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?
It is sometimes necessary to demonstrate what is being taught in order to gain student interest. For example, if the student avoids the topic, it might help to let him experience being the recipient of disinterested cues by modeling them yourself. As he talks about a high interest or important event in his life, show him through clear modeling how your face depicts boredom or how your body turned away from him can be perceived as “rude” or “non-present.” This may help engage him enough to motivate learning about self-expression and deciphering others. Other strategies include social narratives or chaining previously-taught skills to this topic.
In general, find what motivates him. Does he want friends? Does he want peers to share certain interests? Do you need to introduce the concept of relationship as reciprocal (I listen to you then you will listen to me)? Does he want a job? If so, emphasize how looking disinterested when the interviewer talks will be a huge turn off. Similarly, emphasize how missing non-verbal cues that signal disinterest in others is also a turn-off in job seeking and job keeping contexts.
As you introduce this skill, how will you incorporate (visually, thematically) the student’s unique interests?
Consider whether there are characters from favorite movies or TV show scenes that can illustrate signs of interest versus disinterest.
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?
Some students will not understand the importance of listening in building friendships. More than once, we have heard, “I am listening. It doesn’t matter if I look, I can hear them!” For this student, he may need to hear it from a select group of peers ‘with status.’ One technique is to bring in a small group of trusted peers and ask them questions about what makes a good friend. Try to assure that these chosen peers are seen positively by the student. Create a graphic organizer or chart of those features of a good friend.
For some students, use thought comics or video models to clearly illustrate the connection between nonverbal cues, positive interactions and ultimately positive regard from significant peers and supervisors.
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 2"
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?
This technique is especially important when you deal with complex material like non-verbal communication. You start with a concrete and specific skill that you teach. If possible, you label the more concrete skills that the student is using. You label each successful performance. As you practice, you want to intersperse simpler skills through the practice so that the student gains confidence. Do you intersperse opportunities for the student to label others’ behaviors in practice? Labeling someone else is most often easier than actually doing it. As the student expands his repertoire of basic and advanced skills, intersperse both “showing interest” and “deciphering interest” practice opportunities to sustain confidence and motivation. As the student practices deciphering interest in role-plays, repair strategies may need to be applied ("she looks disinterested, let’s talk about something else"). This is often quite difficult so intersperse these trials with simpler trials to assure continued success.
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 activate prior knowledge?
Provide a script card or list of instructions that reminds him of the steps in both showing and deciphering interest before practice. Conduct a mini role-play session if needed to prepare him to perform “showing interest” signs and to interpret the non-verbal signs of others. Determine where he will keep the card and when he will refer to it. Hopefully, you will prompt him to refer to it prior to situations in which he may use it in real life situations.