HONDA SSA

HONDA SSA is a special education shared services arrangement serving five school districts in the Lubbock area: Hale Center, Olton, New Deal, Abernathy, and Shallowater. The purpose of this page is to provide students, parents, teachers, and school staff with social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health resources. Our goal is to provide the necessary tools for our students to effectively identify, regulate, and manage their interpersonal skills to contribute their valuable attributions to their school, home, and communities.

If there’s anything the past year in education has made painfully obvious, it is the urgency of social-emotional education for our students. Kids need support and instruction to manage successfully in school and life. Skills like recognizing and managing emotions, being a good friend, controlling impulses, communicating effectively, and working with others are invaluable.

Many young and old students struggle with school's social aspects. This may mean:

• Interacting with other students, teachers, and other staff members
• Understanding non-verbal interactions and social cues
• Managing their emotions and expressing them appropriately
• Controlling their behavior

While these are not strictly academic concerns, they affect students' ability to access their education. It is challenging to learn when you are concerned about your social world or even worse when you are asked to leave the class for not understanding or reacting poorly to instructions or demands.

In this month's newsletter, I would like to focus on some SEL strategies and lesson plans you can incorporate into your classroom. See below for five evidence-based fun-filled games!

Emotions are complex and challenging to explain – even for grown-ups! This box set is educators' and parents’ perfect helping hand in explaining basic emotions. The Little SPOT of Emotion Box Set teaches about happiness, sadness, anger, anxiety, love, confidence, peacefulness, and a mix of it all through a little scribble!

Shout out to all the school districts who have attended CPI training. Rebekah, Daisy, and I had so much fun with each of you! CPI teaches professionals the skills to identify, prevent and de-escalate crises in the school setting. With distinct levels of training, CPI offers solutions for every role and risk level in every organization. So glad to have all of HONDA's districts participate!!! Please reach out to us if you would like to schedule a PD with your staff.

Key Concepts - De-Escalation Tips

At work or home, you may be faced with angry, hostile, or non-compliant behavior. Your response to defensive behavior is critical to avoiding a physical confrontation with someone who has lost control of their behavior. These 10 De-Escalation Tips can help you respond to challenging behavior in the safest, most effective way possible.

TIP 1: Be empathic and nonjudgmental. When someone says or does something you perceive as weird or irrational, try not to judge or discount their feelings. Whether or not you think those feelings are justified, they’re fundamental to the other person. Please pay attention to them.

TIP 2 Respect personal space. If possible, stand .5 to 1 meter away from a person who’s escalating. Allowing personal space tends to decrease a person’s anxiety and can help you prevent acting-out behavior.

TIP 3: Use non-threatening nonverbals. The more a person loses control, the less they hear your words—and the more they react to your nonverbal communication. Be mindful of your gestures, facial expressions, movements, and tone of voice.

TIP 4 Avoid overreacting. Remain calm, rational, and professional. While you can’t control the person’s behavior, how you respond to their behavior will directly affect whether the situation escalates or defuses.

TIP 5 Focus on feelings. Facts are essential, but how a person feels is the heart of the matter. Yet some people have trouble identifying their feelings about what’s happening to them.

TIP 6 Ignore challenging questions. Answering tough questions often results in a power struggle. When a person challenges your authority, redirect their attention to the issue.

TIP 7 Set limits. If a person’s behavior is belligerent, defensive, or disruptive, give them clear, simple, and enforceable limits. Offer concise and respectful choices and consequences.

TIP 8 Choose wisely what you insist upon. It’s essential to be thoughtful in deciding which rules are negotiable and which are not. For example, if a person doesn’t want to do math in the morning, can you allow them to choose the time of day that feels better for them?

TIP 9: Allow silence for reflection. We’ve all experienced awkward silences. While it may seem counterintuitive to let moments of silence occur, sometimes it’s the best choice. It can allow a person to reflect on what’s happening and how they need to proceed.

TIP 10: Allow time for decisions. When a person is upset, they may be unable to think clearly. Give them a few moments to think through what you’ve said.

A growth mindset is the foundation of every learning environment. Students who possess a growth mindset are proven to be happier and achieve more in life. They are more willing to take on new challenges, have a passion for learning, and view failure as an opportunity for learning and growth. A growth mindset is essential to becoming a successful lifelong learner, and it is something anyone can develop with practice.

Fixed Mindset:

• I like my work to be easy.
• I don’t like to try a challenge.
• I want people to praise me for how clever I am.
• I believe I cannot change how clever I am.
• I don’t like to try new things because I won’t be very good at it.
• I give up easily.

Growth Mindset:

• I never give up.
• I like my work to be difficult – it means I am learning.
• I love challenges.
• I want people to praise me for the effort I put into my work.
• I believe I can get more intelligent by working hard.
• I feel clever when I’m learning something new.
• I learn from my mistakes.

https://www.nctsn.org/

https://www.interventioncentral.org/

https://www2.ed.gov/documents/students/supporting-child-student-social-emotional-behavioral-mental-health.pdf

https://vimeo.com/groups/pbisvideos

https://navigate360.com/

https://onechoiceprevention.org/

https://www.sprc.org/sites/default/files/resource-program/AfteraSuicideToolkitforSchools.pdf

https://www.sprc.org/resources-programs/calm-counseling-access-lethal-means-0

http://neurowhereaboutsguide.com/

https://qprinstitute.com/