Hello Homeschool Artists!
Boardmaker is a complete special education platform that supports education, communication, access and social/emotional needs of more than six million students in 51 countries. Source
Student anxiety can really impact their learning. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Psychopharmacological interventions are sometimes recommended when anxiety fiercely gets in the way of doing day to day activities. Consult an expert if this applies to your child. Below is a list of tools and worksheets to help address issues related to anxiety.
Anxiety and Me Anxiety and Me Instructions Anxiety says…I say… Challenging my Anxiety Evidence for and Against Exposure Tracker Fear Thermometer Hassle or Horror How to Explain Selective Mutism to a Classroom of Children Exposure Ladder My Team Name or Draw my Worry Bully Now or Later Predictometer Rewarding Bravery Scaredy Cat Rater School Tips for Teachers of Children with Selective Mutism Talking to Friends and Family about Selective Mutism Time Capsule Weekly Bravery ChartWeb-based Resources (International)
AnxietyBC
• Psychoeducational material and handouts for parents, teachers, and family and
friends of children with SM (search ‘selective mutism’ for all information on the
topic).
• Website -‐ www.anxietybc.com
• Children’s section -‐ http://www.anxietybc.com/parenting/parent-‐child
• Short 11 min. video on understanding and managing Selective Mutism.
http://www.anxietybc.com/resources/video/understanding-‐and-‐managing-‐
selective-‐mutism
• Lecture on Selective Mutism given by Dr. Annie Simpson
http://www.anxietybc.com/resources/video/selective-‐mutism-‐giving-‐kids-‐
voice-‐dr-‐annie-‐simpson
Dr. Steven Kurtz’s
• A treatment provider in New York. Check his website for a selective mutism e-‐
learning website (coming soon).
• Website https://kurtzpsychologyconsulting.wordpress.com
Child Mind Institute
• Website -‐ http://www.childmind.org/
• A treatment centre in New York that also provides webinars on various aspects
of selective mutism treatment (search ‘selective mutism’ and look for events)
Selective Mutism Group
• Website -‐ http://www.selectivemutism.org
• Provides information, resources, and support to those impacted by selective
mutism
Struggling with anxiety? Tired of missing out? There are things you can do to stop anxiety and fear from controlling your life. MindShift™ is an app designed to help teens and young adults cope with anxiety. It can help you change how you think about anxiety. Rather than trying to avoid anxiety, you can make an important shift and face it.
MindShift™ will help you learn how to relax, develop more helpful ways of thinking, and identify active steps that will help you take charge of your anxiety. This app includes strategies to deal with everyday anxiety, as well as specific tools to tackle:
Think of MindShift™ as your portable coach helping you face challenging situations and take charge of your life.
If you are a MindShift user, please consider making a donation to help us maintain and continue to offer the app for free.
MindShift™ stems from a one time joint collaboration in 2012 between Anxiety Canada and BC Children’s Hospital, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority. In 2016 RBC Children’s Mental Health Projectprovided funding for an enhancement to the app. Learn more about our privacy policy.
Here are some ideas from Janie Islas, PVUSD Technology Coach, on how to celebrate the week and talk with your kiddos about digital citizenship:
Elementary:
Follow the Digital Trail (lesson and video)
Brain Pop: Internet Safety (video)
Brain Pop: Information Privacy (video)
Tower of Treasure: Secure Your Secrets (game)
What Should You Accept? (video)
Secondary:
Digital Footprint (video)
Cyberbullying: Be Upstanding (lesson and video)
Perspectives on Chatting Safely Online (lesson and video)
Be Internet Awesome- Reality River: Don’t Fall For Fake (game)
Be Internet Awesome- Mindful Mountain: Share with Care (game)
If you would like to choose your own digital citizenship lesson, you can find a lot of videos on Brain Pop, you can search by grade level on our district Internet Safety page, or you can explore the following sites:
This post is to showcase a few apps that could really support parents and educators on a variety of topics.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) developed these three apps.
KnowBullying provides resources and guidance for parents, caregivers, and educators on ways to prevent bullying and build resilience in children. The app features conversation starters, warning signs of bullying behavior, and helpful resources for educators.
Suicide Safe is a new suicide prevention app for mobile devices (optimized for tablets) that helps health care providers assess suicide risk and determine appropriate next steps for at-risk patients. The app features conversation starters, interactive sample case studies, and real-time access to behavioral health treatment facilities.
Stop, Breathe & Think It provides dozens of guided meditations for all types of purposes. The app even recommends meditations based on how you feel mentally, physically and emotionally. It also rewards you with stickers as you meditate more and more. Another Stop, Breath & Think for Kids is also available.
Breathe2Relax is a portable stress management tool which provides detailed information on the effects of stress on the body and instructions and practice exercises to help users learn the stress management skill called diaphragmatic breathing. Breathing exercises have been documented to decrease the body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ (stress) response, and help with mood stabilization, anger control, and anxiety management.
Insight Timer Everyone talks about how great meditation is for your mental health but if it still feels too daunting, Insight Timer is a great place to start. The app meets you where you are, whether it’s your first time, or you’re a pro. Plus, you can connect with plenty of other users across the world with an activity feed (though of course, meditation isn’t a competition).
Koko In this app’s first life, it was a website called Panoply developed by an MIT researcher as a social network for people with depression. And it functions much the same way in its app form.
Users can share problems, feelings, or thoughts with the community, and get feedback from others. How does this help? The idea is based on a form of a well-established cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) technique called “reappraisal,” which is a way to help reframe negative thoughts. For example, you can share an experience like having a bad day at work, or a fight with your S.O., and the community might offer alternative readings of that situation to help you not jump to negative conclusions. (Like you’re going to get fired or you and your partner are breaking up.)
The best news of all: A 2015 study of the original website found that this approach significantly improved participants depression symptoms after just 25 minutes per week for three weeks.
Happify The main goal of this app is to just “feel happier,” and the program gives you plenty of options for working toward that goal. You’ll get to choose a path of activities that reflects what that really means for you.
You’ll start by taking a test to see where you’re at and how you tend to approach tough, stressful spots in your life. Then the app will suggest a path based on your answers. To move along the path, you’ll complete gratitude exercises, do a little meditation, and learn a lot about yourself along the way.
Journal Your Emotions with Ease Track your mood with “my story” as often as you want with just a couple of taps. We’ll track your emotional state for you so you can look back and learn about what might be blocking you from living your best life.
New Apps Give Teens Easier, Persistent Access To Mental Help
Do mental health mobile apps work: evidence and recommendations for designing high-efficacy mental health mobile apps by Pooja Chandrashekar
New mental health app reaching out to help students in the aftermath of mass shooting in Parkland
The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) explains that hearing loss falls into four subcategories: conductive, sensorineural, mixed and central. These identify the location in the body in which the hearing impairment occurs. Hearing aids and other sound amplifying assistive technologies (AT) often work for students with conductive hearing loss, as their impairments stem from the outer or middle ear. Such does not hold true with sensorineural, mixed and central hearing losses, as these impairments stem from the inner ear, the central nervous system or a combination of the two. Typically, hearing loss is categorized as slight, mild, moderate, severe or profound, depending on how well an individual can hear the frequencies that are commonly associated with speech.
Educational obstacles related to hearing impairments stem around communication. A student with a hearing impairment may experience difficulty in:
Underscoring the difficulty that students with hearing impairments may have in presenting oral reports are the potential language development problems linked to hearing impairments. Arizona’s Department of Education’s Parent Information Network notes that, “Since children with hearing impairments are unable to receive some sounds accurately, they often cannot articulate words clearly.”
Audiologic Treatment/Habilitation
Causes of Hearing Loss in Children
Hearing Assistive Technology for Children
Types of Tests Used to Evaluate Hearing in Children and Adults
Accessibility Considerations Worksheet For Students with Hearing Loss
Causes of Hearing Loss in Children
How to Read an Audiogram and Determine Degrees of Hearing Loss
Students with Hearing Impairment in the School Setting ASHA Practice Policy documents
The Los Angeles Unified School District’s Position Paper Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services
GUIDE TO EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING
Sonoma County’s DHH procedures for deaf and hard of hearing (ZIP file with forms)
Assistive Technology in the Classroom For Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Assistive Technologies for Individuals Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (from Gallaudet University)
Given that we grew up with a low tech experience we need to on purpose seek out information as Parents to equip ourselves to address the issues that come with Social Media.
We do not want our kids to de-evolve with communication and social skills we have to put time a side with our families to help ground kids with the limits and boundaries that support positive communication and relationships.
A How-To Guide for Monitoring Social Media & Smartphones
A Leader’s Guide to Words Wound
Many of us with kids are losing the battle with screen time. Whether it is the TV, Tablet, Phone, or Laptop there is a constant pressure that families have to negotiate through with their kids.
Dr. Victoria Dunckley suggest that there maybe a new issue attached to too much screen time called Electronic Screen Syndrome. Here is her description of what she sees in children with this issue.
Article on Electronic Screen Syndrome
Brain researchers have found a few the following detrimental effects:
Quizlet is an online learning tool created by high school sophomore Andrew Sutherland in Albany, California. It was originally conceived in October 2005 and released to the public in January 2007.[2] As of January 2014, Quizlet has over 60 million user-generated flashcard sets and more than 20 million registered users.[3][4]
One of the Special Day Class teachers is using Quizlet to help support vocabulary from a book that they are reading. It is easy to set up. The kids are really engaged in the subject material.
There are a lot of different ways to use this application. You can also set up a matching game to match a word with it’s definition and create tests.
There are also hundreds of pre-made study areas to choose to learn from. I liked the Praxis II exam for School Psychologists.
Special Educators using Google Docs, Forms, and Spreadsheets
Articles
http://www.teachingspecialthinkers.com/2013/05/be-proactive-using-google-docs-to.html
http://www.teachingspecialthinkers.com/2013/05/be-proactive-10-ways-to-use-google-docs.html
FORMS
This is a great tool to interview a student to get their perspective on their own learning. It covers the soft skills that make learning more efficient and productive. An added benefit is that it is a chance to find neutral and common ground between the student and teacher.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OBlaJoZYoBDPT_NPbttTp8B4XKqnlyxAuCG5kacZg1M/viewform
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qhxPkzgQisyW79Hr9WxwRPNFViccoPf1eBjj1U9dl38/viewform
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1CewcuVvuDQktf5MN_9P2UajIGkcPqr7h6veNjSwASIE/viewform
Building Momentum in Schools 