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 self-assessment tool can help many students concretely identify preferred environmental elements (I feel okay with this), as well as common triggers (this makes me feel bad). Once the student has identified some of these preferred elements (e.g. smaller work space, seated job, inside, no customer interaction), link these preferences to jobs that interest the student. Once the student has identified some of the triggers that make him feel bad (in his classrooms, current work settings, his community, etc.), does he want to feel better when these triggers arise? Assuming he buys into this objective, what strategies might he use to mitigate these triggers? More broadly, use this information to identify with the student those settings that are a good fit (I would feel good working there, I could handle this place) versus those that are not (I would not want to work here).
As you introduce this skill, how will you incorporate (visually, thematically) the student’s unique interests?
This is a time to be creative! For example, if the student is interested in flying, use visual illustrations and a social narrative that allow the student to identify environmental stressors a pilot may face in an airplane, such as sun glare or being constricted in a tight space. What strategies does he use to minimize these stressors? What “zones” or environments does the character avoid altogether – those that might inevitably set him up for “crashing and burning”? Play clips from YouTube or favorite movies while the student lists environmental factors that may bother a character. Use modeling and role-play as well, where the student observes and identifies the triggers affecting the “actor’s” completion of various tasks. Individual activities and socially interactive games such as these can promote interest.
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 graphic organizer, social narrative, and/or a video scenario along with live role-play can be used to help the student make the connection between known environmental triggers and his typical responses. Such strategies can also help the student distinguish between these current responses versus more effective strategies (and illustrate why these strategies are beneficial).
Such tools as graphic organizers (decision trees, checklists, pros and cons charts, etc.) might also be used to help the student identify a combination of environmental features in order to evaluate a particular employment or post-secondary setting – would this be a good fit for me, or should I consider other options? These tools can help the student see the “bigger picture,” when he might otherwise struggle to do so.
Priming is a form of negotiation that can reframe and sharpen a student’s assessment of self. Below is the self-assessment tool that aligns with this intervention topic:
"Self-Regulation - Identifying Stressors 2"
"Supervisor Assessment - Self-Regulation"
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?
Before the student encounters a situation where he is likely to experience an environmental stressor, how do you help the student prepare? How do you orient him to the upcoming situation?
For example, if the student struggles to wait in long lines, how can you help him prepare for the crowded cafeteria? Perhaps he has found counting or quietly reciting a script from a favorite movie to be calming in such situations. In this case, your effort is to remind him to use these strategies, and to rehearse these strategies just prior to the event. In another case, it may be more appropriate for the student to transition to the cafeteria five minutes ahead of lunch start time, thereby avoiding this stressor altogether. Thus, you might rehearse with him the self-advocating statement that he might need to make to a teacher or administrator (“I have early release as an accommodation. Here is my hall pass”).