Keep Your Problems Small
Keeping the problem small may be one of the biggest challenges your child has in a day. Self-regulating their emotions is an important part of this skill. This poster and saying is a common language cue SRSP uses with all students. The students are taught that their anger (or problem) starts out small, like the small dot in the middle of the dartboard. If they have a problem and get upset or angry, then choose not to get help or use a strategy, their problem grows like the rings on a dartboard. Here is an example of how this might happen: The student gets a bad mark on a test so they feel angry (little problem), instead of using a strategy they crumple up the test and throw it on the floor (problem gets a little bigger). When the teacher approaches and asks them what is wrong they yell " Leave me alone!" and refuse to talk to the teacher (little bigger). When the teacher asks them to take a break they run out of the class and down the hall (very big). A better way for this story to unfold would be: the student gets a bad mark on the test so they feel angry, the teacher notices they are feeling upset and says, "Remember to keep your problems small". The student picks up the paper and asks if they can go get a drink ( appropriate break). They walk down the hall, calm down, and come back into the class ready to move on. They were able to keep their problem small and the teacher says, "great job, you kept your problem small".
At SRSP we teach your child that it is ok to feel angry, but at that point they must make a choice to use a strategy to self-regulate this emotion so they can keep the problem small. To transfer this skill to home it would be important to talk to your child about what strategies they can use to "keep their problems small". These are often the same strategies used to go from the red line to the green line. You may want to create a list of strategies your child can use when upset and post them near this poster. Talk to your child about the healthy strategies you use to keep your problems small and role model these by pointing them out to your child when you are using them. Cue your child to "Keep your problems small" when you see them getting upset, and give them lots of positive feedback when they are able to make a good choice.
At SRSP we teach your child that it is ok to feel angry, but at that point they must make a choice to use a strategy to self-regulate this emotion so they can keep the problem small. To transfer this skill to home it would be important to talk to your child about what strategies they can use to "keep their problems small". These are often the same strategies used to go from the red line to the green line. You may want to create a list of strategies your child can use when upset and post them near this poster. Talk to your child about the healthy strategies you use to keep your problems small and role model these by pointing them out to your child when you are using them. Cue your child to "Keep your problems small" when you see them getting upset, and give them lots of positive feedback when they are able to make a good choice.