South Cook News

Staff of the Special Education and Physical Education departments of Bremen High School District 228 in Midlothian recently told the Board of Education that a collaboration in the use of web-based heart rate monitors is progressing.

Jennifer Winefka, special education coordinator for Curriculum & Instructional Support, and Terri Schrishuhn, physical education coordinator, said during the board’s April 18 meeting that students using the heart rate monitors are learning how to handle stress and manage emotions.

Schrishuhn told the board that the Physical Education Department has been using the heart rate monitors for several years with the goal of students wearing the monitor watches once a week so that they have a visual indicator of their heart rate. Teachers are trained on processing data and working with students to show what affects their heart rates.

Winefka told the board that the heart rate monitors are a help with the special education behavior support programs. She said the goal is to teach students in CORE and Bridges how to read and analyze their heart rate data in relation to physical activity and show them how emotions affect their heart rate. She added that the monitors are a nice visual tool for students.

“They don’t realize how their emotions are physically impacting their person,” Winefka said in the meeting “Hey, your watch face is red. What are you feeling right now? What can you do to bring yourself back down to a yellow or blue zone?”

Although not all students are independent, they have identified coping tools and are trying out different strategies in the CORE and Bridges programs, according to the presentation.

Students learned that their emotional and mental states can have physical impacts on their bodies and their heart rates. They can connect the techniques and coping strategies they have learned to real-life situations on handling stress and managing emotions.