How can you connect this new skill to the student’s priorities? How can you assure ownership by making the development of this skill the student’s goal rather than just your goal for the student?
Many students want to be helpful and be a productive part of a team but are unsure of how to initiate or respond in certain situations. The student’s desire to be successful will be the primary motivation for him to learn these skills.
As you introduce this skill, how will you incorporate (visually, thematically) the student’s unique interests?
The use of video scenarios with appropriate responses may appeal to the student who is very interested in videos. If there is a certain sports figure, role model or idol that the student likes, filmed interviews or conversations of that person responding to questions and handling interruptions could be shown and discussed.
Can you make it visually clear to the student who is resistant to change that his assumption is only one way of looking at things? Can your use of visual supports and self-assessments help get agreement that there is a problem, get agreement on the solution, and create the motivation for change?
A student who is unable to handle interruptions and responds explosively or angrily can potentially lose his job. The use of social narratives, graphic organizers, and script cards could be used to visually show consequences and teach more appropriate strategies to use in those situations.
Priming is a form of negotiation that can reframe and sharpen a student’s assessment of self. Below are the self-assessment tools that align with this intervention topic:
"Social Communication – Basic Skills 1"
Interspersal is a proven technique involving the presentation of familiar, higher success tasks with the new, more challenging task. When it is appropriate, are you varying the activities to maintain the student’s confidence and focus?
Is the student able to handle interruptions during class time? How does he handle questions when he is working at school? Starting with those situations and practicing appropriate ways to respond would be a good place to start and then move to work sites or community activities.
Before the student encounters a situation where he will need to perform this skill, how do you help the student prepare? How do you orient him to the materials he will use for an upcoming situation?
Some combination of social narratives, role-play using scripts, graphic organizers with specific strategies for individual situations, and visual reminder cues, could all be necessary to prime the student prior to a situation where he is likely to encounter interruptions or questions.