When Different Happens

March 4, 2013

By Vida P. Anthony Gomez

I am just returning from what I will lovingly call my Health and Wellness Sabbatical. I am recovering from pneumonia. It was definitely an unexpected event in my life. In addition to me being very ill, my husband was out of town! It was a time of different in my home. We experience different in our classrooms all the time!  Student illnesses, new students, staff absences, and unexpected fire drills are all things that contribute to a different day. I didn’t even mention flying bugs or drizzling rain!!!! There were definitely some tools I used in my home to help us get through this “time of different.”  We can also use these tools in our classrooms.

When “different” happens in our classrooms, we can utilize tools to help maintain routines for our students. We can help them feel safe and help them keep learning. WE CAN:

·         Maintain routines and schedules

·         Discuss Changes

·         Do Our Favorite Things

·         Give ourselves downtime, grace and love

Maintain Routines and Schedules

Children thrive on routine! This comes naturally to our young children and is a way to reduce anxiety for our students on the autism spectrum. Even if the schedule is different in some way, try to maintain all parts of the school day. Our young students may not understand that circle time occurs at 9:15, but they do understand that first we have breakfast, then we have circle. If something interrupts circle, like career day or a fire drill, try to have a mini-circle, so that the students still get to experience all the parts of their day. Let the students know that circle may be shorter or that some songs may not be sung. This helps children understand their day and help them deal with other changes in the day.

Discuss changes

There are a variety of ways to show students change will happen. We can tell them verbally. We can show them on the classroom schedule. We can use visuals to show our students on the schedule and calendar. Are you unsure how to teach changes in schedule? The Picture Exchange Communication System has a wonderfully effective way to teach schedule changes to all students. I would be happy to share this strategy. It helps reduce anxiety and teach our children how to be resilient in times of change.

Do Your Favorite Things

In times of change or “different”, it is comforting to do things we love. It helps the feel good chemistry of our brains combat the stress of different. During my Wellness Sabbatical, I lit candles, crocheted and read books. I love to do those things! What activities or books do your students love? My class loved dough, scissors and chenille stems. They loved newspaper and masking tape, in blocks. They loved the books Cookie’s Week, One Duck Stuck and Stephanie’s Pony Tail. They loved The Three Little Pigs by Greg and Steve. I always had our favorite things ready, so that if a time of different was upon us, I could take out books, songs, activities or other things the students loved. They could do these activities independently, with success and with joy. When we do our favorite things in time of change, it helps the stress chemistry of change decrease.

Give Yourself Downtime, Grace and Love

Sometimes things are different and don’t go as we plan. This is as good a lesson for us to learn as our students! Some days during my Health and Wellness Sabbatical, I was worried that my children were late to school. Instead, I could be thankful that my children had completed their homework, were clean and fed. Tardiness was ok for that day. Maybe we are not able to do the assessment we planned at centers, because a friend needed us to sit and read a book with them. That is ok. In that moment, our students are still learning. We are supporting all the parts of their development, when we can slow down and follow their lead and needs.

In times of different in our classrooms or our lives, we can use a variety of strategies to continue our student’s growth. We can maintain routines and schedules so that students are less anxious and understand what is happening during their day. When we discuss changes, we let students know what is happening and help them learn how to deal with change. We can do our favorite things to help decrease stress chemistry. Importantly, we need to give ourselves time, grace and love to help us get through times of “different.”

Wishing you a healthy and nourishing Spring Break!

Vida