Anger Management & Social Skills
This program is open to all Worcester Residents. Please click here to learn how to sign up for this program
The Learning First Foundation is dedicated to helping students to “acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others.”
We teach children the underlying skills they need to help them understand and acquire complex social skills. Inability to relate well to one’s own feelings and those of other people is a barrier to the natural learning process.
The curriculum is based upon cognitive-behavioral psychology and principals of neuroscience. Through our unique curriculum, students first learn skills, then put the information into practice, and finally teach the information to others. We find by utilizing this full circle approach, students truly understand what they are being taught and are better able to generalize the information.
It is a program that teaches skills that reinforce social growth, personal happiness, and academic success. It contains a social skills check list, dynamic lessons and relaxation techniques for self control. Stories and games help children put into practice a variety of social and language skills.
This program helps children to be who they are and to feel good about their own strengths and weaknesses and those of others. Special activities help the child identify universal values (generosity, respect for property, honesty, self-control) which are respected because they help people to live together in harmony. Also, the child learns to communicate feelings openly, honestly, and without resorting to the need to put another down because they are seen as different in some way.
By working with a child who has difficulty making and keeping friends he or she will learn:
- How to engage in meaningful conversations with peers
- How to take turns;
- How to be fair and have fun while participating in games and activities
- The importance of compromising and cooperating with people
Fitting in at school is another crucial part of developing a happy and productive social life. By teaching children directly the importance of:
- doing one’s best in all learning situations,
- developing a positive interest in learning,
- taking pride in work and achievement,
- accepting mistakes as essential to the learning process, and
- practicing behaviors that lead to successful learning, such as listening skills
…we help them to better understand how to adapt to the rigors of school.
Developing the ability to handle one’s feelings is also essential.
This unit of study is based upon identifying and labeling the whole spectrum of emotions we experience as people in the world. From facial expressions to body language, tone of voice to eye contact, how do we communicate our feelings to the world and what is the world trying to convey to us!
Children learn to use self-control and to recognize signs of anxiety in themselves and others, and how to manage difficult feelings such as anger and stress. Exercises help the children to understand what they feel in their bodies and to use problem solving techniques and how to look at potential responses from a menu of choices to lessen the severity of extreme states.
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