Goal of Social-Emotional Strategies

Within school students are establishing the foundations of their education and learning how to communicate their needs as they interact with peers and teachers. These strategies are meant to be effective for student who have difficulty regulating their emotions or communicating what they need.

These simple activities can help students grow and strengthen their social emotional skills and can be adapted to meet very specific needs of children who have experienced trauma or struggling with significant emotional difficulties. Teachers can implement these strategies within the structure of a peace place or within the traditional classroom environment. For example, the “What can I do?” problem solving wheel (pictured on the left) provides students with alternative options to resolve conflict with peers and how to manage their frustration.

Building, Clay, & Play Doh

Organizing or assembling items can be an effective way of calming a student. For example, within your peace place or classroom a student could work on assembling a simple puzzle, crossword puzzles, complete a picture maze, build with Legos, short noodles or beads by color. Students who choose to engage in this kind of activity will be required to first calm their emotions down in order to engage the prefrontal cortex (the problem solving & decision making section of the brain) and fine motor skills to complete the activity. Students will learn and practice how to regulate their emotions in order to completing a task.

For student who become easily angered or aggressive, interacting with clay or play doh can help the student release aggression or tension in their body. Research shows playing with materials like clay can improve self-expression and allow students to emotionally release any restrained feelings through emotional expression (i.e. hitting, pounding, or molding clay) (Schaefer & Drewes, 2011). This is a great alternative to a stress ball.

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Coloring, Journaling, & Establishing Safety

For children who have experienced trauma, researchers shows that writing down their emotions or thoughts have “long-term improvements in mood and well-being…” (Pennebaker,1997, p.162). Journaling can be a great way of supporting and meet specific needs of individual student who require it. Coloring is another form of creative expression which can help a student express how they’re feeling through art.

Students who have experienced trauma often experience intrusive thoughts that can distract or disrupt their focus at any point throughout the day. Often, these thoughts stir up distressing memories of a painful event in the student’s life. For these students it’s important to establish a sense of safety in the classroom.

One way to create safety is to have the student think of a person, place, or thing that brings them peace, comfort, or happiness. Once the student is able to identify an item or thing which brings them comfort, the teacher can print off a picture for the student and place it in the peace place or in the students desk for later use (i.e. picture of their dog, the beach, or a sibling). More specifically, when a student becomes upset, they can look at this picture which will help ground their thoughts in the present and bring them back to the present moment so they can work to calm their body and emotions rather than ruminate on distressing thoughts. Another way to establish safety is to quickly generating a list of safe supportive individuals in the student’s life. This can be helpful when the student is feeling unsafe or alone.

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Guided Imagery

This activity can be integrated into your classrooms reflection or mindfulness time if desired and if provided at your school. Guided imagery is similar to storytelling, but has a focus on relaxation and helping students feel more grounded rather than worried or tense (Thomas, 2016, p. 125). For this activity the teacher would act as a narrator and describe an experience using descriptive words and calming tone of voice to help students feel like they are directly experiencing the story first hand. During the activity students should be encouraged to get into a comfortable position (i.e. sit on the floor or close their eyes) while the teacher reads the narrative to the class. Click here for a free printable guided imagery script. You can also access books and audio resources online by searching “guided imagery for kids”.

Weighted Blanket

Weighted blankets can help to calm students who have anxiety. It provides deep pressure relief to the student’s joints and muscles. This deep pressure helps release serotonin in the brain which naturally helps to relax, calm, and soothe our bodies.  

For direction on how to make your own weighted blanket click here and to review a sizing chart for appropriate weight distribution based on students height, click here.

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Breathing (large group lesson)

Research shows that lowering the breath into the belly can help relax the body. Picture on the left is theVagus nerve (colored yellow) which extends from around the organs to the brain. When you breathe through your diaphragm you activate your Vagus nerve, which tells your brain to stop producing anxious feelings and start relaxing (Sweeton, 2017).

Teachers can have individual students practice taking deep belly breaths when they become anxious, scared, or angry. More specifically, first have your students take a full breath and expand their diaphragm (this will take some practice for younger students). As the diaphragm fills with air, the diaphragmatic wall pushed downward, like a balloon that is filling up. When the diaphragmatic wall drops, it begins to put pressure on your internal organs. Wrapped around your organs is the Vagus nerve, so as the organs are getting compressed, so is the Vagus nerve. When the Vagus nerve is pressed, it sends a message to your brain to stop the stress response and activate the relaxation response (Sweeton, 2017). Your brain then can reduce the stress response and the physical symptoms of stress (i.e. fast heart rate, feeling shaky, or foggy thinking). This process takes about 45 seconds to complete (Sweeton, 2017).

Muscle Relaxation (large group lesson)

Muscle relaxation is a great way to help calm down the body. This activity should only take about one minute to complete and can be presented in a large group lesson if the teacher desires. Have the student on their own (or in large group setting with the teacher instructing) either sit in a chair, on the floor, or position their body in a comfortable position. Then have the student begin by tightening all the mussels in their forehead and hold for five seconds, then release and pause for 10 seconds before moving on to another part of the body (see picture diagram here). Repeated this tightening of the muscles and relaxing of the muscles until you reach your feet. This will help students relax their body and clam their breath in the process.

Mood Charting

Some students can benefit from mood charting. This is an activity that requires one-on-one attention from the teacher throughout the day and can help identify patterns in the student’s mood (i.e. what times of day the student is most often dis-regulated). Tracking a student’s mood can help identify strategies that will best meet a student’s specific needs. This will also help inform the teacher at what times during the day a student may need to utilize the peace place or extra support. Download a free printable mood chart here.

Fidgets

What is a fidget? Fidgets are toys for self-regulation to help with focus, attention, calming, and active listening. They come in different shapes, sizes, and textures, such as a stress ball, tangles, and squigglet. Fidgets can be hit or miss and not all student benefit from using fidgets. Taking this into consideration, some students (i.e. student with anxiety, students who can’t sit still, students who have difficulty listening) can benefit from a few minutes with a fidget. This activity can help release nervous energy or anxiety. These fidgets can go into a peace place basket or by the teacher’s desk for distribution and safe keeping.

References:

Pennebaker, J.W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8, 162-166.

Schaefer, C. E., & Drewes, A. A. (2011). The Therapeutic Powers of Play and Play Therapy. InC. Schaefer (Ed., The Foundations of Play Therapy (pp. 15-26). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Sweeton, J. (2017). Here’s your Brain on Trauma. Received on April 14th, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.jennifersweeton.com/blog/2017/3/14/heres-your-brain-on-trauma.

Thomas, B. (2016). More Creative Coping Skills for Children: Activities, Games, Stories, and Handouts to Help Children Self Regulate. London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley.