You probably have certain phrases that roll off your tongue on a daily basis. In fact, your children could probably tell us what you are going to say even before it comes out of your mouth. Think about your key phrases and post them around your house. They will give you a visual reminder of your system and phrases for positive behavior support and the visual cues might help the children to remember to make the good choice.
Here are a few of the Key Phrases that the Mattson kids have heard over and over again…
Me first goes last
(they know this means if you scramble to get the biggest piece of pizza you will get the smallest piece 🙂
Nice gets Nice and Nasty gets nothing
(Notice this doesn’t say Nice gets Nice and Nasty gets Nasty. When they make the good choice they will get to participate in good times and get the nice attention of mommy. When they make a nasty choice, they will not get my emotions, or my drama and they definitely won’t get any nice treats.)
Make a good choice
(I used to say this even to my older students as they transitioned back into their regular classroom. It was my standard phrase, and they came to expect it and of course they had their standard phrase back to me… The long drawn out… “We will Mrs. Mattson”. These were big kiddos with some heavy duty problems, but they seemed to take comfort in this back and forth between us. They would count on me to say it (however annoying it may be to them 😉 and it made me feel like I had one final ounce of influence on them as they headed out to the real world beyond my small resource room.)
Rewind…
This just gives them a second chance at making the good choice… Would you like to say that again in a nicer tone (REWIND).
Take a break
This just means get it together so you can come back and “join the party”
When in doubt… choose kind…(This is from the book Wonder by RJ Palcio)
This is a new one that has entered our world over the last year because my kids and I read this book. It is a simple reminder that you are in charge of your choices and your outcomes will be so much easier for everyone if you simply choose the thing that is kind.