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Cognitive Rehearsal

Have the child mentally review or visualize each step in the disputation or problem-solving sequence until the child visualizes himself successfully doing all the steps.

Expanding Alternative Thinking

It is very common in children to answer, "I can tell my teacher" or "I can tell an adult" when asked how they would deal with another child’s taunt. We can reinforce alternative thinking by adding, "That is one thing you can do, but what else you can think or say to yourself to deal with this situation?"

Rational Role Reversal (RRR)

Switch roles with the child. For example, in the student’s role, you talk about why other children have no right to _____ (e.g., call you names, talk behind your back, or refuse to play with you). In the teacher’s role, the child tries to get you analyze the rationality of these beliefs.

The Flat Tire Technique

Wilde (1996) uses this technique to stop student’s negative and self-defeating generalizations like, "I am stupid," "I am dumb," or "I never do anything right."Ask the child if he would throw a brand new car on a junk heap because it has a flat tire. (No, you fix the flat tire.) Using the same logic, help the student realize that you do not throw yourself into a junk pile because you make mistakes, or because you do not know how to do something.

Nothing Worse than 100% Bad Technique

To stop children’s catastrophic thinking, Wilde suggests asking the student to identify the worst event that she can imagine. Then, challenge the child to see if she can make this event even worse; then to make it "worse than worse," etc.

Using Funny Exaggerations

To stop the child’s catastrophic thinking, and help the child dispute the irrationality of the belief, we can use exaggeration combined with humor (the funnier the better). For example, "If you are not invited to Nelly’s party, do you think your parents will still let you live in their house?" "So, I heard your parents are not going to buy you a cellular… What a terrible and awful catastrophe! I bet tomorrow morning you are coming to school totally bald and missing twenty

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