I needed a different spin on my break tickets for my younger kids and those that have a more difficult time verbalizing their need for a break. In the beginning of the year, I came up with this idea of a flip card.
The concept is that you place a double sided card by the door or their safe spot/chill zone. When the student begins to feel anxious, frustrated, or upset, they remove themselves to their safe spot and flip the break flip card. This shows the teacher where the student went and they can then react accordingly.
I like this as more of a visual for the student as well. The face and the color convey the feelings so the students do not need to be able to read, however the words are there as well. You can see my first set on the bottom left of the picture before I had access to the color printer. I still wanted a difference in color so I used two different colors. Recently a bilingual student has begun to display aggression and frustration issues so I decided to translate the card into Spanish. I plan to also laminate them so they hold up longer.
The goal is always to move them towards verbalization and break tickets if needed, but to begin they need to be able to find a safe spot where they can cool down. It will take some preteaching of the safe spot as well as calming techniques for the student to use while in their safe spot. Adding a timer and teaching them to set it themself would also be a good progression to assist the student in self calming.
