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UPDATE for our 'What's the Buzz?' community
Updated Monday 12th February 2024.
Welcome! 'What's the Buzz?' is now in more than 100 countries and several languages. It's a neuroaffirming, evidenced-based, social and emotional literacy program considered to be the gold standard approach.
It teaches neurotypicals and neurodivergents alike the skills and patterns, to live generously within a community. It embraces that all human beings experience the social and emotional world differently and have the right to express their feelings and actions in their own, compassionate, way. No one prescriptive way is ever right.
This sound bite was prepared for the Autism Inclusion Teachers in South Australia and captures the essence of the program and its desire to solve the 'double empathy problem'.
Welcome to What's the Buzz? a complete social and emotional literacy approach comprised of 48 lessons over 3 programs and complimented by a deep selection of online resources.
What's the Buzz? is an evidence-based program now used in more than 130 countries to teach young people social and emotional intelligence. It is based on the S.A.F.E. criteria, which permits maximum opportunity for the skills taught to transfer across into other situations.
The program has become a required text for teachers, counsellors, psychologists, social work and youth workers in training at many Universities worldwide.
What's the Buzz? for EARLY LEARNERS
- 16 lessons - (ages 5 to 8 years)
The EARLY LEARNER's program was launched in 2015 to immerse younger students in a variety of essential interpersonal skills, stimulated by the experiences of a character called Archie. In each lesson, the children help Archie solve the very same social dilemmas that occur in their everyday lives. As they do this, through activity, discussion, role-play, games, puzzles and quizzes, they learn how-to express feelings and become a more positive problem solver. In 2023 we are releasing the second edition that can be pre-ordered now and will be available from 23 January 2023.
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What's the Buzz? for PRIMARY STUDENTS
- 16 lessons - (ages 9 to 11 years)
The first version was released in 2011 for teachers, school support workers, parents, home schoolers, and a range of allied health professionals, to awaken the social and emotional awareness in youngsters. It quickly became a global phenomenon finding its way into scores of countries, hundreds of schools, charities, government welfare organisations and the private practices of allied health professionals. Early in 2019 we wrote a revised version containing a new Archie story in each chapter. While Archie's exact age is never revealed, he's about 11 years, and faces the same social and emotional challenges that children around this age typically encounter.
What's the Buzz? with Teenagers
- 16 lessons - (ages 12 to 15 years)
Published in 2019 this is a deep social and emotional teaching resource that has been well received. In fact, each chapter can be revisited 3, 4 or 5 times with students. Lessons begins with a classic Archie story. Archie is about 13 or 14 years old and faces social and emotional issues with the complexities typical for this age group. There are 10 chapters in the book and an additional 6 online. This version is aimed at middle school aged students and has application in schools and in private practices with allied health professionals.
What's the Buzz? is part of a global response stimulated by the positive psychology and positive education movements. The program precisely guides educators to teach young people new prosocial skills to develop emotional and social intelligence. How to;
- optimistically interpret human differences
- improve social connections; greetings, exiting, social feedback and social referencing
- begin and maintain relationships and friendships
- identify and work with one's own emotions
- develop empathic 'mind-reading' capacities
- identify and constructively respond to behavioural dominance; put-downs, trash talk, bullying and cyberbullying and trolling
- self-regulate emotions more productively
- appreciate self-awareness and self-identity
- navigate tricky social situations more positively and resiliently
And while absorbed in this skill-building, we give children the chance to grow steadier emotions and better behaviours.
Teaching social and emotional literacy, continuously, is a highly effective way to benefit our relationship with, and between, students. All human beings, no matter their age or circumstance, profit from being methodically taught social and emotional literacy skills and being in an environment where these are nurtured.
We now know that when young people are unable to attach to peers or feel isolated, they are more likely to be at risk from behavioural turbulence, mental health difficulties and have a greater tendency for future anti-social behaviour.
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