Calming-Overwhelming-Emotion Calming-Overwhelming-Emotion _2017.pptx

Calming-Overwhelming-Emotion

1. Calming Overwhelming Emotions: Strategies to Help Students Become Self-Regulated Learners

2. What is self regulation? “The ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with the range of emotions in a manner that is socially tolerable and sufficiently flexible to permit spontaneous reactions as well as the ability to delay spontaneous reactions as needed” (Cole, Michel, Teti, 1994, p. 76). “An individual’s ability to modify an emotional state so as to promote adaptive, goal-oriented behaviors.” (Shaw, Stringaris , Nigg , & Leibenluft , 2014)

3. What is Self-Regulation? Different aspects of it Focused attention Managing difficult and uncomfortable emotions Delaying gratification Some developmental tasks requiring emotion regulation: Tolerating frustration and tolerating being alone for reasonable periods Engaging others, developing friendships Recognizing danger, coping with anxiety and fear Defending oneself within bounds of acceptable behavior Developing interest and motivation in learning

4. Understanding Self-Regulation Ability to manage emotions, impulses and behavior Suggests flexibility and adaptability Dependent on environmental and contextual supports Biology, Genetics, & Temperament Self-regulation skills that develop over time Motivation to self-regulate Caregiver support by modeling, teaching, and coaching Environmental context

5. Set of Skills that can be developed Working memory Inhibitory control Cognitive flexibility Attention Things that can be isolated and strengthened

6. How does stress affect the developing brain? When stress response is prolonged, there will be long term impacts on the child’s brain More active amygdala Smaller hippocampus Smaller frontal lobe Smaller Corpus Colosseum Reduced size of cortex

7. What does this mean? Frontal Lobe Functions Impulse Control Organization Time Management Understanding Social Cues Corpus Callosum Not well integrated Having problems using words to solve problems

8. What does this mean? Amygdala Functions Problems with emotional control Difficulty with cause and effect Not able to empathize Difficulty finding words or describing emotions Hyper-arousal = anxiety Hippocampus Functions Impaired learning Difficulty making memories or retrieving memories Impulsiveness

9. Resulting in problems at school School age children experience changes in brain regions that normally would help: Manage fears, anxieties or aggression Sustain attention Control impulses Manage physical responses to danger

10. Implicit Memories Often Direct Behavior Pre-verbal experiences Stored in implicit memory Activated by experiences Emotional response to current events filtered by past events Such as: Reactions to authority Power Struggles Attention Seeking Behavior

11. For example: At six months old get bitten by dog on the hand At 2 years old get bitten again by dog on hand When see a dog: Feeling of fear Feeling of pain in my hand Barking sound And feeling that want to run

12. How do we learn to self-regulate It is something that we can learn Co-regulation Baby hears loud noise By looking at mom’s face, draws attention away from the noise Also has a soothing quality because Mom does not show signs of stress Need for self-soothing behaviors such as thumb sucking Reduce distress and frustration Re-focus attention

13. How do we learn to self-regulate Speaking in calm tones Modeling self-calming strategies Talking children through strategies when they are upset Use of words to express emotions Modeling conflict resolution skills Learning selective attention Perspective taking

14. Developing self-regulation Develops over time from birth to young adulthood Early childhood & adolescence are times where self-regulation skills peak due to changes in brain architecture Skills can be strengthened and taught from caregivers Repeated practice in supportive context Develops in context of social relationships Dependent on “co-regulation” by parents or other adults

15. Process Regulating Emotions Identification of internal emotions Understanding different feeling states Applying appropriate labels (“Happy” or “Sad”) Express emotions safely and regulate internal experience Impaired ability to self-soothe Dissociation Numbing of experiences Avoiding uncomfortable or overwhelming emotions Feeling uneasy

16. If unable to regulate emotions… Develop emotional instability Quick responses to minor stressors Extremely rapid escalation of emotional response