"The Turtle Strategy"
The turtle is an anger management strategy taught to the primary SRSP students. The strategy can be found in the book, Helping Kids Handle Anger, by Pat Huggins. The strategy has three main steps shown in the picture on the left: 1) Go inside your shell, 2) Take some deep breaths and relax, 3) Think of a good plan to solve the problem. Through a variety of lessons, including story reading, puppet plays, role-playing, guided practice, and art, we teach and practice the strategy. The common language that we use to cue this strategy is to ask the student, "Do you need to turtle?"
The student turtles by putting their head down and putting their hands around their head so they are shutting out the world and protecting themselves. When they put their head down it serves as a protective calming time where they can shut the problem out and not engage. Their mouths are down so they don't say bad things, and their hands are clasped around their head so they are not tempted to hit. At this point it is important to give positive reinforcement to your child and say something like, "Oh great, I see you are using a strategy to calm down, I will come back when you are ready."
When your child is inside their shell they need to calm down by taking deep breaths and using positive self talk such as. "This is not a big deal", "I can handle this". "I can keep my problems small". When they are calm and still in the turtle, they think about a plan to solve the problem. They might choose to get some help from an adult, talk calmly to the person they were having the problem with, or ask for a break. When they feel they are calm enough, they come out of the turtle and follow through with their plan. Positively reinforce their efforts to use a strategy to calm down and keep their problem small by saying something like, "You did a great job using the turtle to keep your problems small!"
Practice: This strategy can be used in any setting and can be reinforced at home through practice and role modelling. Post the strategy sheet where everyone can see it and refer to the strategy on a daily basis. When you are feeling upset, role model this strategy for your child by shutting your eyes, taking deep breaths, and using positive self talk out loud. This shows your child that we can all benefit from stopping, calming down , and thinking positively when we get upset.
Below is a link to an online storybook of the turtle strategy to read with your child:
http://www.eastmoaa.org/HS/Resources%20for%20Social%20Emotional%20Support_files/Tucker%20Turtle.pdf
The student turtles by putting their head down and putting their hands around their head so they are shutting out the world and protecting themselves. When they put their head down it serves as a protective calming time where they can shut the problem out and not engage. Their mouths are down so they don't say bad things, and their hands are clasped around their head so they are not tempted to hit. At this point it is important to give positive reinforcement to your child and say something like, "Oh great, I see you are using a strategy to calm down, I will come back when you are ready."
When your child is inside their shell they need to calm down by taking deep breaths and using positive self talk such as. "This is not a big deal", "I can handle this". "I can keep my problems small". When they are calm and still in the turtle, they think about a plan to solve the problem. They might choose to get some help from an adult, talk calmly to the person they were having the problem with, or ask for a break. When they feel they are calm enough, they come out of the turtle and follow through with their plan. Positively reinforce their efforts to use a strategy to calm down and keep their problem small by saying something like, "You did a great job using the turtle to keep your problems small!"
Practice: This strategy can be used in any setting and can be reinforced at home through practice and role modelling. Post the strategy sheet where everyone can see it and refer to the strategy on a daily basis. When you are feeling upset, role model this strategy for your child by shutting your eyes, taking deep breaths, and using positive self talk out loud. This shows your child that we can all benefit from stopping, calming down , and thinking positively when we get upset.
Below is a link to an online storybook of the turtle strategy to read with your child:
http://www.eastmoaa.org/HS/Resources%20for%20Social%20Emotional%20Support_files/Tucker%20Turtle.pdf