No matter who you are—parent, teacher, or student—you’ve had to deal with stress related to the pandemic. Chronic stress and anxiety can negatively impact children’s ability to focus and learn, whether it’s in the classroom or through an online education portal or some hybrid of the two. Unfortunately, we can’t eliminate these stressors, but children and adults can work at building positive, emotionally grounded relationships by sharing each other’s vulnerabilities. Many children with social emotional learning differences and/or challenges may struggle to express their thoughts and feelings.

In this webinar, Michelle Garcia Winner guides parents and professionals in creating structured empathetic discussions with their children and/or students through the use of visual supports and tips. Talking about one’s feelings, tying them to one’s thoughts, and examining how to manage stress over time involves learning about aspects of executive functions.

Metacognitive strategies and tools are highlighted in this very practical webinar, including how to:

• the use of a feeling-emotion scale
• exploring how feelings change throughout a day
• recognize feelings, even when unsure of words to describe them
• use language to understand one’s feelings

Spending time learning about our children’s stressors not only builds positive relationships, but also helps interventionists consider how to adjust their lessons and expectations to avoid creating even more stress for our already stressed-out children. Viewers may also find the information shared in this webinar helpful when talking to other adults in their families, workplaces, and communities.