Classroom resource to combat children's social anxieties

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Hi,
I'm a trainee teacher and one of our projects this year is to create a resource that could be used in the primary school classroom.
I'm planning on making something which would help children who are suffering from social anxiety. It could also be used with NT children in the situation where a child with autism or Asperger's was going to join their class at school.
It would be great to hear some feedback from parents or teachers about whether you think this would work or how it could be improved.
Here's my rough idea so far:

'My intention is to create a character, ?Billy?, who can be used in classrooms to lessen children?s social anxieties. Billy?s purpose is two-fold.
Firstly, he can be used to represent a new child who is going to be joining the class. This new child may have a specific need, such as autism or Asperger?s, or they may simply be feeling the anxieties that any child would feel when joining a new school and meeting new classmates. Billy would represent this new child and the teacher would ask they children how they could make Billy feel welcome. What might they say and do? However, with Billy is a list of behaviours he may show and things he might not like, e.g. ?Sometimes Billy wants to play by himself?. The children must take these facts into consideration when discussing how to make Billy feel welcome. They can then use the strategies that they have discussed when the new child joins their class.
Secondly, Billy can act as a friend/give support to any child who is suffering from some form of social anxiety (whether it is a common occurrence or not, whether they have a specific disability or not). The teacher will explain that Billy is a very good listener and understands how you feel because (as it says on his fact sheet) there are lots of things that sometimes upset Billy or make him worry. Billy will sit in a quiet area of the classroom where children can go and talk to him about what is worrying them. He also has a box with a slot on the top which can be locked with a small padlock. If children want to, they can write a worry or problem and put it in the box. Only the teacher has the key. Once a week the teacher checks the box and if there is anything in it, that issue can be discussed as a class in PSHE or class assembly. The teacher must make it clear that children don?t have to write anything, they can just talk to Billy if they want. Billy is a monkey. This animal was selected because it is a shape that makes it a naturally good hugger. Children should be encouraged to hug or hold Billy if they want to. The teacher can also use Billy in other similar ways, at her discretion. E.g. children may hold Billy during carpet time if they are having a bad day or a system of taking him home and writing diary entries may be useful, it depends on the need of the individual class.'

I don't have social anxiety, but I am dx'ed with Asperger syndrome. I have to say, if I had been met by a teacher saying something like that to me, even in first grade, I would have felt so humiliated. No one likes to be treated like a two-year-old! For me, that plan would not work at all. To be brutally honest, it would just make me think less of the teacher, and that he/she seriously underestimated me. I would not have appreciated it one bit. It would make me feel worse.

In Norway at the time, we started first grade when we turned 7 (adding that so you know how old I was). One of the first things our teacher did was bring two hand puppets. First we were introduced to the girl. Then we were told there was a boy puppet too, but he was shy and would only come if we were nice. I rolled my eyes and thought it was extremely childish. It was just too dumb for my level. I never talked to anyone else about it, so IDK what my NT classmates thought of it, but for me it was several years too childish. If I had been a more talkative child I might have asked in disdain "You do know that's just a puppet, right?"


I also think that a child who would be hugging the monkey and talking to it would make him/herself a target. When you're in school you are too old for that. I would have thought that child was really weird and childish if I had seen someone do that in my school days.
I also think using a monkey (or anything else for that matter) to represent a child that was to start the class, it would easily make the children use it against the child and tease him/her for it.

I think it's a viable rough idea, though I do see another bug:

Kids don't always tease, mock, and exclude because they don't know how to handle the situation in a pro-social manner.

Sometimes (a lot of the time??) kids tease, mock, and exclude because they WANT TO. That simple, and that ugly.

Exercises with a character can help them practice skills that they can be reminded (more or less firmly) to use with classmates who are a little bit "off"...

...but exercises with a character cannot make them choose to use those skills.

Children will "do exercises" with a character, give the correct responses and display the appropriate behaviors, and then proceed to walk out onto the playground and engage in a round game of "Kick the Weirdo."

I can, in fact, see "Billy" becoming another taunt used on their not-special-enough-to-trigger-empathy-needs classmate. In painfully short order.

We had similar (although non-anthropomorphic) characters in grade school: "Warm Fuzzy" and "Cold Prickly," little characters who engaged in appropriate/inappropriate behaviors. I seem to recall it taking about three weeks for kids like me to start hearing, "Whatsa matter, Dummy, ya want a Warm Fuzzy???" as a playground taunt.

Do not underestimate the capability of children (even very young children) to know the appropriate behaviors and choose to be deliberately, willfully, intentionally, and creatively cruel anyway.

Depends on which age kids you want to use it on - I think this could be successful for Early Years classes (where I am, this is 3-7 - 7 being the age they are at the end of the year).

My wife is a teacher and I know that the teacher in the other same-year (5-6) class had about 6 different stuffed animals, each with different purposes e.g., one where you could hold it if you wanted to talk, etc, one for if they wanted a hug, etc. These were successful.

My wife also ran a 6 week topic of the night time, during which talking about fears was included. A story about an owl was used, one afraid of the dark. She took my stuffed owl in and the children took very well to it. Unfortunately, it nearly never came back because so many children wanted to take it home!

This could work well for young children (children for whom it is a) developmentally appropriate for them and b) their peers are also unlikely to see anything bad about. One problem I can see is that with children at an age where they'd go along with this, they might also not be able to write very coherently. This would make it very difficult for you to respond to their worries and at older ages possibly find it frustrating not to be able to express themselves. If you weren't going to respond, then perhaps you could allow them to draw. For those that could talk, maybe they could talk into a sound button and put that in a box.

Depends on which age kids you want to use it on - I think this could be successful for Early Years classes (where I am, this is 3-7 - 7 being the age they are at the end of the year).

My wife is a teacher and I know that the teacher in the other same-year (5-6) class had about 6 different stuffed animals, each with different purposes e.g., one where you could hold it if you wanted to talk, etc, one for if they wanted a hug, etc. These were successful.

My wife also ran a 6 week topic of the night time, during which talking about fears was included. A story about an owl was used, one afraid of the dark. She took my stuffed owl in and the children took very well to it. Unfortunately, it nearly never came back because so many children wanted to take it home!

This could work well for young children (children for whom it is a) developmentally appropriate for them and b) their peers are also unlikely to see anything bad about. One problem I can see is that with children at an age where they'd go along with this, they might also not be able to write very coherently. This would make it very difficult for you to respond to their worries and at older ages possibly find it frustrating not to be able to express themselves. If you weren't going to respond, then perhaps you could allow them to draw. For those that could talk, maybe they could talk into a sound button and put that in a box.

I think that this is a good concept, using some class resources to help kids with issues such as social anxiety. Although I think Billy might be a very age dependent tool(not past first grade) that would have to be used carefully, the drop box for student issues is one that could be applied throughout elementary and possibly into middleschool, as long as their issues are kept private (unless its a really serious issue).

Billy is a two edged sword. Different age groups will react differently to him and children who are starting to feel independent will find the monkey puppet offensive, whether they have social anxiety or not. On top of this, even in the places where he could be used without insulting the kids, if they start making jokes about the subject matter, it could increase the anxiety issues of the children you are trying to help, depending on how you present it.

Perhaps a better alternative to having a puppet that represents these kids is to just have a talk about how there are people everywhere who think and differently, how some people can have a harder time interacting than others, reasons that they should be welcomed into the group and discuss how to create a friendly environment where everyone can be more open. Probably even more important is discussing how people suffering from social anxiety can deal with these issues.

Something to keep n mind is that, no matter what you put out there, the nature of children (of people) is always going to be an issue. It is natural to pick on anyone who is different and because of this, there will always be social anxiety.

Now, I think that the box is a brilliant idea in and of itself, especially the lockbox. It gives the students a way to express issues they are having that they normally could not talk about. And, usually, this information should be treated as private by the teachers. I say usually because there is a good chance that some serious problems that a child is having might be revealed by this and if the kid needs help (eg. suffering from serious abuse at home) the teacher may find themselves in a position where it is there responsibility to act.

Good luck with your project for making the school environment better for children who have trouble fitting in. I hope it goes well.

I get nervous in social settings because I don't have scripts for everything. I think more roll-playing would be a good thing, the monkey/stand in could be used for that if you really want the kids to have a surrogate. I'm very literal so I would be thinking 'ok, so he's a monkey- how would a monkey act' instead of 'how would I act'. I would rather watch two humans interact and give REAL pointers and phrases I can use. Puppets are ok, but I don't see them as stand-ins for people, they're made of felt and live in a box. Part of social anxiety is needing to understand how PEOPLE work, you know what I mean? So I need to watch people interact so I can see how their eyebrows 'say' things, what does that forehead wrinkle mean? I hope this makes sense.

Perhaps give scripted situations to let kids know how to fit in as well as make others feel welcome. Purposeful grooming of an environment would go farther than a toy, I don't mean this harshly- I'm really struggling to find the words. Thinking of my school days, the classrooms I felt most comfortable in were the ones where the teacher NEVER allowed bullying, made it a daily point to foster gentleness and understanding (through language AND action). I think having a class motto that all the kids can relate to would be nice- something short and sweet that kids can parrot. Big thing is enforcing this by the teacher's behavior.

I would want to hold the monkey, but would be absolutely terrified to be the only one holding the monkey. So perhaps every child gets a monkey- they can decorate a hat for him or something to make it their own. Then- during circle time or whatever- everyone gets their animal and sits. Some kids will need it, some won't- this is ok. If everyone has a blankie, then no one knows how HAS to have a blankie.

I really want to tell you that I think it's wonderful you are thinking of these things- it's commendable and I don't want to patronize your idea nor be too harsh in my thoughts about it. I would happily buy you a cup of tea.

Thank you to everyone who was given their opinions on my idea, I really appreciate it!
Also, thank you to everyone who has suggested ways that I could improve upon the original idea, I have noted down all your suggestions and will consider them when I come to write up my final version.
Thank you again, even constructive criticisms are helpful