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Teach Cognitive Exercises
Teach students to discriminate between positive (rational or helpful) thinking and negative (irrational or hurtful) thinking. Have children complete and discuss Positive and Negative (or Rational and Irrational) exercises such as:
Scenario 1: Your social studies project is due the 21st of the month. That gives you two weeks to research and complete the project.
Positive Mind: __________________________________________________________
Negative Mind: __________________________________________________________
Scenario 2: Your grandparents invite you to go on vacation to Disney World for one week.
Rational Mind: __________________________________________________________
Irrational Mind: _________________________________________________________
Teach How to Change Irrational Thinking into Rational Thinking
Teach children how to change irrational thinking into rational thinking. Some examples:
Irrational: My life is ruined forever.

Rational: Some aspects of my life will be harder for a while, but I will get through this.
Irrational: I must have this video game. It will be terrible, horrible, and awful if I am the only one in my class without the game. I will die.
Rational: I do not need this video game. I will be sorry if I do not get it, but I am not going to die. I can stand to live without it.
Using Rational-Emotive Imagery
Train children in using rational-emotive imagery. For instance, have the student picture a scene that angers her. After a few minutes, tell the child that she will work in calming herself down. The student keeps imagining the scene, but this time, she uses rational self-statements and visualizations to reduce the anger to annoyance and to disengage herself from the situation. Explain to the student that she can use this same technique to calm herself down when she feels troubled.
The Stoplight System

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