Talking about emotions

"The ability to understand and express emotions is important for managing one's own emotions, understanding the feelings of others, getting along with others, early learning, and school readiness," said researchers in the April 2007 edition of 'Language, Speech, and Hearing in the Schools.' "There is strong evidence that social-emotional development in the first year of life is the foundation of language development and that social-emotional well-being continues to affect both language and literacy as the child matures" (Espinosa, 2002, The connections between social-emotional development and early literacy, The Kauffman Early Education Exchage).

So what are some ways to help???

Here are a few ideas from the April 2007 article:

1) Use art therapy to help express feelings-- visual art, writing, theater/skits, etc. etc.
2) Help children notice what is going on within them, help them learn methods to calm themselves when they are upset/anxious
3) Help children label what they are feeling
4) Recognize that it is possible to feel more than one emotion at the same time, or different emotions in rapid succession

In BYU magazine, winter 2007, M. Sue Bergin tells us also that we should model empathy by expressing "interest in [children's] experiences and listen[ing] carefully as they talk, reflecting back to them what they say and asking them questions that help them clarify their feelings and thoughts" (p. 19)

Another good resource for ideas on dealing with emotions is www.kidshealth.org. Enjoy!


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