CORNERSTONE FOR K.I.D.S INC (nonprofit) solutions to live.work.play.grow in your community www.Cornerstone4KIDs.org

twitter: @cornerston4kids

SOLUTIONS: Age 3 - 9
Where the sidewalk ends.....Cornerstone For K.I.D.s begins
Try this: COLLAGE EACH EMOTION Use photos, colors and patterns cut from paper and/or magazines and ANY and ALL craft notions/supplies....no letters or words...pictures convey much more. Make a collage for EVERY emotion...best to do while the child is IN each emotion. Make collages of varying degrees. happy, super happy and exuberant. Bored, agitated and FRUSTRATED. unhappy, upset, depressed...etc....Allow a non-verbal K.I.D. to use these to show emotions using the collages. A collage is 3 or more pictures overlapping. Use colored card stock for the background. Have the K.I.D. make a set of these for each environment...home, school, therapeutic office. It is important that the K.I.D. them self pick out the things to collage with. Take your K.I.D to the local craft store or gather a variety of resources and let them choose the items to include. Only do one or a few per day until the emotional library is built. Have the K.I.D use them to indicate their emotions to you as needed. Laminate them if needed and use velcro to hang them where they are easily found. Need: "I need my KID to be able to express feelings"
Try this: MAKE VISUAL CLUE DISPLAY One of the most effective techniques for a young K.I.D. is to visually display the day or task sequentially. Take photos, cut out photos or draw pictures of the tasks a kid will be doing all day including a reward when all tasks are done. Put them on a sturdy background and/or laminate them and put sticky back loop tape on the back and put them on a firm background with hook fastener tape. For daily tasks put them in sequential order so they can be moved around. Let the child put them on. For permanent tasks (such as kitchen chores or bedroom tidiness), make a permanent display. When it comes time to do the next activity point to the Visual Clue Display. Try to use few or no words. (suggested by Teresa Hanshew in response to a parent asking at out monthly telecon) Need: "I need my kids to listen and follow my directions for in home chores and daily tasks"
Need: "What can I do when my child is tantrumming?" Try this: ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO SELF REGULATE/PROVIDE SELF REGULATING ACTIVITIES A child when tantrumming is over stimulated. Activities that are self regulating are vast, spinning, eating, dancing, hiding, swinging, ripping paper, rocking, screeching, sleeping, music, rhythmic pounding, laughing, curiosity... Essentially any rudimentary instinctive activity is soothing. The central core of the brain in a behavior tantrum is overloaded. Typically K.I.D.S have under-developed cores (called amygdyla) and any small break in a routine or surprise in daily structure can be more than a child can handle. Try to teach the child to self-regulate. At first, provide activities that are conducive to self-regulation. Provide tents or spaces for the child to crawl into (both indoors and out of doors). Allow spinning in chairs. Hand over a microphone when the child is screeching and put in your ear plugs. Turn on music. Allow paper to be ripped. Just before an episode begins, try a joke or distracting with curiosity...the brain chemicals that are produced in laughing and in curious thinking can offset a tantrum. Give the child a lollipop and don't pay attention to the looks of other people who will assume you are rewarding bad behavior. When kids are in this mode there is no behavior modification trick that will work. Sooth Sooth Sooth the amygdyla. When the child is regulated, you can go back to traditional methods. (Provided by Patty Pratt, founder of C4KIDS and mother of HFA K.I.D.) Need: "How can I help my grandK.I.D. manage in a divorced situation?" Try this: CREATE CONSISTENCY (Think in twos) Divorce is very common in families with K.I.D.S. Parenting skills are challenged and no one can agree on the same method. The stresses are high and suddenly this results in a divorce which sends the K.I.D. into a tailspin in the opposite direction from progress. While divorce can alleviate some of the stresses the K.I.D. witnesses in toxic household with two arguing or upset parents, new problems can arise with consistency. As a grandparent, what can you do? K.I.D.s like to feel safe. One of the easiest and best methods I have implemented is an indoor pop up tent. These are inexpensive and you can buy two...one for each household. You can also try making the "VISUAL CLUE DISPLAY" shown above on this page in duplicate with your K.I.D. and having the K.I.D have one at each house. Two pairs of the same footed pajamas, two of the same stuffed animals, two of the same pairs of slippers. Label them with an M or a D if needed. (Provided by Patty Pratt, founder of C4KIDS and mother of HFA K.I.D.)

P.O. Box 990 Hermosa Beach, CA 90254

Intended outcome: --->K.I.D.s live, work, play and grow in our communities. Thank you for visiting. Many changes are in the works in a community near you....come back and see!