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It just so happens that Resiliency is my super-power. I cannot jump tall buildings, or stop a bullet mid-flight, and my son will certainly confirm that, although my lightsaber style is developing a certain flourish, I am sadly lacking in Force Push ability.

However – I am resilient and I can bounce!

Perhaps these skills have been honed by parenting my two wonderful and amazing children. Occasionally they have thrown me curves – but mostly I think they inspire me to be my best and to see the best in the world. For me the skills of resiliency are practiced and deliberate, not stumbled-upon and happenstance.

I rely on my resiliency. I trust that it is there. I have confidence in the power of this, which I think this gives me courage when times are difficult and when I am about to embark on some new challenge. The challenges I create for myself often have me in rather over my head, but I think I am somewhat addicted to excitement and risk, and I love to try new things. A times I might be heard to utter a statement like: Hey – I think I will learn how to write a blog – Hmmmmm. And the next thing you know…

This has me considering what it is that I do that makes me resilient. I am a Special Education Teacher, and parent of a child on the Autism spectrum… being able to model and teach the skills of resiliency is critical in my world.

• Good Enough Thinking – (combating the perfectionist) This kind of thinking is very helpful in learning to set priorities and also for organizing time and managing when something hasn’t quite turned out as envisioned. This time I am going to decide that imperfect is good enough!

• Plan B – (for disappointment or when there is a change of plans) This is particularly helpful if you make it a habit to talk about having a Plan B with your child or students. That was Plan A and it didn’t turn out like we thought, it is a good thing we have a Plan B. It is a good thing we are so prepared.

• That’s OK – We are problems solvers – (Model this out loud as useful self-talk) This encourages the development of problem-solving skills and enhances the child’s vision of himself/herself as a problem solver. It’s OK – we can handle this, we are problem solvers!!

• Self-talk – (be aware of and examine self-talk) It is critical children are taught to be aware of their self-talk. This is easily explained by saying self-talk is the things we say to ourselves in our own head. We need to question the messages we give to ourselves – sometimes they are helpful and sometimes not – but they are always very powerful.

These are a few of the strategies that I have worked on with H and my students. I could go on… but it is late, so I am going to use my good enough thinking. Please feel free to print the bookmark if you feel it would be helpful. If you are a teacher – I encourage you to use it with your entire class as there are many students who can benefit from these skills.

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Today’s post on RESILIENCY is brought to you by the letter Bb and Rr and was inspired by a comment written in response to yesterday’s post on Change:

“I am a teacher and routine is part of my life – so is change. I respond well to the changes I initiate and sometimes not so well to ones I am forced to accept. Some of my students have already learned coping strategies to deal with change (usually not by their choosing) and some have not. … [I] am thinking of how I can adapt and teach some of these strategies to my class.” (❀C.H., April 4, 2011)

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30 Days of Autism is a project designed to fight stigma, promote civil rights, and increase understanding and acceptance for those who process and experience the world differently.

© Leah Kelley, Thirty Days of Autism, (2011)