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3 Ways to Make Social Emotional Learning “Stick” at Home: A Coffee Chat with Elizabeth Sautter

 

Hello school psychologist friends! So it’s been a while since I have posted a new Coffee Break School Psychology Episode, and I’m THRILLED to be positing this one for many reasons.

  1. My YouTube channel got a facelift and I like making things look pretty and PERKy (coffee pun intended)
  2. I’m interviewing my SEL-tastic friend (and co-creator of our Make It Stick Parenting course), Elizabeth Sautter!
  3. We get to geek out on helping parents teach SEL at home using my favorite….STICKY NOTES.

I’m officially obsessed with this new Coffee Break School Psychology episode on ways school psychologists can help parents teach SEL at home.

Why Focus on SEL at Home?

FUN FACT: When the pandemic started, Elizabeth and I met the DAY BEFORE shelter in place to put together resources about how to proactively support our students and families during the COVID-19 school closures.

We recognized that this would be a difficult time for parents, particularly for parents of students with kids with emotional self-regulation or behavioral challenges.

And then, we took it a step further and created an entire online course and community where we teach positive parenting for neurodiverse families. Our Make It Stick Parenting Course was created with the goal of  helping parents teach critical SEL skills at home. 

Our goal in creating the course was to make teaching social-emotional learning SIMPLE and make it STICK.

Because let’s face it–parents are busy and aren’t going to sit down and do an off-the-shelf SEL curriculum with their kiddos.  They want strategies to teach SEL in their daily routines and activities. They want to add teaching social-emotional and executive functioning skills to their children IN their day, not as an add ON to their busy lives.

The Opportunity in the Crisis

In a way, COVID-19 has presented a unique opportunity for school psychologists to help teach SEL at home, since we have less access to students in social distancing and hybrid learning, and more parents reaching out for help at home.

With kids and parents alike struggling with coping with stress and managing transitions in and out of in-person school and disrupted social lives, the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL) is really in the spotlight.

And the longer I’m a school psychologist (and a parent myself!), the more I have realized that our social-emotional learning (SEL) efforts in the school building cannot exist only within the 4 walls of a school. COVID has made that abundantly clear. To address the pandemic of social-emotional needs right now, we need to equip parents with tools to support SEL at home. And yes, in a way that is an “add in” not an “add on” to their already busy or stress-filled lives.

Enter Elizabeth!

☕️Watch this Coffee Chat where she teaches us 3 simple ways to make SEL “Stick” at home, using…you guessed it, sticky notes. ☕️

She give us some fresh and fun ideas to help parents teach:

  • Social Communication
  • Emotional Self-Regulation
  • Executive Functioning

Y’all about to see me geek out HARD on post-its…

 

More Free Resources for Helping Parents Make SEL Stick

As school psychologists, you know how important it is to equip parents with tools for helping their children who need extra support in friendship skills, managing big feelings, and becoming independent learners. 

If you’re looking  for more resources to help families of neurodiverse children support SEL at home, Elizabeth and I have a brand new FREE 25-minute training!

And by the way, we’re thrilled to be partnering with Generation Mindful for this training. If you don’t know Generation Mindful yet, you’re in for a treat. They are an incredible organization dedicated to raising an emotionally healthy world, and they’re joining hands with Thriving School Psychologist to equip parents of neurodiverse families the tools they need to support their children’s social-emotional emotional health.

Feel free to share our brand new FREE training for parents of neurodiverse children with the families you serve here.

BONUS! When parents sign up for the 25-minute free training, they also get some snazzy printables they can use to shine a light on their children’s strengths and scripts of what to say when their child is having a meltdown or shutdown that brings calm and connection!

 

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