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I'm Kim Jackson. I teach Title 1
and Pre-K. My name's Elizabeth Montero-Cefalo and I am
a certified Conscious Discipline instructor.
We have children in this classroom who have significant mental health needs
and I think that with the tools that we have learned with Conscious Discipline
that we have been able to teach
some of these children that we have some skills for building relationships and
building connections that they would have never had, had they not been in a
classroom that is implementing Conscious Discipline.
We want to get Chris's attention, so the safe way to get his attention is
tap, say his name and wait for him to look.
Say, "Chris." Chris.
Wait for him to look. Try again. Say, "Chris." Chris. He looked. Say, "May I play?" May I play?
It worked. He said yes! He said yes!
And look! Your feelings changed. Your mouth is going up like this.
In a Special Ed. classroom where there are emotionally disturbed children,
there are oftentimes restraints,
where the children are actually held. We don't like to do that but it's like a
a last effort.
Since we've been using the Conscious Discipline there have been
almost no restraints. We don't feel like we're forcing the kids anymore.
We know that the brain seeks pattern and routine, and for children with autism
they have to have structure. And Conscious Discipline provides a way to
have all of those structures and to put them into place into your classroom.
An individual schedule for a child within the spectrum
is fabulous but what if the next step on the schedule is something that's really
not their first choice? The whole idea of helping them
handle that emotion when it comes up and breathing through it is just an
essential piece for children within the spectrum.
Conscious Discipline just make sense for children
and adults with mental health needs that they're able to take away
that tool belt. They're able to pull out those tools whenever they need them. Self
regulation, peace,
understanding of feelings, not just identifying feelings but also allowing
feelings to come up so that children can metabolize
what that is all about, giving them tools to handle
when life does not go their way. Another biggie with children ADD and ADHD is
the use of two positive choices. There is so much power in choice.
You are giving them a choice but you're also
guiding their choice. It is not safe to use this. It could break the top of our light.
Yes.
So you can use this in the construction center, or you can use it on the carpet but you may
not use it on the light table. We don't spend enough time
teaching children how to build relationships and how to build
connections with one another.
One child with autism, well, if they have social-emotional
issues and they're surrounded with other children with social emotional issues,
how do they blossom?
So when there is inclusion there's that opportunity
for children to learn social skills from children who have got them.
It's a mentoring program. What they give, they're also strengthening in themselves.
It's a win-win situation for all children. Sometimes people think you can't
do it
with children because you got this problem, or you have this child who has a
problem.
It's not. You want those kinds of things to happen so that you can teach these
skills.
I was with a child who has the mental health diagnosis. One of the concerns that
we have with this child
is we have not been able to identify his triggers,
and the doctors also have not been able to identify those things. He
was completely calm at the time,
all of a sudden he became angry and I was the target.
I was injured, I was on the floor and at that moment in time
all the other children in our school family
got up, we were actually in the meeting circle, in a class meeting, they got
up from their safe spaces, where they sit in meeting circle,
they walked over to where I was, they gathered around me in a circle
and they began to breathe. And
they continued to breathe for a while,
and then they begin to sing the Wish You Well song. I was able to regain my
composure.
We were able to continue with our class meeting,
but they were downloading
to me when I was unable to regulate myself,
because they have been taught that skill. That is the kind of school family that has
been built in this classroom where Conscious Discipline is being implemented.
It's unbelievable.