Month: July 2018

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FEELINGS THERMOMETER

When I started working with Buddha he had a hard time with self-awareness. Something that a lot of my students struggled with.  He had trouble using words to express when he was angry, happy or sad. So, I immediately printed out pictures and examples of what those emotions looked like. I also created a “How do I feel” chart for his room.

Come to my surprise… it didn’t work. Which, by the way, happens all the time! Over the past few years, I have tried a bunch of different tools with children that just don’t work. Either it is too confusing, too easy, or not interesting to them. It is so important to know that every child is different and every child needs DIFFERENT TOOLS.

But, I did not give up. I reached out and spoke to Buddha’s therapist and she told me that a “feelings thermometer” has worked for her in the past. So I went home and created a visual thermometer with numbers and colors to use. This time IT WORKED! He loved using it and found it so easy. Instead of using specific words to express his anger, all he had to say was that he was “at a 10”. And instead of saying he was feeling happy or content he could say he was “at a 1”.  Not only is Buddha more self-aware, but now it is easier for his parents and me to respond to his emotions (i.e. if he is at a 10 we do a set of cooldown steps that I will share in the next few weeks)

 

HOW TO USE THE THERMOMETER:

  1. Print it out and laminate it. Feel free to add other things to it if your child needs more assistance (i.e. pictures of real people angry or sad).
  2. Make extra copies so you can take it with you when you go out. For Buddha, I created 2 smaller versions and laminated it so he can carry it in his book bag.
  3. Review it with your kids. Go over the picture and explain what each number/color means. If they are feeling angry it will be at the top (in red) of the thermometer VS. if they are feeling content and happy it will be at the bottom (in green) of the thermometer. Make it clear that it is ok to feel any number.
  4. Ask them consistently as possible “what number are you feeling?”. It’s important to ask them this even when they are not feeling sad or angry. It’s just a good way to check in and have them practice.
  5. Give positive praise when they use it. Every time they honestly tell you what number they are on celebrate it! Feel free to give them points as well as an incentive.

 

Download the thermometer below along with a smaller version so you can travel with it 🙂

Thermometer Feelings Chart

Thermometer Travel Size

 

 

 

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Summer with Epilepsy

I love summer! I love the freedom, the vitamin D, the light, the change of scenery, and especially the pace. We swing full throttle between energy and placidness like a feather on a lake crest. We bounce between beaches, lakes, museums and play dates, to chilled out self-confinement in our beautiful home until we feel rested and recovered for more sun-filled jaunts. We read, we write, we study, we play, we connect to our bodies, we talk and laugh and live. In the summer we touch every part of living, especially the marks we miss during the year. The marks we miss because of epilepsy.

We’ve collected three years of data now, so I am confident summer bliss is not a fluke. With or without seizures, and let’s be honest we’re never without seizures, it’s the only time of the year we have moments of normal. Moments where Buddha doesn’t feel separate from his peers, moments of ease and flow. In the summer we are not harnessed to a schedule that perpetuates his disability. In the summer we are able to expand and live at whatever pace he needs and the only thing perpetuating is the light in his eyes.

We have bad days, we have wonky place episodes with aggression and hate, we have therapies and lessons. We have tutoring to help him keep up with the gains he worked so hard to make during the year.  And yes, we have schedules. Oh my, do we still live by schedules. We have schedules, timers, to do lists, and point charts for every step of the day. They are his anchor to the world, consistencies that allow him the confidence to expand and explore new sights, new thoughts, new feelings, and new experiences.

But even these bad days are better in the summer. They don’t spotlight the discrepancies in his growth to his peers. They don’t mark his slower progress. Instead, these days illuminate his progress. In the summer, his kindness, his strength of will and heart, and his ability to move through endless cruel fits of fate are bathed in a halo of sunshine that allows him to see how powerful and amazing he is. Summer is the glowing lens through which we see how stupid the idea of normal is. How unnecessary to his success.

If only that were true all of the time.

Fall will be here soon and he will have to once again begin the daily battle of trying to live everyone else’s version of normal. He will try to make it to school a few days a week. He will maybe, just maybe, have the energy and forward brain activity to allow for a sport or activity. He will begin to use his schedule not to mark the fun and progress but to count down the minutes until he can rest for the night after the mental exertion of the day.

In the summer Buddha gets to be Buddha. In the fall and winter and spring, Buddha is the kid with epilepsy.

I love the summer.

I love my little man.

I wish it could always be summer.