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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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.  

​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!