In This Episode:
Welcome to Episode 101 of Dyslexia Devoted and today we’re talking about why it's so important for kids to take breaks both during learning time and during the summer!
Shownotes: parnelloeducation.com/episode101
This Episode's Topics:
- Breaks During Work Time
- Disguised Breaks
- Breaks During Summer
Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Connect with Lisa Parnello:
Speaker 1
00:04
Hello and welcome to Dyslexia Devoted, the podcast dedicated to building awareness, understanding and strategies to help those with dyslexia.
Speaker 2
00:12
I'm your
Speaker 1
00:12
host, Lisa Parnello, dyslexia therapist and founder of Parnello Education Services. Join me as we dive into today's episode of Dyslexia Devoted.
Speaker 2
00:23
Hello and welcome to episode 101 of Dyslexia Devoted. It is so amazing to be passing the 100th episode and to be able to keep on going. I just saw a fellow educator post that they are stopping their podcast after 115 episodes.
Speaker 2
00:40
And it just kind of reminds me how much work and time goes into creating and editing a podcast by getting it out there for all of the listeners like you. So I appreciate your continued support and sharing the podcast with others that you think might enjoy it to make it worth it to keep doing this because I really have enjoyed podcasting far more than I ever thought I would. So thank you for continuing to be a dedicated listener. Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe, whatever it is on your podcasting app so that you always get notified when there's new episodes.
Speaker 2
01:10
So today's episode is The Importance of Taking a Break. So This episode is inspired probably by me, because it's been a pretty long May. It's been a lot. I am a total sucker for adorable children who beg for extra tutoring time.
Speaker 2
01:26
It's a lot easier to say no to parents than it is to cute kids who say, please, please, please Ms. Parnell, we need you. So 2 of my 4 days this weekend were spent with cute kids. And as we are approaching summer break, this is a reminder of the importance of breaks in a couple different ways.
Speaker 2
01:41
During the school year, breaks are absolutely critically important for kids with dyslexia or any learning difference really, because it takes kids with dyslexia and learning differences so much more mental energy to do something quote unquote easy, and something that is not actually easy for them at all, even if it is easy for their classmates and their peers. It is where we need to normalize what it looks like to take a break, how they can ask for it appropriately instead of using the excuse, can I go to the bathroom? Yet again, when you know they don't really have a need to go to the bathroom that many times a day. And instead, making more use of 504 accommodation plans or plans that are within their IEP to get accommodations and be able to show them after they've done a set amount of time or a set amount of work, then they get a designated break time that they can just chill.
Speaker 2
02:34
What does that look like? It sometimes looks like going for a walk. There was a classroom I used to teach in that had this little like circular pathway and the kids could do a certain number of like quick little laps and then come back inside and then get back to work. And it was an easy way that I could see them out my window.
Speaker 2
02:50
I knew that they were safe. There wasn't anywhere they can like get hurt on or anything. Inside my office, there is 1 girl for years and years has drawn pictures of pretty dresses. And that's what she does on a whiteboard.
Speaker 2
03:02
She doodles pretty little pictures and she's a pretty great little artist. And that's what she does when she gets stressed out or overwhelmed in the middle of a task, she quietly takes a whiteboard and some pretty markers, colors and doodles for about 1 to 2 minutes and then gets right back to the task that she needs to do with a fresh start. And it's a way to prevent frustration before it happens. And I think that is where breaks go really wrong, is that you wait till they hit their breaking point to give them a break.
Speaker 2
03:31
The whole point of breaks is to not make them hit their breaking point. It is to catch them on their way up as they're trying to get increased over stimulation and overload. When you see that heightening start to happen, that's when they get a break, not when they've hit their threshold, not when it's too hard to come back from. Because once they hit total meltdown, breakdown, like whatever you want to call it, depending on what it looks like for that kid, it can sometimes take 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 2 hours to get them back.
Speaker 2
04:01
Versus, if you give them a break before they get overly heightened and you give it to them at the right point, they don't ever hit that complete meltdown stage and then they can get right back to work a lot quicker. So what might seem like a waste of time to take 2 minutes to go do this 1 little thing could actually save you 2 hours of stress later in your day. So find ways to structure breaks into the day. And it can look really different in different ways.
Speaker 2
04:25
In a classroom you might make that kid your helper. That might be where you give them a job to help you go do something. When you see they're getting really frustrated by a task you can ask them to go be your helper and do something. So they feel productive, they feel happy, they know that you appreciate them, and they're getting a break from whatever the task is that's about to push them over the edge.
Speaker 2
04:45
Occasionally I've had kids who really don't like to take a break. So sometimes this helper task comes in very handy for those kids who are like, I don't need a break. I don't need a break. I'm too cool for that.
Speaker 2
04:55
I don't need 1. I'm fine. So instead of you give them a task, sometimes there may or may not have been a code word. Like, can you go ask Miss So-and-so for the Blue Dictionary?
Speaker 2
05:05
PS, there is no Blue Dictionary. And I think we probably needed to create like a better terminology. I think at my last school we created some other blue book of some fashion because no 1 used the dictionaries anymore. We have the internet.
Speaker 2
05:17
And so we gave them a task of something that didn't literally exist and say, oh, actually, who did you ask for it? Oh, you know what? Actually go ask so and so. And we would send them to go ask a different teacher for it.
Speaker 2
05:28
And then they say, who else did you ask? Oh, okay. And then we would go send them back to the regular class and be like, tell your teacher sorry, I can't find it. And I'll give it to her at lunch.
Speaker 2
05:37
And it was just a way for us to help those kids who really, really were not ready to be self-reliant and be able to give themselves a regulatory break on their own. And then eventually we would come around and get the kids to learn how to appropriately take and use breaks on their own without having to do this whole rigmarole. But you have to meet them where they're at. You have to figure out where they are and help them see that breaks are not punishment, they're actually the anti-punishment.
Speaker 2
06:04
They are taking a break means you do not get in trouble. Taking a break means you can get back to work and be more focused when you do get back to work. Taking a break actually makes you feel better when you're done if you take a break appropriately. It does not make you feel worse when you're done.
Speaker 2
06:18
And then another part of this is summer. What does that look like? For kids with learning differences, sometimes it's really easy to just not let them have a summer. You think, oh no, they are 2 or 3 grade levels behind, they have to work every day this summer, they really need to be on track with their class, they really need to do this and this and that, because otherwise they're never going to catch up.
Speaker 2
06:40
But the thing is, burnout is real for kids and adults. And if you never take a break, Things don't actually sink in. Your body needs times to rest and recuperate and let information sink in. Now I'm not saying that means take the whole summer off because that can also be equally terrible.
Speaker 2
06:56
If you take too long of a break, then you're never getting back to work. I know I've done that every time I've cleaned my house. If I take too long a break I say forget it, I'm done, I'm not gonna clean anymore, I'm over it today. So it's getting that just right amount of break to get that reset, to get that refresh and build up that extra energy you need to then absorb new information or get more work done, whatever the task is.
Speaker 2
07:17
That's actually why I run my summer program very differently from basically every tutor I know. I do not make them keep the same exact schedule every week. I absolutely don't care if they leave to go on a vacation 1 week, or if they have this really cool summer camp they've been dying to go to for a week or 2 of summer and they take a break. I don't care.
Speaker 2
07:35
There's more than enough kids who need dyslexia tutoring during the summer. Take a break. It's good for you. Happy children learn better.
Speaker 2
07:42
If kids are stressed out and upset all the time that it's never enough and they always have to work hard and it's not fair that they have to do summer tutoring and none of their friends do. Nothing good comes of that. It is all about creating a life of balance for the kids. There are so many kids I know who are so over scheduled.
Speaker 2
07:59
Every single minute of every single day is booked. And it's really hard sometimes when kids are trying to book summer tutoring with me and they're like, oh well they have this camp and this camp and this 1 and that 1. And then they have to also go to gymnastics and then they also have soccer and then they also have tennis. And when do the kids have time to just like chill and be a kid and be imaginative and do creative play and all the things that are actually really important for their development if every moment of their day is structured.
Speaker 2
08:25
Kids need that time to be bored and rest and reset and just have some down time, not to always be go go go all the time. There's 1 of the kids that I work with that I often see on Mondays that they are go, go, go all weekend long and the kid is utterly exhausted by Monday morning. The weekends are meant for reset, to take a rest, to take a break And then that way you have the energy to go do your best the rest of the week again It is the end of the week It is that reset time and so many kids are not getting that reset time To let all the information they learned all week long sink into their brains to get caught up on sleep when they've been woken up early every day to get to school on time or whatever it is that they need to do. Or if they stayed out too late because of basketball games or whatever they were up way too late for.
Speaker 2
09:11
And the weekends are their time to recharge. So if you never give them that recharge time, then they never have the brain energy to learn new things. If you're utterly exhausted, very little new information makes it into your head. And that exhaustion can come from different things.
Speaker 2
09:26
It can come from a very busy weekend, but it could also come from 30 minutes of trying to write an essay. Because if you're a kid with a learning difference having to write for 30 minutes straight, that takes a lot of mental load in order to get through that task. It takes emotional strength, it takes physical strength from their hands, it takes mental strength, and it takes a lot of you. So it's knowing which kids are gonna need a break at which times.
Speaker 2
09:51
There's kids that I've worked with at the end of the day for years and years and I can see when they've just hit their limit. Nothing else is gonna go in. Each kid has their tell. You just gotta figure out what their tell is.
Speaker 2
10:02
There's 1 kid who's older that she'll be sitting there typing and sharing screens with me and I can see what she's writing and I can tell when she's made 15 spelling errors in 1 paragraph. That means we're done. Nothing else productive is going to keep happening if we keep doing this because she's just going to have to rewrite everything anyway. And so that is our point where I'm like, you know what, I know it's 5 minutes before we're supposed to be done, but you personally are done right now.
Speaker 2
10:25
Like I can already tell nothing good is going to come out of forcing you to do this for 5 more minutes. It is finding that quality is way more important than quantity. How much time will you get good quality work out of this child before it all starts to fall apart? Okay, that is where we are going to wrap it up for today.
Speaker 2
10:44
To recap, We talked about the importance of taking a break. Breaks are really important in the middle of tasks, in the middle of school days, and knowing how to take breaks appropriately. We talked about sometimes teachers or adults need to assist those breaks and give them a job to do that is kind of a force break if the kid has not reached the level of self-advocacy, they can politely ask and receive breaks without feeling like they're in trouble. And then that becomes a goal that you need to work up to is teaching them that breaks are not punishment.
Speaker 2
11:14
Breaks are a way to keep you from getting in trouble. They're not because you're in trouble. And we also talked about how kids need breaks in the outside of school times. So whether that's on the weekend or in the summers or after school, and Kids need that time to reset.
Speaker 2
11:32
Especially, I see it after school where some parents want the kids to do all their homework the second they walk in the door. Sometimes kids need a couple of minutes to eat a snack, get a drink of water, settle down, and then they can come in and do their homework and things because they need a few minutes of just downtime and then they can get the work done. Or sometimes there's, you know, 1 kid I used to work with who always had to play basketball for 30 minutes and then he could come back in and then he could get his work done because that's what it took to reset him. So figuring out what each kid's tell is and what each kid's necessary break system is in order for them to have that reset so that better work gets done when they come back from a break.
Speaker 2
12:09
Okay, with that said, I am going on a break. I am counting down the days to my vacation. At the time of this recording, it is approximately 4 days away from now. Hip hip hooray.
Speaker 2
12:19
My goal is to record 1 more extra podcast episode to get released while I'm gone. Please note this is just a goal. Whether it really happens or not, we shall see. I should theoretically have the time on Friday.
Speaker 2
12:30
We'll see. Depends on how much packing gets done between now and Friday, probably. So that's it for today. I'll see you next time.
Speaker 2
12:42
Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. If you want to learn even more about dyslexia, check out parnelloeducation.com forward slash courses. See you next time.