Parent

Designate a home learning area(s): a designated area is where your student will complete school learning activities within your home. Examples of learning areas may include the dining table, and the backyard for activities such as physical education. When selecting this area be mindful of noise levels, lighting, and decoration. Remove any distractions (e.g. turn off tablets, game consoles, television, etc.). Your student should also feel comfortable working in this area and using this area for learning consistently on a daily basis.
Schedules and Timers: these can help create a structured and a predictable environment. At the same time using a schedule and timer can help eliminate some frustration of that your student may be experiencing due to being unsure. With the help of your teacher and your student, create a schedule of what your student's day of learning may look like. Allowing your student to create a schedule with you will increase the likelihood that it will be followed. Many of our teachers at SRUSD are providing daily schedules with visuals for their students. A timer can be utilized to indicate to your student the duration of each "class time", and to signal the end of each "class time".
- Resource: Create Your Own Daily Schedule
- Video: Keep Calm and Schedule On
Daily Check-Ins: start and end your student's day by checking in with them regarding their feelings/emotions. This is a great strategy to start and end your student's day in a positive note.

Video: Daily Check-Ins
Resource: 10 Questions to Ask Kids About Their Day

Give Choices: giving your student a choice of activities (e.g. "do you want to complete this page first or this other one?", "do you want to complete even problems first?") will give to your student a sense of empowerment and will help with self-regulation. This strategy can also eliminate the need for confrontation during activities that your student may not want to complete.
Provide Clear Expectations: sit down with your student and give clear expectations verbally. Always check for understanding after your have given directions/instructions to your student. This will help avoid any misunderstandings down the road.
Create a Calm Down Space: the calm down space should be a place within your home that it is not crowded and noisy (e.g. a corner in a bedroom or living room). Once you and your student have selected a calm down area, then make it cozy. For example, you can lay out a blanket, add pillows, and "calming items" (e.g. a box with kinetic sand, a "calming jar", calming music, etc.) Calming items may look different to each of your students so consider their preferences.

Video: Calming Jar
Resource: How to Create a Calm Down Space for Your Child

Teach and Reinforce Behavior:

Reinforcement can be an effective way to teach a new skill.

Use the Premack Principle: using this principle will make the opportunity for your student to engage in a high-probability behavior (e.g. watching tv) contingent upon the occurrence of a low-probability behavior (e.g. completing a math worksheet). Think of the Premack Principle as you stating "first ____, then ____". For example, you can tell your student, "first you need to finish your math worksheet, then you can watch tv for 15 minutes". Essentially, this is a strategy can be used to increase the likelihood of a non-preferred task (e.g. math worksheet), by telling your student that he will still get rewarded but needs to work for that reward.

*Video: Premack Principle

Use Modeling: demonstrating or modeling with explicit examples the expected behavior to your student will enhance the understanding of what it is expected. Require your student to immediately imitate what you have modeled to ensure your student's understanding. Think of this strategy as a process of "I Do, We Do, You Do". For example, provide an example of what a paragraph looks like, model a process to write a paragraph, work together through the process of writing a paragraph, then have your student write a paragraph. We all learn at different rates so keep in mind that your student may need additional prompting to complete the task.
Use Social Stories: social stories are a great tool to teach new behaviors. Social stories are presented in a story format with visuals making fun for your student to read. You can write one for your student, or can access many free social stories online.

*Resource: Social Stories

Give Positive Attention to Positive Behaviors: having a healthy positive relationship with your student is critical for many reasons. This concept involves providing positive attention (e.g. praise, talking to your student undivided for 15 minutes, hugging your student, giving a high five) to positive behaviors, then the positive behavior that you are providing positive attention will increase. For example, if your student is sharing color pencils with siblings, then you can say, "I love how you are sharing your color pencils with your siblings".
Create a Token Economy System for Your Student (reinforcement): token economy systems emphasize the use of positive reinforcement to create behavior change. A reward chart (visual representation) can be an example of a token economy that includes target behaviors (e.g. worked for 15 minutes on an academic task, washed the dishes, completed all the worksheets for math, etc.) that you are expecting from your student. Once you have determined what behavior to target on the token economy, find out with your student what rewards (reinforcers) are likely to work. Include visuals of those rewards on the token economy. Also determine how many tokens your student needs to earn before gaining access to rewards (reinforcers).

*Video: What is a token economy?

*Resource: Thematic Token Economy Boards

Responding to Behaviors:

The following are strategies that you can try to respond to maladaptive behavior.

Ignore maladaptive behavior to the extent possible: of course, if your student is exhibiting maladaptive behavior that is unsafe for your student and others, then you should intervene. Otherwise, ignore the maladaptive behavior. This can be extremely difficult, but ignoring the maladaptive behavior will send the message to your student that it is not okay to exhibit maladaptive behavior. This strategy will work best when you also provide positive attention for positive behaviors.
Give Time and Space to Cool Down: when escalated, redirect your student to the calm down area you may already have created and allow for time to cool down. During this time, reduce any demands and requests. When your student is calm (de-escalated, have a debriefing session such as asking questions of how your student felt during behavior, how you felt, and what your student can do differently next time. Once the debriefing session is over, return to the original task. Do your best to follow through with your expectations.
Manage Your Own Emotions: as a parent, it is okay to take a step back and acknowledge your feelings and need for time and space.

*Strategies specific to Disability, Resource: PBIS World

* Resource: 50+ De-escaltion Strategies

If you need additional help, consider contacting us.

Programs in the Community

Boys and Girls Club of Monterey County:

Videos

*4 Tips for Learning with Technology

*6 Tips for Keeping Kids Motivated for Online Learning

*5 Tips for Talking to Kids About Racism and Violence in the Media

*Tips for Using Google Classroom for Distance Learning

*5 Things Parents Should Know About Zoom

*6 Tips for Families Using the Seesaw Class App

Parent Workshop_10_20_2020.pdf

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