Back-to-School But Not Back to Normal

I want to share few suggestions I learned from the webinar “Trauma-Informed Approaches to Student Mental Health During COVID-19” Presented by Presence Learning & iOpening Enterprises 

The speakers were Dr. Isaiah Pickens and Stephanie Taylor, Ed.S, NCSP

“Covid-19’s Impact on Students’ Academic and Mental Well-Being. The pandemic has revealed - and exacerbated - inequities that hold many students back. Here’s how teachers can help. By Youki Terada” Check the link below for the article:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/covid-19s-impact-students-academic-and-mental-well-being

Dr. Isaiah Pickens talked about “Finding Your Power with Wellness”

He pointed out “Challenges:

• Students are disoriented due to transitions to virtual platforms, varying schedules, and directives.
• Students are worried about family members’ health and uncertainty about whether schools are safe and will stay open.
• Educators have new protocols to learn while managing their same responsibilities from prior to the pandemic.
• Staff have concerns about family members and others in their life who may become sick due to their work at school, or losses that have impacted their family.
• The ability to create an inclusive classroom is heightened as a result of a refocus on social and racial justice.
• Understanding how to manage cyberbullying and other forms of bullying related to membership in a group that has historically experienced oppression is difficult.
• Staff are unsure of how to navigate the various perspectives and life experiences of students from different backgrounds.
• Experiencing or witnessing the stress and trauma of discrimination or injustice can compound the feelings of stress.
• Integrate a whole-school approach that can manage multiple challenges for students and staff while reflecting the values of the community.”

As well as “Opportunities” which appear along with those challenges:

• “With the language to share the impact of current stressors, students can prepare for the ongoing changes that occur.
• Learning coping skills for both in-person and virtual challenges such as potential social isolation or having new routines can support emotional regulation.
• Integrate new protocols with trauma-informed procedures that support staff and students to manage the stressors related to work.
• Use social-emotional, whole-school strategies to create spaces in which both staff and students can acknowledge the current challenges while promoting ongoing support.
• Opportunities for students to engage in radical healing can begin to heal wounds related to discrimination.
• Discovering language to understand how stress is connected to important parts of students’ identity can support strategies for combating bullying.
• Engaging culturally-responsive teaching practices can create more inclusive classrooms and schools.
• Providing opportunities for students to honor and recognize their identity can support increased academic engagement.
• Employ a holistic approach with targeted interventions for students and sustainable supports for staff to maximize their potential despite challenges.”

Next Steps for Students suggested by Dr. Isaiah Pickens are:

• “Engage in a student wellness program to support managing stressors related to adjusting to the pandemic and beyond.  
• Finding Your Power in Uncertain Times:

1. Live, online small group therapy
2. Trauma-informed, cognitive-behavioral, mindfulness-based, and culturally-responsive tools that will help students manage unhealthy responses to current events
3. Techniques to navigate pervasive anxiety, depressed mood, and interpersonal functioning challenges
4. Skills to better self-understanding through bolstering resilience-based strategies and ability to find meaning and growth during difficult life experiences

Next Steps for School Leaders suggested by Dr. Isaiah Pickens are:

• “Provide professional development for staff to develop the skills to continue managing the adjustments related to the pandemic.
• Support educators’ ability to understand trauma and partner with mental health professionals to support healing.
• Develop culturally-responsive practices to effectively educate the whole child.”

Sky is the Limit Within Your Reach

 Help your child to reach her dream.

Reach for the sky or The sky is the limit. 

Definition https://www.dictionary.com/browse/reach-for-the-sky

• Set very high goals, aspire to the best, as in I'm sure they'll make you a partner, so reach for the sky. The sky here stands for high aspirations. Also, see the sky's the limit.
• Put your hands up high, as in One robber held the teller at gunpoint, shouting “Reach for the sky!” This usage is always put as an imperative. [Slang; mid-1900s]

More examples in The Free Dictionary by Farlex

Reach for the sky

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/reach+for+the+sky

Sky's the limit

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Sky%27s+the+Limit

Refresh Your Memory - Few Therapeutic Techniques for Feeding, Oral-Motor, Reading, Receptive and Expressive Delays

SOS Approach to Feeding

The SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) feeding program was developed by Psychologist, Kay Toomey Ph.D. The SOS is a non-invasive developmental approach to feeding. The SOS focuses on increasing a child's comfort level exploring and learning about the different properties of foods, such as texture, smell, taste, and consistency. The SOS approach allows a child to interact with food in a playful, non-stressful way.

The SOS approach follows a hierarchy of feeding, beginning with the basic ability to tolerate food in the room, in front of him/her, touching and eventually tasting and eating foods.

Parent education and involvement is an important part of this feeding approach. A therapist works directly with the parents while they are watching each feeding session to learn this approach to feeding. Parents learn to identify physical signs and "body language" to identify when the child is overstimulated and to assist with setting up the home program.

For more about the SOS approach to feeding, please visit http://sosapproach-conferences.com

Debra Beckman-Oral Motor Protocol

Beckman Oral Motor Intervention is an assessment and treatment tool used to determine and treat oral motor delays and disorders. This method includes specific interventions that provide assisted movement to activate muscle movements and build oral strength. The focus of these interventions is to increase oral response to pressure and movement, range, strength, variety, and control of the movement of the lips, cheeks, jaw, and tongue. 

For more information on Beckman-Oral Motor, please visit: http://www.beckmanoralmotor.com

The Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Approach

This treatment strategy was developed by Nancy Kaufman, M.A. CCC-SLP. The Successive Approximation Method is a proven treatment of children with developmental apraxia of speech. The Kaufman Method teaches sound approximations using a hierarchy. Children are taught word approximations first, to help reinforce their ability to increase motor coordination. Once the basic patterns have been mastered, more complex consonants and syllables are introduced.

For more information on the Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Approach, please visit:

http://www.apraxia-kids.org/library/the-successive-approximation-method-of-therapy-for-children-with-apraxia-of-speech/

P.R.O.M.P.T. (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets)

P.R.O.M.P.T. is a tactile-kinesthetic approach that uses touch cues to a patient’s articulators (jaw, tongue, lips) to guide them through targeted words, phrases, or sentences. This helps patients develop motor control while eliminating unnecessary muscle movements (i.e., jaw sliding, inadequate lip rounding, etc.). Therapists use special hand cues (called prompts) to show patients the correct sequence of articulatory movements and to help them achieve the correct sequence of movements independently.

For more information on P.R.O.M.P.T., please visit: http://promptinstitute.com

The Orton-Gillingham Approach

is an approach that can be used with patients who have difficulty with reading, spelling, and writing. This approach teaches the basics of word formation and utilizes the three learning modalities through which people learn - visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Vocabulary, sentence structure, writing and composition and reading comprehension are all taught in a structured, sequential, and cumulative manner.

Students begin by reading and writing letters/sounds in isolation. These letters/sounds are then blended into syllables and words. (Consonants, digraphs, blends, and vowel teams are all introduced in a structured, sequential way.) Students learn new material while also reviewing “old” material until their skills are automatic.

For more information on the Orton-Gillingham approach, please visit: 

https://www.ortonacademy.org/

Tongue Thrust/Myofunctional Therapy

Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder (i.e., "Tongue Thrust") is a disorder of the orofacial muscle complex which includes the mouth, tongue, lips, and facial musculature.

This disorder can :

alter the shape of your mouth

relate to feeding difficulties or aversions

impede alignment of your dental bite

impact developing speech patterns

How to help?

Provide a treatment plan in communication with your dentist or orthodontist which includes weekly exercises to be done at home. Teach the kids how to strengthen their oral muscles and stop the habitual posturing so they can eat, drink, and speak better.

Elimination of this disorder can assist in:

developing proper dental occlusion

providing stability for orthodontic treatment planning and correction

developing healthy breathing patterns

reducing the effects of certain speech disturbances such as "lisping" and difficulty with 'r'

For more information on Tongue Thrust/Myofunctional Therapy go to https://www.iaom.com/

Fast ForWord Program for Reading

Fast ForWord  is a program designed to help people who have difficulty with auditory processing speed, short-term/working memory, sequencing, attention, language, reading, and spelling. Fast ForWord is based on neuroscience research, which states that brains can be trained to “re-wire” as a result of experience and learning. The program finds the student’s processing level and then builds to the auditory processing efficiency required for reading. The program is intensive (5 days/week until completion) and is completed by utilizing interactive computer games.

Reading and language skills strengthened by Fast ForWord include:

Phonemic awareness, Decoding, Spelling, Comprehension, Sound-letter association, Vocabulary, Syntax, Grammatical structures, Passage comprehension, Reading fluency.

For more information on Fast ForWord, please visit: http://www.scilearn.com/products/fast-forword

Seven Pillars of Mindfulness in COVID-19 Time – Start Daily Practice

Art by Basia P., COVID-19

A few years ago, one Saturday, I attended a Mindfulness workshop, sponsored by Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center, my employer. I attended it as a professional, a speech-language pathologist and casually, as a mom. As a speech-language pathologist, I doubtfully looked forward to learning more about mindfulness practice, since there is evidence that it helps with stress management, attention, efficiency, self-control, and happiness. As a mom, I felt guilty that I was going to focus not on my child during my work-free day, but on having fun and relaxing with my coworker friends.

No more visitors in our empty, COVID-19 apartment, 2020

It turned out that the workshop changed my life significantly. Now, years after that, when we are prisoned at our houses due to COVID-19, I remind myself to practice all seven pillars to stay calm, happy, and thankful for what I keep receiving from life every day. I passed on that knowledge to my daughter and my husband as well.

Remote Learning, March 2020

Spring break, 2020

Remote Learning, April 2020

Remote Learning, May 2020

Remote Learning, June 2020

The end of the school year 2019-2020

Summer, 2020

Back to Remote Learning, September 2020

Back to heavy-duty masks, Fall 2020

I will list the pillars that form the core of mindfulness and share my reflections:

Non-judging 

That sounds fairly easy. As an educator, I practice this every day with the families of my clients. I cannot possibly know or even understand what each caregiver and child experiences and how this affects the choices they make in their daily lives. My starring role is to support and navigate them towards their goals, not to make judgments about what they have accomplished.

Patience

Nowadays everyone needs to work on that one; especially when we are stacked in front of the computer for hours, losing an Internet connection, shooting technical difficulties, missing a zoom meeting, being kept on hold, dealing with household noise, smiling at the camera, and so on, so on. I still have to make more visible progress in that area.

Beginner’s mind

Iit is an attitude easy for me to nurture. I am curious about my work and my life and love discovering what each moment brings without preconception. I do find a miracle every day in many things.

Trust

This is tough; especially if it is related to my child's future education. Do I trust my mayor, my governor, the Department of Education? I am anxious about my daughter’s new high school, new admission criteria, whether she will get to a proper school. Nothing is certain these days, neither for me or my client’s families. Nevertheless, mindfulness, particularly our breathing, teaches us that after every inhale comes an exhale. I can trust in my breathing, and then in my desire for assisting children, and my sense of wonder, and the strength of our teamwork, and the love I have for my family and clients.

Non-striving

For the parents of children with special needs, not striving for better, most effective treatments and practices all the time is near impossible. But mindfulness reminds us to focus on every moment as it is, without always thinking about the next step. After all, even when my 13-year old daughter tells me that I’m wrong again or that I don’t know anything that she is doing at school, she is asserting me in her independence, something I dreamed about when she was small, all the way back when she was in the elementary school. I will not strive so hard to be needed for a lifetime.

Acceptance

Anything but accept a failer, a missed zoom meeting, hurt feelings, broken dish... Just to remember that tomorrow is another day, hopefully, a better one.

Letting go

This is the hardest part of the mindfulness training for me. Letting go of grief for a lost sister, a wave of anger for leaving the kids behind, bitterness, disappointment, and expectations are hard. It hurts because I hold onto them even though I know that if I cannot let them go I will not fully share this wonderful life with my family, incredible friends, or my patients. I just have to listen to the “Let It Go …” song and practice that skill more until I let the hardship finally go away.

Let it go

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation and it looks like I'm the Queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in; heaven knows I tried

Don't let them in
Don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal
Don't feel
Don't let them know
Well, now they know

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway

It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong
No rules for me...I'm free

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You'll never see me cry
Here I stand and here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on

My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back
The past is in the past

Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand in the light of day
Let the storm rage on

The cold never bothered me anyway!