Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out" provides a great way to understand emotions. Download a free printable study guide on the movie for teens and young adults.

This collection of play therapy techniques for autism includes super fun therapy toys and games to help you connect and engage with your child!

PlayDrMom overviews the therapeutic intervention of sandtray play therapy.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) frequently employs the idea of an organized therapeutic setting, which is referred to as a DBT house. DBT is a form of psychotherapy created by psychologist Marsha M.

Perfect for any women's ministry event, Bible study, or small group gather, the Either/Or Icebreaker game offers 5 different ways to play. Free printable.

When the weather is too cold to go outdoors and the kids are bouncing off the walls, you sometimes need to get creative. Maybe you’ve got a few Occupational Therapy students who would benefit from a vestibular movement activity like this snowflake balance beam! This is a great indoor gross motor activity for preschool or ... Read more

Research-based curriculum embeds skills naturally through play-based experiences that adapt to each child's developmental level and interests.

30 simple yet effective therapeutic activities for children to teach healthy anger management, improve self-control, increase empowerment, and manage fear, anxiety, and depression while also building proper problem-solving skills.

Experts agree that the benefits of dramatic play cannot be replicated in any other form of play, making it critical to the learning.

Interoception helps baby know how they're feeling on the inside. Learn how to it helps baby with feeling hungry and potty training.

Guess what? It's the weekend! Two glorious days of sleeping in and lazing about (I wish!). And boy, do I deserve them after the week I have had with my precious treasures. :) The first few weeks of Prep (or Kindergarten if you're not from 'round these parts!) are always tough as the kidlets get used to the routines and rules of school. Throw in a handful of boys with 'tricky' behaviour and you've got yourself a recipe for days that feel like they go on forever... during which you use your 'cranky voice' more than once. This week I found myself using a few behaviour management ideas that are truly 'magic' in a slightly desperate attempt to get things in my classroom back on track. Day-to-day I use the famous 'clip chart', known in my room as the 'peg chart', for kidlets to monitor their behaviours. I use the Monster Manners pack from Growing Kinders as a springboard for moving up (to the pink card - Super Kid!) or down the chart. Seriously, you need this pack! So cute and so effective (also helps that it's free)! I refer to my display daily and the kids get it. Within a day, one of my precious treasures said "You sit criss cross, and that's the bottom of the line!" (If you use this pack, you'll understand!) This year, the clip chart was working for about 90% of the kidlets... and those remaining 10% sure were giving me the run around. Bring in the magic tricks! Trick number 1 is a life lesson, as well as a magic cure for some tricky classroom behaviours. All you need are some dollar store bubbles, and you have some 'Self Control Bubbles'! Take your class outside and sit them in a circle. Explain that you are going to blow some bubbles in their direction, and the first time you do they can pop away as much as they want. Go ahead and let them go wild (within reason... I always tell my kidlets their bottoms must stay on the ground). Make sure everyone gets a heap of bubbles to pop. The second time, explain that you are going to blow more bubbles, but this time they MUST NOT pop a single one... even if it lands right on their nose! Explain that the feeling of really, really wanting to do something, but holding back, is called self control. Ask for a volunteer to go first and choose someone you know will resist the bubbles. Praise them for using self control. Then go around the circle and blow more bubbles at each kidlet (I make sure to get right 'up in their face' so they really, really have to control themselves!) - making sure to encourage all of them to think about how it feels to have self control. As the weeks go on refer back to this activity any time one of your kidlets is struggling with those behaviours that require them to practice more self control. They will be able to recall the feeling, trust me! You might like to repeat the bubble activity a few times during the year - my kidlets LOVE knowing that they are pros at something... and self control ain't a bad thing to be pro at! :) Grab this free pack from my TpT store that will help you use this activity in your classroom. It contains an explanation of how to complete the Self Control Bubbles activity, a label for your bubble bottle, and 3 simple recording sheets. And for my second trick... Quiet Spray! All you need for this is an empty spray bottle. I bought mine from Kmart for less than $2. Fill it with water. My spray bottle wasn't clear, but if it was I would have added a drop of food colouring or some glitter to make it look more 'magic'. I also would have taken time to make sure my label was size-appropriate for my bottle... but you live and learn! :) I added a few drops of rosewater to my Quiet Spray... mostly because I wanted lavender, couldn't find it at the grocery store, but wanted my Quiet Spray to smell calming. Here's how it works: Any time you want your kidlets to work quietly (I used mine today before group work), explain that you will use the Quiet Spray to help them work the best that they can. I ask my class to take a deep breath in through their noses and out through their mouths as I mist Quiet Spray over their heads. MAGIC! You could even use Quiet Spray at the beginning of each day along with some relaxation techniques, or for individual students who need some extra magic in their day. :) There you have it folks, some new magic tricks for you to try with your tricky kidlets. :) Please let me know if they work for you! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! :) Lauren

These hand dominance activities help with laterality and hand preference in kids. Kids who switch hands during activities can work on hand dominance.

5 key reasons to teach students to analyze differing perspectives

This is a PowerPoint file that you can edit with your own fortunes, and even put your own pictures on. How about a photo of each member of your family or friends, cartoons of animals or the four s…

Are you studying for the SLP praxis exam? Check out some of my best tips for acing this important test! Keep up the hard work!

This guitar lesson with tabs and standard notation explain how to build and play scales, chords and arpeggios with the CAGED method.

Somehow summer is over and I have no idea how that happened. Maybe its the weather - it's been hot, hot, hot and sticky for the last couple of weeks around here - but whatever it is, I am NOT ready! Regardless of my desire to stop time, my middle kiddo goes back to school tomorrow and my oldest has been in school for almost three weeks. (Which is still hard for me to wrap my mind around since we are so used to starting school after Labor Day.) This year we compiled a "Summer Fun List" of around 30 things we wanted to do during the summer. (We still have several items on our Summer Fun List that we haven't completed, but I'm going to claim an extension until the autumnal equinox on September 22nd for those. Is that cheating?) This activity was inspired by one of the list items - "Go Stargazing". I found a site called Lie Back Look Up that has a lot of great activities, including a printable star map for kids which I printed out and brought with us to the beach in early August. The girls were able to find a couple of the easier constellations (i.e. The Big Dipper) but were struggling with identifying the others. (I think its a bit like using a microscope with children. You may know what you are seeing, but the kids can't distinguish between an air bubble and an amoeba due to their limited experience.) When we got home, I started thinking about ways to explore the constellations with them. I found an awesome book by HA Rey (the creator of Curious George) called Find the Constellations. I also saw quite a few constellation cards on Pinterest - check out my Science with Kids board to see some of them. My favorite are these from Lie Back, Look Up that includes information about each of the constellations on the back. We printed those, laminated them and stuck them on a key ring for future reference. Then I had a flashback to my own elementary school days and remembered making constellation tubes out of those black plastic film canisters. Since those are pretty few and far between these days (who uses film?!?) I thought we could make them using toilet paper tubes (one of my favorite things to repurpose). I found a few examples on the web, but no super clear instructions and since I did them completely wrong the first time, I figured it might be a good DIY project to write up in case other people have the same problems that I had. So, here it is. Let me know if you make them and have any feedback!! Step 1: Print out the constellation patterns from the About.com Space site. I think these may have originally been intended for use with the smaller film canisters because I found that I needed to print them at 120% size to match the approximate diameter of the toilet paper tube. The other key thing here is to make sure to select "flip horizontally" found under the 'layout' option in the print screen. I ended up with inverted constellations the first time because I didn't do this step. Because the words also end up flipped, I would print out an extra sheet not flipped so that you can use it as a reference. (I developed the ability to read upside down pretty well when I was teaching in the classroom but trying to read stuff flipped gives me a headache!) Step 2: Gather the rest of your materials. We used the following: empty toilet paper tubes glue stick tape scissors black construction paper squares (4.5" x 4.5") black sharpie marker giant push pin cork board Step 3: Cut around the outside, dotted line around the constellation pattern. Glue to the center of the construction paper. Step 4: Place the construction paper on the piece of cork board (I doubled it because my cork was fairly thin) and use the giant push pin to punch holes where the stars are located in the pattern. Step 5: Trim around the square into a rough circle shape (it does not need to be perfect!!). Then make cuts from the outer edge of the construction paper into the center, but do not cut into the constellation pattern. This allows for easy attaching of the construction paper to the cardboard tube. I made cuts to divide the piece into 8 wedges - you could probably do more to make the fit even smoother, but I wouldn't do less. Prefold the wedges by holding the circle with your thumb on the edge of the white constellation paper and folding the wedge upwards. Step 6: Center the constellation in the top of the cardboard tube and tape each wedge down. Start with the wedges opposite each other (i.e. 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock) then move on to the ones perpendicular to those (i.e. 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock). Finally tape the remaining 4 wedges down then go all the way around with another long piece of tape to add extra security. (You could also use duct tape here.) Step 7: Using the sharpie marker, write the name of the constellation on the side of the tube. Step 8: Close one eye and use the other eye to look through the tube at the constellation pattern. Start by sharing the name of the constellation with your child and have them look through the tube at the pattern. As they get more comfortable with the patterns, do it the opposite way and see if they can tell you the name of the constellation after viewing the pattern. Step 9: Because the tubes are fairly delicate, store them in a secure box. We chose to use a fairly thick shoe box. Also, because we only had enough rolls to make 4 constellation tubes to start, I put the extra patterns in the box as well so we could make more as we collected more empty toilet paper rolls.

This Blog and Infographic will review tonic reflexes, their significance if the reflex persists beyond the typical age range, and the possible impact on a child’s functioning and role performance. Last but not least, this blog will suggest therapeutic interventions that are known to help inhibit the activation of tonic reflexes and advance postural control as a foundation for optimal functioning.

Use this list of free resources to use as social emotional learning activities to help you work with kids and young adults. As a special educator for 10 years, I can say without a doubt that we need more social emotional learning supports for kids and young adults. Some of my best days in the classr

Behavior Alert & Behavior Praise includes Student Apology Letter and Behavior Chart for Tracking. This is an easy tool for excellent behavior management in the classroom! This resource includes a Behavior Alert (for 'bad' behavior) and a Behavior Praise (for outstanding behavior) half-page note to send home to parents. This behavior alert note allows you to praise good behavior or send home a behavior alert. These behavior notes may be used along with a behavior chart. This resource also includes a fill-in-the-blank student apology letter template for kids to write to a classmate, teacher, and/or parent. I always keep a big stack of Behavior Alert and Behavior Praise notes on a clipboard ready to go! I only use the Alerts as needed. However, I try and send home a Behavior Praise to a student every few days. A great way to make sure every students receives a Praise note is at the beginning of the month, write each student's name on one. Keep track of who receives Praises & Alerts on the included Behavior Chart. There are multiple behaviors you can check off on the Behavior Alerts and Praises and a blank spot to write your own. Three lines on the bottom are for parent, student & teacher signature. Enjoy this quick, easy and consistent behavior management technique! This product also includes a FREE fill-in-the-blank student apology letter and behavior chart to keep track of Praise & Alert notes. Read my recent blog post to learn more how I use these Behavior Alerts & Praises in my own classroom Looking for more Classroom Forms? - Beginning of Year Parent and Student Survey - Free Homework Pass - Test Retake Request - Student Reading Log - Missing Homework Note - Behavior Alert and Behavior Praise - Apology Letter - Conference Forms with Student Self Reflection - Absent Student Form - Weekly Homework Agenda ❤ Click HERE to view 750+ resources by Happy Teacher Happy Students ❤ ************************************************************************************************ ⭐Happy Teacher Club Join for Exclusive Freebies, Tips & Tricks ⭐Happy Teacher Happy Students Blog Visit My Blog and Chat All Things Teaching! ⭐Instagram: Let's be friends! Use one of my resources in your class or homeschool? I want to see it! Tag me @happyteacherhappystudents in your photo I’ll send you a special freebie. ⭐ Questions? Looking for something not already in my store? Contact Me @ [email protected] ************************************************************************************************ ** Visit my STORE and click on the 'green star' to follow me and be the first to know about new products, sales & freebies! ** Please remember to rate this product so that you earn TPT Credits for future purchases! Copyright © Happy Teacher Happy Students. All rights reserved. This file is intended for classroom and personal use only. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following: **You may print for your personal, classroom use, and non-commercial use only. **Clipart, graphics, photographs, found inside this product are copyrighted. They may not be extracted from this file without written permission from the original artist(s).

Not quite sure how to use play-based speech therapy activities with your speech therapy caseload? All your questions are answered here!

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What's Missing? is a simple listening game that's easy to set up because all you need to play is a selection of contrasting percussion instruments.

Students study the picture, then find and circle each lowercase letter of the alphabet, in order from a to z. Encourage students to say the letters as they find them.

This printable matching socks game is the perfect activity to keep your toddler entertained and learning through play. Download it for FREE!

What is sensory processing. Tactile Input explained and its importance for growth and development in kids.

My recent “Inside Out” Study Guide for helping teens and adults understand emotions has been getting positive feedback on Pinterest. Today I’m sharing some ideas for helping younger kids and tweens (grades K-8) use the Disney/Pixar movie to better understand their feelings. 1. An emotion pie chart To be honest, I can’t take full credit. One of my young clients* came up with this idea on his own. He had the brilliant idea of turning his face into a pie chart and using the five colored emotions from Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out” to represent the mix of his feelings. He then drew a key identifying the significance of each color. You can use this idea even if you or your young one haven’t seen the movie. Neither of us had actually seen the movie at that point, but he had seen a trailer […]

Learn the parts of the brain for kids with a fun brain activity and FREE printable brain worksheets! Clever human body activities for kids!

Find out exactly what the tactile system is, red-flags for sensitivities and the best activities for the tactile system that kids will love.

How do you know which pre-writing lines your child should know? Use this handy pre-writing skills checklist for ages one to six.

Learn about play schemas and get activity ideas for each of the 9 play schemas. Transporting, positioning, connection, transforming...

14 cognitive behavioral therapy activities for kids to help little ones recognize their negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

These empathy activities for kids foster empathy as a social emotional skill in children. Use the empathy beads to build this skill.

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According to Erik Erikson, there are a series of eight psychosocial crises' that neurotypical individuals pass through from birth to late adulthood (Crain, 2011