Sensational Social Skills: Positive Thinking

For this week's Sensational Social Skills we are focusing on having positive thoughts. 

Positive Thinking keeps us happy, healthy and productive. Automatic Negative Thoughts march in and spoil the fun like a line of ants marching in to spoil a picnic. It is normal to have some negative thoughts, but chronic negative self-talk can significantly impact a person’s behavior and health.  A habit of negative thinking can actually change the chemical makeup of your brain which impacts your ability to function. Students with behavior or learning challenges are at risk for having automatic negative thoughts.  They may hear negative statements from others or they may develop their own cognitive distortions. As the adult, it is important that you start by reflecting on your own thought patterns and how you talk to your students.  Next, help your student identify triggers and develop a new way of thinking. Use the Pillars of Performance (PoP) framework below to develop positive thinking.  PoP is a framework we use to help students acquire and apply social skills. These pillars include: PRACTICE, PRIME, PROMPT & PRAISE.  

First, introduce the concept of positive thinking with a social narrative like the one below:

Social Narrative:  Being positive makes us feel good and makes the people around us feel good too.  Sometimes negative thoughts pop into our minds.  We may not always be able to control our thoughts, but we can control what we say.  Before your automatic negative thought (ANT) gets out into your speech bubble, catch it and flip it into a positive comment.  Your teachers can help you flip your ANTs.  Practice this skill and you will be happy.

Click the image below for a free handout of the Flip the ANTs Positive Thinking PoP card.  Print, cut out and laminate the card to use as a visual support when teaching this skill.

Let’s PRACTICE!

Practice makes perfect. In order to master any skill you need to deliberatly practice the skill. This makes it much easier to apply the skill in the moment when you need it the most. Try some of these practice activities to strengthen skills. Repeat, repeat, then repeat.

1. Catch the ANT- Create flash cards with both positive and negative statements. Place each card face up on the table. As soon as a  student notices  a negative statement, the student  should slap their hand on the card to catch the ANT.  The first step is to develop awareness of negative thoughts. This should be a fun, fast paced game to increase  awareness and practice pausing when a negative thought occurs. It can be played with multiple students.

2. Flip the ANT- When a student identifies the negative statement they should flip the card over and think of a replacement statement that is more positive. A dry erase marker can be used to write the replacement on the back of the card. Click below for more information on ANTS and Growth Mindset. 

3. Use a Calming Strategy- Help the student identify a quick in-the-moment calming strategy such as deep breathing or palm presses. Practice this regularly so it can be used when the student feels anxious or negative.  These nature themed in-the-moment calming activities from Best Friend Books can help take your student to their happy place. 

4. Get help- Adults can help the student understand triggers and identify positive repacements for negative thoughts.  Use the Change Your Mindset Worksheet to write down the triggers and thoughts. Spend more time focusing on the positive replacement.  Create sentence strips to cue positive scripts for the student to practice and apply in the moment. Click the images below for more information on scripting.  If the negative thought is too big and won’t go away, the student may need  more intense counseling and support. 

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Time to PRIME!

Use the priming bullets on the Flip the ANTs Positive Thinking card to review the strategies you have practiced. If these strategies are fresh in the mind of your student, the student is more likely to apply the strategies. Make a point of reviewing these strategies prior to situations that typically trigger the student’s negative thoughts.  Provide positive scripts. Next, have the student engage in the calming strategy for a minute or more.  These are all strategies that have been practiced so the student should be very familiar with how to implement them. The priming session should be a positive pep talk to review these strategies and instill confidence in your student.  If the student does not like to talk about it, simply give them the card and positive scripts as a visual reminder. By priming the student, you are setting them up for success.

PROMPT

Even with a priming session, the student may forget to flip those ANTs. Use the Flip the ANTs card as an in-the-moment, nonverbal prompt to focus on the positive scripts. Tap on the sentence strip to cue the script. If the student is becoming frustrated, prompt or model the use of the calming strategy.

Give PRAISE!

Our final pillar is the most important. We know that in order to increase any skill we need to actively reinforce the skill.  Any time you catch the student being positive, give praise and additional encouragement. If your student needs more tangible reinforcement, consider giving points or stickers each time you notice positive behavior. If your student does not like verbal attention in front of peers, you can devise a subtle way to reinforce such as giving thumbs up or a written note. 

That’s it! Those are the 4 pillars to teach your students to stay positive. Each pillar is important in supporting the application and generalization of these critical skills. Taking the time to implement all 4 pillars will result in the outcome you want. It may take some time so be patient and have fun with it. Teaching the skill with a positive attitude will help the student develop a positive association with the strategies. Developing your student’s confidence and ownership of the goal will help your student succeed.