Mrs. Heilman's Counselor Corner

The holiday season is known for it's colorful lights, twinkling music, beautiful decorations, and it's many activities. So many activities. There are parades, Christmas concerts, parties, visits to Santa, shopping trips, and even tours of our beloved local attraction, the East Peoria Festival of Lights. There's a lot going on, so much, that it often leads to overstimulation in kids. What is overstimulation? Overstimulation occurs when "a child is swamped by more experiences, sensations, noise and activity than she can cope with" ( https://raisingchildren.net.au/newborns/behaviour/common-concerns/overstimulation#signs-of-overstimulation-nav-title ). Imagine you're having a Nerf battle with your kids. You could probably take a few hits from the soft projectiles without being bothered, but if you are being pelted with them, you might run away, duck and cover, or rally in a counterattack. This is what's it's like for a kid's brai

What does it mean to have ADHD? ADHD is a disorder of the brain. Brains are very complicated, even to a brain surgeon. The workings of a brains are hard to understand. If a normal brain is hard to understand, imagine how a differently-working brain can be misunderstood. Here are some basic facts about ADHD to help you more fully understand the diagnosis: What having ADHD means: Your child's brain takes in information or stimuli differently. Your child's brain organizes information or stimuli differently. Your child struggles with paying attention...sometimes. Other times, your child may hyperfocus on, or pay A LOT of attention to, something that interests him/her. Your child may be more sensitive than others to certain noises, smells, tastes, or to movement or visual stimuli. Your child may have difficulty regulating, or controlling, their emotions. Your child is awesome! What having ADHD doesn't mean: Your child is dumb. Some kids with AD

Sleep and Your Student's Behavior One of the Cardinal Rules at CB Smith is "Do your best learning." Both Starke and Willow have a rule about taking care of ourselves. One very important way we can do our best learning and  tkae care of ourselves is to get a good night's sleep. Good sleep habits, or sleep hygiene, can help us bring our "A Game" to school. Not enough sleep for our students can lead to learning difficulties, thorny behavior problems, and mood managing issues. Teachers and support staff have often noticed that individual students struggle more with choose good behaviors on days when they don't get a good night's sleep. (The day after Halloween is universally difficult at school.) Sometimes, we suspect that chronic thorny behaviors are a result of poor sleep or not enough sleep over many days and/or weeks. To help your student get a good night's sleep throughout the school year, follow these tips. Tips for Good Sleep Habit

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a disorder that is discussed in may schools and in many classrooms. Many parents and teachers wonder if a child, who can't seem to sit still or pay attention in class, has ADHD. It's a delicate topic between parents and their children's teachers, especially at the primary age because normal behaviors for these young children can look like behaviors seen with children who have an ADHD diagnosis. Honestly, it can be hard to tell the difference between normal social-emotional development, delayed social-emotional development, and ADHD. Today, I want to connect you  to information that will help you understand ADHD and the behaviors of the children who have it.  Because ADHD is such a complex disorder this blog entry will cover identifying ADHD and how it's diagnosed. Statistics from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) In 2016: Approximately 9.4% of children 2-17 years of age (6.1 million) had ever been diagnosed

For the past few years, Pekin Public School District 108 has been gradually implementing the practices of Responsive Classroom to bolster social-emotional skills and academic learning.  "Responsive Classroom  is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is comprised of a set of research, and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classroom and school communities for both students and teachers." - from responsiveclassroom.org  You many not have heard of it because we often refer to the different parts of Responsive Classroom or we just work them into the day. The students probably won't hear us talk about Responsive Classroom directly. What you may hear about is Morning Meeting, Quiet Time, or Closing Circle, all things that we do to build community and transition to different parts of the school day. Each school and each classroom implements Responsive Classroom differently. Ther

Hi Parents, Teachers, and Other Important Adults! Welcome back to a brand new year! I'm so excited to be back and see all the kids and teachers! It's going to be a good year! Last year, I started a blog to help inform you, parents, about the material I was covering in my SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) lessons in each classroom. I posted about once a month before my efforts fizzled out as my case load started to build. I did not meet my goal of posting at least once per month. BUT...I want to try again. My posts may be shorter, but I'm hoping giving myself permission to write shorter posts will keep me motivated to post more often. If you, the reader, find these posts helpful but want to see them more often, feel free to email me at erin.heilman@pekin108.org. I love it when others hold me accountable. (Seriously.) I will also take topic suggestions. What do you want to learn about? What issues is your kiddo having that I can help with? Email me or make a suggestion i