So, I meet up with a student downstairs who was “running” from upstairs. The student was agitated, crying, very upset. I guess he had just had a huge explosion upstairs when I found him. Because I know him fairly well, I offered him an opportunity to come into our resource room downstairs. We have a couch in there with some de-stressing tools. We negotiated a ten minute cool down window with his teacher and off we went.
I offered to go get KaBoom. I explained that the tool he was using, (We call it The Squishy Man- it is a gingerbread-shaped bean bag about the size of a medium teddy bear), was good, but that KaBoom might be better. As I have said in the blogs before, sometimes weight and/or pressure can calm us down. I explained that KaBoom would be like having a live, heavier Squishy Man. The student was all over that idea!!
So we set the timer for the ten minute cool down and I quickly went upstairs to get KaBoom. I brought her down and he sat criss-cross and pulled her into his lap. Then I watched.
For ten minutes, hardly a word was said. KaBoom sat in his lap as he patted her. I sat there too but said nothing. I sat quietly and watched. Cool down is NOT a time for discussion but a chance to calm down. As he calmed, KaBoom sank into more pressure, which calmed him more, and KaBoom sank more, which calmed him more, etc.
For ten minutes, this dog worked to de-escalate this student. He noticed the time was up. I said, “Okay, so, how do you feel?” He answered slowly, “I …feel……….GREAT! I feel GREAT!!!” He seemed surprised!! and extremely pleased. We had gone, in fifteen minutes of total time, from tears and screams of it being “The WORST day of my life!!!!” to “I feel GREAT!!!”.
We walked quietly back upstairs with KaBoom. I delivered the student back to his class and wished him a good day. Then I delivered KaBoom back to her class. He went on to have a fantastic day.
POWERFUL!!!! I am so very grateful to have been a part of this moment today. I don’t know why he was upset. I didn’t need to know why he was upset. I may never know why he was upset AND, as someone so wisely pointed out to me today (thank you Liz!!), HE may not know exactly why he was upset!!
It was probably among the top ten most amazing moments I have had teaching ever and definitely up there in the top three amazing moments of this year.
Yep! Still loving my job!
princestreetpuppyproject 