Language for Behaviour and Emotions: A Practical Guide to Working with Children and Young People

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Red Light – Anger! is a great worksheet when targeting anger. Students evaluate and draw the progressive steps of anger and then identify the anger “stops” that their body uses to tell them to slow down. Whitehurst GJ, Fischel JE. Early developmental language delay: What, if anything, should the clinician do about it? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 1994;35(4):613-648. These smart, well-intentioned people struggle in their attempt to connect with others. The sad thing is that they are unaware of the nonverbal messages they communicate. It can be difficult to separate psychosocial and emotional problems from problems with language and communication. Language impairments can be subtle and go undetected unless a formal assessment is done. 2 For instance, Kaler and Kopp 3 showed that toddlers’ compliance with adult commands was related to how well they understood language. In another study, Evans 4 found that many preschoolers described as shy, reticent or inhibited had language impairments that interfered with forming and maintaining friendships. Children with language impairments had difficulty entering into peer group conversations and were then excluded, giving them less opportunity to learn and practice the social skills they needed for peer interaction. Failure to identify and treat such problems can have serious consequences. The same can be said for Mother May I? Instead of differentiating the appropriate direction to follow at the onset of the direction, the players need to differentiate the correct direction to follow at the conclusion of the statement made by the leader.

Arnett, J. J. (1999). Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered. American Psychologist, 54(5), 317–326. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.5.317Think of a time when you were frustrated or angry and how you responded. If you become frustrated with the class, student, or child, it is okay (and beneficial) for both you and the children to say, “I am feeling frustrated right now, and I need to take a minute. I’m going to step over here to take a few deep belly breaths.” When you talk with your child about emotions, wait for your child to share first and then share your thoughts. This gives your child a chance to form their own understanding of emotions and allows them to use the vocabulary they know in context. Understanding emotions, emotional reactions, and situations is the most critical element of successful interactions with others (Solikhah, Fasikhah, & Amalia, 2019). Role-play can benefit students by demonstrating appropriate emotional responses and allowing them to practice in a safe environment. As we reach a new stage of the pandemic, many families are seeing the light at the end of a very long tunnel. Masks have been lifted, travel bans have eased, and keeping kids a safe distance from each other is no longer the norm. While this is encouraging news, parents have experienced unprecedented levels of stress in the past few years and emerging research suggests that there is an increase in challenging behaviors and developmental delays in children born during or just before the pandemic (“The COVID generation”). One area of particular concern is how years of limited social interaction—remote school, no birthday parties, and playdates over zoom—have affected children’s social and emotional development. Facial expression – What is their face showing? Is it masklike and unexpressive, or emotionally present and filled with interest?

Dunn J, Brown J, Slomkowski C, Tesla C, Youngblade L. Young children’s understanding of other people’s feelings and beliefs: Individual differences and their antecedents. Child Development 1991;62(6):1352-1366. The Self-Control Spotting worksheet can be used to differentiate effective and ineffective self-control strategies. This activity would be beneficial for generating discussion involving emotional regulation.

The link between vocabulary gaps and good behaviour won’t prove a grand surprise for teachers. Those pupils who struggle to stay focused, or plainly misbehave, suffer daily learning losses. These losses accumulate and can harden into failure and exclusion. Atkinson, A. P., Dittrich, W. H., Gemmell, A. J., & Young, A. W. (2004). Emotion perception from dynamic and static body expressions in point-light and full-light displays. Perception, 33(6), 717–746. https://doi.org/10.1068/p5096 Progressive muscle relaxation can be accomplished by having the child squeeze an object or stress ball while counting to 10 and then releasing tension. Repeat this exercise several times, perhaps using the age of the child to determine the number of repetitions. Naming feelings: Ask children to work in pairs to name all the feelings they can. Prompt children with: 'How would you feel if you were on your way to an adventure park? Or waiting in a long supermarket queue?' Tell the class: 'We're emotional creatures and that's OK. That's human. That's how we all are.'

Furthermore, children need time to process their learning; therefore, recess or brain breaks are necessary for brain consolidation. Additionally, physical exercise positively influences cognition (Donnelly et al., 2016; Samuel et al., 2017). Space. Have you ever felt uncomfortable during a conversation because the other person was standing too close and invading your space? We all have a need for physical space, although that need differs depending on the culture, the situation, and the closeness of the relationship. You can use physical space to communicate many different nonverbal messages, including signals of intimacy and affection, aggression or dominance. One of the best ways to build children’s social and emotional skills is through enhancing their language and communication. Research supports that talking to children about emotions is one of the main predictors of emotional competence—how children learn to express and control their emotions and recognize the emotions in others. Language is the bridge between self and other, and there are many ways to support growing children’s language in the area of social and emotional awareness. Here are some strategies that we suggest:Tuning in. Listening to children can help us see and hear what children are saying, the emotional content of their message, as well as the language involved. This can help us support them through challenging situations and build their resilience. When we're happy, we might giggle, we have a huge smile, we might dance, this is a great feeling that we can share. You should spread it while you can. From birth, children’s developmental capacities are constantly growing and maturing. Speech provides all of us with imperative tools for learning and interacting with others. Uncovering speech issues early on in children can be beneficial for future emotional development. For some parents it may be difficult to decipher emotional signs, as opposed to physical signs correlated with speech or language complications. I spoke with child and adolescent psychotherapist, Irena Kenny about the importance of speech in a child’s everyday life, as well as emotional and social obstacles, which might arise if a child is struggling with self expression. It comes as no surprise that books should also be a part of school-aged students’ emotional learning. Promoting children’s social-emotional development requires a comprehensive approach that includes creating a social context, teaching social skills, and facilitating children’s emotional development.”