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?
The framework is based on the principle that friendship is the building block for more intimate relationships. Acting politely and with kindness builds friendships and thus builds potential romantic relationships. If you get along with others this is often seen as a positive characteristic by people that you may want to be closer to in the future. The coping comic can show the perspective of someone watching a communication exchange where someone is rude or sullen or unfriendly. What does the outsider watching that behavior think of the person who is surly or grumpy or even just disengaged?
Simply, the motivation for understanding and applying rules regarding professional behavior in the workplace is in a) success on the job, b) success in interacting with co-workers, c) success in making friends and d) success in making personal or intimate relationships possible. Will the instructor graphically organize this so that the student can see the advantages of following work rules regarding social and sexual behavior?
As noted, the high school environment is frequently replete with examples of inappropriate public verbal and physical behaviors. How do you train appropriate professional behavior while two students are pawing each other in the hall? The models are contradictory to the rules and can sabotage the instruction if the instructor does not clarify the rules as related to adult contexts. Practice the skills in controlled settings when possible and move to project and club environments where specific rules for professional behavior can be a part of the general expectation.
As you introduce this skill, how will you incorporate (visually, thematically) the student’s unique interests?
As an instructor, you walk a fine line. You need to listen to and acknowledge the student’s needs and interests. It is recommended that you avoid personal judgments of the student’s preferences but clarify the expectations of the ‘work environment’ with regard to student preferences. Use the expectations of the work environment as a framework for self-control. Redirect the student’s preferences into appropriate channels, into concrete and specific options that address the needs without compromising the student in professional settings, including the school.
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?
The instructor may want to start by analyzing self-assessments and supervisor assessments for preferences. The comparison may shed light on discrepancies between the student’s self-image and the impression of outsiders in professional settings. The priming process likely will require you to create one or more social narratives to show perspective. It requires you to graphically represent the expectations of the workplace. It requires repetition and practice of the advantages of appropriate workplace behavior. It also often requires defining that the student address his or her physical and personal needs outside of work. Because public behavior in social media can adversely affect employment, the instructor needs to use guidelines provided in social media for acceptable interactions. The instructor needs to organize and negotiate a set of rules in public behavior that are within the capacity of the student to use. These tools support the negotiation process and the definition of rules that the student can accept and embrace as his or her rules to support employment success. This is likely to work best when family, friends, co-workers and support persons support the same set of rules. Inconsistency confuses us all but can be tragic for the individual with social learning differences.
Below are the self-assessment tools related to social communication that align with this intervention topic:
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?
Initially, repetition and practice of expected skills using visual supports that define friend or romantic friend vs. co-worker behaviors will be essential. Interspersal is literally inevitable with this issue if the student engages with other students or with co-workers in conversation. Take as much care as possible in managing and building skills through repetition and through managing interactive environments.
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 the student to the upcoming situation? How do you orient him to the materials he will use? How do you activate prior knowledge?
Focus on increasing familiarity and success in using the organizer, the list, the scripts, and/or the scenarios through repetition. Inevitably, situations arise at school, in clubs, and in volunteer projects that provide a chance to recall and to use visual supports to guide professional behavior. A key is familiarity with the key concepts in the graphic organizer or the behavior list by all support staff. Do key people in supervisory or support roles know the key words in the graphic organizer so they can prompt and orient the student to expected behaviors before potential problems? If there are problems, is it necessary to back up and provide more practice in controlled environments?
