Feelings

Sunday Scaffolding is all about the things we can do to help our kids build their skill set.  We provide the scaffolding for learning the way builders use it to facilitate framing the next level of a building. We provide structure and support so our kids can build on the foundation they have. There are so many skills that are needed to live a full and enriching life.

Although feelings are abstract ideas, it’s worth starting to try to teach your child to identify them. Understanding and identifying feelings provides the basis for living a healthy emotional life, understanding what others are feeling in social situations, and avoiding conflict. 

Think IEP

This is such a huge undertaking, it makes sense to include it in your child’s IEP.  Even if it is too challenging to master all the emotions in one school year, the goals and objectives can be written to say, “Given photos of people, Michael will learn to identity 3 new emotions (i.e. happy, sad, surprised).” At least it would be a start.  Plus, this will allow the team at school to use their knowledge and materials to tackle this giant skill.

Other Ideas for Home

• You could label emotions for yourself. “I feel happy”
• Maybe point out emotions in photos or cartoons. “Bob the builder is frustrated.”
• Read books about Feelings. Your local librarian will be able to help.
• Use emotions flashcards (look for ones with real photos of real faces)

One Caution

Don’t teach feelings by labeling your child’s emotions for him or her.  You can never be 100% sure that you know what they are feeling. Sometimes kids on the spectrum act hyper and super happy when they’re dysregulated. They might appear happy, but they’re really teetering on the edge of discomfort, frustration or even a meltdown.  We don’t want to mis-label their emotions because it will just confuse the issue.  So, even though the goal is for them to eventually be able to tell us (by word, sign or AAC) how they feel, build the foundation first by having them label the emotions they see in the faces of others.

I hope that doesn’t feel too frustrating, but sometimes scaffolding involves helping your child build the foundational skills needed to achieve a more lofty goal. If we can patiently address each step, we’ll all end up feeling more content, satisfied, happy, and fulfilled in the end.

Aren’t feelings fantastic? Wink.