Ending Learned Helplessness by Getting Children to Understand Their True Ability. How do we do that?
 
Often times those with learning disabilities feel isolated and alone. Speaking from my own experiences, I recall feeling very misunderstood by my teachers and my peers. Most importantly I didn’t have an understanding of myself. Meaning I had no insight knowledge on what my disability was or what the word disability even meant. I get as parents and educators we want to protect our children.  Amen sister--this mama would do anything to keep her little lady out of harms way. However, as we take a step back, leaving our children in the dark is essentially promoting the very harm we are trying to avoid. No good has come to anyone who has been misinformed.
 
Why do we wait until high school to allow students to attend their 504 meetings and IEP meetings? Why as parents and educators do we tip-toe around the word disability? I’m sure by now you have a running list of reasons as to why this is the case, me too. Let’s flip the switch. Can you think of a list of reasons as to why it would be a good idea to inform/dial in our children/students to their learning needs?
 
Hopefully at this point you have a list forming even if it is a small list. Often the negatives generate more reasons as to why we do not do something.
 
What if we started small?  What if we worked together to inform our children of their needs by showing them their strengths? Let’s start to empower children to take ownership of who they are. In turn it will, wait for it, make our jobs easier. Yes, I went there. The goal isn’t about our jobs being easier but I’m all about added bonuses.
 
When we dial in a child they in turn dial us in. They then show us and tell us what is working, what they need help with, what is driving them batty, and what we can do to best support them. Empowering a child to express their learning needs instead of hiding who they are will create an adult who is able to do they same when working with a manager or when managing a group of people. Which turns breaks the cycle of producing adults who suffer from learned helplessness.
 
So how do we start to break this cycle? That is a fabulous question my friend.
 
This video will lay the ground work for helping children understand their abilities and a few things to avoid.

I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Do you have something that works for you?

Next week, you will find a document that I have created for students to use when working with their teachers.
Be You. Be Bold. Be More.
 
Jenna

Stressed trying to get everything done? Me too my friend. After spending way too much time whining about it, I decided to mix up how I get things done. If you would like to feel accomplished and more productive. Please check out my YouTube video "How to Get It All Done To Do List" that explains my "handy-dandy" to do list. Oh and to make life easier, I have created and provided the downloadable list for you. Please let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make this better!

Be Bold, Be You, Be More!
-Jenna

Three steps to take to motivate you on a holiday Monday. 

Transitioning the blog into a vlog, how exciting. Content will still be uploaded to the website and the blog but please subscribe Youtube for even more up to date information.

Hi Friends!

It has been a busy time for me as I am closing in on finishing my first semester as a doctoral student (how awesome?!). I want to take the time to introduce you to an awesome tool that was create by two moms; talk about some moms with awesome superpowers.

When you have a child who has special needs a whole set of fears and worries enter your mind. The first things we want to do is protect, protect, and protect some more... However, what we really need and want to do is give our child the platform for empowerment. 

Heather and Kate have done just that with the creation of Someone Special Books.  As a mom of a child with Propionic Acidemia (a rare metabolic condition) and teacher, Heather was inspired to create a tool that allows students to celebrate who they are with their teacher. 

"Our books start with a dedication page and then the first half of the books show how these children are like everyone else. We focus on their hobbies and interests. We then introduce the disability/special need/syndrome and talk about how it might affect the child. We leave the last page of the book blank for the parents to write any additional information about their child."

Someone Special Books has also received support from The Epilepsy Foundation and Autism Speaks.  

The best is Heather and Kate know the importance of inclusion. They have created a book, Maya Makes a Friend, "is about a little girl who goes to the park and sees another child in a wheelchair. The little girl has questions and her mom encourages her to go talk to the little boy. The two have a great day playing together at the park and become friends. This is a non-personalized book that contains talking points at the end to open the lines of communication and start talking about people of all abilities. "

I encourage you to visit their social media platforms and website:
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I know, I know...I'm a little late posting this activity. But as they say better late than never, right? I have attached one of my Bully Prevention Items. This is a whole school display that each homeroom was given a little kit given and to be creative. I really enjoyed seeing the classes make their flower pots. They also worked out nicely as a school-wide display for a community or parent-teacher night (I can't remember which one it was). Any-who happy counseling creativeness. :) 
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Meet Kyle:

Kyle is making headway all the way in the UK. He has started a really motivational Instagram feed and website. Like me, Kyle is dyslexic and struggles with spelling as well as reading aloud. He started DysAdvantage because he wanted to create a platform for young dyslexics. He wants to give dyslexics the tools they need to start their own business. In Kyle's words, "Dyslexia needs to be glamorized so people feel special and needed. There're some really successful dyslexics out and I want to decode their minds to help other dyslexics succeed in life." Well said, Kyle. Below are his links for email and Instagram 

Meet Cindy:

Cindy is an awesome educator and person. She was one of the very first people I meet via social media that was like myself. Cindy is also dyslexic. She shares her story openly because she wants people ecpescially kids to know that despite struggling with academics they too can be successful. "At one point in my life I felt very much alone and ashamed of my learning difference. Somewhere out there is another little kid who is feeling the same way; therefor, by being public with my identification maybe I can inspire them to embrace who they are and understand what a learning difference is what they have it's not who they are." Cindy started The LD Coach and Triumph In Life in 2008 and her reason "to help students and adults with learning disabilities triumph in life".  A daily struggle for Cindy is organization, spelling, and expressing herself verbally. Please use the links below to visit Cindy's social media platforms.

Meet Elisheva:
Elisheva had similar school experience as myself she was often misunderstood. She works with people who are the cutting edge of research for the dyslexic addition. Her companies are called Elisheva Schwarts Consultancy and The Dyslexia Quest Podcast. In her interview, Elisheva felt that her skills was not being recongized. Her goal is to educate people what it is like to be Dyslexic with the hope to take away the learned helplessness. Elisheva has a very informative podcast. Her her words its all about "a revolution". She uses a lot of technology products like myself to be a succeful person who has multiple "labels".  Please check her social media platforms. She is doing amazing work!

The title says it all. Whether you have a disability that interferes with your organization skills, every person can benefit from this entry. Why? Simple, we all live in some form of chaos. Crazy-busy families, work, travel for work, school, living with a disability, having ADHD, or having a child with ADHD, or all of the above. 

My counselor friends, you live in chaos everyday and so did I as a School Counselor. Organization is achievable but you have to be disciplined and organized. 

I just started my first week as a doctoral student. Oh boy, talk about chaos. I had a moment of panic with my advisor. I said, "How in the heck am I going to get all of this done? You're a mom who earn her PhD with kids in the mix. How in the heck did you do it?" Her response was simple, "schedule everything." She told me I need to schedule everything in my life, even down to when I'm going to shower to when I'm going to spend time with my family. She even said it might sound cold but it works and you will find yourself less worried by having it all mapped out. 

I also feel it's important that you build in flex time because life doesn't always go as planned. That's life.

The Three Most Common Excuses:
1. I'm too exhausted from all the chaos to even think about improving my organization skills.

2. Remember, I live in chaos and its comfortable. Why should I change my habits? Wait, weren't you just complaining about never having enough time?

3. I have no idea where to start.

The Three Reasons You Should Start:
1. Effective time management leads to productivity. When you feel productive, you are happy and motivated. This allows you to have more energy, get more sleep, and spend more time on the R&R; like time with your family, friends, enjoying a hobby, or all of the above.

2.The sense of control. The more organized you are, the more in control you will feel. 

3. Eliminating a Stressor. I don't know if you are like me but If it's not written some where then I'm trying to remember the task in order to make sure it gets done. This can be very stressful and you are setting yourself up for failure; you are too busy to remember every detail.

What works for me:

• Google Calendar
• The ability to color code everything in google calendar
• The ability to share this calendar with my  family, staff, etc. (hint because you are able to make multiple calendars within your one calendar you have the ability to control who sees what.) 
• The ability to see my calendar in multiple places. I.e. computer, phone, tablet, or even in paper for.  (hint use the google calendar  app if you are an iPhone user). 

Here's a break down of how to use Google Calendar: