Bright Start. Bright Kids. Bright Future. July 2024

A Focus on Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health

July 2024

Working Through Challenging Moments Using FLIP IT with Young Children

This newsletter focuses on sharing information on infant/early childhood mental health and the importance of relationship-based approaches and supports that help infants and young children feel safe, supported, and valued by the adults around them. The newsletter, and the Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) program, is made possible by a partnership between the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) and the Pennsylvania Key.

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Welcome

In this edition of Bright Start, Bright Kids, Bright Futures, the IECMH Consultation team will dive into the FLIP It strategy from the Devereux Center For Resilient Children.

Created by Rachel Wagner, “FLIP IT® is a strategy that offers a simple, kind, strength-based, commonsense, and effective four step process to address children’s day to day challenging behavior. The four steps are embodied in the FLIP mnemonic which stands for F – Feelings, L – Limits, I – Inquiries and P – Prompts. FLIP IT is nothing new but transforms best practice into a strategy that is easy to remember, applicable in a variety of challenging situations and portable.”

Rachel explains more in this video 2:26.

Coming in August: Trauma-Informed Care

Did You Know?

Take Care of You, Take On Challenging Behaviors. There is free webinar, where you will learn how the four steps of the successful child strategy called FLIP IT (Feelings, Limits, Inquiries, Prompts) can work for YOU! By exploring your own Feelings, Limits, Inquiries, and Prompts, you can build your own resilience and be better prepared to FLIP the script on challenging behavior with children.

The webinar will be held on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, from 1 p.m. - 2 p.m. Eastern. This is a one hour free webinar from the Devereux Center for Resilient Children and there are no PQAS hours available. Register here.

Feelings

“Gently talk with children about their feelings and what you are seeing and hearing as a result of their emotions. Help children identify the root of their behavior.”

Modeling and Labeling Feelings & Validating Feelings (Vanderbilt University). Talking about and supporting a child’s feelings, big & small, promotes health Social-emotional development, builds trust and allows for learning to take place.

Feeling Faces & Feeling Wheel. Feeling Faces and Feeling Wheel assist children with understanding their feelings and the feelings of others. Feeling Faces cards in English and Spanish. Feeling Faces wheel in English and Spanish.

Feeling Faces Play Dough Mats. Use these fun mats to make a feeling face out of playdough.

Checklist of Emotional Literacy Practices. A tool for teachers to guide and support emotional literacy in their classrooms.

Limits

“Remind children of the positive limits and expectations you have for their behavior. Loving and simple limits help provide children with a sense of safety and trust.”

Setting Clear Behavior Expectations. Choose 3-5 appropriate behaviors children can engage in without support.

Our Preschool Rules. Use this scripted story to teach children about the expectations and rules associated with going to school. Available in English and Spanish.

Classroom Rules Poster. A sample poster to teach classroom rules.

Creating Classroom Rules – Show Me Five. Make a “High Five” poster to display your classroom rules.

Inquiries

“Encourage children to think about possible solutions to their challenges. Ask questions that promote problem-solving and healthy coping skills. Inquiries invite children to think, learn and gain self-control.”

Peer Mediated Social Skills and Visual Supports. Social Skills posters to display in the classroom to serve as a reminder for children engaged in play. Available in English and Spanish.

We Can Be Problem Solvers (Social Story). A story to help children practice finding solutions to social problems. Available in English and Spanish.

Suri Spider Selects a Solution (Social Story). Suri Spider is a super spider who likes to play with her friends. Find out what Suri does when her friends do things she doesn’t like. Available in English and Spanish.

Checklist for Teaching Problem Solving. A tool for teachers to guide, support and improve problem solving in their classrooms. will

Prompts

“Provide creative cues, clues and suggestions for children having difficulty problem-solving. Enthusiastic, bright ideas can lead the way to better problem-solving skills.”

Classroom Visual Supports. Teachers can support children in solving their own problems by using these tools in their classroom such as the Problem Solving Steps Poster in English and Spanish, and Solution Kit Cards in English and Spanish.

Provide a Verbal Reminder. If children begin to use challenging behavior, positively remind them of what they can do instead.

The “Make A Plan” Plan. A strategy for helping a teacher and child find a solution together.

Family Focus

Families can help children learn to stay calm, understand their emotions, set limits and use healthy coping skills to solve

problems so they build habits that will last a lifetime.

Teaching Your Child About Feelings. Steps to teach your child how to express how they feel.

Family Rules. What are the rules in your family at home?

We Can Be Problem Solvers at Home. A story to help children practice finding solutions to social problems. Available in English and Spanish.

How to Use Positive Language to Improve Your Child’s Behavior. Using positive language tells a child exactly what the expectation is and how he can change what he is doing. It empowers a child to make appropriate choices on his own, which can boost self-esteem. Available in English and Spanish.

Pulling It All Together

“FLIP IT can be used for targeted interventions for a child

displaying specific behavioral concerns OR

every day minor challenges and conflicts with

one child or with multiple children.”

So, what else do I need to know?

What does it look like?

Understanding what Causes Challenging Behavior. If you're looking for ways to stop and prevent challenging behavior from occurring in your home or classroom, understanding what actually causes challenging behavior is a good place to start.

FLIP IT website. Check out the webinar recordings, video examples, research and resources that support the FLIP IT strategy to address children’s day to day challenging behavior.

YouTube videos to support each of the four steps.

Moving through the Four Steps. These three flyers provide a brief overview of each of the four steps for when we find children’s behavior challenging, find ourselves in a conflict with another adult or help us cope when faced with our own stress and difficult feelings.

Office Hours

IECMH Consultation helps adults strengthen their relationships with young children and build capacity to respond to children’s social-emotional needs. IECMHC can help reduce caregiver stress, as well as increase caregivers’ reflective practice skills.

IECMH Consultants are available by appointment to provide IECMHC Virtual Office Hours consultation via telephone or video conference. IECMHC Virtual Office Hours is a short-term, collaborative, problem-solving conversation to help you find next steps for: Child Social-Emotional Concerns | Child Behavioral or Developmental Concerns Emotional Well-being of Teachers and Caregivers | Partnering with Families.

Appointments are held on the first and third Fridays of the month, or other days/times by request. Get more info.

Accessing IECMHC Services

The Pennsylvania Key has streamlined the process for Keystone STARS programs to request Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC). Child care providers can request services by using the Request for Service Form (PDF). Completed forms can be submitted via email PAIECMH@pakeys.org or faxed to 717-213-3749.

Programs and families can contact the program leadership directly at PAIECMH@pakeys.org with questions or concerns.

Accessing SACCMHC Services

With the generous support of the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) the Pennsylvania Key IECMH Consultation team has expanded to include four mental Health consultants to support School Age Child Care (SACC) programs participating in Keystone STARS. This service is primarily tele-consultation support. Click here to request support.

Share your feedback! We'd like to hear what you think about infant early childhood mental health.

Are there resources you'd like to see? Questions you have? Tell us! Send your feedback to PAIECMH@pakeys.org.