Stress Management & Communication of Feelings

Chapters 6 & 7

Guiding the Gifted Child by Webb, Meckstroth and Tolan

Stress Management

• Some stress (challenge) is desirable; learn to manage it
• What causes stress is self-talk
• Blame and irrational beliefs leave us helpless
• Importance of balancing self-talk; “bookkeeping error”
• Perfectionism (idealism to an excess)
• Importance of parents modeling positive self-talk
• Don’t teach stress management skills during crisis times
• Immediate calming techniques (HALT – hungry, angry, lonely, tired); teaching meditation
• Using humor to induce perspective
• Socratic method of teaching (e.g., “How awful is it?”)
• How we manage our own self-talk

 Communication of Feelings

• Communication cannot be forced; create the climate
• Active listening is communicating
• Accept the feelings (though not necessarily the behavior)
• Avoid “killer statements”
• Modeling a relationship; “I” statements (“When you…I…”)
• Barriers to communication (fast pace of life, television, newspapers, computers, etc.)
• Self-disclosure begets self-disclosure
• Special times and special places enhance communication
• Emotional temperature readings

Handouts

1. “How Many Plates Can You Keep Spinning?” excerpt from What’s On Your Mind by Joel Anderson & Joan Brinkman

2. Developing a Feeling Vocabulary by Sharon Lind (www.SENGifted.org)

3. Stress Experience by Gifted People by Doreen Woolley

4. Reversal of Fortune: How Parents Unintentionally Undermine A Gifted Child’s Self-Worth by Jim Delisle

5. Stress Management Tips & Stress Reduction Techniques

6. Helping Gifted Students with Stress Management by Leslie S. Kaplan

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