Movement and physical activity are a part of everyday life. Children are always on the move while playing, standing in line with the class, or being a part of the group. However, it seems that providers and teachers spend a great deal of time teaching clients and students sitting at tables. Social thinking and social skills involve the whole body to communicate with others. One of the steps to face-to-face communication is to establish a physical presence. You use your whole body to move closer to people to indicate you want to communicate or join the group. Along with using your whole body, thinking with your eyes is also important for face-to-face communication. Thinking with your eyes allows you to observe what is happening around you. Teaching movement with social skills and social thinking helps children understand that these skills are not just used in social conversations. Here are five strategies to combine movement and face-to-face communication for children. 

1. Follow the Leader. This game includes several social concepts and encourages self-awareness and social attention. During this game, you can teach children to keep his/her body in the group and think with your eyes. However, this game might be challenging for clients and students due to the multiple social skills involved and the child having to imitate peers. 
2. Four Square. This game helps children work on keeping focus on the game and thinking with your eyes. It might be necessary to slow down the game to simplify the game for your client or student. 
3. Lining up and walking with the group. This works on the child keeping his/her body in the group and learning behaviors that are expected. It is important to remember that our clients tend to be “me thinkers” rather than “we thinkers.” This means that these social concepts do not come naturally and requires more practice. Have children observe the group they are a part of and stay with the group while walking. This may be challenging for children, so try using a peer to prompt them to stay in the group. 
4. Red-Light, Green-Light. Thinking with your eyes is the key to this game. Both the leader and the followers need to use your eyes to play the game. 
5. Playing team sports. While playing sports, like soccer, children include several social skills like thinking with your eyes and using your whole body. Children must look at other players for signals on what to do, as well as keeping the body in the group. 

Teaching children to use movement with communication helps with generalization and understanding social skills. To communicate with others, you must think with your eyes and keep your body in the group. These five activities are exciting and engage the child while learning social skills. The social world is constantly moving, movement and learning go hand and hand. 

Resources:

Winner, M. (2017, August 29). Social Thinking Articles. Retrieved July 3, 2020, https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=teaching-physical-movement-face-to-face-communication

Burnout is a term that we hear often in today’s society. It’s a social issue that companies and organizations have been trying to solve for years now. But what exactly is burnout? Burnout is characterized as depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and reduced personal accomplishment that stems from one’s inability to cope with long-term work stress. No one is immune from burnout, but it has been found that it hits some harder than others. Research shows that longer work days, imbalance of demand and resources, and conflicts at work are risk factors of burnout. In the behavioral health setting and special education challenging client behaviors can be considered a contributing factor to burnout among behavior technicians. This could lead to turnover in staff and disruption in services for clients. Burnout in an organization could also cause poor performance for behavior technicians that stay and additional stress for those that don’t leave. Behavioral health field organizations can assess, intervene, and monitor to reduce and combat behavior technician burnout. 

1. Assess. Organizations and employers can look at the performance and missed therapy sessions as the first step to look for burnout in employees. Then administer additional surveys like Maslach Burnout Inventory and Areas of Worklife Survey. The Maslach Burnout Inventory is a human services survey that addresses emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and depersonalization. Emotional exhaustion measures feelings of exhaustion by one’s work and being emotionally overextended. Depersonalization measures the impersonal response and unfeeling toward recipients of one’s services. Lastly, personal accomplishment measures feelings of successful achievement and competence in one’s work. The Areas of Worklife Survey scales include workload, reward, control, community, fairness, and values. 
2. Intervene. Organizations can provide staff training for Behavior Technicians that include peer mentorship, RBT round tables, and professional development. Using evidence based practices for behavioral skills training and behavioral coaching can improve feelings of personal accomplishment in employees. One of the most important interventions that can be used is self-care. Self-care is any intentional activity to take care of our emotional, physical, and mental health. Organizations should infuse self-care and follow through with behaviors that promote self-care among employees, not just saying it’s important. This could be a team building opportunity for companies and their employees. Self-care has been shown to improve mood and decrease anxiety. 
3. Monitor. Companies and organizations can re-administer surveys and look at performance periodically. In addition to the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Areas of Worklife Survey, have employees complete an increase/improve reinforcement survey. With on-going data analysis, organizations can use the BHCOE to be a third party assessor. Depending on the data, if it’s working then keep doing it. If the data is not then go back and reassess, come up with a different intervention plan, implement, and assess again. And the easiest thing for companies to do about combating burnout, ask the employees how they feel. 

In the behavioral health field, burnout is when workers become emotionally fatigued and withdraw emotionally from their clients. Burnout leads to turnover in employees that decide to leave and added stress for those employees that stay. For those employees that leave, they often look for less emotionally draining jobs in different career fields. Reducing burnout in the behavioral health field will help improve services for clients and improve the performance of behavior technicians. Organizations can assess the employees and how the burnout is affecting them, intervene by implementing surveys and self-care programs, and monitor the results. Addressing the emotional exhaustion and depersonalization with self-care activities and reduced personal accomplishment with professional development and continuing education trainings. No one is immune to burnout, but with a plan and companies help to reduce burnout, it can be reduced and managed.

Resources: 

“Burnout.” Burnout – an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/burnout. 

https://bhcoe.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/BHCOE-Decreasing-Burnout-in-RBTs.pdf

What is whole body listening? It is often described as a set of behaviors that are needed to show others that you are paying attention to the conversation or activity that is taking place. The brain thinks about what the speaker is saying, the eyes are towards the speaker, body facing the speaker, mouth is quiet, and a calm body. However, whole body listening also involves perspective taking, feeling, and thinking. Teaching whole body listening helps children take the perspective of others and to show others like teachers or peers that you are listening and part of the group. While using whole body listening, children can become aware of their brains and bodies and ways to help them attend to others. It’s important as providers, parents, and teachers to understand that whole body listening come with challenges. Listening can be a difficult skill for children and most of the time they must demonstrate that they are listening to the speaker. In our culture, if you do not appear to be listening it can cause offense and lead to others having a negative reaction. But it is important to remember that everyone listens in their own way. How we show we are listening depends on cognitive and sensory regulation. Here are some tips for the eyes, mouth, and body for children to demonstrate whole body listening.

1. Eyes- Look towards the speaker but remember this does not have to be directly. Have the child look at and observe facial expressions of others. To help children focus with their eyes, limit visual clutter and distractions. Remember that eye contact can be difficult, stressful, and overwhelming for some people.
2. Mouth- Children can chew on gum, chew jewelry like a necklace, or drink water. This allows the child to receive the sensory input needed and they can also practice impulse control. While they are chewing or drinking, children are practicing thinking before speaking. However, some children need to produce verbal sounds to stay calm and process what is being said.
3. Body- While listening and processing to speakers, have children squeeze hands or have a fidget available. Explore sensory exercises and strategies like deep breathing or adaptive seating. Some children need movement to feel comfortable and attend to others. This could be flapping or moving hands or moving around the room.

Whole body listening is not an easy skill for children and the process is complex. Children are expected to look towards the speaker with their eyes and body, keep their mouth quiet, their body calm, and process what is being said. Teaching children whole body listening develops into active listening as teens and adults later in life. Paying attention and listening are essential for learning and communication. Using these tips can help children stay alert and attend while others are speaking. Teaching children to use whole body listening can be beneficial for children to learn, grow, and succeed.

Resources: Sautter, E. (2019). Social Thinking Articles. Retrieved July 23, 2020,

https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=whole-body-listening-its-a-tool-not-a-rule

Behaviors that people engage in and demonstrate in a social context are thought of as social skills. These behaviors can be appropriate or inappropriate, which affects whether others view this person as having “poor” or “good” social skills. If a four-year-old is having a tantrum during school, it is viewed as typical. However, if a ten-year-old is having the same tantrum during class the child has a behavior problem. Children that have social or behavioral problems are repeatedly told that they need to develop better social skills. Treatment plans that target social skills often work on how the child behaves in specific social situations like at home, in the community, or at school. For example, the child could work on sitting still in a chair during class or keeping busy and quiet during an outing with the family. These treatment plans are like blueprints for behavior in specific situations that the child encounters. For children to produce the appropriate behavior it requires them to understand the situation and people involved. 

1. Take part in social thinking- this means the child must consider their own and others’ thoughts, feelings, intentions, and intentions. Self-awareness and perspective taking allow the child to interpret and understand the behaviors that are expected of them and the social situation they are in. It is important to remember that social thinking directly influences behavioral responses. 
2. Adapt behaviors effectively- children must adapt their behaviors to communicate their intentions to others and based on the thoughts and feelings of others. This increases the likelihood that others respond and react positively. 
3. Recognize the reactions of others- social skills influence how we feel about people and how people feel about us. However, people respond to our behaviors quickly. If someone has good social skills others will label them as “kind” or “polite.” While someone with poor or weak social skills might be labeled as “rude” or “impolite.” The way people treat us is often based on how they responded to our behavior. 

Using social skilsl are a part of everyday life and they can even affect a child’s academic success. We use social skills and social thinking when you think about other’s perspectives. This could be watching a movie or sporting event, sending a text, or reading a book. These three steps help children become more aware and adaptable when using social skills. First, take part in social thinking and consider everyone’s thoughts, feelings, and intentions. Adapt your behaviors based on your intentions and others’ thoughts and feelings. Then, recognize the reactions of others to your behaviors. Social skills are not memorized, rehearsed, and based on one singular context or stimulus. It is important to teach children to adapt and adjust to specific people or situations.

Resources: Winner, M. (2015, May). Social Thinking Articles. Retrieved July 1, 2020, https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=improving-social-skills-begins-with-social-thinking

Anxiety and feeling anxious in situations are much more common than we realize. Children that are self-aware could start experiencing instances of social anxiety starting at four years old. If individuals are not aware of how they are perceived by others are more likely to have social-sensory anxiety. This means they might be overwhelmed by the unpredictability of people and could become sensory overwhelmed by the presence of a large group of people. However, social anxiety is not the only type of anxiety that people can be affected by. There is world-based anxiety that deals with change, performance anxiety where there is anxiety about work that needs to be done, and anxiety related to trauma that triggers emotions and physical reactions. According to a 2018 study in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, anxiety of all forms is now the primary mental health issue for American children. It can be difficult to manage feelings, thoughts, and behaviors when we feel anxious. Here are 5 tips to help children learn how to manage and cope with anxiety:

1. Respect the child’s feelings. It is important to remember that anxiety is not a “one-size-fits all” experience. Children need validation for their thoughts and feelings, so never tell children they should not feel sad, mad, or anxious. Let them know that each person may feel differently about a situation, and that is okay. 
2. Try to learn what makes the child anxious, worried, or even stressed. Identifying these triggering events or phrases can help parents and providers avoid making the child’s anxiety worse. When the source of the child’s anxiety is unknown, comments from providers and parents could increase stress levels for the child because the anxiety is not being acknowledged. If describing these specific phrases, events, or situations are difficult for the child try having the child describe the level of anxiety. It is important to remember that anxiety and stress is not always logical. 
3. Use more than language to describe what anxiety is. There are several alternatives to have children communicate what the stress levels are, including a visual scale or drawing pictures. Visual scales could include what the child’s stress level is from 1-10 during certain activities such as walking in line, working in a group, playing at recess, or walking into the classroom in the morning. For older children, visual scales could be used for the classes they are in throughout the school day like anxiety levels in math compared to levels in reading. Another way to describe anxiety could be a scale using levels of calm to stressed with people they interact with throughout the day. 
4. Provide a range of strategies to show that they are not stuck. It’s important for children to understand that their own thoughts and feelings can be noticed, analyzed, and changed. Helping your child become a flexible thinker will help them think differently and reframe the stressors in their life. Current language arts curriculums are starting to incorporate managing stress and understanding the emotions they are feeling. However, with the uncertainty of school and summer, there are resources outside of the school that can help with this. At home, you can find Youtube videos and movies where characters deal with stress and anxiety.  
5. Teach that the goal is self-management, not comfort. Change and uncertainty have been a major part of our everyday lives, so let them know it’s okay to feel discomfort. Try to be encouraging because stress is stressful. Teaching strategies to cope with the discomfort will improve their anxiety and overall well-being. 

Stress and anxiety are affecting children more than ever. This time of uncertainty and change, especially without the routines of school, could increase anxiety and stress for children. Teaching children to respect their feelings, describe emotions with more than language, and self-management could help them cope with anxiety. As parents or providers it is important to learn what could trigger the anxiety for your child and provide them with a wide range of strategies to understand their emotions. Coping with stress should be taught with compassion and patience. Children should learn that they are not different or bad for having anxiety, the world is filled with difficult and stressful situations. 

Resources: Winner, M. (2019, November 05). Social Thinking Articles. Retrieved June 22, 2020, from https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=14-tips-help-kids-manage-anxiety

One of the main deficits in people with ASD is delayed speech and language. Communication can be verbal, non-verbal, and through AAC devices. Children with ASD can have difficulty knowing the power of communication. They do not understand how to get basic or social needs met through language and communication. Communication like gaining attention from others, delivering messages, and conversations are needed to be independent. It is important to promote language and help communication growth but remember it can be frustrating not being able to communicate with others, so challenging behaviors may occur.

Non-verbal communication is important to teach and incorporate with daily speech. Children that have ASD have delays in verbal communication, as well as conveying and interpreting non-verbal communication. This means they have difficulty using body language, gestures, and expressions to communicate. By improving this it can help children can become more effective communicators. To support this area, you can add animated facial expressions to help with visual attending to others while playing. Gestures and pointing can help promote eye contact and development of non-verbal communication.
Verbal communication starts with mands, or more commonly known as, requests. This is the first thing that a child is taught so they understand the power of communication. Mands get their needs and wants met, so they are more likely to use it in the future. Once the child’s wants or needs are determined then you can prompt an alternative and safe way to communicate those wants or needs. Based on the abilities of the child, a PECS or communication device might be needed to communicate. The child can point, hand a picture, or click a button on a device to mand. For children that can imitate sounds and speech, they can repeat those wanted words or phrases. To increase the use of these mands, setting up contrived situations would be beneficial for practice. Have desired or reinforcing items out of reach where the children would have to mand for what they want/need. This could be having your child say, “buh” or “bubbles,” in order to gain access to the bubbles.
Tacts, or labeling, focuses more on the social interaction versus gaining access to the item. It is important for a child’s development to spontaneously commenting on the environment and world around them. Tacting works on children answering questions like “what’s that?” Labeling in the natural environment draws attention to the item or to the speaker. To increase tacting, you can place pictures around the house or in the environment. Then have the child label the picture and provide natural comments about the label.
Intraverbal, also referred to as fill-ins, are important to having conversations. When they are first introduced, intraverbals are simple fill is such as “1, 2, ….” or “ready, set, …” As the language expands for a child, the intraverbals can become more advanced. Introducing intraverbals during play routines can be effective for expanding language. As the language expands, the child will learn to answer a wide range of questions. This could include “How old are you?” “What’s your mom’s name?” “What grade are you in?”
By expanding language, it gives children the child their own power and voice their own wants and needs. The child is first taught important non-verbal communication and mands including learning gestures or using requests like, “more,” “stop,” and “eat.” Working on tacting, or labels, promotes spontaneous language growth for children. Intraverbals should be incorporated after building up mands and tacts with your child. Intraverbals focus on communicating with others and starts as the foundation for having conversations in the future. All of these steps can help children with ASD become more independent by using language and communication.

Resources: Mission Cognition, LLC. Family Training Resource