One of the challenges of coping with anxiety is regulating the body's responses. This can be hard for kids, but it's important to teach children how to work with, rather than against, these natural responses. Alex's story does just that and gives hope to students who may be struggling with anxiety, through kid-friendly strategies and models of reframing in the book Beat Beat Thump by Allison Edwards and Steliyana Doneva. So many students will see themselves in Alex and relate to his experience. He talks through his day, mentioning the stressors that make his heart start racing and pounding, even saying, "I wonder if it will ever go away." But the real power of this book comes when Alex starts exploring techniques to calm the beat, beat, thump of his racing heart. Although the book never uses the word mindfulness, the theme runs throughout. Alex brings awareness to the rhythmic beating of his heart as a way to ground himself. He eventually begins to appreciate the "strong, steady rhythm" of his heart as a positive reminder of the good things in his life. Here are my favorite parts about this book: - Everyone has a heart beat! Every child (and even adult) can probably relate to Alex's feeling of an increase in heart rate when in a stressful situation. Similarly, everyone can use some of Alex's strategies for using that same heart beat to regulate and find calm again. That makes the strategies in this book truly applicable for anyone. - The strategies make mindful body awareness a concrete behavior. Whether it's tapping the rhythm, breathing deeply, or thinking about a happy place, it gives specific behaviors children can do to help support their regulation in moments of anxiety. - It's a simple, short, easy story that could be read out loud with a whole group or explored more thoroughly with an individual child. It also seems versatile enough that I would willingly read it with any child in elementary school, from kindergarten through fifth grade. Some things you might want to be aware of are: - This is a true picture book, not a book for a longer unit in my opinion. There is much more to explore on the topic, and I would probably treat this book as an introduction to managing anxiety. - Alex appears to have a loving home - a mom, a dad, a dog, camping adventures, and other positive experiences. While this book could be read with any student, it doesn't address some of the legitimate fears a child might have in an unsafe home environment. Know that students with trauma may have a different experience with anxiety than Alex does. So, how would I use Beat Beat Thump in the classroom? Keep this on hand as a stand-alone read aloud. Whether you have morning meeting, SEL workshop, or another time you integrate behavioral social emotional learning, this book would be a quick grab-and-go for when you haven't had as much time to plan or are between bigger units. You could even just pull it off the shelf as you see a need! I would absolutely use this book to expose the whole class to the topic of anxiety, then invite for students to come to me or another trusted adult to talk more about the book after. It's a great Tier 1 introduction that could lead to deeper conversations for the students that need it. Pull the strategies from the book and teach them explicitly to students with anxiety. As I said above, the book includes specific behaviors that can help a child regulate and cope with feelings of anxiety. Teaching and reinforcing the behaviors Alex does in the book equips students with the skills they need to learn how to regulate their emotions independently. I may even use these behaviors to co-regulate with students who may need that scaffolded support, by modeling and performing them together with students who might be coping with big feelings. Beat, Beat, Thump is a simple but versatile book that is great to keep on hand in any classroom for when (not if) you have a student dealing with anxiety. You can get the book here, as well as some premade resources here to help you use it in your classroom today! We already know books provide opportunities to teach just about any skill, and that includes behavioral, social, and emotional skills, too! Through character, conflict, and more, BSEL skills can be found on nearly every page. A library of BSEL books gives you endless options to incorporate academics as well. Grab some BSEL books and get teaching!
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Meet JennyI'm a special education teacher turned BSEL coach. If I'm not geeking out on the research, I'm probably snuggling up on the couch with my husband and our two cats, Gibson and Binks. Categories
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