(For Schools)
Increasing numbers of students have been given a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, ASD, ADHD, ODD, sensory processing problems or global delay.
Increasing numbers of students are experiencing tough life events or just seem to struggle with worry, frustration, peer relationships and resiliency.
Teaching (and support) staff find supporting and working with these children (and their families) takes up significant amounts of time and energy.
Increasing numbers of parents and families who struggle to support or use “take charge” skills at home with children – and who appear to be stressed/overwhelmed in the process.
At Calm Kid Central, we support Australian Primary Schools in FOUR important ways.
Children use or watch these resources with their class or in small groups/counselling settings – and can also watch and use them at home with families.
Coping with “Mean” Behaviour
Learning to Calm Down
Confident Sentences
Calming My Body
Acting Confidently
Danger Checkers; Why we worry
See below for some sample videos.
We help parents/caregivers – via a weekly email and links to our parent library of short videos and articles – with fast, practical ideas about how to warmly support, talk to kids, coach them to gain skills and use “take charge” skills.
Teachers use Calm Kid Central the parent library by emailing them a link directly to a video or article (for example, if a parent reports concerns about separation anxiety, a teacher can send them a link to a video on supporting kids with worry). Some schools share videos and articles on their school website for all parents in the school community. This helps parents across the school community to get the information and support they need – from an independent and credible source.
Videos and resources can be watched /read on mobile device anytime, anywhere.
Parent resource titles include:
Better Before School Mornings
Making Praise more Powerful in Changing Behaviour (8 mins)
The skills and knowledge children need/how to coach this (8 mins)
How we accidentally encourage tricky behaviour (4 mins)
A simple way to increase instruction following (6 mins)
Question Asking Mistakes we make (6 mins)
I can’t do it: Helping children when their “learning confidence” is low (plus children’s worksheet)
Four Amazing Lessons Children Learn in Tough Times
5 ideas to help children take gaming breaks
A “real life” section with an audio recorded conversation with real parent/child interacting.
A full Transcript of the text to print out.
Professionals are sent a weekly “Professionals Only” email to all Calm Kid Central professional members to provide them with the link to a quick email, idea or tip in working with these children. This means teachers are regularly reminded of resources and concepts which will help them support children with extra emotional, social or behavioural needs.
Videos/articles/resources can be watched/accessed on mobile /device anytime, anywhere.
Sample resources include:
How we accidentally encourage challenging behaviour (4 mins)
A simple way to increase instruction following (6 mins)
Question Asking Mistakes we make when children are upset(6 mins)
Helping Children Learn “good game playing” skills and resolve conflict (plus kids’ activity sheet)
Ideas to help reluctant communicators in the classroom
Working with “tough” children – three sentences to say to ourselves
Questions from both parents and staff are answered. For staff: we have a “Professionals Only” discussion centre. This means staff can log on to their own, private question centre and ask us questions about managing and supporting a child with challenging behaviour or emotional needs in the classroom.
Unlimited questions about child development, difficult situations and child challenges answered – within 48 hours – for 48 weeks of the year.
Kirrilie
Clinical Child Psychologist
Taryn
Clinical Child Psychologist
Penny
Clinical Child Psychologist
Jacinda
Clinical Child Psychologist
Kate
Clinical Child Psychologist
Questions from parents/carers in our parent membership question centre:
(Please note these have been summarised for the sake of brevity)
– What do you to help children who struggle with focus at school?
– How to help kids who forget belongings and are not interested in chores at home?
– Help for kids with negative self talk?
– Ideas for children who feel like children are “looking at her”?
– Help for 6 year old who gets angry and hits other children
– Ideas for conflict in sibling relationships
– What to say to children worrying about dying?
– How to help with separation anxiety in Year 2 student?
– Children who complain about going to school
– Meltdowns in 11 year olds – ideas and help
Questions from professionals/teachers in our professionals only question centre:
(Please note these have been summarised for the sake of brevity)
– Do you know any groups for kids who need social skills training?
– What is the latest thinking on using rewards with children?
– How do you work with children who have experienced trauma?
– What assessment tools do you use?
– How do you engage with 10-12 year old boys who just don’t want to talk?
– What can you suggest for younger children who struggle to sit still on the mat?
– How to respond to children talking about death.
– What resources are there for helping children create better body awareness?
– How do you get kids to actually use their “calm down strategies”?
Over 1000 Australian teachers, parents and carers and school communities (in South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and in the United States) have signed up for Calm Kid Central in the last 2 years.
94% of children (as reported by their parents) experienced a significant reduction in a) anxiety, worry and stress symptoms, b) difficulties managing frustration, following instructions and co-operation behaviours and c) attention and concentration problems after 4 months of being part of the program.
In addition, on average, parents reported a statistically significant increase in parental adjustment and well-being
97% of parents said they believed Calm Kid Central had been either “quite”, “very” or “extremely helpful” for their family
(Data collected from 81 families, measures used were the Pediatric Symptom Checklist and the Parent and Family Adjustment Scale)
Pricing is based on the number of students enrolled at the school in Reception to Year 4.
0-150 students in Reception to Year 4: $2150 plus GST (ie $ 14 per child)
151-300 students in Reception to Year 4: $2350 plus GST (ie $7 per child)
301-450 students in Reception to Year 4: $2550 plus GST (ie $5 per child)
451-600 students in Reception to Year 4: $2850 plus GST (ie $4 per child)
Does the above pricing put this program out of your budget? Some schools have used some of the funds from their annual teacher professional development, parent education and social/emotional well being budget to pay for this program, and other schools have asked families to contribute to the program to help pay for it.
Other schools choose not to purchase the “Whole School Membership” but instead simply purchase an organisational membership – this allows a number of staff at the school to access the program for use within the school and classroom programs – but not families at home.
“Organisational membership” pricing is as follows:
$685 for 5-10 professionals from the same organisation to have full access to the program for 12 months
$895 for 11-15 professionals from the same organisation to have full access to the program for 12 months
The program and pricing listed above is for whole school membership.
But don’t worry if your school is not a member – we have a special Calm Kid Central program just for you.
Click on the button below to find out more.
Are all the videos and resources available as soon as parents/staff sign up? Will there be more released?
We have students diagnosed with an anxiety disorder,autism, ADHD, learning disorder, speech and language disorder or global delay. Will Calm Kid Central be useful for these students?
Do I have to download any programs or software?
Who is the behind this site? Who creates the resources? And what is Developing Minds Psychology?
I’ve also presented seminars and training to more than 50 thousand students (and their teachers and parents) within schools across Australia to help them learn to manage their difficult emotions and challenges in life. I’ve worked really closely with teachers, school staff and other professionals in supporting families.
All these experiences have been a privilege for me. I’ve learnt an amazing amount about families, and this has helped me write several books about and for children – and develop Calm Kid Central.
Why did you create Calm Kid Central?
Around the same time, we were getting increasing numbers of requests from schools to provide psychology services in schools themselves, and asked to provide supervision and consultation to school staff. We just didnt have the capacity to have our psychologists attend schools in person as much as we would have liked.
I started thinking that there must be a better way – and the idea of Calm Kid Central was born.
Our team of psychologists really do care about the young people they work with, and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that Calm Kid Central helps us ultimately reach and support hundreds of kids – and their teachers, and parents – to feel calmer, more confident and act in more positive ways.
How do you manage confidentiality on Calm Kid Central?
How do users log in and use the site?
How do you manage safety on Calm Kid Central?
I have more questions about Calm Kid Central, how do I get in touch with you?
You can also call us during business hours 9-5pm AEST on 08 8357 1711