Using Books to Start the Conversation About Big Feelings in Young Students

Being a small child with big feelings is hard. The glow of holidays and winter break has faded and it’s a long time until summer. For my 4- to 6-year-olds, this time of year often brings on those big feelings. I can easily find tons of age-appropriate resources covering emotions like happy, sad, and angry. But what about creating an environment to discuss disappointment? Anxiety? Guilt? We live in a time in which these more complex feelings can come out earlier, last longer, and more intensely affect young developing minds. I’ve discovered several approaches to work on processing these types of feelings with my youngest clients. I also share these simple strategies with preschool and kindergarten teachers to use with the entire class. Let’s start talking about big feelings, and let’s make it fun! Rotating centers We’ve all probably participated in setting up rotating centers for small groups to work on targeting skills. They’re mostly used for the basics: math, reading, language, and science. What about a social-emotional development center? Working with three or four children instead of 15 makes it easier to introduce tough topics. Each participant can ask more questions, share more stories, and feel safer in a potentially less intimidating space. I use typical treatment materials to address these social emotional skills including pictures, short stories, and role play. Group discussion Once you’ve introduced tricky emotions in smaller group settings, bring the...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Autism Spectrum Disorder Early Intervention Language Disorders social skills Source Type: blogs