When you really think about it, it’s hard to be a kid. So many people make choices for you! Add in a communication barrier as another layer, and it’s no surprise many of our students exhibit challenging behaviors.
Just the concept of choice making ALONE is evidence based! Shogren et. al, 2004 tells us that implementing choices throughout the school day is consistently effective in reducing the frequency of problem behaviors. Choice additionally promotes self determination, most specifically in students with identified disabilities. So yeah, let’s give our kiddos choices, shall we?
Coping skills are some of the greatest things we can teach our students. You can’t get too far if you don’t have the ability to regulate your body and emotions! In school we often have a variety of tools for students to access to help them with regulation, but offering elements of choice for them can really make this system more effective!!
This beautiful choice board is *perfect* for helping our students identify effective tools that will assist them in regulating their emotions! This is a full page version, but if you check out the product listing on TpT, you’ll see that there’s also a half-page version (of which you can also resize using your printer settings!) if you need something a bit smaller. It offers space for 8 pictures of coping tools that you can determine based on student needs and availability.
After you laminate and velcro-up the board, you will have 20 pictures to choose from already available to you (a wide variety of tools!) and an editable page where you can add in real photos of unique tools you have available in your school or home setting, if you’re a parent/guardian looking to use this in your home.
What about other choices or communications we ask students to make when they’re feeling a big emotion? Often we ask them to tell us how they’re feeling, what choice they’d like to make to help them relax, or what breathing exercise they might like to try. Check out this choice boards bundle to find a wide array of choice boards that can work from Pre K – 8th grade!
The supplies I use to create these boards are all linked below.
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