Attention Difficulties or Behavior Problems?

SEL might be able to help. SEL is the acronym for “Social Emotional Learning”. SEL is an approach and framework being used to help children (and adults) acquire and effectively manage emotions.

It is a skill building process that aims to increase one’s emotional intelligence. SEL programs result in improvements in the following areas: academics, behavior, attitudes and skills.

All of this starts to make sense once you see outward behaviors as an expression of what is going on inside the individual. Being able to manage your own emotions leads to being able to manage your thoughts, actions, and attention to a degree.

In this way, a “problem behavior” can actually be seen as a skill that has not been learned or developed yet. The good news is that these skills can be learned and big improvements can be made.

This is the approach that I use. This is what I teach to parents, so they can pass these skills on to their children. The whole family benefits and the child does better in school. When we feel emotionally safe and are able to manage emotions, we can do great things!

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