A south suburban high school is using heart monitors in a rather unconventional way, and it’s proving to be a big help to students with emotional problems.
“A lot of students come to us with emotional and behavioral issues and we try to address those issues somehow,” explained Mike Reed, a special education teacher at Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills.
Thanks to a gym teacher’s idea, heart rate monitors have become commonplace for some students.
“I said, ‘Hey, you don’t really know me, but what if you wanted to partner on this?'” said Terry Schlishohn, athletic director for Bremen High School District 228.
Jennifer Winefka, the school’s special education coordinator, was quick to help.
“They had just introduced a new piece where they were teaching students coping skills and how it relates to heart rate…I jumped right in and said, do you think this would be useful for one of your behavioral support programs?” she explained, recalling the conversation.
These monitors have already been used in gym classes, but it’s not just physical activity that increases your heart rate: anxiety, anger and fear also increase your heart rate.
“When we started to close the gap… emotionally, and just as emotions affect your heart rate, it was a very natural transition for them,” Reid said. “Yeah, they got it right away.”
For one student, Jermaine Brown, the end of school was stressful.
“When there’s a lot of people around and people are fighting or I’m annoyed,” he explained.
Jermaine could see his heart rate spike on the daily graph linked to the monitor.
“They know what is normal, and they know when it’s not normal,” Reid explained.
That way, teachers can offer students alternatives rather than just telling them to relax.
“We can pinpoint exactly what problems students are having and teach them strategies to cope, like taking a walk, journaling or listening to music,” Winefka said. “Maybe even just doing a few deep breathing exercises in the classroom will help students’ heart rates slow down a little bit.”
As the school year comes to an end, Hillcrest is already planning to continue using the heart rate monitors next year and is looking at ways to expand to help more students.
“Right now we’re just trying to figure out, logistically, what’s the best way to incorporate that,” Schlishoon said.
Jermaine has learned some coping strategies, like deep breathing and going for walks, techniques he says will help him this summer and hopefully outside of school as well.
“When kids are in a stressful situation outside of school and they’re able to step away from the program and use the strategies independently, it makes all the difference,” Schleeshoon said.
