Join Lindsey and Candice and see what the buzz is all about when it comes to Social Emotional Learning. Learn why being present and in the moment with students is more valuable than any expensive curriculum. Candice’s advice, wealth of resources and passion for maximizing student potential is refreshing and inspiring. If you are looking for positive ways to start off the school year, then listening to this extremely valuable SPEDtalk is a great place to start.
Lindsey:
Well, good morning, Facebook. I’m so excited to be here with you guys today. How is everybody doing? Everybody’s staying healthy and calm in this fabulous time of the world that we have? Well, I’m sure you are. So just remember that I want to know where you are watching from. And so, make sure you put in the comments where you’re watching today’s show from.
Lindsey:
So, I’m Lindsey Kucich, your host of SPEDtalk. I’m the lead mental health therapist here at Global Teletherapy and the weather is getting so nice. I’m so excited about this. It definitely brings a brightness to these uncertain days.
Lindsey:
So, everybody, I want you to be so excited for today’s show. We have an amazing topic that I know a lot of you are really, really interested in: social-emotional learning. Have you guys heard this buzzword? If you have, put that in the comments. I want to know.
Lindsey:
Make sure you also put in your #teamreplay, #teamlive, and take a few seconds to share the video. We want this to reach as many therapists as possible. Put it on your personal wall, share it in other groups with other therapists, tag any therapist friends that you know as well.
Lindsey:
Also, I want to know how our Be Kind First movement is spreading. So tell me in the comments how have you been practicing and, with these stay-at-home orders, where are you finding ways to find an ability to be kind first? So make sure you put that in the comments as well, #bekindfirst.
Lindsey:
Also share the news about our Global Teletherapy webinars. These are free webinars and resources for families and students. They’re really there to help all the students understand what’s going on and what things they can do while they’re being stuck at home with a stay-at-home order. So, to sign up, they just go to our website, www.globalteletherapy.com. Then they’ll be able to click on the support sessions.
Lindsey:
All right, everybody, are you excited for today’s show? I am. Let me tell you about our guest today. Candice Paolino is a mental health clinician. She’s got her LPC. She’s servicing students in Ohio, but pretty soon she’s going to be relocating to sunny Florida.
Lindsey:
So Candice has been in the field for the last 10 years. So she comes to us with a breadth of knowledge about social-emotional learning and implementing it in both the traditional setting and the virtual setting. She also has a therapy dog that she loves to incorporate during her sessions. But we’re going to talk about that at a later day. That is not part of today’s show. But she’s definitely going to have to come back and be a guest with us. Wouldn’t you say that? Would you guys like to learn about therapy dogs? We’re going to work on that. So I’d love to give you guys an introduction to Candice. So, Candice, welcome to our show.
Candice:
Thank you so much. What a fabulous introduction. I really appreciate that. Thank you. Glad to be here with you.
Lindsey:
Thank you. We have got such a great topic to discuss today. I know that you’re super passionate about social-emotional learning. So why don’t you tell us what is SEL, the social-emotional learning? Tell us a little bit about it.
Candice:
Great question and great place to start. I mean social-emotional learning is basically teaching the skillset that helps kids, and adults as well, really to identify, to be able to name, and to recognize different feelings, different emotions and to manage those feelings, emotions. That’s one part of it. It’s actually a very broad umbrella.
Candice:
It’s also very important skills like emotional regulation. Character education is also part of it. Empathy skills. It’s so broad. But a long time ago, I think what people used to refer to social-emotional skills as, like those soft skills. Traditionally, it was the skills that were not taught in the classroom. But, thankfully, that has changed because we have recognized a need to have those skills being taught in the schools.
Lindsey:
Yes. And so, having them being taught in the schools is a lot of that buzz. But the question is why do we have to teach it? Why do some students struggle with picking up on these skills? Then do you see it impacts students with a specific disability more than others? Is that why we’re seeing the need for it so much more?
Candice:
Great question. So first I really believe that there’s really no rhyme or reason. It could be a student that has no identified necessarily learning needs or an IEP. I’ve worked with students, typically developing students, that don’t pick up on those skills, like people believe, used to believe, “Oh, they’ll understand it because they’ll pick up on it from their peers.” It’s not something that everybody picks up on.
Candice:
I do see a certain profile of learner that struggles typically more. But, honestly, the range is broad. There are kids who are gifted learners that struggle significantly with social skills. There are kids on the other end of the spectrum who struggle with academic skills and not social-emotional skills.
Candice:
It’s really, really everywhere, and I think that drove the need for this explicit instruction within the classroom, because it’s not something that kids are all … Like I said earlier, that they necessarily pick up on. That’s something that we used to believe, but certainly not the case. What was it? I want to make sure I address both of your questions. What was the second?
Lindsey:
Sure, that it wasn’t linked to a specific disability. I think you pointed that out, knowing that it’s not linked to IQ, it’s not linked to academic success, that really anybody could struggle in this domain. That is why it is part of the curriculum in the school setting, which is great. I’m glad that everybody has the access to it.
Lindsey:
So that would’ve been my next question. Well, how is social-emotional learning taught? So what types of services do schools offer and then who offers these services if everybody is supposed to get that?
Candice:
Well, we’ve come a long way in terms of what the schools offer. However, there is still a variance from state-to-state and even district-to-district. My hope, and I think the movement looks like or the trajectory looks like, it looks positive. Then I hope that we continue to have more states on board with comprehensive curriculum, social-emotional curriculums, to really be able to systematically and sequentially target the skills that need to be taught.
Candice:
We have come a long way, but we have a long way to go. And that’s why I really love to have these discussions because, unfortunately, it can change, like I said, from state-to-state, which is not necessarily a good thing. I mean every child, in my opinion, should be able to access the same types of the curriculum and the same type of education. Of course that’s not necessarily the case, but I hope that’s the direction we continue to go.
Candice:
In terms of how it is taught, again, that varies greatly. There are some schools and some districts, some states for that matter, that are very progressive and that have schoolwide social-emotional programs, initiatives, district-wide programs. Now there are some schools that don’t have that and they have some things like PBIS, which is the positive behavior intervention supports, which is a great start, but it’s not a stopping point. So it does vary.
Candice::
According to CASEL, which we’re going to talk about in a little bit, I will be more specific about what and who CASEL is and what they do, but their website, which is very, very progressive in terms of what they do for social-emotional teaching and learning, they did not specify what approach is best. They said that essentially, like I said, there’s the explicit social skills instruction. There’s the teacher instructional practices. There’s integration. Some teachers say that, I don’t know … Social studies teacher, for instance, maybe the teacher who owns the social-emotional curriculum one year, it may change to the language arts teacher.
Candice:
Again, it varies from district-to-district, but essentially there are some key components that are more determinant of success than necessarily how it’s taught. It’s these four components, which I think we’re going to get to in just a moment.
Lindsey:
Fantastic. On the slide, I do like how you talk about the different areas. Can you go over those five areas you have listed?
Candice:
Absolutely. Let me see here. So I’m actually … One second. Okay. So there are five areas. Again, this is according to CASEL, which … It stands for the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning. That’s a mouthful so we just say CASEL. This resource is … for me, it’s the gold standard. I don’t want to get off-track too much, but to give you a little background, I am obviously very passionate about social-emotional learning. I used to really, really get involved in trying to do a lot of research myself and try to pull out the best resources.
Candice:
Well, a friend had told me CASEL does that for us. They are an amazing resource. I’ve really been, I guess, exploring it as much as I can in my free time. I’m trying to understand what they do. And they are exactly that. They’re advocates for social-emotional learning.
Candice:
So I refer to them often because they have really taken a lot of what I was trying to do on my own and simplified it on such a much, much broader level, too. I mean the resources that they have compared to somebody sitting at their home computer, albeit valuable, it was a no-brainer for me.
Candice:
So those five components that you mentioned, to get back to that. They’ve broken them down into self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. I can further break those down, if that helps. They do a great job.
Candice:
I had mentioned them several times already, but they do a really great job on their website in breaking these skills down to help you understand, well, what does somebody mean when they say self-awareness? Well, they mean identifying one’s own emotions. They mean being able to actually have self-confidence and believe in themselves and self-efficacy. It really breaks down what those skills are so we can target intervention.
Candice:
That’s part of what I love about what they do as well, because often I think we talk about … we meaning just the general population, “Oh, they have relationship skills issues.” Well, what does that mean? Is that a communication issue? Is it a social engagement issue? Is it a teamwork issue? What is the issue? So it helps breakdown exactly what the concern is so we can help students address those concerns and help them improve that trajectory.
Lindsey:
That is fantastic. That definitely helps areas that we need to target to, like you said, manage those interventions. So that brings me to another question, though. Some of those areas, social-emotional, the awareness or the social skills aspect of it, how do you determine if it’s a need for an individual service or if it’s more of a group service? How do we determine that and what intervention is appropriate?
Candice:
Great question. So often it really is trial and error. Sometimes a lot of this can be broken down into scientific, “Okay, here’s what you’re going to do next and here’s what you’re going to do next,” but often it can’t be as well. I know that sounds like a mixed bag, but truly sometimes it is just trial and error. Sometimes it is asking the student, “Is this working for you?” That’s invaluable, their input, the parental input, the teacher input.
Candice:
Then, of course, even trying an intervention and then understanding what was their response to that intervention? Was there improvement? What does the data show? “Okay, so there wasn’t an improvement. So let’s revisit this.”
Candice:
So really, I think, looking at this as a process rather than something that is finite and, okay, you’re in a group, and so you’re going to stay in a group and that’s that. No. We can go back and tweak things as necessary.
Candice:
Then the interventions that are used are often the ones, I feel like, that the kids respond to, or the students respond to. I’ve done this before and I think, if we’re honest, most of us have probably done this to some extent. I find this amazing resource that I want all my kids to love as much as I do. Well, there’s not often that response.
Candice:
And so, I think that when the kids respond, I have to speak their language, meet the students where they’re at. If they’re wanting to talk about video games, well, there’s a really good zones of regulation, actually. Well, I don’t know if I should say the…
Lindsey:
Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I think that’s something that a lot of our viewers really need guidance on as to the types of tools and what we’re looking for. I know anybody that’s watching, if you have a tool that you absolutely love that you utilize for social-emotional learning, drop that in the comments. We want to be a resource for everybody and we’d like to share ideas.
Lindsey:
We’re not getting paid for any of these things, that’s our disclaimer, but we do like to make sure that we’re sharing the knowledge that we have so that way we can help these students, because there’s got to be a benefit for these students to learn these skills. What do you see when they learn these skills that are not academic by any means? How does it impact them in the school setting? Are we seeing gains in the academic field? Is there a reason why we can convince our admin that their data is going to improve in a certain area? What do you know about that?
Candice:
Oh my goodness. So, yes, the data absolutely supports social-emotional learning as a very, very big determiner of academic success. I don’t have the data in front of me, but CASEL certainly is one that has a plethora of materials to support this. Again, their reach is far broader than mine, and I really put a lot of stock into what they have done. The research support it wholeheartedly.
Candice:
Kids who feel better about themselves and are more successful with relationships, and they feel connected. They feel like they matter. Kids know if they’re not there or teachers know if they’re not there. Those are really important elements to success, that they matter. Who doesn’t want to matter?
Candice:
But more than that, the data does support it. Kids who are feeling good about themselves and have the necessary skills to succeed do succeed. The trajectory is beautiful. It’s really being able to intervene appropriately and understanding, like you said, what resources are out there.
Candice:
I have gotten so much, so much support, and I don’t say this because we’re with GT. But, honestly, that’s another amazing support I have gotten. I’ll put it out there. I’ll say, oh my goodness, I have a student who, like I was beginning to say earlier, who likes video games and they have social-emotional regulation deficits and what am I supposed to do? And there’s the zones.
Candice:
The zones of regulation actually has an app. I use it for certain students who really love gaming. I don’t use it often, but I use it more as a reward, as a motivator. This app takes you through little areas of the town and you have to identify and answer questions. Then you move around, whatever. It’s really engaging for kids who like the video games and it reaches them where they’re at. So it’s a beautiful kind of combination.
Candice:
When you had mentioned earlier, you’d asked, “What do you use? What tools?” sometimes I have the best, most amazing plans ever for this great session and I can’t wait. I get the book out and that came, whatever, an hour ago from Amazon. I’m ripping it open and the kids are like, “That’s the worst book ever.”
Candice:
So I have to meet them where they’re at. I think also stopping and realizing that it’s not personal. I need to take a deep breath and find the connection, because that’s really what they’re seeking is the connection, and finding that connection and building on that and finding activities together.
Candice:
Also, when I do something like that, when I put all my eggs in that basket and I can’t wait to get started with them and it doesn’t work out well, I also try to teach them the resilience piece, like, “Oh, that stunk. My expectations were that this was going to happen. Let’s talk about this real time. This is what happened. So I’m going to try really hard to figure out how to get to that green zone,” and, what we’re talking about, use what we’re learning in sessions to take the mystery out of it and also to tell them or share with them that I struggle with this, too. We all do, if we’re honest. It’s really understanding the tools to help us through it.
Lindsey:
That’s a really good point, that we can use as us role models. So many times children think that adults are perfect and we never make mistakes. Who here is perfect? Just me? Am I the only one? Just kidding. Just kidding. I’m so not perfect. But we have this vision and we put, adults, peers on pedestals, thinking that they are perfect. If we do it as adults, children do it even more so.
Lindsey:
I think, like you said, we’re excited and our expectation was at one level and reality hit, and let students see us overcome that and build up that resilience. I think that’s an invaluable tool that we can use. We don’t need a fancy program. We don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars on some curriculum that we can implement.
Lindsey:
I think that there are some key factors. Maybe you have a favorite tool. Tools are great. I will definitely let all of you guys know a little bit of secret at the end of the show. I will upload resources for all of you to look, download, click, look at the web.
Lindsey:
But Candice has some really great ideas in regards to the overview of what social-emotional learning should entail. So what should your tool do? How do you direct this curriculum, this self-built? What are you really looking for? So, Candice, tell us about the overall theme of when we’re looking at social-emotional learning, what is it that we want to look for, not just specifically purchasing a curriculum?
Candice:
Yeah, absolutely. No, that’s a great, great question. I think it comes really back to that acronym that I had mentioned earlier, the SAFE acronym, if you will. It’s S-A-F-E, like being safe. What SAFE stands for is that it’s sequenced. This is, again, from CASEL, and most of what I have shared today is. I want to make sure I give you that disclaimer. This is not something I came up with.
Candice:
But it’s sequenced. So it follows a certain order. It’s active, which means there’s an active form of learning. Kids aren’t passively sitting in their seats daydreaming. They’re active. Focused. So it really emphasizes those personal development skills or social skills. We don’t want it to be too broad. We want it to be explicit, which is the E. So the sequenced, again, a certain order. These are the components that I think that you really need to look for more than a specific curriculum.
Candice:
Like you said, Lindsey, we all have our favorites, and I certainly do as well. But I think what’s more important is that we pick out what works. So having it be sequenced, active, so the active learner, focused, really not too broad and narrow-focused, and explicit. So targeting specific social and emotional skills, whether it’s emotional regulation or identifying feelings, making it very explicit.
Candice:
I often actually discuss this with the students before I do a lesson with them or do any kind of activity with them. I’ll say to them, “Okay, guys. Here’s what we’re doing today. Here’s the overview, here’s the target skill. We are trying to come up with three coping skills today. Let’s talk about what those coping skills are.” Be very explicit with them so they understand what to expect.
Candice:
I did want to mention one other thing. I hope it’s okay if I’m jumping around a little bit. But when I had mentioned earlier that I often go to the students, when I have this expectation of this wonderful lesson and they kind of like … And I process that with them, it’s very interesting because at times … I’ve had this happen maybe just once or twice, but it’s happened where it was pretty profound and it hit me.
Candice:
One student in particular was like, “Use your breathing skills. Are you breathing? Are you okay?” I’m like … Which was amazing because they were actually the teacher or the therapist or whatever. They were in that role, and there’s such value when … we can learn from them and they can take that role. I let them run with it. It was maybe a couple minutes too long, but they were like, “Are you belly breathing?” I’m like, “I’m breathing. I’m okay.”
Lindsey:
They have that social-awareness. Those five components. We really want to help really tease that out. I feel like if it’s a social awareness, they need to be aware of social situations outside of themselves.
Candice:
Bingo.
Lindsey:
That would definitely recommend like a group or another person versus when they have to have self-awareness, they may need to have these tools and learn about themselves first before they can now generalize to other groups. So I feel like there’s definitely scaffolding that goes into teaching these skills.
Lindsey:
This sounds like it’s all a whole lot of information and not something that might be just intuitive to a lot of people. I think using that systematic approach and the SAFE, and then teaching the student the goals and the objectives, and let them understand that we’re working on this because… and this will benefit you because… That way if we have those open conversations, they’re more receptive to learning. Then they are more receptive to practicing any homework assignments that we’re going to give them, or challenges that we may encourage them to try.
Lindsey:
I know a lot of our students that struggle in these areas, they don’t want to use their camera in session, or they may have anxiety. They don’t want to talk to me. They don’t even want to leave their house. Forget that we have a stay-at-home order. They don’t want to leave their house, if they could have left their house.
Lindsey:
Or sometimes when we have the students … They all play Fortnite. Okay. They’ll all be playing Fortnite, but some of them don’t actually talk during a game. We can actually utilize their video game strategies to connect … Hopefully it is appropriate. To connect with those other students.
Lindsey:
So, again, don’t feel like you have to buy curriculum. We are working on these areas, these five component areas, utilizing the SAFE method, and then incorporating it into their everyday activities. That way you’re not met with any sort of resistance. I really think that’s helpful for the students and our therapists to utilize. Now this is so much information all at once.
Lindsey:
Now everybody wants to run out and they all want to go to CASEL and they want to look at their website. I promise you, it’s going to be available. I’m going to have a slide. Look in the files section. I’m going to have that up there for everybody. But, Candice, tell us what are our last takeaways … Out of everything you’ve said, what do we need to know first?
Candice:
Oh, well, you just described like what I would have done if I was watching this, because I get very … I like to call it passionate. I’m not sure if that’s what everybody in my family would call it. Obsessive, maybe. But I guess really how I want to end tonight or today … Excuse me, I’m all mixed up, today’s session is really talking about the importance of being there in the moment.
Candice:
So this, of course, says, “But, first, breathe.” So essentially using research-based effective interventions is very important. Absolutely. I think that’s pretty clear. Most of us, we don’t want to waste our time using interventions that are not helpful and not interesting to the student, and they just don’t work.
Candice:
But I say this in part for you and in part for me, because I have to say this a million times a day, not everything has to be research-based 100% of the time. Breathing and being in the moment in building that relationship is extremely important because the IEP goals are important.
Candice:
Yes, it’s not to minimize those. Certainly it drives what we do. But I used to, and I’m evolving, but it’s still a process, be so hyper focused on, “Oh, I need the next best thing. I need the next best curriculum. I need to go buy this. I need to go buy this.” Well, that should be secondary, in my opinion, to building that connection.
Candice:
Kids are not … Students, adults, anybody really, they’re not going to care about what you know until they know you care. I think that was maybe Theodore Roosevelt. I’m not sure who that quote was by. But I think that’s a simple quote, but it reminds me, kids, students, people in general, they need to know that you care. And to be there in the moment and to really see what they’re telling you, see what their body language is telling you, see what they’re telling you about what they enjoy. Then try to be creative even together and come up with something that they might love to do.
Candice:
Ask them. They’re our best resources. Too often, I get in my own head and, “Oh, this is going to be great for Joey or Mary,” and, “Oh, wait a minute. Have I asked Mary? Have I asked Joey?” So use them as resources. Use our awesome coworkers.
Candice:
Oh my gosh. I already bragged about them earlier, but I mean we have the most supportive group of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. They’re amazing. We use each other as resources, use the students, take that deep breath, and then look at the CASEL website. Get the information. Use it as a tool. But there are other ways as well. And take that deep breath.
Lindsey:
I think you bring up an excellent point, that just breathe. The information isn’t going anywhere. It’s not going to disappear overnight. So take it in small chunks and then utilize and trial and error. It’s not going to work for every kid. So see what does work for them. So, Candice, thank you so much for joining us today-
Lindsey:
… and sharing these amazing topics and resources. We will definitely be sure to put up all of the resources that you mentioned for everyone to see so everyone could have it.
Candice:
Thank you.
Lindsey:
So thank you so much for joining us.
Candice:
Thank you, Lindsey, and thank you guys. Have a wonderful Tuesday afternoon. It was great to see everybody.
Lindsey:
So, everyone, I am so excited that you joined in on our fantastic show. I want to remind everybody, remember, use our #bekindfirst. Also, check us out on Instagram and LinkedIn. You can follow us there for some great resources as well.
Lindsey:
So make sure you add in the comments what you thought about today’s show. Also share this broadcast with everybody that you know that needs to learn about social-emotional learning. So thank you again. It’s been a pleasure. We’ll see you next time.
