Should I or Shouldn’t I?

For my second item of interest I would like to share a game that I use with my supervisor
tailored to middle and high school students. The game is called Should I or Shouldn’t I? by Social Thinking. This game is used for students who struggle with problem solving, expected and unexpected behaviors, also helps with perspective taking, social thinking, and self-awareness. This can be played in large, small or induvial sessions. Asking follow up questions are beneficial to encourage deeper thinking. This game can be used with children who are on the autism spectrum, ADHD, nonverbal learning disorder, social communication disorder and other learning challenges. The junior high students seem to enjoy using this game and remain engaged throughout the session. On the website, there is also the same game for elementary students.

Social thinking is an evidence-based practice which takes characteristics related to cognitive behavioral therapy by allowing students to reframe their thoughts or behaviors by understanding how their reactions or behaviors affect others. There has been a vast amount of research done on the benefits of using the social thinking framework. On the website posted below you can excess more information on social thinking, the different products and curriculums offered though Social Thinking.


https://www.socialthinking.com/Products/should-i-or-shouldnt-i-middle-school-high-school-edition

Should I or Shouldn't I? Price: $26.99

Win-Win Discipline Model

My first item of interest is one that is used throughout my internship to help create structure for our students. Thomas Jefferson Junior High School in Woodridge, IL, where I intern, is a PBIS school. At Jefferson, we use a Tier 1 intervention for discipline when working with our students. The discipline model that we use is called Win-Win Discipline and was created by Spencer Kagan, Ph.D. This discipline model encourages collaborative learning and takes the power struggle that often occurs out of the discipline process.

The Win-Win Discipline model has four sections and is set up like the graphic below. There are four types of classroom disruptions that are identified as ABCD within Win-Win Discipline. These disruptions are identified as Aggression, Confrontation, Disengagement, and Breaking the rules. Breaking the rules is listed last and the disruption is only labeled as so if it does not fall within the other three categories. Win-Win encourages us to look past the disruption to see why a student is being disruptive. There are 7 positions as to why a student would be disruptive. The student may be disruptive because they are: attention-seeking, avoiding failure, angry, control seeking, bored, energetic, or socially uninformed. These 7 positions help us to understand how to meet the student's needs. We are able to better understand a student’s needs through Win-Win’s 3 pillars of letting students know we are on the same-side through conversations, creating collaborative solutions with the student who caused the disruption, and helping the student gain learned responsibility through teaching them positive ways to get their needs met and to take ownership of their actions. Win-Win Discipline is built on a foundation of engaging in the prevention of disruptive behavior, engaging at the moment- of- disruption where we identify which of the 7 positions the student is in and decide how to respond in a mutually beneficial way through language of choice, and through follow-ups where we check-in, process and help the student understand their behavior and how to correctly and positively get their needs met in the future. This foundation helps to limit the number of disruptions that occur within the classroom.  Win-Win Discipline takes practice, especially when working through the conversations to have within the moment of disruption.

The Win-Win Discipline Model fits into the social work model under the area of promoting a school climate and culture that is conducive to student learning and teaching excellence through the collaborative learning that takes place between the school administration, staff, and students and can be used at all grade levels. This discipline model helps to eliminate the power struggle that often occurs in conflict resolutions in the classroom where one side has to lose. Win-Win Discipline promotes student engagement and ownership in creating a classroom and school environment which is not only inviting but also conducive to encouraging everyone to actively participate in their learning.

Please view the graphic and the PowerPoint below for a further explanation of Win-Win Discipline.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RCt_Qu-9fz4uSQav3qKFK6RNasyMeybQeZ9HyUfXKFA/edit?usp=sharing

Social Stories

https://carolgraysocialstories.com/social-stories/what-is-it/

My item of interest is Social Stories. My supervisor asked me to start writing some stories for one of the student's on the case load with autism. The goal for this particular student was helping him to understand how to work with others. However, social stories can literally be used for anything social skills related. It is a great tool when you need to appropriately introduce students to concepts they are unfamiliar with. I think it is very beneficial for the elementary/ middle school age, but of course can be used for high school age students as well.  The website does give several examples of social stories, which I found helpful when writing my own. The topics the website has examples on are, safety, tragedies, discovery of self and others, and advanced concepts like stereotypes.

Group activities resource

104 Activities that build: self- esteem, teamwork, communication, anger management, self-discovery, coping skills, is a book that I discovered and purchased over the summer as a resource for activities to do in any groups that I may have. The book contains game and activity ideas to address different topics. The games can encourage children to modify behavior, increase interaction with others, start discussions, address issues, and build relationships. The activities in the book are best suited for middle school and high school age students. I think it’s a great resource because most of the activities don’t require many materials and all of them have some sort of discussion piece that can be done following the activity.

The book’s author, Alanna Jones, is a certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, who has worked in psychiatric hospitals with children, adolescents, and adults. She has several other books out with therapy games and other team-building activities. These activities can help us deliver evidence-based education, behavior, and mental-health services to our students.