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IEP vs. 504 Plan: 7 Tips to Understand the DifferenceÂ
This post clarifies the differences between an IEP and a 504 plan for supporting children with disabilities in school. It outlines eligibility requirements, access rights, types of services provided, legal protections, and when to pursue each option. You’ll also find seven practical tips to determine which plan fits a child’s needs and how to work collaboratively with schools.
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Effective Parent Communication and 7 Tips for Having Difficult Conversations with Families
This post shares how to build trust and work effectively with families through strong communication. You’ll find seven practical tips for difficult conversations with parents, including reaching out early about positives, preparing ahead, using respectful language, staying calm and solution-focused, listening actively, and centering the child. Discussion strategies are paired with sample phrases and communication best practices.
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5 Things You Should Know About Quitting
This post shares five key things to know about quitting in family and child contexts. You learn why quitting may signal mental health or motivation issues, how to weigh frustration against persistence, why quitting too early can cost growth, and when quitting can be a healthy choice. These insights help parents and professionals decide thoughtfully and compassionately when quitting is okay.
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Fall and Halloween Sensory Bins and Dough Activities to Explore Feelings
This post shares sensory bin and dough activities themed for fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving that help children explore emotions. You’ll find ideas like filling bins with autumn textures, dough stations with feeling labels, pumpkin sensory tubs, and gratitude dough prompts. Each activity encourages emotion naming, sensory exploration, curiosity, and calm while connecting seasonal themes with emotional learning.
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Progress Monitoring SMART Goals and Data Collection for School Counselors
This post guides school counselors through crafting SMART goals, implementing interventions, and gathering data to track students’ progress. It defines progress monitoring, explains process perception and outcome data, and shows how to use data to adjust strategies and advocate for counseling services. Practical examples include group attendance, self ratings, behavior referrals and academic outcomes.
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3 High-Impact Art Therapy-Inspired Activities to Transform Anger
This post shares three art therapy inspired activities designed to help children transform anger into positive energy. Activities include scribble release art, creating an anger creature, and designing a calming mandala. Each exercise guides expression, reflection, and emotional regulation in a playful, hands on way. These tools support self awareness, stress relief, and coping skills with minimal materials.
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Email Signature Quotes for School Counselors, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Other Educators
This post shares over 100 curated quotes ideal for email signatures used by counselors, social workers, psychologists, and educators. Quotes cover themes like kindness, resilience, empathy, growth mindset, self care, presence, motivation, and hope. It also offers free Canva templates and guidance for choosing and rotating your quote to reflect your values and inspire daily.
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Amazon Prime Day 2025 Counselor and Teacher Social Emotional Learning SEL Top Deals
This post lists top Amazon Prime Day deals for educators and school counselors focusing on social emotional learning tools. You’ll find discounted workbooks, books, kits, tumblers and classroom supplies that support SEL teaching. The post offers suggestions for items that promote emotion literacy, resilience building, self regulation skills and kindness in the school setting.
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7 Tips for Parenting Highly Sensitive Kids
This post shares seven practical tips for parenting highly sensitive kids. You’ll learn how to validate their sensitivity, remain calm during meltdowns, validate feelings, provide downtime, and partner with them gently. It also covers educating children about their temperament and focusing on strengths rather than deficits. These approaches help families honor sensitivity and build trust, resilience, and emotional safety.
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Organization Tips for School Counselor's Offices and Classrooms
This post shares practical organization tips for school counselor offices and classrooms. You’ll find advice on using binders for lesson materials, labeling bins and files, sorting books by category, and setting up systems for referrals and lesson plans. It also covers workspace setup, line of sight for frequently used supplies, and strategies to reduce visual clutter and time spent searching. These ideas streamline workflow and reduce stress.
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6 Things to Say Instead of "Don't Worry About it" and 5 Playful Strategies for Kids to Understand Anxiety
This post outlines six supportive phrases to say instead of "don’t worry about it" along with five playful strategies to help children understand anxiety. You’ll learn how to validate emotions, offer reassurance, and use creative tools like worry characters, breathing games, and thought reframing. These approaches support kids in building coping skills and calm when worries feel overwhelming.
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How to Celebrate and Promote Kindness in Schools
This post provides ideas to celebrate and promote kindness in schools. You’ll find suggestions for kindness chains, scavenger hunts, note stations, appreciation events, and kindness rocks. It includes printable cards, scripts, and staff recognition prompts. These tools support a school wide culture of compassion, inclusion and gratitude that connects students, teachers, and families.
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Supporting Children’s Mental Health with CBT: Unpacking the Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors of Kids
This post explains how Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT supports children’s mental health by unpacking thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. You’ll find simple explanations of the CBT triangle model, examples of intrusive or distorted thoughts, and coping strategies like emotion naming, thought reframing, and behavior change. These tools help adults guide children toward emotional resilience through structured support.
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Picture Books about Flexible Thinking and Dealing with Change for Kids
This post recommends picture books that teach flexible thinking, handling change and bouncing back from disappointment. Titles like A Little Spot of Flexible Thinking show how kids can shift perspectives like a palm tree in the wind. Books such as Tilda Tries Again, Not a Box and Flexible Thinking Ninja model adaptability, persistence and creativity to build resilience in children.
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Why You’re Probably Thinking of Autism Wrong: The Prism Autism Theory
This post challenges common beliefs about autism and highlights why media often shows only severe cases. It explains how many children go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed because presentations vary widely. The post explores traits like detail focus, binary thinking, and slow deliberative cognitive style. It encourages viewing autism as a neurotype with strengths and supports rather than a deficit.
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Activities and Videos to Teach Flexible Thinking Skills and Dealing with Change
This post offers curated videos and hands-on activities to teach kids flexible thinking and help them adjust to change. You will find read-alouds, stories, songs and engaging prompts that contrast rigid and flexible thinking. The guide also includes printable games, discussion dice, bingo boards and positive note cards to reinforce adaptability and creative problem solving in classrooms or at home.
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Trauma-Informed Mindfulness as a Self-Care Tool Teachers and Students in the Classroom
This post explains trauma informed mindfulness as a self care tool for teachers and students in classroom settings. You’ll find guidance on offering choice based breathing, somatic movement, mindful observation and external focus. The post also includes how staff can model and co create safe routines that support regulation, emotional resilience and prevent burnout in trauma sensitive schools.
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Using Mindful Coloring for Emotions and Self-Regulation
Coloring isn’t just fun. It is a powerful tool for helping kids recognize, express, and regulate emotions. This post shows how using mindful coloring and color by code activities helps expand emotional vocabulary, promotes interoception, and supports calming breaks. You will also find strategies for modeling feelings language and a resource to include coloring pages in grief or calm kits.
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7 Tips for Caregivers: Supporting Youth and Their Feelings
These seven tips guide caregivers in supporting young people—helping them name emotions, feel seen, and develop healthy coping habits. From open chats and validation to modeling self-expression, seeking professional support, and cultivating resilience, these strategies offer a foundation for emotional connection and growth.
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5 Ways to Help Children Boost Their Self-Esteem and Confidence
Discover five practical, research-informed strategies to help kids feel more confident and valuable. From setting realistic goals and embracing mistakes to praising effort, teaching positive self-talk, and celebrating uniqueness, these approaches guide children toward growth, resilience, and lasting self-worth through everyday interactions and support.
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How to Teach Expected Behavior to Students in a Fun Way: Using Social Stories and Games
Transform unexpected behaviors into learning opportunities using social stories and games. This post walks through why kids may not know expected behavior and offers how to craft playful, visual stories and group games to teach school rules, transitions, and routines, making behavior learning engaging, clear, and supportive for students and educators.
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Meet the Counselor Lessons and Activities for the Beginning of the School Year
Build trust and help students feel comfortable by introducing yourself and your role. This post shares four fun, grade‑appropriate activities, like using Mrs. Potato Head, a Counselor Toolbox, game show quizzes, and true/false team challenges, that invite students to guess what a counselor does and clear up misconceptions in a playful, memorable way. A printable handout helps families learn too.
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Everything You Need to Know about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Directed Drawing
SEL directed drawing engages children by tying social-emotional prompts to each drawing step. Kids answer questions about problem-solving, communication, or self-awareness to unlock the next stage. This method enhances fine motor skills, focus, emotional insight, and offers structure in classrooms or counseling groups.
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Two Surprising Ways to Increase Children’s Joy
Joy often grows when we lean into sorrow. This post introduces two surprising ways to expand a child’s joy capacity: by welcoming their disappointments and practicing compassionate listening—without rushing to cheer or solve. When children feel seen in their sadness and still experience held limits, their emotional capacity, and ability to truly feel joy deepens.
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