Health & Wellbeing News
This term in Jackson Social the students have been practicing the social skills of Sharing and Asking for Help!
We practiced the Key Word Sign of ‘want’ and ‘help’.
The Jackson social skill is changed every 2-3 weeks so that students and teachers have exposure to 3 skills per term.
Speech Pathologists help to incorporate low tech (communication boards) and high tech (personalised communication devices) to teach the skill and the target word!
The Mental Health Team would like to share the below external resources for parents and carers:
Orygen is running a FREE webinar for parents/carers of young people aged 12-15 on Thursday 30th May from 5pm-6:30pm.
Orygen’s #chatsafe is a guide for safe conversations about suicide and self-harm with young people.
Parents and carers:Helping young people stay safe online
Learn from leading self-harm and suicide prevention experts about how to support your child to look after their mental wellbeing online and keep themselves (and their friends) safe.
When? Thursday May 30, 5 - 6:30pm
Where? Zoom
For more information and to register, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/helping-young-people-talk-safely-online-about-self-harm-suicide-tickets-893382048757
PBIS at Home
At Jackson School, we use a positive rewards system consisting of points every time we see a students behaving in a way that meets our expectation. This is known as Positive Behaviour Reinforcement. During a term students can spend their points at the school’s Jack Shop, where there is a variety of toys, games and snacks.
In some classes individual students might have a Star Chart which helps a student to collect starts based on good behaviour, to earn a short-term reward.
Above is a simple example of a Star Chart.
Many parents – especially those with young kids – keep track of rewards with a reward chart – a tool which helps parent and child track their progress to reaching a reward. Reward charts can take many forms, from marble jars to sticker charts to posters stuck on the refrigerator.
See them as a score chart. When your child behaves, you award them a point. When a certain number of points are achieved, you award your child with their reward.
1. EXPECTATIONS
At Jackson school, we have three main expectations: Safety; Responsibility and Respect. To make things easier you could adopt these expectations for your family at home, or you could create ones that meet your families needs.
Keep it simple!
• Be respectful
• Be responsible
• Be safe
2. EXAMPLES
Create a few examples of what each of those expectations looks like for the house. Ask your kids to contribute!
Respectful
• I can be respectful by… staying quiet when the adults are working.
• I can be respectful by… waiting for my turn to use the computer/device.
Responsible
• I can be responsible by… looking after my personal belongings (clothes, devices, toys etc)
Safe
• I can be safe by… using equipment properly
3. CELEBRATE IT
When your child does one of these things, CELEBRATE IT! Tell them what you liked and appreciated about their behavior. Then give them a physical token to keep track of their positive behaviors – stickers, coins… whatever you have.
4. SET GOALS
Come up with a “big picture” goal. If you earn 15 “points” or tokens, you can get 15 extra minutes of electronic time. Maybe they can buy their way out of a chore!
5. PATIENCE
BE PATIENT!
This type of system does not solve everything, but it definitely helps to define expectations and to focus on the positive outcomes. A small shift in what you observe can lead to a much larger change in the way you think and relate to your family members!
Getting moving, staying active and even getting fitter, do not need to be expensive, time-consuming endeavours. This three-minute, three-step exercise plan is free, requires no expensive gym equipment and is designed to be completed over three weeks. It can be even done as a group activity for the whole family.
This simple plan is one of the many resources that can be found on the Get Active Victoria website. It is free to join and will even track your movement progress.
