Totally Chill - by Christopher Lynch (Paperback)

About the Book

It's crucial children learn to develop skills to help them manage their stress as independently as possible. This Guide to Staying Cool is a stress management workbook meant to be read, completed & used as much as possible by children.

Book Synopsis

When parenting, teaching and working with children who have social, emotional, and/or sensory sensitivities, we often put the emphasis on learning new skills. Countless hours are spent working on social skills, fine- and gross-motor skills, language skills, and academic skills, but stress management skills are often left unaddressed. This is unfortunate, as stress can create a multitude of challenges for learning and daily living. In other words, it can create barriers to the very things we are trying to teach. Besides, it can cause distress, which can lead to meltdowns and behavioral outbursts.

In short, it is crucial that children learn and develop skills to help them to manage their stress as independently as possible. Totally Chill: My Complete Guide to Staying Cool is a stress management workbook that is meant to be read, completed, and used as much as possible by children themselves. It's fun graphics and interactive style make it ideal for children grades 3 through middle school.

Everyone feels stress, adults and children alike. It's part of life. But life can be a lot easier when we learn new skills and ideas to help us handle the stress in our lives. Foreword by Kathy Selvaggi-Faden, MD.

Review Quotes

"Dr. Lynch's therapeutic skills, honed during many years of clinical practice, combined with his affable personality, have enabled him to author this workbook for older children and teenagers struggling with anxiety, stress, and sensory issues. By providing factual information to inform the various self-help tasks, encouraging choices, and giving feedback, he engages the intellectual curiosity of these youngsters while at the same time enabling them to begin to understand and take control over issues that are disruptive to their daily functioning. This book is a welcome addition to the 'tool kits' of these youngsters, their parents, teachers, and therapists." - Harvey S. Bennett, MD, director of Child Neurology and Developmental Medicine, Goryeb Children's Hospital; clinical professor of Neurology and Pediatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine "Totally Chill: My Complete Guide to Staying Cool - A Stress Management Workbook for Kids With Social, Emotional, or Sensory Sensitivities tackles the complex web of stress and breaks it down into manageable pieces. Incredibly user-friendly, the book is full of practical strategies for helping children and adolescents learn skills to manage the triggers and stressors in their lives. I highly recommend this comprehensive book as an indispensable guidebook for children and adolescents as they learn about themselves and ways to effectively handle life's challenges." - Lauren H. Kerstein, LCSW, child and family psychotherapist; adjunct professor, University of Denver - Graduate School of Social Work; author of My Sensory Book: Working Together to Explore Sensory Issues and the Big Feelings They Can Cause "Dr. Lynch's extensive experience with children and families translates effectively into innovative and practical strategies for relaxation and stress management in his book, Totally Chill. Keeping cool becomes fun." - Janet Oberman, PhD, psychologist "I love the book's focus on the feelings we all experience and ways to recognize when they might become a problem. The tools and strategies will be great aids in helping visual learners identify and problem solve around emotions and stress issues. I plan to recommend this book to families with ASD that I work with." - Margaret Hefferle, BSN, RN, case manager, Special Child Health Services; parent of a young adult with autism "Written in a very approachable style and with totally cool illustrations, the book offers a lot of ideas that will help my patients with social, emotional, and sensory sensitivities. While geared for readers ages 8 through 13, I think this workbook can also be used by older children, even adults. I love the way it includes healthy eating and sleeping habits as part of stress management. It will be a very helpful book for professionals working with all types of children with social, emotional, or sensory sensitivities." - Tosan Livingstone, MD, neurodevelopmental pediatrician, Child Development Center, Morristown Memorial (Goryeb) Hospital "In Totally Chill, Christopher Lynch has created a holistic approach to stress management that speaks directly to the challenges of meeting others' expectations while regulating one's own behaviors. Through a framework of self-awareness and factual information, readers are made to feel secure in their footing as they follow the path toward meaningful change. Can't wait to include this in our programming for children and adolescents!" - Sherry A. Moyer, MSW, LSW, executive and research director, University of Toledo Center for Excellence in Autism; author of The ECLIPSE Model