Barbara Culatta – Reduce Emotional Outbursts, Shutting Down and Oppositional Behaviors in Social and Academic Settings: Proven Language-, Communication- and Attachment-Based Interventions

Outline

Relationship Among Self-Regulation, Language, and Social-Communication

• Self-regulation deficits in children with ASD, ADHD, ACEs, and LLD
• Development of self-regulation, emotion understanding, and Theory of Mind (ToM)
• Language and cognitive processes involved in social-emotional development
• Link among attachment, relationships, and emotions

Language and Behavior Assessments

• Exercises to measure understanding of words for internal states
• Tools to assess comprehension and connection of internal states to plans and actions
• Mechanisms to chart and monitor behavior
• Rubrics to assess social skills
• Checklists to determine factors that influence language and behavior

INTERVENTIONS AND STRATEGIES TO:

Develop Social-Communication Skills and Emotion Understanding

• Apply attachment theory to emotion understanding and social interactions
• Scaffold interactions to achieve topically-related turn taking
• Social narratives to establish social roles and rules
• Co-regulation strategies to build relationships
• Teach language to identify and express internal states
• ”Emotional Thermometer” to match feelings to appropriate responses

Address Dysregulation and Challenging Behaviors

• Personal narratives to process emotionally-charged events
• Self-talk, positive messaging, and labeling of internal states to manage emotions
• Move from tight routines to flexible scripts to ensure participation in group activities
• Calming, mindfulness, and bibliotherapy techniques
• Intrinsic motivation, positive engagement, and self-efficacy to improve behavior
• Movement and sensory experiences to engage children in learning
• Project- and team-based learning opportunities to establish rules for social participation
• Reinforcement system and procedures to manage behavior

Promote Self-Regulation Within Language and Curricular Contexts While Meeting ELA Standards

• Apply Theory of Mind (ToM) to text comprehension
• Connect internal states with plans, goals, and actions
• Tell, map, and analyze personal and social narratives
• Link social, behavioral, and educational goals
• Guide participation in instructional conversations
• Scaffold inferencing and predicting