Lesson Learned with Puzzles

I learned an important lesson from 2 REACH students a couple of weeks ago. We sometimes forget that our children or students know exactly what they need to self-regulate. We have been talking about stress and neuroplasticity in REACH the last several weeks. We all experience stress differently and need to learn and practice effective ways to deal with it. The two students were having a particularly stressful and unproductive week because of stress, some of it self-created. I had separated the two of them from the group one day because of their inability to function in the classroom. When sitting in the REACH supply room to calm down, they saw a jig-saw puzzle on one of the shelves and asked if they could work on it. I would have NEVER guessed that these two students might enjoy working on a puzzle! They got right to it and immediately calmed down! The transformation of their attitudes that day was amazing to see! It had been weeks since I heard them using kind words with others and put effort into completing any meaningful task. They organized themselves and actually completed the puzzle way more quickly than I thought possible. Lesson learned. Sometimes we need to step back and listen to what our students say they need, as most times they already know the answer.