.

Get your game on

Playing video games is another option to pass the time if you're stuck at home. On top of the games you might already own or have downloaded from the PlayStation or Microsoft Store for Xbox, there are other ways to play.

Read more: Best free games right now for Xbox, Stadia, PlayStation, PCs and Nintendo Switch

If you're looking for a new gaming experience, streaming services Google Stadia and Apple Arcade are worth trying out for their exclusive content. Google also offers a for a more affordable gaming experience (in comparison to Stadia). If you're a PC gamer, check out a plethora of game options on Steam.

Take up an exercising regimen

Relaxing on the couch can be fun, but you might get restless after a while. There are dozens of virtual fitness programs to choose from that you can do at home, but it's ultimately about finding the one that you like and that fits your lifestyle. Some fitness apps are free, like FitOn, and are packed with features that other apps would charge for. Other apps, such as Pocket Yoga, have free features but require subscriptions for the full experience. You can also workout with your Google Home or on .

Read more: The 10 best health and fitness podcasts you should listen to

Working out at home definitely doesn't require an expensive . Depending on the workout you want to undertake, you only need to clear out a small amount of space. For example, resistance training, some barre exercises, pilates and yoga only require a few square feet and typically don't require any equipment. In addition, some Instagram fitness trainers, like Jaclyn Ho, have started streaming live classes on IGTV and you might be able to convince your super fit friend to share their workout on Facebook Live.

DIY projects

Pinterest can keep you entertained for ages with its aesthetically pleasing pictures and ways to be creative. While some might require stuff you don't have on hand, you might find supplies after you organize that overflowing closet. You can find a project for anyone -- whether you want to get creative, organize your kitchen or keep your kids busy.

Here are a few to get you started:

Start prepping your garden

Sometimes nice weather comes early. If you have a yard or planter box and get a few sunny days, maybe think about readying your garden for summer. Being outside can help with staving off cabin fever, too. Here are a few gardening tips from CNET if you're ready to flex your green thumb.

Having kids help with indoor plants is also a fun way to help them stay busy that isn't screen time.

Read more: The best indoor plants to bring the outside in

Go down an internet rabbit hole

Sometimes a good Google or Wikipedia search is enough to keep you busy for a bit. What have you always wanted to know more about? Pick a YouTube video and click the suggestions after that. If you need inspiration for learning more about a variety of quirky topics, check out:

Search for adult coloring books and puzzles you can print online

Check Pinterest for a baking project for you or your kids

Dig out your pack of cards and teach yourself a new game

Play online games with family and friends over video chat

More fun things to do

For even more ideas, check out the 15 most interesting places to explore in Google Maps, and how to stay sane and productive when working from home.

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Self-quarantine can be a great opportunity: 10 things you should try

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You -- and much of the rest of the world -- are in quarantine, shelter in place or some other form of lockdown, which means that your usual means of entertainment are probably off the menu. At some point, even the most introverted of us is going to go stir crazy after a bit -- especially if you've got kids cooped up inside.

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Morning Guided Meditation for Teachers | The Mindful Teacher

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A meditation to help you enter the the day mindfully.

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With me videos.   DIfferent categories, such as: bake with me, jam with me, work out with me, game with me, draw with me, etc.  

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With me videos.   DIfferent categories, such as: bake with me, jam with me, work out with me, game with me, draw with me, etc.  

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YouTube

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YouTube's Official Channel helps you discover what's new & trending globally. Watch must-see videos, from music to culture to Internet phenomena

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All it takes is 10 mindful minutes | Andy Puddicombe - YouTube

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All it takes is 10 mindful minutes | Andy Puddicombe | TED

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Keep Up Your Practice - CorePower Yoga On Demand

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Enjoy free access to this collection of on-demand classes to keep your practice moving-wherever you are. Click any class below to get started.

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Guided Meditations - UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center - Los Angeles, CA

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For an introduction to mindfulness meditation that you can practice on your own, download the UCLA Mindful App ( iTunes / Google Play), stream, or download the guided meditations below. Recorded by UCLA MARC's Director of Mindfulness Education, Diana Winston.
For a more in-depth class experience, see our 6-week online classes" Download the UCLA Mindful App (iTunes / Google Play)
To stream: click the "Play" button

To download: right click the "Play" button and then click "Save Link As"

For more audio meditation podcasts, visit Weekly Podcasts at the Hammer Museum

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For an introduction to mindfulness meditation that you can practice on your own, download the UCLA Mindful App ( iTunes / Google Play), stream, or download the guided meditations below. Recorded by UCLA MARC's Director of Mindfulness Education, Diana Winston.

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Staying Sane Amid the Coronavirus Crisis - Robert Roy Britt - Medium

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Psychologists' say anxiety is normal, to a point, and offer suggestions for battling the strain of isolation and uncertainty

Social distancing and self-isolation amid uncertain situations can put tremendous strain on anyone's sanity. Psychologists say it's important to recognize that anxiety in times like these is normal. But in excess, it can be bad for you and for others.

"Too much anxiety creates emotion contagion and spreads panic," says UC San Francisco psychologist Elissa Epel, PhD. "That's not helpful."

So how to mentally cope with coronavirus? One key, among many suggestions below, is to avoid overexposure to the news.

"It's tempting to check for updates, but checking several times a day can keep us in an escalated state of anxiety," Epel says. "We then easily transmit that type of exaggerated anxiety to our children and those around us." Particularly unhelpful, she said, are "catastrophic thoughts and predictions" found in social media.

While recognizing that people in big cities and areas of the worst outbreaks might have limited options for dealing with the crisis, some people are finding opportunities.

"I have been using this as an opportunity to be productive around the house - organizing, deep cleaning, etc.," says Anna Lewandowski of Phoenix. "I still work from home but I am saving about an hour and a half by not commuting, so I use that time to my advantage."

Ashlie Brewer offers a totally different suggestion, for those who might have the opportunity: "Go camping."

Psychologists and health experts applaud such approaches, and they offer other practical ways to help us all endure and maybe even thrive a little during these challenging times.

"Thinking thoughts like I can do this and we can get through this, helps ward off the anxious spiraling of feeling like you can't tolerate uncertainty," says Mary Alvord, PhD, a psychologist practicing in Maryland who focuses on resilience. "If you find your thoughts spinning to catastrophic thinking or gloomy thoughts, then calm your body."

Resilience is about taking action on the things in life you can control, and not being consumed by the things that are out of your control, Alvord says in an email. She suggests taking walks and really paying attention to nature, the color of the sky, the feel of the air.

Alvord also recommends taking a few deep breaths, literally. In fact, deep breathing has been shown to relieve stress and even have outright physical health benefits, according to the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School and multiple studies. Try this: Sit or lie down and relax and breathe in slowly and fully through your nose, then exhale fully through your mouth.

Fill your belly first, feeling it expand, then fill the chest, then feel the air raise your collar bones.

Count the seconds as you go. Hold the breath for a few counts, then exhale completely, pushing the last of the air out using your stomach muscles.

Count a few beats, and repeat.

We normally breathe 12 to 16 times per minute. With deep breathing, aim to get that down to six to 10 breaths per minute and do it for as long as you wish. After 10 to 15 minutes, don't be surprised if you nod off.

If you don't have time for all that, and you're feeling stressed, experts recommend at least slowing down long enough to take three deep breaths.

It's also more important than ever in stressful times to get physical activity, whether that's exercise at home, a brisk walk, or even gardening or housework. Moderate physical activity has been shown by many studies to be good for the mind as well as the body. (Check out these suggestions for getting your motivation back during the pandemic.)

Nutrition experts also wish to remind everyone that now is not the time to gobble donuts in lieu of real food. The World Food Programme has some suggestions for focusing your eating patterns on healthy foods right now, along with the importance of staying hydrated.

Jagdish Khubchandani, a health science professor at Ball State University, offers several suggestions for turning isolation into positive experiences:

Clear the clutter and donate unused items.

Clean the house, which offers much-needed physical activity and is good for hygiene.

Maintain routine work hours, activities and your sleep-wake cycle. (Don't oversleep!)

Reassess your work skills and consider an online course.

Focus on improving diet, exercise, and maybe even your personality.

Explore new activities or revive old ones: music, dance, biking, yoga? Learn a new language?

Look through your contacts list for friends, family and neighbors who might need help.

Cook for yourself and others in need.

Most of all: "Do not isolate yourself totally," Khubchandani says. "Don't be afraid, don't panic, and do keep communicating with others." Just keep a safe distance whenever possible.

In fact, we could all benefit by thinking of sheltering and place and the 6-foot guideline as "physical distancing" rather than "social distancing."

"Maintaining social networks can foster a sense of normality and provide valuable outlets for sharing feelings and relieving stress," advises the American Psychological Association. "You can maintain these connections without increasing your risk of getting the virus by talking on the phone, texting or chatting with people on social media platforms. Feel free to share useful information you find on government websites with your friends and family. It will help them deal with their own anxiety."

Psychologists also point out that anxiety is normal, and it can have a protective effect.

"The good news about the widespread anxiety is that it is fueling big changes fast - many people in affected areas are being very careful to limit exposure. Anxiety fosters prevention and safeguarding behaviors. Prevention reduces anxiety," says Epel, the UC San Francisco psychologist. "However, when threats are uncertain, such as the current coronavirus situation, our anxious minds can easily overestimate the actual threat and underestimate our ability to cope with it."

People who already tended toward anxiety conditions are particularly vulnerable in uncertain times, Epel says. "While some anxiety helps us cope, extreme anxiety can become coronavirus panic. When we are in a panic state, we suffer, we stress out our children, we are more likely to make mistakes and engage in irrational decisions and behavior." [ How to Talk to Kids About Coronavirus]

Text HOME to 741741, the Crisis Text Line, to connect with a trained crisis counselor. The free service is available 24/7.
Portions of this article were first published on North Phoenix News.

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Staying Sane Amid the Coronavirus Crisis

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Psychologists' say anxiety is normal, to a point, and offer suggestions for battling the strain of isolation and uncertainty Social distancing and self-isolation amid uncertain situations can put tremendous strain on anyone's sanity. Psychologists say it's important to recognize that anxiety in times like these is normal.

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Living Room Concert: Lin-Manuel Miranda Sings HAMILTON Video

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Living Room Concert: Lin-Manuel Miranda Sings HAMILTON

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Today we've got Lin-Manuel Miranda singing from HAMILTON!

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Self-Care Resources for Educators and Other Helping Professionals — Mindful Teachers

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Tips, links, reflections, and mindfulness practices to help you cope with the common challenges faced by educators and other helping professionals.

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Improving the health and happiness of the world, one educator at a time.

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Lists 15 Broadway Plays and Musicals You Can Watch On Stage From Home

From Newsies to Sweeney Todd, we're running down some of the best filmed Broadway shows-and where to find them.
This article has been updated as of March 16, 2020.
While it used to be a rare treat when a Broadway show was filmed live on stage, it's becoming more and more common today-great news for Broadway fans. Now, if you can't make it to New York City or just want to see a show you may have missed, there's an ever-growing list of productions available to watch wherever you are.
READ: 11 Musical TV Shows to Binge While Self-Quarantined During the Coronavirus Outbreak
More and more, live musicals are being filmed for PBS or streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, BroadwayHD and more. Productions of Off-Broadway's Puffs to Broadway's Indecent to the West End's An American in Paris, new captures of stage productions regularly become available.
READ: 26 More On Stage Plays and Musicals to Watch From Your Couch
Let's take a look at some of the best filmed Broadway shows to know about and where to find them.
READ: 17 Must-Watch Documentaries for Broadway Musical Fans
Jonathan Larson's Rent updates the story of Puccini's La Boheme, setting it in New York City's East Village. As most theatre fans know, it made a splash on Broadway, and the level of devotion its biggest fans carried had never really been seen before. It was the first major Broadway show to offer rush tickets, and fans would camp out overnight to get inexpensive front row tickets. The production won four 1996 Tony Awards including Best Musical, along with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It enjoyed a run of 12 years and over 5,000 performances.

Though it was adapted into a motion picture in 2005 featuring much of the original Broadway cast, the final performance of the Broadway production was captured and shown in movie theatres as well, later released on DVD and Blu-ray. At the time of the filming, the cast was not exceptionally well known, but looking back now, it's pretty much an all-star cast, including performances by Renée Elise Goldsberry, Adam Kantor, Will Chase, Michael McElroy, Rodney Hicks, Tracie Thoms, Eden Espinoza, and Telly Leung.

Available on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube, iTunes, Google Play as well as on DVD/Blu-ray from Amazon.

Once Broadway's longest-running musical, everybody has an opinion on this Andrew Lloyd Webber show, but what can't be denied is that Cats is like almost no other musical to ever play the Main Stem. Based on a book of poetry by T.S. Eliot, Cats is about... well, cats! The production features an iconic costume and set design by John Napier, leglendary make-up design by Candace Carell, fabulous choreography by Gillian Lynne, and of course the anthem "Memory," one of the more successful songs to come from a musical in the last 40 years.

Cats wasn't filmed on Broadway, but the original production was captured on a stage in London in 1998, with original West End star Elaine Paige no less.

Available to stream on BroadwayHD, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play and on DVD from Amazon.

Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Company broke all the rules when it opened on Broadway in 1970. Instead of offering a linear plot, Company explored the concept of marriage through a series of scenes between Bobby, a 35-year-old bachelor, and a variety of his married friends. The show gave us such songs as "The Ladies Who Lunch," "Sorry Grateful," "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," and "Being Alive," and ushered in a new era of daring musical theatre on Broadway.

The original production was never filmed for home release-though there is a fascinating documentary (Original Cast Album: Company) that captures the original cast album's recording session-but a 2006 Broadway revival directed by John Doyle and starring Raúl Esparza was filmed for broadcast on PBS. There's also a New York Philharmonic concert staging available that features an all-star cast, including Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, and more. And, of course, IFC's Documentary Now! famously spoofed the documentary of the cast recording in Original Cast Album: Co-Op with John Mulaney as a Sondheim substitute.

The 2006 Broadway revival production is available on DVD.
The 2011 concert production is available on DVD.
Original Cast Album: Co-op is available on Amazon Prime, Netflix and IFC.com.

William Finn and James Lapine's 1992 musical Falsettos is actually a combination of two earlier one-act musicals, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland. Together, they tell the story of Marvin, a gay man trying to navigate his relationships with his former-wife, their child, and his boyfriend, all against the backdrop of 1980s New York when all of this was completely uncharted territory.

Lincoln Center Theater's 2016 Broadway revival featured a cast made up of Broadway favorites, including Christian Borle, Andrew Rannells, Brandon Uranowitz, Stephanie J. Block, Tracie Thoms, and Betsy Wolfe. It was also filmed for television broadcast-part of Live From Lincoln Center -but it ultimately found its way to movie theatres, and is now available for streaming online.

Available to stream on BroadwayHD.

Though revived in 2017 to acclaim in a production starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford, the original production of Sunday in the Park with George remains a particular favorite among theatre fans. Tony Straiges' Tony-winning scenic design stands up over 30 years later for how brilliantly it realizes impressionist painter Georges Seurat's iconic painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and it doesn't hurt that the original cast included Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin.

Available to stream on Hoopla and for rent or purchase on iTunes.
Available on DVD from Amazon.
Nicholas Nickleby
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby brought Charles Dickens' novel-about a young man who has to support his mother and sister following the death of his father-to the stage, and it wasn't an experience for the faint of heart; the complete play consisted of separate full-length parts that together made over eight hours of theatre. The show started in London, with a cast that included Roger Rees in the title role. Nicholas Nickleby did later transfer to Broadway with the London cast, winning 1982 Tony Awards for Best Play and Leading Actor in a Play for Roger Rees.

The filmed version of Nicholas Nickleby actually happened shortly before the work's Broadway transfer, but didn't receive its inaugural television broadcast until 1983. Given the play's immense length, home viewing might be the best way to watch; you can take an intermission whenever you like.

Available for streaming on BroadwayHD and DVD.
Billy Elliot The Musical
Elton John and Lee Hall's Billy Elliot The Musical tells the story of a little boy in a small British town who prefers ballet to boxing, much to the dismay of his conservative working-class community. When it opened on London's West End in 2005, it became an immediate hit winning four Olivier Awards. The production's Broadway transfer was equally successful, winning 10 Tony Awards, including a history-making joint win for all three young actors who shared the title role.

Though the Broadway production closed in 2012, the London production ran through 2016 and was filmed live on stage in 2014. The live recording doesn't feature the original cast, but it does include Broadway and West End star Ruthie Henshall as Mrs. Wilkinson, the ballet teacher.

Elaine Stritch was nearly as famous for her onstage performances as she was for her offstage persona-and her storytelling. In Elaine Stritch At Liberty, her 2002 solo show that played Off-Broadway at the Public Theater before moving to Broadway, Stritch takes you through her entire life, from childhood to Sail Away to Company, and beyond. And she does it wearing nothing but a white blouse and black semi-sheer pantyhose.

Elaine Stritch At Liberty wasn't filmed on Broadway, but when Stritch took the show to London's West End, cameras captured a performance for release on DVD. If you're fond of backstage anecdotes, showtunes, and dry wit, you won't want to miss this one.

Available to stream on BroadwayHD.

Before it was a hit movie starring Meryl Streep and James Corden, Into the Woods was one of Sondheim's most successful Broadway shows. It's still one of the most-produced works at schools and regional theatres across the country. This mash-up of fairytales that dares to go beyond "happily ever after" is one of Sondheim's most accessible works, and has certainly been the Sondheim entry point for more than a few theatre fans, largely due to the video of the original Broadway production with the original Broadway cast, including Bernadette Peters and Joanna Gleason in her Tony-winning performance.

Available to stream on YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Amazon Prime, iTunes and DVD on Amazon.

With a classic Cole Porter score that includes such tunes as "Another Op'nin', Another Show," "So in Love," "Too Darn Hot," "Always True to You in My Fashion," and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," Kiss Me, Kate became an almost-instant classic when it debuted on Broadway in 1948. The 1999 Broadway production won the Tony Award for Best Revival, directed by Michael Blakemore, choreographed by Kathleen Marshall and Rob Ashford, and starring Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie. The 2019 revival starred Will Chase and Kelli O'Hara.

The 1999 revival production was filmed after it transferred to London's West End in 2003. Neither of the Broadway leads were still with the production when it was filmed, but the great news is that they were replaced with Brent Barrett and Rachel York, both Broadway stars in their own right.

The 2003 production is available to stream on BroadwayHD, Google Play and on DVD from Amazon.

You can also stream the original 1953 movie musical directed by George Sidney, starring Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller (and a young Bob Fosse) on Amazon Prime.

J.M. Barrie's classic story of the flying boy who never grows up has been one of the most frequently adapted stories out there since it premiered in 1904. Though there have been several musical adaptations of the story, it is the 1954 musical with a score by Moose Charlap, Jule Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Carolyn Leigh that tends to be the best known amongst theatre fans.

This version of the story was filmed four separate times. The first three feature the musical's original stage star, Mary Martin, in the title role, a performance for which she won a Tony Award. Though they were not filmed on a stage, all three are faithful recreations of the original Broadway production in a television studio. The first filming, broadcast live on TV in 1955 within weeks of the show's Broadway closing, features the complete original cast.

A revival of the show starring Cathy Rigby, the most prolific stage Peter Pan of the last 30 years, was filmed live on stage in 2000 and was released on DVD.

The 2000 revival is available to stream on BroadwayHD and Amazon Prime.
The 1955 and 1956 black and white broadcasts are available on Blu-ray from Amazon or streaming on Amazon Prime.
The 1956 black and white broadcast is available on DVD from Amazon.
The 1960 color broadcast is available on DVD from Amazon.

Kevin Kline earned his third Tony Award playing Garry Essendine in a revival of Noël Coward's Present Laughter, which follows a few days in the life of a highly successful and egotistical actor. Appearing alongside Kline in this most recent production were an all-star cast that included Kate Burton, Kristine Nielsen, and Cobie Smulders. This 2017 production was filmed on stage before the curtain fell for the final time.

Available to stream on PBS Passport and BroadwayHD.
Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd is regarded by many as a masterpiece, and with good reason; the original Broadway production won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Score. The story is a grisly tale of revenge and murder, with a famous plot twist that has the denizens of London gobbling up human flesh in the form of meat pies. Don't let that deter you, though; Sweeney Todd is more a Victorian melodrama than a gore-filled horrorfest.

The original Broadway production, directed by Harold Prince, was filmed during its national tour. Though the complete original cast was not captured, the recording does feature Angela Lansbury (in her Tony-winning performance), Ken Jennings, and Edmund Lyndeck. Broadway replacement George Hearn stars in the title role.

Available to stream on Amazon Prime, iTunes and on DVD from Amazon.

You'd be hard pressed to find a theatre aficionado who isn't fond of She Loves Me, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and Joe Masteroff's 1963 musical about two co-workers who hate each other while unknowingly being romantic pen pal partners. The score contains such favorites as "Tonight at Eight," "Will He Like Me?," "Dear Friend," "Vanilla Ice Cream," and "She Loves Me."

The 2016 Broadway revival from Roundabout Theatre Company boasted a cast that included film and TV star Zachary Levi, Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski, and Gavin Creel. It was this production that made theatre history when it became the first Broadway show to be live-streamed, and only the second to be broadcast live (following Carol Channing in Show Girl in 1961, which was broadcast live on pay-per-view TV in Canada).

Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, PBS Passport, and BroadwayHD.

Based on the 1992 film of the same name, Disney's Newsies tells the story of the real-life New York City newsboys strike of 1899. With a score by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, the movie had long been a cult favorite, so when Disney decided to bring it to the stage with an expanded score, excitement was high. Luckily, Newsies met the hype and became a big hit on Broadway.

The Broadway production was filmed on stage during a Los Angeles stop on the national tour, and much of the original cast returned to their roles for the filming, including Jeremy Jordan, Kara Lindsay, Ben Fankhauser, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, and Tommy Bracco. This recording was initially released as a limited release in movie theatres in February 2017, but a few months later it became available for digital download.

Available for on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.

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15 Broadway Plays and Musicals You Can Watch On Stage From Home | Playbill

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Lists 15 Broadway Plays and Musicals You Can Watch On Stage From Home From Newsies to Sweeney Todd, we're running down some of the best filmed Broadway shows-and where to find them. This article has been updated as of March 16, 2020.

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National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Washington, DC, United States — Google Arts 

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Install the Google Arts & Culture app on your phone to activate exclusive in-museum features at National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Washington, United States

The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.

Visit us on the National Mall between Third and Seventh Streets at Constitution Avenue, NW, we are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and closed on December 25 and January 1. Admission is always free.

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National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, Washington, DC, United States - Google Arts & Culture

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Install the Google Arts & Culture app on your phone to activate exclusive in-museum features at National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC Washington, United States The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.

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We've put together the most relaxing, calming playlist of music designed to de-stress and help you unwind, in partnership with your mindfulness or yoga practice.

Classical music can be the perfect accompaniment to meditation, mindfulness and yoga. Since the beginning of history, humans have used music as an aid to meditation, prayer and yoga: from Gregorian chants written 500 years ago to Arvo Pärt's haunting minimalist music written just a few years ago.

Classical music in particular has been found to be profoundly relaxing. So we've put together a list of the very best music for meditation.

There's something from almost every era of music, because no matter what changes in music, people always need moments of stillness. We hope you find something that works for you.

1. Arvo Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel

The Estonian composer's most popular piece is deeply calming. Its title translates as 'Mirror in the Mirror', making it most appropriate for a moment of reflection:
Discover more of the most relaxing music ever written >
2. Alexis Ffrench - Radiate

Alexis' unique style taps is sure to help you relax, with his mesmerisingly simple piano melodies.

3. Jan Sandström: Det är en ros utsprungen

Sandström is known for his wild Motorbike Concerto for trombone, but this piece is altogether more ethereal, literally stretching out a work by 16th-century German composer Praetorius into something celestial.
This might be the most relaxing piece ever written >
4. Max Richter: Dream 3 (in the midst of my life)

Taken from Richter's Sleep an eight hour long work, designed to accompany an entire night's rest. If you can stay awake you'll find it can equally bring deep serenity.

5. Debussy: Clair de Lune

The title to this beautiful, lilting piano piece translates as 'moonlight'. Debussy was inspired by a poem by Paul Verlaine, which begins, "Your soul is a chosen landscape..." That's worth meditating upon.

6. John Tavener: The Last Sleep of the Virgin

Tavener gave instructions to the performers of this piece to play very, very quietly "at the threshold of audibility." Let those handbells resonate deep within your soul.

7. Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium

A Christmas song telling the story of Christ's birth, Lauridsen's 1994 choral masterpiece is a work of profound sensitivity and spirituality.

8. Erik Satie: Gnossiennes

Enjoy this complete album of piano music by Erik Satie, the perfect way to relax for a longer meditation session.

9. Thomas Newman: Any Other Name

Piano and atmospheric electronics combine to make this enervating piece from Newman's soundtrack to American Beauty a favourite among Classic FM listeners.

10. Charles Villiers Stanford: The Bluebird

Stanford's setting of Mary Coleridge's poem is a miniature gem: the soaring soprano line lifts you into a transcendent realm.

11. Erik Satie: Gymnopedie No.1

For a brief few moments of mindfulness, try Satie's alternating progression of two major seventh chords - G and D. Sweet, melancholic and just the tonic.

12. Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumque

Eric Whitacre's touching piece is based on a short Christmas poem which reads, "Light, warm and heavy as pure gold, and the angels sing softly to the new born baby." Simply sublime.

13. Philip Glass: Satyagraha, 'Evening Song'

Concluding where we began, in the world of minimalism, Philip Glass's haunting climax to his opera about Gandhi is pure musical mesmerism.
For even more relaxing music, join John Brunning every evening from 7pm for Smooth Classics at 7, Margherita Taylor for Smooth Classics every weekday night from 10pm and Myleene Klass every Saturday and Sunday from 10pm.

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Best meditation music for mindfulness and yoga

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We've put together the most relaxing, calming playlist of music designed to de-stress and help you unwind, in partnership with your mindfulness or yoga practice. Classical music can be the perfect accompaniment to meditation, mindfulness and yoga.

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