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Build attention skills - with But When I ...

7/17/2019

 
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  • Discover what makes an "interest-based" nervous system alert and energize!  
  • Help young students work with their strengths
  • Connect physical sensations with emotions
  • Support, scaffold and teach missing missing skills!

Supporting children of separation and divorce

2/12/2018

 
My Backpack has arrived!
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Children of separation and divorce often travel from one parent home to another.  This sixth book supports children in learning how to survive, and thrive, in two family homes.

My Backpack follows a boy, and a girl, as each transitions to the home of the other parent.   Each child's "Backpack" becomes a place to find strategies to cope.

​Children will recognize common stressors,  will see others struggling with uncomfortable moments.
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Each stressor is followed by strategies to calm, or to rev up (when needed).

Based on a neurobiological model of calming (as seen in Dr. Bruce Perry's work), readers walk through ways to change uncomfortable feelings.  

Playful and encouraging examples help children deepen their sense of being capable of managing stressors.

"I Notice" arrows draw attention to what is happening in the body, and the name of the emotion that goes along with those sensations.

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Included are
  • key messages to kids 
    (what parents want their children to know)
  • key messages to parents (what kids want their parents to know)
  • a self-regulation board game
  • a bibliography of helpful
    resources 
Enjoy!  Next time?  The inspiration for this book ...

Beating the Blues to survive and thrive at school

9/22/2016

 

Why Can't I ... has arrived!

Some students struggle with "the blues".  What "the blues" look like, and their causes, are varied, like a colour wheel's hues,  shades, tints and tones.

How can we support school aged students increase their energy to be more successful at school?

Why Can't I takes the reader through some parts of a school day, and offers do-able strategies.  Like its sister books, Why Can't I includes information for parents, teachers and counsellors at the back of the book. 

Some key strategies are found in the poster that follows.  
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Just Noticing - whiteboard video

5/24/2016

 
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​Our newest "whiteboard video" was published today.  "Just Noticing" takes the viewer through the process of "noticing" changes in the body connected to six basic emotions.

Why so basic?

Some children and youth (and adults) struggle with self-awareness, with insight, with understanding what they are feeling.  These children and youth can benefit from explicit instruction in how to understand themselves.  Here is one learning path that can help these child and  youth make sense of (and manage) their inner world.
  1.  I notice sensations
  2. I name them (feelings/emotions)
  3. I speak them (I feel ...)
  4. I manage them (i.e., regulate)
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"Just Noticing" (found on our Free Resources page) reminds us to pay attention to sensations in the body. Ultimately we name these sensations, calling them "feelings" or "emotions."  Being able to speak of our feelings reduces electrical activity in the emotional centres of the brain, and allows for electrical activity to occur in our prefrontal cortex.  The prefrontal cortex helps us to manage impulses, make plans, see consequences, and calm down!

A 2013 Finnish study showed that an emotion (such as anger) is generally  felt in the same area of the body for most people.  (Check it out!  http://www.aalto.fi/en/current/news/2013-12-31/_ or on Youtube )  "Just Noticing" reflects that research, while emphasizing the individual nature of core feelings.

And "noticing" is very much a term connected to the "mindfulness" movement.  Recent emphasis on the  practice of "mindfulness" points to the importance of purposefully directing our attention.   "Just Noticing" is the beginning of that practice for those who struggle with self-awareness.

Enjoy the seeds of self awareness that you help plant.  Enjoy, even more so, the fruit of those seeds as children and youth gain skills to self-regulate!


    Caring. 
    Transforming.
    Connecting.

    Mary-Catherine Bailey-McKenna is a the author of the Caring Adults Helping Kids Series, including:
    - the I Series Instead I, What if I, So Then I, Why Can't I, But When I (released June 2019)
    - CHILL - like a superhero (graphic novel)
    - My Backpack ("flip book" on  separation and divorce)
     - I Am Built Sensitive an Strong (1 & 2) - coauthor

    These posts explore  basic models and strategies for supporting self-regulation skills in school-aged children, and in the adults who care for them.

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 What people have said 
My daughter (going on 4) is younger than the intended age group but she loves the “I Series”, she calls them her “Happy Face Books”. I love that even though she may not fully understand all of the content, there is a lot that I have been able to relate back to situations where she has been playing with her cousins and with other kids at the playground. The techniques demonstrated in these books have been a great guide for me as a parent to teach my pre-schooler emotional regulation skills and prepare her for future social situations."        Ainsley Painchaud                                                                                                                                       Instead I ...            and      What if I ...        and     So then I ...             and     Why Can't I ...

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I highly recommend [Instead I...'s] use in homes as well as in schools, where these concrete skills can be effectively modeled by adults and practiced by children.                            
   W. Dale Heide, MSW, 
Clinical Social Worker,                                  
   AB​,                                     

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! “Instead I...” will help children navigate the many challenges of a school day.
         Madeline DeLorey,
                      B.A., B.Ed.                    Teacher, ON

[Instead I ...] really helped my son with his behaviour in school and at home.  He is now in Grade 5 and is making better choices and is a better student.  Thanks for the AMAZING book!
                          Robert
Parent   Entrepreneur,                                        AB

 

 

 



What If I … teaches skills to calm the worried mind.  These skills that are foundational to good mental health in childhood  AND  adulthood.  What If I … draws the reader into the day-to-day realities of children and young students.
                Van McGeein, MSW, RSW
​                                                    AB


This book is exceptional in helping quiet worriers build language around their feelings and develop simple strategies to begin to find new patterns. 

                      Dr. Jennifer Batycky,
                                Principal, AB



 

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So  then I… is a book that children will identify with and that adults will find invaluable in helping kids to ‘have a great week.’     Mary-Catherine ... weaves straightforward and research-based strategies for dealing with ... challenges into the story.
                               Craig Harper, M.Sc.
​                                   Psychologist, AB

 
So  then I…  is a great companion to the first two books.  My daughter engaged with them imm
ediately.  
 I know she will love this one too!
                                        Heidi Grogan, M.A.
                            Writer, Instructor, AB


This beautiful little book is a much needed resource for kids and the adults in their lives.  ...   Why Can’t I helps every child to understand what they’re feeling, and to take simple, practical steps toward a healthier and happier state of being.      
                                   Tam Lundy, Ph.D.,
   Canadian Self-Regulation Initiative

This series is exceptional at giving children and adults the language to describe, and practice, emotional, calming, and social skills. ...  Children can discover that they can “grow” important survival skills, that these skills aren’t simply innate or absent.  
              Liz Spittal, B.Ed.,  M.Ed.- TESL,                      English Language Learning                                                  
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