Welcome back to this week’s segment of After School Tea Time! Get your tea cups ready because we have more to spill this week! Keep your questions coming because you could be helping someone who has similar questions!
Question from Fairfield County- In our program we have a student who is usually very quiet and keeps to themselves. Recently, we noticed a shift in their behavior. They have become disruptive and refuse to follow directions. When we met with this student to have a conversation about their recent behavior, they told us that they were just having a bad week. We understand that everyone has days where they don’t feel their best. How can we support this student emotionally while also making sure that they are following directions during lessons and activities?
Hey Fairfield, thank you for asking this question. As you mentioned, we all have weeks where we don’t feel our best. It is important to make sure that this student knows they have support during this difficult time that they are experiencing. Here are a few suggestions for you. Have a check-in conversation with this student before your program starts. Ask them how they’re feeling that day to get an idea of what mood they might be in. If they aren’t feeling good then it’s important that you or a staff member keep an extra close eye on them in case, they start to become disruptive again. Maybe this student needs a quick break during lessons/activities. You can have one of your staff members take this student for a quick walk or just outside of the classroom for a few minutes. If this student continues to be disruptive you could also ask them if they would like to speak to a counselor if your program has one. Does this student have a specific staff member that they feel more comfortable with? If so, that staff member can be the one to check-in with the student throughout the day. Here is a video on how you can create a daily support system for students. We hope this will be helpful!
We’ll see you next week for another segment of After School Tea Time! Don’t forget to submit your anonymous questions here.