I am so honored to introduce Sophie from Sophie’s Stories as our guest blogger this week. She’s going to explain how you can address challenging behavior in a creative, supportive and shame-free way, so you can have a calmer, happier and more connected classroom. Therapeutic stories can be accessible to everyone!
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We’ve all been there: you sit down with a child to address their behavior and they stare at their shoes, giving one syllable answers (if you’re lucky) and you end up feeling you haven’t gotten through to them at all.
In this guide I’m going to show you another way. Therapeutic Stories can be a great way to address challenging behavior, which can lead to better, more open conversations with children and ultimately, to better behavior too.
What do I Mean by Therapeutic Stories?
Therapeutic stories are, simply put, stories that have a therapeutic purpose, and have been written to support children with a particular issue they’re facing.
Therapeutic stories can give children a sense of being understood; if a character is going through the same thing as them, they know they’re not alone! Therapeutic stories can also share guidance, by introducing different strategies, or new ways to think about a problem. And because these ‘lessons’ are embedded within a story, children tend to be more engaged, and less defensive.
Therapeutic stories can directly reflect an issue or be more metaphorical in nature. For example, my story, ‘In Our Hearts’ is about two children who have lost a grandparent. This story is a direct reflection of what many children go through, and the story supports them through sharing easy to understand information and tangible ideas that can help with grief.
More metaphorical stories are helpful when a child needs a little more emotional distance from an issue, perhaps because it’s too difficult to talk about directly. An example of this would be ‘The Little Helpers’ which tells the story of an ant whose nest is destroyed, and how they learn to cope after such a traumatic event. This story has been used to support children struggling with lots of different traumas, such as domestic abuse and natural disasters, which can be too painful or difficult to address more directly.
So now you have an understanding what therapeutic stories are, it’s time for me to explain more about how you can use them to address challenging behavior.
How to Choose a Story?
A simple google search will help you to find children’s books to address all kinds of issues, but I know it can be difficult to know which to choose. To get you started, some of my favorites for addressing behavior are:
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? This story focuses on promoting prosocial, kind behavior, while also acknowledging the root of unkind behavior, too.
The Boy Who Built a Wall Around Himself This book is a firm favorite of mine that uses metaphor to address the subject of children who are ‘shut down’ and often hard to reach.
The Red Beast This book addresses anger, and while it was written for children with Asperger’s, I’ve found that all children who struggle to manage their anger can relate to this book!
Top tip: if you’ve found a book you like the sound of, but you’re not sure if it will be right for the child/class, check if there is a read-aloud version on YouTube so you can listen to it first.
Top Five Tips for Sharing a Therapeutic Story
- Think comfort: allow children to sit where and how they are comfortable, maybe have a drink or snack available, and let them fidget if this helps them. The more relaxed they feel, the more they’ll take in.
- Make it playful: use expression in your voice and don’t be afraid to look and sound silly- laughter is a wonderful way relieve tension!
- Offer choices: do they want to sit on the carpet or the beanbag? Do they have a toy who would like to listen to the story too?
- Stay in the metaphor: progress can be made without ever needing to speak directly- that’s the magic of story! After sharing you can simply talk about the characters and the story, e.g. ‘I wonder how the character felt when that happened?’ What the child shares will tell you a lot about their own thoughts and feelings. They may naturally choose to reflect on their own behavior after this too, allowing a more direct conversation to open up.
- Get creative: ask them to draw or paint a picture to go with the story. You can talk to them about the story while they’re creating- it’s so much easier for children to talk without direct eye contact! Pay attention to which part of the story the child chooses to create too, as this could give you some great insight into which part of the story was most important to them.
Conclusion
Using Therapeutic Stories in the classroom can have a big impact on children’s willingness to talk and explore their behavior in more depth, in a way that feels safe for them! This means you can get to the root of the problem and support them to begin making positive changes.
Thanks to this quick guide, you should now you have everything you need to start addressing difficult behavior through storytelling. If you’re feeling inspired and would like to even learn more you can visit my website or sign up to my online Therapeutic Story Workshop, where I share even more theory, hints and tips and activities you can use to create a happier, calmer and more connected classroom.
