Empathy the Sneaky Way
You know that kid who doesn’t like to join in as a member of the classroom community? The one who says everyone else is annoying? Who needles other kids to get a reaction because he isn’t quite ready to take the risk of making a friendly overture? For whom power struggles are a seeming delight? Luckily he (or she) doesn’t come along very often, but when he does he can be one tough customer!
Kids like this need help with building friendship skills, developing empathy, and managing anxiety. Often, though, their defenses are so well established that they don’t easily buy into the idea of working to change their behavior. What they are currently doing (more…)
