Many students experience anxiety, frustration, overwhelm, and sensory stress during the school day. Therapeutic schools can help these students learn to deal with these emotions. More than simply listing coping skills, therapeutic schools can help students learn to use these skills during times of distress.
This article discusses why students need coping skills and outlines some common coping skills. It also explains how a therapeutic school in New York City can help students with emotional and behavioral issues learn coping skills.
Do Many Students Need Help with Coping Skills?
If your child struggles with emotional or behavioral issues, you’re not alone. A recent survey asked parents if their child remained “calm and in control when faced with a challenge.” Nearly thirty percent answered “Sometimes” or “Never.” So, the issue is quite common.
Several studies have found that children with learning issues often struggle with emotional issues as well. One recent study of emotional issues in children with learning disabilities found that anywhere from 15% to 59% of students with learning challenges also had emotional or behavioral issues. These numbers were far higher than the 7% typical for a group without learning challenges.
How Do Coping Skills Help Students Learn?
Emotions such as anger, stress, frustration, and anxiety take up mental space. When the brain’s attention is diverted, it can be difficult to concentrate on schoolwork. As such, students may struggle with:
- Remembering assignments or instructions
- Starting or finishing assignments or tests
- Giving appropriate responses to teacher or peer feedback
- Participating in group discussions or projects
Coping skills help students manage emotions. Students can use them to calm themselves enough to return to the school day.
What Are Coping Skills?
Coping skills don’t teach students not to be upset. Instead, they teach students how to manage less pleasant emotions so they can return to learning before their emotions interfere with the process. Here are some common categories of coping strategies.
1. Calming
These exercises can help the body release stress physically, which often leads to an emotional “reset.” Common skills include breathing exercises (e.g., deep breathing or box breathing) and progressive muscle relaxation.
2. Grounding
Grounding strategies help students focus on the physical world. Doing this can help students with racing thoughts or high anxiety disconnect and return to the present. Typical tools include:
- The 5-4-3-2-1 technique
- Naming objects in the room
- Holding a familiar object
- Describing the nearby environment or objects
3. Emotional Awareness
Sometimes, simply recognizing a feeling can help a child deal with it. Processes like naming the emotion or rating its intensity can help students learn what triggers them and how to respond.
4. Cognitive Coping
Many conditions can cause negative, intrusive, or otherwise unwanted thoughts. Identifying thought patterns and reframing them can help students move forward.
5. Problem Solving
Sometimes overwhelm comes from not knowing what to do. Problem-solving skills can reduce overwhelm by teaching students different ways to respond.
6. Self-Advocacy
Students can become overwhelmed when they think they have to do everything alone. Reminding them that they can tell adults when they need help or a brief break can help them learn to tell others what they need.
7. Sensory Coping
Sensory issues can cause emotional issues. A student teacher, who may be perceived as irritable, may simply be trying to manage an overstimulating classroom. Common tools for this issue include asking to:
- Move to a quieter location
- Use a fidget toy or other sensory object
- Take a short break
- Go to a designated calm space or counselor’s office
8. Academic Coping
Students who are struggling in the classroom are more likely to become frustrated, anxious, or angry, especially when their results don’t reflect their effort. Students can manage their emotions around academics using tools such as:
- Writing down questions that can’t be asked immediately
- Accepting teacher feedback as neutral information rather than a personal attack
- Restarting after mistakes rather than stopping completely
9. Frustration Tolerance
Children who get frustrated easily must learn to push on when things don’t go as planned. Replacing negative statements with positive ones and learning to reset after setbacks can help.
10. Social Coping
Many children with learning disabilities also struggle socially. Children with autism and similar diagnoses may not recognize social cues. Children with diagnoses such as ADHD may speak before thinking. Techniques such as pausing before responding to peers, walking away from high-conflict situations, and asking for adult intervention can help children improve their peer interactions.
11. Reengagement
Even with coping skills, children may still have meltdowns. Afterward, the embarrassment or emotional overwhelm may make returning to class seem impossible. Yet, students can learn to reengage by reframing what happened as a learning opportunity, noticing what helped, apologizing to anyone affected by their emotions, and making a new plan for future events.
12. Preventive Coping
Helping children recognize their triggers before they become unmanageable may be the most crucial coping strategy. Working with adults to develop a plan for emotional situations creates a template and sets expectations, even if it doesn’t prevent every outburst.
Frequently Asked Questions About Coping Skills
- What if a coping strategy seems to stop working?
Children’s needs (and academic expectations and stress levels) change over time. Their coping needs should change as well.
- Can parents reinforce coping skills at home?
Absolutely. Parents can support the coping skills the students learn at school by:
- Helping children identify their emotions
- Encouraging students to use coping strategies at home
- Offering positive reinforcement when children successfully use coping tools
- Are coping skills the same as behavior management?
Not really. Coping skills help students manage their own emotions. Functional behavioral assessments (FBAs) and the resulting Behavioral Intervention Plan (BIP) are tools that adults use to redirect student behavior.
- Can a student have good coping skills at school but struggle at home?
Absolutely. This is common for many students, particularly those with autism. These students often work hard to “behave” at school. Once home, they are exhausted from holding it together and more prone to outbursts.
How Do Therapeutic Schools Help Students Build Coping Skills?
Therapeutic schools integrate coping skills and other social-emotional learning topics into each school day. This makes these techniques normal for all students. Additionally, therapeutic schools have experienced counselors who can help students not only learn coping skills but also practice using them when emotions run high.
If your child might benefit from a therapeutic school, consider Academics West. Our teachers and counselors have helped many students work through their emotional issues. Learn more about our school by taking our virtual tour, scheduling a call with an admissions coordinator, or scheduling an in-person visit.