New Product :: Social Skills Rubrics

These rubrics were designed to help counselors, teachers, social workers, or SLPs keep track of a student’s progress on school success, problem-solving, friendship, feelings, communication, and self-esteem goals. Each individual set includes 7 rubrics in both a teacher and student version (for a total of 14 rubrics + 2 blank ones to customize).

Rubrics are presented in PDF and editable Microsoft Powerpoint Format, so the wording can be customized to fit your students’ ability levels and needs. Also, you can use Powerpoint’s printing settings to print multiple rubrics per page. Great for when you have multiple students working on the same goal!

If you'd like to save a little money, you can download the Complete Social Skills Rubric Pack for a discount! It includes 42 rubrics in both a teacher and student version (for a total of 84 rubrics + 2 blank ones to customize). The following skills are included:

Enjoy :)



School Success Skills
- Following Directions
- Work Completion
- Remaining On-Task
- Asking Questions
- Being Prepared
- Attendance
- Following School Rules

Problem-Solving Skills
- Debugging
- Tattling and Reporting
- Compromise
- Point of View
- Fact and Opinion
- Dealing with Disagreements
- Dealing with Gossip



Friendship Skills
- Choosing Friends
- Feeling Left Out
- Being a Good Sport
- Apologizing
- Taking Turns
- Giving a Compliment
- Accepting a Compliment



Feelings Skills
- Feelings Identification
- Reading Body Language
- Responding to Negative Emotions
- Feelings Demonstration
- Expressing Feelings
- Dealing with Anger or Frustration
- Dealing with Anxiety



Communication Skills
- Introducing
- Having a Conversation
- Talking on Topic
- Interrupting
- Conversation Body Language
- Personal Space
- Mental Filtering



Self-Esteem Skills - some skills offered as a freebie
- Positive Self-Talk
- Goal Setting
- Understanding Strengths
- Dealing with Peer Pressure
- Dealing with Mistakes
- Self-Reflection (Complete Pack only - not in freebie)
- Working in a Group (Complete Pack only - not in freebie)

Enjoy!!

New Product :: Positive Thinking Cards

I admit I've been a little slow rolling out new products recently. My husband and I are expecting our first child in a couple weeks, so time has been diverted to assembling furniture, washing miniature socks, finding miniature socks ones they get lost in the washer, etc!

However, I've been thinking about this product for awhile and have had a few people requesting it, so I really wanted to make sure to get it out before the baby gets here. So, here it is!

This deck was designed to help students learn how to change negative thoughts into positive ones. It’s helpful for students who struggle with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, or other mental health issues. Many times, the root of these issues is in a student's difficulty looking at a situation objectively or in a positive light - everything is bad or reflects poorly on them in some way. Most times, students don't even know they're doing it, so if we can focus their attention on their own thoughts, we can help them move past the negative feelings they experience.

The download includes 2 separate decks – a version for older students and a version for younger students – as well as an ink-friendly version of each deck! Blank cards are also included so you can customize your own. I've made something similar that I use with my students and what I like to do is to laminate the blank cards and have students come up with their own negative and positive thoughts. They're really good at it!



Enjoy!

New Product :: Social Emotional "I Can Cards"

Even though social workers and counselors aren't required by most schools to use common core in their individual and group counseling sessions, there has been a huge push in the educational community for states to adopt Social Emotional Learning standards instead.

According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), SEL has been shown to promote students' academic success, health, and well-being, while also preventing problems such as alcohol and drug use, violence, truancy, and bullying. It also reduces emotional distress and conduct problems.

So far, Illinois is the only state to officially comprehensive, free-standing standards , but many other states such as Washington, Idaho, Nebraska, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont are in the process of creating their own or using variations on the Illinois standards, while all others have some goals or benchmarks integrated into state academic standards. For more information, check out the CASEL website!



This download includes 339 4 x 6 cards from the warm set, cool set, and printer-friendly set depicting “I can” statements for the following Illinois social-emotional learning standards. However, they are presented in Microsoft Word format so the text can be easily changed to fit other states' standards or to adjust the wording for your students.



They are designed to be used to help students know exactly what types of skills and knowledge they are expected to learn, or can be used as a reference for you as you develop social-emotional IEP goals or intervention plans.

There is 1 card listing each goal (3 total per set):



1 card listing each standard (9 total per set):



and several (101 per set) for each performance indicator under each standard (early elementary, late elementary, middle/jr. high, early high school, and late high school). Skills are presented in age-appropriate language depending on the performance indicator level.


Enjoy!

New Product :: Fall Social-Emotional Activity Pack

I'm really excited to announce the arrival of my new Fall Social-Emotional Activity Pack! I already have  Holiday and Spring Social-Emotional Packs in my store, so I knew I wanted to add a Fall pack too. This one was specifically designed with kindergarten through second grade students in mind, but may be appropriate for older students too who are working at a lower level.

It contains several social skills, anger management, and social emotional activities that are sure to get your students excited about the cooler weather! It contains the following:

- 24 Fall-Themed Conversation Cards*
- 24 Friendship Scenario Cards*
- Angry Monster Coping Skills Activity

- “Banish the Boos” Positive Thinking Activity (and answer key)

- “Debug” Problem-Solving Activity

- Halloween Behavior Punch Cards (2, 4, 6, 9, or 16 per page)

- Listening Poster (4 different genders/races used)

- Pumpkin Emotion Cards for matching, role-playing, or other games

- Pumpkin Friendship Glyph*
- Thankfulness Turkey Activity

- Thanksgiving Behavior Punch Cards (2, 4, 6, 9, or 16 per page)
- Trick or Treat Behavior Sort Activity

Enjoy!

New Product :: Feelings Activity Bundle

Some of the most common topics I see social workers and counselors teach is feeling identification and regulation. And it makes sense! Almost every student in need of counseling services could benefit ways to identify emotions in themselves or others, or learn ways to cope those feelings!

As a result, I put together this activity bundle which contains several of my most popular items and many new ones as well! It includes several different activities you can use to help teach emotional regulation and empathy skills to students who many be diagnosed with Autism, Mood Disorders, or other difficulties. It includes:

- Social Skills Feeling Pack (my most popular freebie!)

- Feelings Bingo Game


- Feelings Matching and Game Cards

- Feelings Crossword Puzzle (& answer key)
- Feelings Word Search (& answer key)
- Feelings DeBrief Sheet

- Stressed Body Activity*

- Feelings Journal

- How Would I Feel? Activity*
- I-Statement Building Cards

It also contains the following sheets, which are found in my Social Skill Activities for Boys and Girls
- Drawing Feelings Activity (2 different colors)
- Feelings Thermometer (2 different colors)

- Feelings Vocabulary Poster (2 different colors)
- I-Statement Reference Sheet (2 different colors)

*Designates editable items

Enjoy!

Tips & Tricks :: Anxiety Disorder

This summer, I've been writing a blog series focusing on several different disorders that affect children at school: ADHD, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety Disorder, and ODD. Each entry describes the disorder, gives practical strategies for improving success at school, and also provides a few social-emotional goals and accommodations that might be appropriate for students with special education services!

Next up is Anxiety. Most often in an elementary school setting, I've seen anxiety manifest itself in school avoidance or test anxiety. However, students with anxiety many have many other emotions or behaviors! These are just two of the most common examples.

Symptoms:

Everybody worries, whether it's about that spider crawling down the wall toward them, or an important test. Please note that anxiety is different from fear. Fear is an appropriate cognitive and emotional response to a perceived threat. Anxiety occurs in situations that seem uncontrollable or unavoidable to the student, but not most people. In addition, when a student is  diagnosed with an Anxiety Disorder, it means that their symptoms are extreme and occur often enough that they interfere with their daily life.

• Excessive, uncontrollable, often irrational worry about everyday things


• Worry is disproportional to the action source of worry


• heart palpitations, muscle weakness, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, headaches, stomachaches, tension headaches


• In children, complaints of headaches or stomachaches are common. I've even seen students who are able to make themselves vomit to avoid anxiety-provoking situations like going to school.

Subtypes of Anxiety Disorders:

- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Phobias
- Social Anxiety
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Suggestions:

• Contact the child's doctor if medication is to be given at school to make sure you have up-to-date dosage and administration instructions. However, don't tell a parent "your child needs to be on medication." You can encourage them to talk about concerns they may have with their child's doctor, but put your school in a vulnerable position if you start doling out medical advice!


• Encourage the student to get involved in extra curricular or sports activities in order to boost their confidence and self-esteem


• Acknowledge a child's view of things as being true for them. Don't tell them they'll "get over it" or minimize their feelings and experiences as being "no big deal." It's a big deal to them!


• Teach students what different emotions "feel like" to their body to help them identify when they may be feeling anxious


• Help students to understand that emotions range from mild to intense and improve students' vocabulary of various emotion words to express their feelings to others


• If parents approve, teach older students facts about what Anxiety is as well as statistics about the disorder to help normalize their experiences and help them feel less "weird" or "different."


• Provide group or individual counseling-type services to help students learn relaxation and calming strategies to use when faced with an anxiety-provoking situation


• Establish routines, which will help students know what to expect and feel as though they have more control over what happens to them during a day.


• Help students identify triggering thoughts which lead to the physical symptoms of anxiety (ex. "I'm going to fail." "My mom will never come back to pick me up." "I'll get trapped in this crowd and suffocate." etc.) Learning the tie between thoughts, feelings, and behavior will help them be able to stop the cycle of anxiety before the physical symptoms take over and become overwhelming.


• Accommodate students' worries as much as practically possible. For example, allow them to sit close to a door if crowded assemblies bother them, allow breaks or a private location to take tests to allow them to use learned coping strategies, etc.)


• For school avoidance, behavior incentives which allow students to earn special privileges can be really effective. In addition, having the parent leave school as soon as possible rather than staying around while the child is upset works wonders! Younger kids especially often get into a cycle that teaches that if they cry/scream/hold on to their parent, the parent stays longer. Breaking this cycle is extremely important if the child is ever going to attend school independently!


• Distraction can be VERY helpful, especially for younger students. It's amazing how quickly students with separation anxiety will calm down once the class begins a fun activity. The same is true for older students. Try reading a funny book as a class or telling funny stories before tests.


• Don't put unnecessary pressure on anxious students. There's no use telling them how important state standardized tests or a final exam are - they already feel like it's a life or death situation!

Sample Goals

• Given a real life or story scenario, Shawn will increase his ability to recognize and label emotions in himself from correctly identifying happy, sad, mad, scared to correctly labeling stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, and panicked.


• Given relaxation training, Jessie will improve her ability to cope with test anxiety from making herself sick and refusing to take tests to taking deep breaths, relaxing tense muscles, and completing at least 1/2 of the test questions.


• Given instruction regarding Anxiety, Sarah will increase her knowledge of Anxiety from not knowing any information about it to listing facts regarding prevalence, symptoms, and treatment independently.


• Given an attendance incentive, Kelsey will increase her school attendance from attending 2 days per week to attending 4 days per week while using learned coping skills (talking to an adult, using positive self-talk, combating negative/irrational thoughts, etc.).


• For test anxiety specifically, here's a great article by Everyday Family which provides some helpful tips!

Sample Accommodations:

• Provide a private, quiet place for calming down when stressed or anxious


• Allow students to use cue cards or other visual tools to express their feelings if they struggle with verbal expression


• Give breaks or extended time if you can tell the student is having a particularly difficult day


• Reassure students during times of anxiety with situationally appropriate words, hugs, gestures, etc.


• Arrange for extended passing periods or alternative seating locations if crowds are an issue


• For test anxiety, allow alternative testing modes such as giving verbal answers or letting a student present a presentation to demonstrate knowledge when possible.

If you're looking for activities for your students, check out my Anger and Coping Skills Card Deck, Positive Thinking Pack,  and Social Skills Cards: Feelings Pack Freebie! You can also check out my Pinterest Boards for Feelings and Mental Health for even more ideas!

Thanks to Wikipedia for contributing to this article!

Tips & Tricks :: Depression

This summer, I've been writing a blog series focusing on several different disorders that affect children at school: ADHD, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety Disorder, and ODD. Each entry describes the disorder, gives practical strategies for improving success at school, and also provides a few social-emotional goals and accommodations that might be appropriate for students with special education services!

Next up is Depression. Unfortunately or fortunately, Major Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and continues to become more and more common in school settings. However, even though it is becoming more and more common, many school staff still have a difficult time knowing what to do in order to help students with Depression. Major depression severely affects a person's relationships, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, as well as general health. It is characterized by episodes of all-encompassing low mood as well as low self-esteem and reduced interest in normally enjoyable activities. If left untreated, severe Depression can also lead to suicidal thoughts or actions.

Symptoms:

The following symptoms are generally experienced for several weeks or months. If they are experienced following a major life change, death, or serious illness, doctors may diagnose Adjustment Disorder instead.

• Very low mood thoughout all areas of live (children may experience moodiness or irritability instead)


• Decreased interest in previously enjoyed activities


• Thoughts and feelings of worthlessness, inappropriate guilt or regret


• Feelings of hopelessness, or that life keeps getting worse and worse


• In severe cases, symptoms of psychosis such as delusions or hallucinations


• Poor concentration and memory


• Withdrawal from social situations and activities


• Thoughts of death or suicide


• Physical complains such as stomachache or headache (very common in children)


• Changes in eating or sleeping habits

Suggestions:

• Contact the child's doctor if medication is to be given at school to make sure you have up-to-date dosage and administration instructions. However, don't tell a parent "your child needs to be on medication." You can encourage them to talk about concerns they may have with their child's doctor, but put your school in a vulnerable position if you start doling out medical advice!


• Encourage the student to get involved in extra curricular or sports activities in order to boost their confidence and self-esteem


• Acknowledge a child's view of things as being true for them. Don't tell them they'll "get over it" or minimize their feelings and experiences as being "no big deal." It's a big deal to them!


• Teach students what different emotions "feel like" to their body to help them identify when they may be feeling depressed


• Help students to understand that emotions range from mild to intense and improve students' vocabulary of various emotion words to express their feelings to others


• If parents approve, teach older students facts about what Depression is as well as statistics about the disorder to help normalize their experiences and help them feel less "weird" or "different."


• Provide group or individual counseling-type services to help students combat several types of irrational thinking seen during times of depression. If you need materials, check out this Positive Thinking Pack.


• Take any threats or discussion of suicide seriously. If in doubt, contact your local suicide help line and be sure to contact the students' parents.


• Attempt to meet students' physical needs at school as much as possible (providing school supplies if their family cannot afford them, giving a quiet place to recollect themselves if they are having a rough day, etc.)


• Teach appropriate coping strategies by role playing appropriate ways to handle stress or anxiety

Sample Goals

• Given a real life or story scenario, Joey will increase his ability to recognize and label emotions in himself from correctly identifying happy, sad, mad, scared to correctly labeling embarrassed, overwhelmed, anxious, and frustrated.


• Given relaxation training, Max will improve his emotional regulation skills from yelling and becoming physically aggressive when upset to taking deep breaths, relaxing tense muscles, and moving to a quiet place when upset with no more than 1 adult prompt.


• Given instruction regarding Depression, Sarah will increase her knowledge of Depression from not knowing any information about it to listing facts regarding prevalence, symptoms, and treatment independently.

Sample Accommodations:

• Provide a private, quiet place for calming down when irritated or upset


• Allow students to use cue cards or other visual tools to express their feelings if they struggle with verbal expression


• Give breaks or extended time if you can tell the student is having a particularly difficult day

If you're looking for activities for your students, check out my Anger and Coping Skills Card Deck, Positive Thinking Pack,  and Social Skills Cards: Feelings Pack Freebie! You can also check out my Pinterest Boards for Feelings, Self Esteem, and Mental Health for even more ideas!

Thanks to Wikipedia for contributing to this article!

Tips & Tricks :: Bipolar Disorder

This summer, I've writing a blog series focusing on several different disorders that affect children at school: ADHD, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety Disorder, and ODD. Each entry will describe the disorder, give practical strategies for improving success at school, and also a few social-emotional goals and accommodations that might be appropriate for students with special education services!

Next up is Bipolar Disorder. Although mostly diagnosed in teens or adults, many more children are now receiving diagnoses of Bipolar Disorder, so it is becoming more and more common in school settings. In bipolar disorder, people experience abnormally elevated (manic or hypomanic) mood states which interfere with the functions of ordinary life. Many people with bipolar disorder also experience periods of depressed mood, but not always. Diagnosing bipolar disorder is often difficult, even for mental health professionals. In particular, it can be difficult to distinguish depression caused by bipolar disorder from pure unipolar depression or other disorders. I've even had kids that actually really had Autism be given an ADHD/Bipolar Disorder combo before being correctly identified!

Symptoms:

Mania Episodes - 

• Elevated or irritable mood or euphoria


• Increased energy or decreased need for sleep


• Distractibility


• Fast speech


• Thoughts appear to be "racing"


• Impaired judgement sometimes leading to risky or impulsive behavior


• Breaks with reality (sometimes)

Hypomania Episodes - 

• Mild to moderate states of mania


• Increased energy and activity levels


• Often feels good to the person experiencing it


• Less interference with functioning, compared to manic episodes


• Symptoms generally last a few weeks to a few months (but can be shorter or longer)

Depressive Episodes -

• Persistant feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, isolation, or hopelessness


• Changes in sleeping patterns


• Changes in appetite


• Loss of interest in previously-enjoyed activities


• Difficulty concentrating


• Suicidal thoughts or actions


• Symptoms usually last several weeks to months if left untreated

Suggestions:

• Contact the child's doctor if medication is to be given at school to make sure you have up-to-date dosage and administration instructions. However, don't tell a parent "your child needs to be on medication." You can encourage them to talk about concerns they may have with their child's doctor, but put your school in a vulnerable position if you start doling out medical advice!


• Encourage the student to get involved in extra curricular or sports activities in order to boost their confidence and self-esteem


• Keep routines and schedules structured and predictable so the student will know what to expect


• Teach students what different emotions "feel like" to their body to help them identify when they may be entering periods of (hypo)mania or depression


• Improve students' vocabulary of various emotion words to express their feelings to others


• Provide visual reminders of behavioral expectations such as pictures of rules posted on their desk, behavioral charts, etc., or have students act out rules.


• Teach relaxation strategies or other calming techniques for students to use during times of (hypo)mania or when upset or angry.


• Provide a "cool down" or break area with stress balls or other activities, as well as visual reminders of learned relaxation and calming skills.


• If parents approve, teach older students facts about what Bipolar Disorder is as well as statistics about the disorder to help normalize their experiences and help them feel less "weird" or "different."


• Provide group or individual counseling-type services to help students combat several types of irrational thinking seen during times of depression. If you need materials, check out this Positive Thinking Pack.

Sample Goals

• Given small group practice, Mallory will improve her classroom performance from requiring frequent redirection to independently remaining in her seat and following directions with no adult prompting.


• 
  
   Given behavior training, James will improve his behavior in the hallway from running and bumping into others to keeping his hands to himself, maintaining appropriate personal space, and following verbal directions with minimal adult prompting.


• 
  
   Given relaxation training, Max will improve his emotional regulation skills from yelling and becoming physically aggressive when upset to taking deep breaths, relaxing tense muscles, and moving to a quiet place when upset with no more than 1 adult prompt.


• Given instruction regarding Bipolar Disorder, Sarah will increase her knowledge of Bipolar Disorder from not knowing any information about it to listing facts regarding prevalence, symptoms, and treatment independently.

Sample Accommodations:

• Provide a private, quiet place for calming down when irritated or over-excited


• Allow students to use cue cards or other visual tools to express their feelings if they struggle with verbal expression


• Give breaks or extended time if you can tell the student is struggling to focus

If you're looking for activities for your students, check out my Dealing with Anger Activity Pack, Anger and Coping Skills Bingo, and Social Skills Cards: Feelings Pack Freebie! You can also check out my Pinterest Boards for Feelings, Anger Management, and Mental Health for even more ideas!

Thanks to Wikipedia for contributing to this article!

Fun Freebie :: Impulse Control Log

My first few weeks as a social worker, one of the issues I was most nervous about working with was self-injury. Even though a few of the college courses touched briefly mentioned some interventions for clients that self-harm, I felt completely ill-equipped!

So, I attended a few workshops and also did some of my own research to find strategies to help clients overcome the depression, negative self-image, and distorted thoughts that accompany self-injury. One of the strategies I found that was used almost universally at treatment programs across the country were Impulse Control Logs. The purpose of these tools is to help clients notice and understand the connections between their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. After they understand some of the thoughts or feelings that trigger their destructive behavior, you can work together to help change those thoughts into healthier, more realistic ones!

Here's a cute Impulse Control Log (in PDF Format) I made and you can have it for free! Several of the clients I've worked with have mentioned it's been really helpful for them, so hopefully it'll work well for your clients too!



Enjoy!

New(ish) Product :: Anger and Coping Skills Bingo Game

One of the lessons I find myself teaching constantly is about coping skills. Whether I was working with kids who had difficulty managing stress or kids who got into trouble frequently for fighting with others or arguing with teachers, the common thread was that these kids didn't have the tools to deal with frustrating or stress-invoking situations. I also found that many of these kids needed lessons to be really interactive or fun for them to really invest in learning how to manage their stress or anger.

This was my solution! It is designed to help students learn many different coping strategies in a fun, interactive way. The strategies they learn can help them handle stress and anger in safe, appropriate ways. This game is great for those groups or students who tend to resist "traditional" coping skills lessons. There are 2 versions included, a shorter one and a longer one depending on the attention span of your students!

Several times, my kids have actually come to my room and specifically requested to play this game. It's pretty crazy, actually! The download includes several different ways to deal with anger or stress and provides everything you need for students to create their own bingo cards and play the game!:





If you're looking for more activities to help kids deal with anger, check out my Dealing with Anger Activity Pack. You can find everything in my store. Enjoy!