Got it

Got it is an exciting early intervention program for students in Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 students that will be implemented at Greystanes Public School in Terms 2 and 3. It is aimed at reducing and preventing disruptive behaviours at school and at home.

Week 1

Many parents find their child's challenging behaviours hard to understand and frustrating to manage. It is important to remember that children's difficult behaviour is a way of expressing their emotional and physical needs. It can sometimes be tricky to know what your child is trying to communicate with his behaviour, however thinking about the emotions behind the behaviour is a great place to start. Emotions guide our actions, and being aware of our feelings and the feelings of others helps us to handle our moods better, bounce back from emotional events faster, be healthier, get along better with people, and manage our behaviour better. 

Week 2

Notice emotions both in yourself and in your child, especially when they are at a low intensity. Simply recognising your emotions and the cues you get from your body will help you become sensitive to your child's feeling, you can then begin to support her to manage them. You may wish to keep an emotion diary to increase your awareness of the thoughts and feelings that come up for you and your child throughout the day. You can write down your emotions, your child's emotions, the cues you get from your child's body language, what you say, and how your child responds. 

Week 3

Reading feeling books will help you to support your child to learn about emotions. While reading different books, you may ask him questions that help him to think about different emotions and to learn how to recognise feelings. For example, you might ask, “How do you think she is feeling?” “How do you know that he is feeling sad?”  “What is his face doing that lets us know he is angry?” and “What is her body to let us know she is excited?”  You can also start asking your child how he might feel if he was in the same situation as the character in the book.

Week 4

Emotional moments can be an opportunity to teach your child and build your relationship with him. One way to do this is spending a few minutes each day talking with your child about emotional events happening in his life. This quality time might happen after school, after dinner, or at bedtime. Not all children will want to talk openly about feelings. Be patient and try talking when you are doing something together, like driving or doing household tasks. But if she doesn't want to talk, it is important not to pressure her. This is not the time to discipline; it is just a time for listening and reflecting your child's emotions. Over time, this will build your child's trust in you and help her to feel more.

Week 5

Making time to play with your child is one of the most important things you can do together. The time you spend playing together builds your connection. It also helps your child to build confidence, to develop social and communication skills, and to foster a sense of feeling loved, happy and safe. Sometimes you might just sit with your child and watch him play, other times it might be fun to get involved and follow his lead with a game. Play can involve many things like Lego, board games, card games, dance and music, imaginative games, and reading stories.

Week 6 

Slow things down and tune in to how your child is feeling. You might need to use your ears to listen to what she is saying; your eyes to notice her face, her body language, and what is going on around her, your imagination to put yourself in her shoes; your words to reflect back what you hear and notice; and your heart, to feel what she is feeling. Let her know that you understand and accept her feelings, and that all feelings are OK. 

For example, you might say, "l think I would feel sad too if I lost my favourite toy". How To Be The Parent You Always Wanted by Adele Faber & Mazlish 

Week 7 

Help your child to use words to describe how he is feeling in the moment. You might say something like, "It seems like you're feeling a bit worried". Providing words can help him to feel understood. It helps him to know that emotions are a normal part of everyday life and that they can be handled. Labelling emotions can also help him to bounce back more quickly when he is feeling upset. Be aware of not telling your child how he should feel, but helping him develop a vocabulary to express his emotions. 

Week 8

While its important to let your child know that all her feelings are okay, it's also important to let her know that some behaviours are not okay. These behaviours include hurting herself or others, or damaging property. You can guide her to think of more helpful ways to handle her strong feelings. For instance, you might say to her: "You are mad that Sally took that doll from you. I would be too, but it is not okay to hit her. What could you do instead?". This will help her to trust her feelings and feel good about herself while learning to manage her own behaviour. 

Week 9 

While supporting your child to understand his feelings, its often useful to help him to come up with some ways to solve the problem that triggered the feelings in the first place. He will probably need to know that you understand his feelings before he is ready to think about what to do next, so help him to take his time. You might say something like, "What do you think we should do?" or "What would make things better?" Praise him for trying hard to come up with different ideas to solve the problem and when he uses more helpful strategies next time a similar situation occurs. This will help him to feel good about himself and develop effective problem solving skills.