 And who else do we have with us really school which school are you guys at. Okay, well, we'll come back to that. Alright, well, I'm going to go ahead and share my screen here and give me just a second about that should have been back at the beginning to start with kind of like that I can see your guys's screen because I know what you're looking at. Well today we're going to start we're going to talk a little bit about eating the anxious learner and something that you guys probably in all levels with see any on any day in multiple different levels. And of course just little bit of formalities. I'm Tina Souser at ESU 8 and I'm Steph Wanek from ESU 8 too. Please remember that our email addresses are on the beginning or end of every presentation that we do. So feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions. Also, you can always access our website bit.ly slash pairs of ESU 8. That's a good place to go to get all of our resources from today and and things that we've done in the past. So So to kind of kick this Session off, we're going to hopefully look at something that's a bit familiar if you joined us for summer trainings. We watched a little video about the things I wish my administrator teachers knew and this one is it somewhat similar with in relation to things students wish with anxiety wish that their teachers understood about them. So we're going to watch this here. The short clip from that video clip. Hopefully you were as you were reading those you may have identified some students through those words or those messages that could potentially be going through The the anxiety and the fear of some of these situations. And we're going to talk a little bit about that today and how how we can identify it as well as you know kids and where the kids are coming from and then ways that we can kind of help them. Through their anxiety and I think in that video to it's just proof that anxiety, something that is oftentimes misunderstood and you know people can be seen as anti social or Not trying hard or you know that they are detached and don't want to be part of things, but really the people with anxiety would really love to To be part of things and would love to and that's more social anxiety, but would love to overcome this, but it's just so hard for them. So the more we can try to reach out and understand them the better. So to start this off. First of all, what is anxiety anxiety is feeling of nervousness or unease typically about an imminent event or an event that is going to happen and something within a With something with a an uncertain outcome. And so basically that kind of highlights another area. We're going to talk about here because when you talk about anxiety. It's something that's not necessarily you can't control all the time, but you can identify ways in which that you can be successful with anxiety. Here's a statistic I pulled off the CDC and the link for more information is up at the top, but Children age three to 17 years or identified as having the current diagnosis of and if you look down anxiety is the third And it only says 3% so it looks like it's a really small amount. But if you think about that that is the current diagnosis. These are kids that have been diagnosed with it. And I think anxiety along with multiple other things have the stigma that you that kids don't necessarily tell you what they're going through because it's embarrassing or they feel like they should be able to control it. So they don't always share that with you. So to me, I would think if the kids that that you see every day, we probably have a very high percentage of those that may have anxiety. As an issue. It's just the 3% which if you look at this is the third Level, but I think we probably still have a lot more of that that just haven't been identified. Yeah. And I think, you know, right now in schools. I'm talking about social emotional learning. It's just a huge thing because we see that really affecting kids and coming out in In scary hazardous ways for them. And I think so often we we see kids with some of these symptoms and we kind of poo poo it or say, oh, that's just that kid. And, you know, hopefully all the adults in their life, their parents and teachers and parents and everybody who works with them. Are doing some things to help them through that anxiety. But some of the times I think in the past we've said, oh, they'll grow it. Oh, they just don't like that. But they're going to have to deal with it. That's life. But the more that we can help them deal with things and learn strategies to be successful, the better. And I think that's the important key right there is giving them strategies because as we talk to their Anxiety is not something that you can necessarily care or make go away is something that you have to learn to adjust with And learn to grow from so we're gonna we're gonna make this a little personal here for a minute because I think at some point all of us experience anxiety, maybe not to the level that our kids are But what I want you to do for just a minute. I want you to think of a time when you felt anxious And I'm going to give you just a second to think about that Now I want you to think about that time How did you redirect redirect your thinking or what did you do to move beyond the anxiety or work work past the anxiety? And were you able to eliminate it completely? And then I think this last one is a An interesting question. Do you avoid those situations now that gave you the anxiety? Are you able to kind of avoid Those areas or those moments that make you feel anxious Is anybody willing to share Some of your thoughts on this or a time where you felt anxious and how you addressed that Anxiety anytime you do something new Or for the first time when it's in your job or your personal life There's probably always some anxiety there But as you do it over and over again You become better and better at it and the anxiety I don't think ever goes away But it abates At least a little bit I could probably use an example of Parent meetings where the child was in in some trouble and You know the parents are going to be angry or disappointed You don't know if they're going to be more disappointed to you or if they're a child So there's some anxiety there But as I've done more and more of those You still get anxious, but it's You get better at it with practice just like anything else For me um The beginning of the school year is anxiety ridden because it's a busy busy time for staff developers and it's always just like Am I going to get it all done? Am I going to fit it all in? Is there time to plan everything? and I get I'm the most anxious I feel in the whole year, you know right at that and in that august moment Um, I think some people like a new job. Oh some people feel very nervous about a new job. Um I mine is my anxiety and and you're right. It never it's never gone away. Um, I just learned to to redirect it um, but I get a lot of anxiety about Presenting in front of a large crowd of people because mine is more Self-directed like I want to make sure that I'm giving you the best of what I could possibly give you and I I feel like I don't know if I could even have enough time to prepare All that I should or need to prepare to and so I know that's kind of so you you all you are causing Tina's anxiety From an esu person who does professional development pretty constantly, but in in reality I do every professional development in front of people I I have anxiety, but I just learned to um to I guess cope with it and to find ways to actually make it help or make it somewhat successful and One other thing is I have huge test anxiety. Does anybody else in the room have anxiety for taking big tests? um And it's funny because I just got done taking my praxis for my administrative degree and You know, it's been a long time since I've taken a test like that, but I literally did not sleep I you know, I felt ill. I did not want to go into the testing center and and I did fine. I did great, but it's just that test anxiety and sometimes I think and if you think of your students test anxiety can um cause them to Not answer the way that they they may know the information and I can speak to this personally They may know the information. It's just when they get in there. They're so anxious about it that it they Are thinking oh, maybe that's not right and they go read into the question and maybe come up with a different answer um, so So that is definitely real in school As we think about all the things that affect us as adults and the things we've learned to to do to cope This is happening to our kids So whether they're nervous for a new situation of making new friends or a new class or Whatever it may be. Um, you know, I think we're seeing it more and more also I was at a conference in new york last year Where we really talked about a lot of these emotional issues that kids are going through and even You know social media can be blamed for a lot of their anxiousness Because if something rude is said they don't escape it. It's there constantly for them. So You know, we're just really looking at those emotional problems for kids now Did anybody think of anything as we were talking about that that you'd like to share? I know we have really and zeb you have anything you'd like to share The one point about this is that Try That is a great question. We're we're actually our next slide is going to talk about anxiety versus stress But anxiety when you think of anxiety, it's it's this It's on a bigger scale and things that it kind of makes you It makes things actually seem things that are realistic The anxiety takes it to that next level where you just Completely get outside of the real realization of The situation and you go beyond Um, and if people with severe anxiety disorder, they really have No control of where their brain goes in in those moments and It can cause them to To just really disconnect from everything But I think you'll be surprised also as we talk about some of the The situations that that might anxiety might cause. Um, you may have seen this more than you actually realize in your students Did that help answer your question a little bit? Yeah, did did anybody else have something to share there? Okay, was that a no I just want to make sure i'm not Okay, um, so as I mentioned our next slide kind of talks about the differences between anxiety and stress Um, and it still kind of has a blurred line between the two In reality, but I think as I mentioned stress anxiety is just to that next level So um as this highlights to me, I mean anxiety is where it starts to be a problem in life Yes, um, you know a little bit of stress is good. I might identify as being a procrastinator And that little bit of stress really pushes me to get things done Um and and stress can be a good thing in that way for me I think anxiety is where it starts to be a problem starts to interfere starts to Make them sick. Yeah, I had a student with anxiety issues. She was pulling out her hair literally Um, just a little third grader with fringy bangs because she pulled her hair so much Kids who buy down things too much because they're it's it's the anxiety And and that's just the outward things we were seeing not that how it felt inside And and most of those areas are highlighted here As you look at the bottom of this that in stress Stress can have positive effects stress can cause you as Stephanie mentioned to do something or to push yourself towards and that's where For me, you know, it's stress if you're if you're stressed about something It's could be a good thing and motivate you to to go beyond anxiety really kind of takes over And you it's detrimental more so than than pushing you towards a positive um And the second point about anxiety to here on our slides too. This is where I was talking about Anxiety is really out of proportion to the actual or real threat So they may see a threat, but it's way beyond what it actually is. Um, for instance a test, right? A test is not that threatening It's just supposed to meant it's supposed to be an assessment of what you know or what you've learned Well with test anxiety It it they take it beyond and Thinking oh my gosh. I'm gonna this is gonna make me stupid You know, it's gonna give you with those labels and and so it's reaching way beyond just the idea of Or the reality of the actual situation and I think we see the same thing in some social anxiety issues That you know walking into a room where you don't know who's in there and might cause somebody with social anxiety just you know To be really worked up really anxious really You know dreading it really feeling like that was life or death where the rest of us would probably walk in and go see Who's in the room, you know um, so Anxiety really just does heighten the situation And that's I mean a great conversation it does this kind of highlight a few of the differences then between the two That and and do you guys Do you see these in your students at times? Do you see the where the anxiety or the the stress moves to anxiety and kind of takes over? Um, and we're going to talk a little bit later about how this presents itself to you in the classroom with these kids um We're going to watch this little video About emotions and the brain and it's going to kind of highlight How how the emotions can kind of hijack The thinking and the thought processes for your kids When we hear the word emotion Most of us think of love hate happiness or fear Those strong feelings we experience throughout life Our emotions are the driving force behind many of our behaviors helpful and unhelpful Just where do our emotions come from? Our brain is wired to look for threats or rewards If one is detected the feeling region of the brain alerts us through the release of chemical messages Emotions are the effect of these chemical messages traveling from our brain through the body When our brain detects a potential threat our brain releases the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol Which prepare us for a fight or flight response When we detect or experience something rewarding such as someone doing something nice for you Our brain releases dopamine Oxytocin or serotonin These are the chemicals that make us feel good and motivate us to continue on the task or behavior In these instances the feeling region of the brain kicks in before the thinking part Sometimes the reactions of the feeling brain are so strong that it dominates our behaviors And we're unable to think rationally in the moment Our emotions hijack our brain While many of our emotional responses happen subconsciously Our thinking can influence our emotions and sometimes this can be unhelpful Just thinking about something threatening can trigger an emotional response This is where we can manage our emotions with conscious thinking Our emotions play a powerful role in the way we experience the world Understanding and regulating our emotions through our thoughts and behaviors can help us take greater control of our brain And achieve our goals I think this video kind of narrows it down and speaks the truth about how If your kids allow the emotions to take over that then it goes into the level of anxiety Where it really does hijack the brain and there's a quote But also I mean do they allow it or I mean it's chemical It's happening to them. So um, you know as much as some kids want to um react differently I think you know, it's um you know, I had college roommate and uh, every time she Met any kind of conflict or like one time she got the wrong parking pass She said you have to come with me to talk to them because I'll just cry You know like any kind of conflict she'd just cry And I think it was a lot of the chemicals going on in her body. It wasn't That she felt sad or hurt or whatever. I think she'd prefer not to cry both situations But it was it was some, you know, um, I'm going to have to deal with some conflicts here And um, it's just the way it came out of her. So a lot of what's going on for our kids. It's chemical It's it's the science of it all it isn't all what's in their control And that we'll talk about again. It's not the idea of Getting rid of the anxiety. It's the idea of how to manage Your thinking and how to manage yourself through the anxiety And teaching kids to do so themselves. But this is uh, this is a quote Um, stephanie. Yeah, we've we've dealt with with some of our executive function work that we've been doing the last couple years And it says when thinking conflicts with emotion Emotion always wins And so really you get caught up in your brain. You cannot think higher. You cannot get past it When when you have this emotion going on it really does it hijacks your brain and So we have to help kids out of that place Before they can get back to thinking and learning telling them to suck it up and go on Just isn't going to work for these kids. We have to help them through that emotion Right and which has generally been the reaction in the past because we weren't sure, you know All the time how to how to deal with or even identify it. So So There we go. Whoops too far So these are just some of the common causes of anxiety. They're definitely not the entire list because I think we could go on forever On this. Um, but these are ones that you might see with your kids And not being able to keep up. I think that's a huge one in class Especially when a kid is identifying that that they're behind you might see those kids start their attendance start to Drop they're they're not wanting to come to class. They're not wanting to share They're not wanting to talk about what they do and do not Paris Paris how many of you work with a student that can't keep up? Right. Is it hard? I mean, I mean, we have sped kids We have kids that just have a slower processing speed and need a little bit more time And when and I felt it in the classroom the pace of my classroom had to be so fast to get through everything That I think that this is very real for kids today And and those kids, you know, when they get lost in that anxiety of not being able to keep up That's all they're thinking about. They're not learning anything Because again, their brain's been hijacked and that's They're going through the anxiety motions rather than focusing on the material you want them to Um, another one is feeling different and this is Again, this is something that could cause severe anxiety and kids and and they're around a whole Classroom of kids all day long and so if they're consistently feeling like they're different Again, their anxiety levels are high and so how do we address those? I would guess that some of you work also with kids who feel different. Maybe um, it's a physical disability or mental that Causes them to feel very different than their peers. Sometimes Being pulled out as much as we know that you know, there's times that they need to be pulled out to just work on things at their own level We don't want them to feel that different that it causes anxiety. Have any of you had an experience with that? Having a student feel really different and causing anxiety and sometimes the anxiety is not going to present itself to you because because Again, it's the sigma that that anxiety is not acceptable or it's it's not accepted and it's go Get yourself under control, right? So you may have kids that you don't even know that are going through this type of anxiety Um and anxiety about the future. I think we can picture our high school kids in that too And some of their anxiety they they tend to address the anxiety sometimes with Alcohol or or drugs to kind of help them through some of that and that's There ends up being their coping mechanism for things like that. I worked with kids in a group home in college and Some of these kids who didn't know what was going to happen. Were they going to be placed with a foster Family? Were they going to you know go back to their? Maybe home that had been abusive in the past They weren't sure about it and it really even though they were a nice generally well-behaved kid It came out as bad behavior And they wanted to be rejected for that behavior instead of for who they were But that anxiety was definitely them for there for them too. So I think it really comes out as a roar usually There's that their quote Children who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving of ways And I think that's true here. These kids are having the anxiety. It doesn't come out in a pretty form especially when it's Gets to the point of being anxiety That the next two on these large crowds This one could kind of be either way because some kids would rather mix in with a large crowd Whereas you're you might have a kid who Would refer not to work in a small group, you know because because of their Their anxiety could be that they might have to fill In the center of attention if they're in a smaller group where it's in the large crowd They can kind of mix in and of course this middle one. I think this middle one could be anxiety for multiple people public speaking as I mentioned before You know and it can be that nervousness too, you know, I definitely I'm probably not usually very apprehensive about being in front of people but But I definitely can feel nerves there. Yeah, and that's just it that's it at what level because at what point does it become Anxiety where it kind of hijacks your your thoughts and your ideas and the public speaking remember that for kids It's it's right. It's being called on in class to read in front of others It doesn't have to be a crowd of a hundred people. This is just Even saying an idea in front of you know, 10 other kids And I think that's exactly what reading out loud is too, you know that nervousness about their ability to do that Even if they are a good reader, they might be worried that they're going to make a mistake and somebody will laugh And so really that kind of unknown for kids just as a theme here And one of the other ones is the kids can also have anxiety towards a specific subject area And I would that usually goes back to the idea of not feeling not being able to keep up or not feeling adequate enough in those subjects To have anything to contribute, but math anxiety is a well-known thing If you google math anxiety, if you work with a student on math and they really just start to You know show those symptoms of anxiety Google that and we're gonna you're gonna find a lot of resources just on math anxiety and then following up here with test anxiety Those are two areas in schools where I think we see that very Yes and and I'll speak to the math anxiety too because When I was teaching in the third grade classroom, we started doing the separate math and the time test I don't know if any of you are familiar with those but I had I had a student who Just really could not do it She would have to get up and leave the room because she just had such Anxiety about taking that that and I call a time test, but it was like a two minute thing that they had to fill out and I ended up Just allowing her to sit outside the class Get it finished on her own time and come back in that was just a modification I made because she literally Could not sit there even in the class while we were doing that because she was so Just about and she you'd even start your search of sweat Which was I will have to say that time for me if I'm going to be timed on something I kind of do that spin in my wheels if I was a cartoon character and that kind of What do I do first, you know? So I I can feel that in myself too You guys anybody else see that with any kids or I'm sure somebody's had a kid with math anxiety Don't you want to tell us a story? Love your voices Has anybody had an experience with a kid? Oh, did I? Sorry And I mean isn't it a puzzle why is it math and not other subjects so much but It really is there for kids. So I think um, you know when we kind of think about how we're going to approach those And for Paris if you can anticipate the time that becomes Really nerve-wracking experience for them um, and we'll talk about some different intervention needs you can use in a minute here, but You know talk them through and let them know. Hey, this this part's coming up and sometimes That causes you anxiety Let's use this intervention so that we eliminate that today and we can kind of be preventative for them I think one thing that is not on here that we could add potentially to is homework um, homework can become a huge anxiety factor and I I could name probably three or four kids right now That the instant that it's time for homework. It's all all bets are off and it becomes a huge behavior issue. So Was somebody else going to say something? Yeah, we were talking at grid. We're really trying to work with the growth mindset and the power of the word yet So it might not be as math concept yet, but hopefully they'll get it That has worked with some of our kids in the in the short term Um, sometimes they forget all about the growth mindset the next time we have a tough Topic in math, but that is something that we're trying to do is build our growth mindset rather than their fixed mindset That I can't be mad. Yep. We can get there. Um in my classroom. I used to just say some really positive math statements I'm to start class. I mean even I'm we would say things like I love math um, you know today I'm going to learn how to be a problem solver and things like that and You know as cheesy as it might sound I think that all of those positive mantras that we can get running through kids heads are good things you know, I I remember sitting in conferences over the years and talking about some math difficulties with parents and one of the parents saying Oh, well, you know You know, we're just not math people. We just all have trouble in math You know, we can't do math And I thought that's what they're hearing at home Not you can do it. You can learn it. Things will get better We'll try really hard And so I thought that was really important to focus on so if you have a student that you're working with high school level down to pre k level On teaching that to them that that all of us have something to work on and that when we try hard And you know our hard work pays off and we'll learn it I think that all goes back to the atmosphere that you're trying to create in your classroom or in a classroom as a whole that You know, it's okay to be at different levels. It's okay to be where you are And and feeling and I love the word yet with a growth mindset because it gives you the idea that you're still growing But you can get there and and you still have that door And I think with with kids who are anxious If you can set that mindset across the board for all the kids that you're working with That that brings their level of anxiety down a huge amount and very beneficial for kids who Who struggle with this with anxiety disorder? This next slide it really highlights the fact that the goal For a teacher for you guys working with kids with anxiety is not to eliminate the anxiety It's not going to go away. It's just a How can I help the child manage the anxiety so we can get beyond the anxiety and move towards towards the goal Or the the standard that they're working on and I think that's important for us to remember As we work with the kids because You know it you're not going to work the anxiety completely out of them. It's just how can I cope with it? How can I deal with it? So now we're going to talk a little bit about ways to help kids who do struggle with anxiety And how you can kind of again not eliminate the anxiety but help them cope with it And this first one get them to breathe the deep. Um, I actually use this with my four-year-old And it makes a huge difference with her and I can't say Her level of anxiety is for different things, but she gets so Anxious about some things that she starts crying and she can't even tell you what is wrong And because you can't understand her. She's just Lovering mess is a way to put it But if I can get her to first of all Take a deep breath and then we count to 10 and that kind of helps Um Again, it doesn't eliminate the anxiety just helps put it aside for a little bit so we can move forward So that's been a big one to use With younger kids and part of that's the science of it too when we get anxious We breathe it shallow and it's the whole you know, you don't want to hyperventilate moments So the more oxygen you can breathe in and let it out, you know, it's it's almost um You know like a meditation too that that we're just going to breathe deep and calm down and the tech companies have already identified that So how many of you have an apple watch? I can't see hands Um, I have an apple watch and when I get anxious or when I'm stressed about something My apple watch will tell me to breathe And it takes you through a breathing exercise. So it's definitely there's there's something to that and something to Getting that oxygen to your air to your brain so you can Can start thinking so you might need to change the atmosphere get outside go for a walk Um, just leave the classroom. Um, sometimes when kids were worked up about something in my room I'd say do you want to have a bathroom break and go get a drink? And you know just just getting out of the environment and then maybe they can breathe a little bit more easily You know, it's nice And that kind of helps get their brain outside of that environment as well Because if you think about yourself in in a room or in a space where there's high levels of anxiety Or you've already reached that point If you don't move away from that situation or move out of that area Which we've talked about many times when we're talking about dealing with behavior Is just to get their get their body physically outside of that and then it also is getting their brain outside of that Um, enclosed anxiety and that focusing on the anxiety Um, and the other one is get getting them moving it all goes kind of together because then you're you're still You get that blood flowing too. I think you're just getting your blood flowing get that fresh air so That the next one where you're steering them toward positive thinking you really I feel have to be Careful of this because if you try to just completely redirect them to something positive and you are not identifying their frustrations then Then basically you're telling them that their emotions that they're having are not valid Yeah, you're turning them off to to Basically telling them that what they're feeling they shouldn't be feeling You can start to empathize on love and logic if any of you have heard of love and logic is big on that Empathizing and say I see that you feel really frustrated right now. You're feeling really anxious about this activity Um, let's let's remind ourselves of some things Um, first of all are things hard when they're new? Yeah, they're hard when they're new. Okay. Can we with some extra help? Can we learn how to do them? Yeah, I can Will somebody always be here to help you? Yes, somebody are always be here So you're talking them through and steering them towards that positive towards that growth mindset like, um, mr. Berryman was saying And the next one talk sharing a story I really like this because then you're also building a relationship with this kid If you can share a story about yourself and maybe a moment that you Like we did earlier a moment that you felt anxious and and how you Delt with that and what you did to help then you're you're validating their emotions um And in connecting with them, but then you're also giving them strategies to help get beyond their anxiety Yeah, consider those accommodations. What can we change in this assignment in this task in this? Whatever activity that makes it easier for them, you know, is is it something where? um, you know, we could break it down to a smaller group for them to work on work with or You know, could they present if they have to present a report to the class instead of doing it live Could they create a video? So that they're just presenting it to an iPad first Yeah, and and this goes back to the math One that I example I gave you before with my student in math I had to allow her to go outside of that room and finish on her own terms and on her not our Our own terms of it on her own time and that was an accommodation. I needed to make for her Which I still required her to do it It was just with an accommodation and for for me. I had a student the same You know 100 page time test that he had trouble with I just folded the page a couple times for him And if he was only looking at 10 problems or 20 problems at a time It was easier for him to think about that task than if he was looking at 100 and The next one clearly stating expectations And I think you guys probably had to do this multiple times with some of the kids you work with but stating the expectations and You also have to be willing to repeat it and I go back to the idea of of me and my test anxiety I have all this stuff going on in my head That doesn't have any relation to the content and so all I can focus on is is Oh my gosh, I'm going to miss this one. I gotta remember that and and I'm not hearing exactly what somebody's saying to me at that moment And so you guys if you have these kids and they're in in an anxious moment They may be having all these these conversations I would say in their head and they're not always hearing the full instruction So you may have to repeat it several times repeat it or write it down for You know write things down that way they can refer to them later Yeah, and I think in this next one in your guys's position as you work with the kids We have mentioned several times you get the opportunity to be in small groups or one on one with them And so you see and hear and identify with things that maybe their teachers don't always get to get the opportunity to And so having that constant communication with the teacher About what you're experiencing and what you're seeing is also important. I think lunch and recess Paras are are on duty at a lot of lunches and recesses and those are times the teachers might not be there And anxiety can come out big time then in those less structured situations So if you can communicate that back all the better And then the last few Just you have hugs or being held sometimes that is what helps kids But again, that could be a Place of anxiety too where if they're not used to to that, but you have to read your kids and and being in quiet time sometimes they just need the time to To get those that anxiety out of their head or or at least Not out of their head, but at least being able to cope with it with some quiet time or Even talking through it with an adult that Stephanie talked about before I had a student with autism And um kids with autism oftentimes love to be weighted down We know that they have weighted blankets and things. Have you guys seen those now? They're being sold like on the mass market For anyone because I think we all feel secure with that heaviness to us Um and has anybody ever watched the movie about temple granden? Um That she had autism and developed actually those cow holding Pends holding pens. I think so. I'm not country at all, but I think I came up with that one just now Um, anyway, um, she talked about being so anxious in certain situations but she she developed the this pen type thing for herself that would calm herself down um so that that Tightness being held by something heavy and of course, you know hugs and stuff are viewed differently these days Is it appropriate or not? But um this little guy that I had in my class would um go dive into a pile of stuffed animals and in the special ed room and say lame on me Because it really did calm him down. Um, and he did like that quiet time Or just being with his para in there where he could decompress a little bit Is there anything else that you guys have have used or Or tactics that you've used with kids that may be suffering with anxiety Okay, right. We'll keep moving forward. Um, these are a list of things of what not to do if you are working with a kid with anxiety And and this number one one we've talked about a couple times But don't try to eliminate it if you're trying to eliminate or you you're trying to talk to your kid about eliminating the anxiety Then all you're doing is not validating their their feelings and Kind of giving them false hope that it will go away instead of directing them towards Towards dealing with it or or finding ways to move beyond it And if you have a kid with social anxiety, you know taking them out of every social situation really isn't doing them a favor Because life isn't lived in isolation. So you don't want to um take them out of any situation that they're going to encounter this You're going to teach them how to deal with it instead And and also you need to respect their feelings, but don't go to the level of empowering them Um, don't don't give them more strength in their anxiety and and allude to the idea that you know that their Their misconceptions might be true So make sure that you're you're careful when you're validating their feelings that you don't push it towards the other way of supporting their anxiety And enhancing it and when they're anxious you don't want to ask real leading questions like Is this making your tummy hurt? Um or something like that you want to say how does this make you feel what part of you Doesn't feel good right now Um so that you really truly do get the right answer instead of them just saying uh-huh And going along with whatever you say And again, don't reinforce the fears. Um, for instance, you know, you don't say yeah tests are horrible, right? Um, yeah, your family is terrible at math Yes, you wouldn't want to go there. And again, it all goes back to the idea of You're not going to eliminate it. You're going to find ways to cope with it and to deal with it and move forward. Um These are some things where you can identify the behavior of of people who are suffering with anxiety and We have alluded to many of these already and talked through some of these but Be thinking about your kids And the kids that you work with each day And maybe some of the behaviors that they're having are not necessarily Just because of behavior or just because of choice. They may have something Deeper roots in anxiety or other other issues You know, I see frequent trips to the nurse here and um our great colleague Joe Bates who heads up our esu8 school nurses Um knows that this is true the kids who are anxious go see the nurse a lot Um, I had a student in one of my classrooms. Um, he was new to our school And um, he was thrown up a lot, you know, and the first couple of times I thought he had a bug And then I learned he gets so anxious and so worked up that he'd cause himself to throw up a lot So he became friends with my trash can on the way to the nurse's office. Um But you know, it's one of those things that getting to know your students better It's going to tell you a lot about them that you might not realize these things at first Right, and I think something else and there's a few of them on here but even just having meltdowns um in classes I I had a few students too that if they got to the point of anxiety that They were just they couldn't cope anymore And so all they did was just cry and you saw that in the no um in our video earlier That there was nothing they could do and so sobbing and in tears Um, and I think identifying what gets them to that point is going to be helpful for them too um, but if you look at some of these too Turning and not turning in homework is is it because they're not motivated to turn it in or is it because They're scared to death of what they put on that paper might not be right Is it the anxiety that makes them not turn it in? And and that goes back to attendance problems and in disruptive behavior What is the underlying factors actually and I think attendance problems too it can be anxiety of working with a certain person Unfortunately, whether it be an adult or a kid Um, that really you know when you start to see those attendance problems When you stop to ask some of those questions of the kids like what is something bothering you then it starts to come out Yeah Yep, gotta keep moving forward because we're running out of time here. Um, this is an image I got off of or Stephanie shared with me off of a facebook. It's called mental health matters And it's a facebook group That you can join and they as I was looking through the feed It was very applicable Information on the students that you probably deal with every day But this is talking about against more ways that anxiety presents itself in your students And It's funny because You know, some of these things we just see as as being the person But is it where is it coming from like struggling to pay attention and to focus? What is it that that's causing there? To lose that attention. Sometimes it's just the kid, but there's underlying factors that have to do with this as well All right. Do you guys have any questions or comments to share with for the good of the group or um on this topic? We're looking for I'm looking for Uh some tips or some ideas about getting having kids Leave their anxiousness at the door And I know that's impossible to do all the time. I've got a couple kids that I'm thinking of right now that When mom and dad were fighting this morning Or last night They'll come into the classroom And the behaviors will escalate quickly Okay, so um, I worked with a behavior program in Kansas City called BIST I know it's in some parts of Nebraska too. Um, madison uses it for any for instance, but um A really great component of BIST and this actually worked with my little Guy with autism that I talked about too. Um Uh, it's called triage um, so triage is where you try to get to that student before the Bad situation for them so, um You know for a kid like that, you know, um They've got some emotional baggage that comes from home every day So maybe they're assigned to a wonderful para Or maybe another teacher or um, maybe somebody in the office and they pop in Right when they get to school and they just talk for about five minutes or so And and maybe they need to get some things off their chest or that person can also go over If things start to get frustrating or emotional for you today What are you going to remind yourself? Well, first I'm when I start to feel it in my body And maybe they talk about you know feeling like a monster in their tummy or whatever You know kids talk about Um, I'm going to first I'm going to count to 10 and each time I count to 10 I'm going to take a deep breath Or you know with each number I take a deep breath or you know And maybe maybe with this person they start a journal Or something like that and they write down a few notes every day, you know something to just get it out of them So that triage it's it's really I'm going to catch up before that problem situation for my little guy with autism his um His behaviors would get really bad at art class because he had some physical things Fine motor skills were hard. So before he went into art class every time I would say, okay Jake um You know if um, what are you going to remind yourself in art class today? I'm going to I just know that my best is Is good enough And I said well, what are you going to do? You know if it gets hard if you have to cut something Um, and he says well, I'm going to do my best and if I can't I'm going to tell the teacher I need a quick break And you know what? I mean we talked through it before it became the problem. So I think that Troy that might help Well, and I think part of that too and I again I use this with my children Quite often if I know that we're going to be going into a situation that does cause them stress or anxiety either one um We'll talk about it. I'll say, you know, we're going to go we're going to go do this today How how do you think or how do you think what would be the best way to handle these situations? Just like Stephanie was was highlighting and then another piece of that is is after something Um, we'll say they make a bad choice. That's what I always say. It's it's not about them It's just choice that they made and so if they do make a bad choice in that situation It has to be addressed right away and and triage because you talk about okay, so How what was your what was your choice here? How do you feel about what you chose to do? And then just walk them through identifying um a different way for them to deal with that situation and it's something that you know I think sometimes we feel like we can't communicate at At certain levels with kids, especially when they're younger But I found if we're we're honest and and we lay the whole idea out for them and talk about you know We I use respectful safe I use those terms and and they have to identify which of those It wasn't they weren't being respectful. They weren't being safe and how it affected them and others When we were it sounds like a lot to talk through But in reality once you get the process down and the kids got the process down it goes very quickly and I've been surprised at how even my four-year-old is able to tell me what she should have done differently In in more mature words than I guess I I realized but um and hopefully through triage What you're doing is you're being preventative of that happening, but also some kids need it more than once a day I mean like me saying catch him when he comes in the door You know for somebody who's going through a whole lot of stuff at home It might take it might take a couple times a day or a check-in after each subject area or something like that When I think getting the kid to process through that event before it happens if you know Troy where your kids are really struggling and you know that they've come in with something that's happened That day at home before they even got there um They're going to be able if just talking through what that should look like Um is going to be going through their head when they're in that situation because they've actually processed it prior to being in that situation Thank you. Yeah. Hey, and thanks everybody for joining us today. Um, we love our paradise Um, I was just saying you know, we're doing this every other month this year and I I miss seeing you every month though Um, anyway, um, the next time we'll see you will be february. Holy cow. That's like hopping over a bunch of holidays and things like that um, so it'll be february 5th On 2 p.m. To 3 p.m. Like just like always Um, and we're going to talk about proctoring assessments So that's you know, february is really coming up on that time of year Where you're probably going to be asked to help with some nscas tests Um and things like that. So, um, we'll really talk about kind of the do's and don'ts while you practice proctor assessments, but We hope you have a very merry christmas and enjoy That time off. Does everybody get almost a full two weeks this year? Pretty close. We go to the 21st Yeah, we're we come back on the 4th. Actually, I think which is kind of long for us. So we like that And see these videos do they have to be registered to go back and Nope, they are all Posted on our website. In fact, all the past ones are still up there. Um, you can go back and access them from the website And it's just bit.ly Backslash pairs of vs u8 and the resources then will be in the 2018 2019 and you can get all of them Awesome. Okay. Hey everybody. Thank you so much. Bye. Bye