Hello Everyone,
Do you have a teen or young adult at home? Or do you have middle or high school students you are teaching online? They may be struggling with the COVID-19 crisis and having physical or emotional symptoms.
It becomes easy for teens to spend time glued to screens, playing video games and/or reading online about the disheartening behaviors of others. Fear is being spread everywhere across the media. If we allow it, any of us, including youth could sink into a deep despair. Or we could allow it to bring out the best in all of us during this historical time of COVID-19 crisis.
Here is a checklist to consider.
Does Your Teen Show any of These Signs?
____sleeping all day, staying up all night.
____shutting down, not talking to family members.
____eating unhealthy snacks
____staying closed up in the bedroom.
____taking in too much negative information.
____feeling “keyed up”
____feeling on edge
____irritability
____difficulty concentrating
____restlessness
____unexplained outbursts
____frequent headaches, including migraines
____digestive Problems
____excessive fatigue
These symptoms may be harmful to one’s physical and emotional health. Here are some approaches you can promote to either shape the rhythm of the day or restore physical or emotional health.
Be Proactive
1. Set Clear Expectations
This helps youth build a routine with rhythm to their day. Pay attention to the energy level that the activity provides.
2. Make time for exercise or movement (high physical energy)
3. Set aside time for reading or studying
(low physical energy), but mentally and emotionally taking in information
4. Structure time for creating,
(high inspirational or fun energy) such as, playing an instrument, writing a story, or doing artwork.
5) Spend time for leisure
(medium fun energy), spending quality time with family members playing cards or board games,
6) Offer time to contribute
(medium energy) seeing value to help the entire household, such as, washing dishes, taking part in making dinner, or mowing the lawn.
7) Allow Your Teen to Worry- avoid telling your teen to not worry.
Give your teen time with you each day to vent worries and brainstorm solutions together.
8) Practice Reframing
Set time aside to practice positive reframing to promote and empower your teen to act upon h-her anxious thoughts.
9) Empathize Often
Send the message to the teen h-she is being validated for their emotions and they are not alone.
These are just a few ideas. Think of your own and share your comments and ideas with me and others.
For more ideas, download:
Teen Bucket List – PDF2
To see additional resources for Distance Learning, go to:
‘Youth Rescue’ Teachers Pay Teachers’ Store
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I love creating tools to invite youth to experience:
*self-awareness to help direct their decisions, emotionally cope, and socially adapt.
*self-value to know they matter greatly.
*self-advocacy to express their voice and choice about what they need, what they enjoy, and who they want to become.
Thank you for reading my blog
After decades of teaching youth with disabilities in all grades and researching what youth with autism spectrum need to make better work adaptations, Dr. Jackie Marquette discovered what youth need to acquire employment. It is as simple as a two sided coin. One side is for employers to acknowledge a candidate’s skills, strengths, and support needs, and the other side of the coin involves preparing youth to see their skills and interests from a wide range of strengths, personalized supports, and gainful social emotional awareness. Jackie has an adult son with autism and she has walked the walk, with ups and downs, failures and successes. Trent had employment at Meijer, a retail store for 13 years with innovative supports and for 19 years Trent has created abstract paintings for his art business. Many youth fall short in getting employed or getting in the right workplace environment. Rather, it is the personally matched opportunities and experiences with personal/social awareness preparation that enables adaptation and self-advocacy. With high youth unemployment, we all suffer. Very few educators, counselors, and employment professionals understand why or how to prevent the high youth unemployment rate.
Dr. Jackie Marquette writes curriculum for student career preparation as it relates to skill development and social emotional learning. She is the founder of the Transition Career Academy teaching online courses and face-to-face workshops. Her trainings are approved for 6 CE’s by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC). She has been endorsed by highly recognized colleagues in the disability field for skills in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Training, and Research. Her extensive experiences span teaching students with learning/developmental disabilities and ‘at risk’, spearheading autism community workplace projects, implementing school district transition programs, consulting and using her own tools, one-to-one with youth seeking employment through the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. She researched and interviewed over 800 youth with autism and their advocates, professionals, family members. As the owner of Youth Rescue© DBA Marquette Index, LLC, her program is engineered to be a catalyst for leaders, employers, and youth with their advocates. The purpose is to enhance everyone’s performance to make a meaningful difference in schools, companies, and the lives of all youth including those on who struggle socially and emotionally.