Three Things You Can Teach Your Kids At Home

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Gina Ulery

3 Things You Can Teach Your Kids At Home

There are a lot of things kids learn at school. How to do math, science, spell correctly, write legibly, and if you are lucky, play sports. But once they leave school, many life lessons await them. As Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, the authors of The Coddling Of The American Mind: How Good Intentions And Bad Ideas Are Setting Up A Generation For Failure remind us, kids are arriving at college less and less prepared.

Depression and anxiety rates have risen sharply among college students, more kids are on some sort of mood enhancer, and student counseling centers are seeing more visits than they ever have. While there are numerous reasons for this effect, the point is that kids need more than simply school preparation to not be overwhelmed by college (and life). So, with that in mind, here are three useful things you can teach your kids while they are at home during the pandemic:

Time Management

So much of school is scheduled for kids. This class starts at this time, practice starts after school, parents pick you up at a given time, teachers prepare the lesson for you. But what do you do when you want to accomplish something on your own? How exactly do you manage your time to reach your own goals?

For example, let’s say your kid wants to run a 5K race. How does he design his schedule to allow time to train? How does he make sure that he also accomplishes everything else he has to do like chores, homework, sleeping, etc.?

Having your kid at home is the perfect opportunity to help him learn how to set a goal, then manage his time to reach it. Start by having your kid choose a goal. It could be anything from finding a recipe and making dinner for the family to selling 400 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies, or, of course, a 5K race.

Then put your kid in the driver’s seat and have him create his own schedule to reach his goal. Your job is not to help him. Sure, you can let him know that you are there to answer questions, but you are not there to tell him what to do or when to do it. That, in fact, is the lesson for him to learn. But there is an even more important lesson here – that you believe he can accomplish his goals on his own.

How To Cope With Failure

Failure is a part of life. Try anything, from getting a job to learning to skateboard, and you will face failure. But what is more important than if we fail, is how we fail. Do we quit? Do we blame others? Do we make excuses? Or do we pick ourselves up and try harder?

Now that you are at home with your child, you have the perfect opportunity to teach him how to cope with failure, and even have fun in the process. Start by choosing an activity or skill to learn with your child. You could learn how to sing, play the guitar, dance, knit a blanket, ride a skateboard, or do gymnastics. Really anything is fine as long as it is a reasonable challenge and something that you and your child can enjoy.

Then learn alongside them and when you fail (which you will) use the opportunity to model self-control, personal responsibility, and the link between effort and outcome. In short, just shake it off and try harder. When you do this, you teach your kid an invaluable lesson: it is okay to fail; it is what you do about it that matters.

Self-Control

Drug addiction, smoking, procrastinating, interrupting, arguing, overeating, and over-consuming media, at the core, are all problems of self-control.

Essentially, we would like to be doing one thing (or envision ourselves doing this) yet we are actually doing something else. We would like to exercise every day, but we can’t seem to find the motivation. We would like to stop at one piece of pie, but that second one seems to call our name. And we know we should’ve gotten that last piece of work done but we were just so tired. You get the point.

The problem with poor self-control is that it keeps us from getting what we really want. Moreover, it keeps us stuck in a cycle of conflict with ourselves. The energy we spend justifying our actions could be spent working toward our goals. It all starts with better self-control.

So, take the opportunity now that your child is home with you to teach self-control – and maybe even give yourself a refresher. Start by sitting down with your child and telling him you are both going to choose a goal and help each other stay motivated to reach it. He can choose something like building a model airplane, brushing his teeth every day, walking the dog every morning, or eating only one bag of candy every day. You can also choose any goal you like so long as it is something that you would like to accomplish and is within your reach.

Then choose a strategy with your child to help you and he reach your goals. You can choose a motivational mantra, a commitment strategy that utilizes a penalty for not reaching your goal, or anything else that you want. The point is to learn how to work with yourself to change your behavior, and essentially overcome the impulses that keep you from reaching your goals. I can think of no better life lesson.

Having your kid at home for an indefinite amount of time is something that no parent could’ve anticipated. Yet, if we are creative, and a little open-minded, we can use the time as an opportunity to teach our kids all the things they might not otherwise learn in school.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Executive Functioning: Teaching Children Organizational Skills is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that will enumerate and illustrate multiple strategies and tools for helping children overcome executive functioning deficits and improve their self-esteem and organizational abilities. Click here to learn more.

Supportive Communication for the Child with Special Needs is a 1-hour audio continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides practical tips for helping parents to communicate with their child who has special needs. Click here to learn more.

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Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

PDR offers over 150 accredited online CE courses for healthcare professionals.

Target Audience: Psychologists, School Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapists (MFTs), Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), Occupational Therapists (OTs), Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs), and Teachers

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.org! Click here for details.

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How Do We Motivate Children to Learn?

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Gina Ulery

Left unchecked, challenges such as learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, behavior disorders, and executive functioning deficits can cause children to develop the idea that they are not capable of success in school, precipitating a downward spiral of poor self-esteem and – eventually – school failure.

So how do we avoid this outcome and motivate children to learn?

One way, is to employ a little empathy.

According to the Finnish First Steps study currently ongoing at the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Turku, empathetic teachers enhance children’s motivation and academic skills, such as reading, writing and arithmetic skills and create a positive atmosphere that safeguards and increases children’s motivation for learning (Siekkinen et al., 2015).

“We are currently studying to what extent the teacher-pupil relationship in the upper comprehensive school, i.e. in grades 7-9, can be linked to Finland’s excellent reading scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA,” explains Martti Siekkinen of the University of Eastern Finland (Siekkinen, 2015).

Siekkinen goes on to say that the first years of the lower comprehensive school, i.e. grades 1-3, are a critical period during which the child needs to have a safe relationship with his or her teacher. The teacher’s empathetic attitude not only protects children’s image of themselves as learners, but also against social exclusion by their fellow pupils (Siekkinen et al., 2015).

Previous research has also shown that the interaction between the teacher and the pupil is more important for learning outcomes than structural factors such as educational materials and class sizes. Furthermore, earlier studies have found the teacher-pupil interaction to be a significant factor during the early school years – and one that plays an important role in later years, when the academic challenges become greater and the protective teacher-pupil interaction can be less intensive.

While empathy is just one way to motivate children to learn, laying the groundwork for a child’s attitude toward learning is an indispensable process with effects that ripple outward – and surpass present outcomes.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Motivating Children to Learn is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges.

This course describes the various challenges that can sidetrack children in their developmental and educational processes, leaving them with a sense of discouragement and helplessness. Such challenges include learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, behavior disorders, and executive functioning deficits. Left unchecked, these difficulties can cause children to develop the idea that they are not capable of success in school, precipitating a downward spiral of poor self-esteem and – eventually – school failure.

The good news is that much better outcomes can result when parents, teachers, and therapists engage children in strategies and activities that help them overcome their discouragement and develop their innate intelligence and strengths, resulting in a growth mindset and a love of learning. Detailed in this course are multiple strategies and techniques that can lead to these positive outcomes. Course #40-44 | 2018 | 77 pages | 25 posttest questions

School Refusal Behavior: Children Who Can’t or Won’t Go to School is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE) course that breaks down the distinction between truancy and school refusal and examines a number of psychological disorders that may be causing – or comorbid with – school refusal.

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School refusal is a problem that is stressful for children, for their families, and for school personnel. Failing to attend school has significant long and short-term effects on children’s social, emotional, and educational development. School refusal is often the result of, or associated with, comorbid disorders such as anxiety or depression. Careful assessment, treatment planning, interventions, and management of school refusal are critical to attainment of the goal of a successful return to school as quickly as possible. Interventions may include educational support, cognitive therapy, behavior modification, parent/teacher interventions, and pharmacotherapy.

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This course will break down the distinction between truancy and school refusal and will examine a number of psychological disorders that may be causing – or comorbid with – school refusal, including separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic attacks, major depression, dysthymia, ADHD, and oppositional defiant disorder. Completing the course will assist you in performing a functional analysis of school refusal to determine the motivation and particular reinforcement systems that support the behavior. Specific intervention strategies will be reviewed, with a focus on tailoring and adapting standard approaches to specific situations. Participants will be given the opportunity to review several case studies and develop a sample intervention plan for cases of school refusal. Course #40-29 | 2011 | 49 pages | 30 posttest questions

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Improving Social Skills in Children & Adolescents is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that discusses the social skills children and adolescents will need to develop to be successful in school and beyond. It will demonstrate the challenges and difficulties that arise from a deficit of these crucial skills, as well as the benefits and advantages that can come about with well-developed social skills.

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This course will also provide practical tools that teachers and therapists can employ to guide children to overcome their difficulties in the social realm and gain social competence. While there are hundreds of important social skills for students to learn, we can organize them into skill areas to make it easier to identify and determine appropriate interventions. This course is divided into 10 chapters, each detailing various aspects of social skills that children, teens, and adults must master to have normative, healthy relationships with the people they encounter every day. This course provides tools and suggestions that, with practice and support, can assist them in managing their social skills deficits to function in society and nurture relationships with the peers and adults in their lives. Course #40-40 | 2016 | 62 pages | 35 posttest questions

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Course Directions

Our online courses provide instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

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Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapist (MFTs), Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), Occupational Therapists (OTs), Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs), School Psychologists, and Teachers

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Learned Helplessness in Children

Posted on June 5, 2018 by Gina Ulery

A number of circumstances and conditions can predispose children to the damaging effects of repeated failure experiences and learned helplessness.

Possibly the most unfortunate consequence of the cumulative effects of these conditions on children is the eventual development of the belief that they are simply not able to perform up to the standards of their parents and teachers. Children who have never experienced success in school are afraid to challenge themselves academically. They do not put in the required effort, and give up before even making an attempt to succeed. These students develop self-defeating strategies that eventually lead to the very failures that they are attempting to avoid. After striving for unattainable goals and procrastinating, they become depressed and angry. Worse still, this sense of helplessness is sometimes influenced in a number of subtle ways by the behavior of parents and teachers, who unwittingly participate in the expectation that the child is not going to do well.

According to Eklund et al. (2015), learned helplessness creates three basic shortfalls in the child: cognitive, emotional, and motivational, thus destroying the child’s aspiration to learn. Once a child ceases to have the motivation to learn, it becomes even harder to engage him/her to attempt to understand something new, as they fall into becoming a helpless learner. To be clear, the child does not intentionally try to behave this way, but feels as though there is no other option, and that failure is inevitable. Once these practices are repeated and reinforced, the child builds an inappropriate response to learning, which becomes a habit. The child will continue in this way throughout his/her educational career, until something changes.

Red Flags of Learned Helplessness

Laying blame on the teacher:
- “The teacher is unfair and picks on me, so I’m not going to do any of her assignments”
- “It’s the teacher’s fault that I didn’t do well on the test because she didn’t remind me it was today, and I guessed at most of the items”
Making excuses for bad behavior to hide insecurities about struggling to learn:
- “The hallway was too crowded, and when I got to the cafeteria there was no dessert left, so I trashed my tray and got sent to the office instead of going to my next class which, by the way, is the one where I don’t learn anything anyway.”
Exhibiting an “I give up” attitude:
- “School is just boring, the work is dumb, the assignments are too hard (or too easy), and the teacher never checks homework anyway, except when she knows I don’t have it done.”
Pulling away or refusing to communicate to avoid confrontation:
- “What happened in school today?” “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Children who feel judged instead of supported:
- “My parents worry so much about my homework and school work. Why bother worrying about it myself?”
- “I often feel like my parents won’t value me if I’m not as successful as they would like.”
- “My parents say I can be anything I like, but deep down I feel they won’t approve of me unless I pursue a profession they admire.”

The progression from learning challenges to school failure looks like this: (note that school failure can initiate a spiral of further discouragement and reinforcement of self-defeating beliefs).

Learning Challenges > Lack of Success > Discouragement > Fixed Mindset > Learned Helplessness > School Failure

School failure is not, of course, the end of the story. Rather, it can be the beginning of a cascade of negative life outcomes such as problem drinking, mental health problems, criminal activity, and employment problems. While such outcomes are beyond the scope of this course, they do highlight the importance of intervening early with children who are at risk for school failure.

The “Cycle of Success,” by contrast, would proceed as follows:

Learning Abilities > Success > Encouragement > Growth Mindset > Self Confidence > School Success

Click here to learn more.

Course excerpt from:

Motivating Children to Learn is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges.

Course Directions

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Re-Thinking Motivation

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Gina Ulery

Self-control, or specifically, willpower, has been dubbed a limited resource. The more we use it to complete one task, the less we have for the next one, and by the end of the day, willpower may be so drained that those impulses we seek to resist don’t have much of a chance.

But what about the things we are motivated to do? Interestingly, a new study done by researchers at University of Toronto shows that self-control may be highly influenced by how motivated we are.

As Dan Randles, a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Michael Inzlicht’s lab at U of T Scarborough notes, most studies on self-control depletion have been done in the lab, and some, including studies on glucose, may not translate so easily to real life conditions.

Working with Iain Harlow, Vice President of Science at the adaptive learning company Cerego, Randles and Inzlicht gathered data from more than 16,000 students who completed voluntary learning and review exercises over several months using Cerego’s adaptive learning platform. The researchers found that people experience worsened ability while doing a single difficult memory task, and that their performance begins to decline around the 30-minute mark with a notable drop in performance around 50 minutes.

However, the researchers found no evidence that ability to complete the task decreased throughout the day, and in fact found that motivation to complete it actually increased (Harlow et al., 2018).

One explanation for this, Randles notes, could be that we have several longer-term goals to achieve and that we’re sensitive to putting in enough effort to complete them all. So too much effort in one task may rob other important goals (Randles, 2018).

This may be just one of the ways that we mistake the role – and the determinants – of motivation. And because motivation plays a central role in our lives – often moving toward our goals – understanding motivation and the forces that act upon it becomes imminently important for clinicians who work to help clients reach their goals.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

Motivation: Igniting the Process of Change is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that explores how we can tap into, ignite, and harness our motivation to create lasting change. Motivation today is one of the most coveted traits, thought to underlie our business success, athletic prowess, and even weight loss. But just how do we motivate ourselves? How do we ignite and harness our own motivation to achieve our goals? How do we call upon our motivation when we need it the most? And how do we keep motivation alive to create the lives we want? This course will explore these questions, and many more. We will begin with a discussion about why clinicians need to know this information and how this information can be helpful in working with clients. Next, we will look at the research behind motivation, decipher between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and explore the roots of what keeps us motivated now, and over time. Lastly, we will learn the powerful skills needed to create a spark – that is to teach your clients to ignite and harness their own motivation to face fears, make decisions, take action, and create lasting change. Exercises you can use with clients are included. Course #31-03 | 2018 | 46 pages | 20 posttest questions

Motivating Children to Learn is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges. This course describes the various challenges that can sidetrack children in their developmental and educational processes, leaving them with a sense of discouragement and helplessness. Such challenges include learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, behavior disorders, and executive functioning deficits. Left unchecked, these difficulties can cause children to develop the idea that they are not capable of success in school, precipitating a downward spiral of poor self-esteem and – eventually – school failure. The good news is that much better outcomes can result when parents, teachers, and therapists engage children in strategies and activities that help them overcome their discouragement and develop their innate intelligence and strengths, resulting in a growth mindset and a love of learning. Detailed in this course are multiple strategies and techniques that can lead to these positive outcomes. Course #40-44 | 2018 | 77 pages | 25 posttest questions

In the Zone: Finding Flow Through Positive Psychology is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE) course that offers a how-to guide on incorporating flow into everyday life. According to the CDC, four out of ten people have not discovered a satisfying life purpose. Further, the APA reports that most people suffer from moderate to high levels of stress, and according to SAMSHA, adult prescription medication abuse (primarily to counteract attention deficit disorders) is one of the most concerning health problems today. And while clinicians now have a host of resources to mitigate distress and reduce symptomatology, the question remains: how do clinicians move clients beyond baseline levels of functioning to a state of fulfillment imbued with a satisfying life purpose? The answer may lie in a universal condition with unexpected benefits… This course will explore the concept of flow, also known as optimal performance, which is a condition we are all capable of, yet seldom cultivate. When in flow we experience a profound and dramatic shift in the way we experience ourselves, our capabilities, and the world around us. Our focus sharpens, our strengths are heightened, we feel an intense sense of euphoria and connection to the world around us, and we often realize capabilities we didn’t know were possible. For clients, flow doesn’t just help them become more capable, it dramatically improves their lives – teaching them not just to expect more from themselves, but how to cultivate the very conditions that make expecting more possible. This course, packed with exercises, tips, and tools, will demonstrate just how flow can be incorporated into your everyday life, and used to help your clients move from simply surviving to a life that harnesses and builds upon their own unique potential to thrive. Course 21-11 | 2016 | 30 pages | 15 posttest questions

Course Directions

Online courses provide instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

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Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Mapping Motivation

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Gina Ulery

It’s about rewarding yourself. You have to want it first. You have to have the right enthusiasm. You have to have incentives. When it comes to motivation, there are many ideas about how we get it, what we need to get it, and how we keep it going.

But for all of our ideas, motivation actually consists of only three ingredients. That’s right, three. So what are they?

Mastery, autonomy, and purpose. I call it the MAP of motivation.

In his groundbreaking book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink found study after study that demonstrated that external rewards, like money, material gains, and promotions, didn’t increase motivation, and in many cases, even decreased it (Pink, 2011).

What did increase motivation, Pink found, were experiencing a sense of mastery, such as learning to do something better, perfecting a skill, or learning a new one, feeling autonomous, such as being able to choose how, when, and where you pursue your goals, as well as what those goals are, and feeling as if what you are doing has a purpose, such as creating a product, program, or system that directly affects and improves the lives of others (Pink, 2011).

Pink gives numerous examples of companies such as Google, Tom’s Shoes, and Patagonia that have embraced his approach, with profound results. Gmail, for example was the product of Googles’s 20 percent rule: employees can choose what they work on for 20 percent of their time as long as they present their work at regular scheduled intervals (Pink, 2011).

The difference between companies like these and those that simply pay more in monetary or promotional gains is that they tap into a person’s internal motivation. Paying someone more is an external motivator. Giving them choice, that’s an internal one.

And when people are internally motivated, they look to themselves to solve problems, find strengths they might not know existed, and connect what they are doing to something beyond themselves. The result? They don’t need external rewards. They have all the motivation they need.

Related Online Continuing Education (CE) Courses:

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Motivating Children to Learn ASHA Approved

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Gina Ulery

Motivating Children to Learn is a new 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges.

This course is offered for 0.4 ASHA CEUs (Introductory level, Professional area).

ASHA credit expires 11/14/2020. ASHA CEUs are awarded by the ASHA CE Registry upon receipt of the quarterly completion report from the ASHA Approved CE Provider (#AAUM). Please note that the date that appears on ASHA transcripts is the last day of the quarter in which the course was completed. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, the Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635).

Course #40-44 | 2018 | 77 pages | 25 posttest questions

CE Credit: 4 Hours
Target Audience: Psychologists | Counselors | Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) | Social Workers | Occupational Therapists | Marriage & Family Therapists (MFTs) | School Psychologists | Teachers
Learning Level: Introductory
Course Type: Online

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This course is sponsored by Professional Development Resources, a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

The 3 Components of Growth Mindset

Posted on October 20, 2017 by Gina Ulery

Course excerpt from Motivating Children to Learn

Growth mindset teaches us to focus on the characteristics of an individual, rather than their IQ score. Dweck (2006) recommends fostering a growth mindset in children and educators instead of the more common fixed mindset. Children and adults with a fixed mindset believe that it does not matter how much work or effort one puts in because intelligence and talents are static traits. Therefore, an individual has no control over whether or not s/he succeeds. A growth mindset is the belief that you can effect change within yourself by learning anything with dedication, effort, and persistence. A growth mindset sows the seeds for true success and a love of learning.

In this section we will discuss the basics of the Growth Mindset Philosophy and its three major components. In each of these three parts we will discuss ways in which we can convey a growth mindset to our clients, and incorporate these ideas into our therapy activities, in a school, home-based, or private practice setting.

The three components of growth mindset that we will discuss here are:

Neuroplasticity: The idea that the brain is like a muscle, which can get stronger/smarter with use.
Praise that is used appropriately focuses on the effort that the child brings to a task, as opposed to a focus on their innate intelligence.
Mistakes as opportunities for learning. Reinforce the idea that our mistakes and failures are some of our best opportunities for learning

Angela Duckworth, a psychologist at University of Pennsylvania, has studied the character trait of Grit, which she describes as the perseverance and passion for long-term goals. This involves working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failures, adversity, and plateaus in progress (Duckworth et al., 2007). It is one of a set of non-cognitive skills (such as curiosity, resilience, and self-control) that impacts students’ long-term success, just as much as academic skills or IQ. Growth mindset is the idea that people can affect change within themselves, and that they can learn almost anything with dedication, effort, and persistence.

Dweck (2006) explains that teaching children that the brain is a muscle, which can get stronger with effort and hard work, may elicit a positive response. By praising effort and persistence, children learn that mistakes are opportunities to learn, and that challenges and obstacles should be embraced.

Click here to learn more.

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Motivating Children to Learn is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges.

Course #40-44 | 2018 | 77 pages | 25 posttest questions

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Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

Motivating Children to Learn

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Gina Ulery

New CE Course @pdresources.org

Motivating Children to Learn is a new 4-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that provides strategies and activities to help children overcome their academic and social challenges. This course describes the various challenges that can sidetrack children in their developmental and educational processes, leaving them with a sense of discouragement and helplessness. Such challenges include learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, behavior disorders, and executive functioning deficits. Left unchecked, these difficulties can cause children to develop the idea that they are not capable of success in school, precipitating a downward spiral of poor self-esteem and – eventually – school failure. The good news is that much better outcomes can result when parents, teachers, and therapists engage children in strategies and activities that help them overcome their discouragement and develop their innate intelligence and strengths, resulting in a growth mindset and a love of learning. Detailed in this course are multiple strategies and techniques that can lead to these positive outcomes. Course #40-44 | 2018 | 77 pages | 25 posttest questions

CE Credit: 4 Hours
Target Audience: Psychologists | Counselors | Social Workers | Occupational Therapists | Marriage & Family Therapists | School Psychologists | Teachers
Learning Level: Introductory
Course Type: Online

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This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. After enrolling, click on My Account and scroll down to My Active Courses. From here you’ll see links to download/print the course materials and take the CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document). Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion.

Click here to learn more.

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Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

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Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

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Motivating Children to Learn ASHA Approved

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