8 Steps to Teach Any Student With Social Needs
1. Nurture.
The most important way to help a child with social needs is to nurture the child wherever he or she is at. Oftentimes, students with social needs are misunderstood and can feel ostracized. The most powerful tool I have used in the classroom for any breakthrough with a student is to start with nurturing them. Building trust. Showing someone cares. Start with there first and foremost.
2. Consider the interests of the child.
The best way to hook a child with social needs is to first consider the child’s interests. The most impactful way to teach a student with social needs is to leverage their interests. You know what I am talking about. The biggest asset for working with students with social skills is that they usually have something that they are incredibly interested in—a hyper niche—this could be a TV show, video games, a genre, a book, a character—use this to your advantage! Find that interest and hook your student!
3. Model.
Constantly model what you would like your students to do. If you would like your students to be organized, you need to be organized. If you want your students to work on problem solving, model how to walk through the problem solving steps. Model everyday skills with students and adults. Be explicit. Say out loud what you are doing and why. “I am saying “Hi” because that’s how you greet people.” Think aloud for your students to hear your thought process about social skills.
4. Explicitly teach social skills
Think about the most important skills your students need know now and in the future. What skills will they need to be successful in class today? Tomorrow? Next year? In the next grade band? As adults? Think about the most important skills and teach them explicitly.
5. Provide structured and unstructured settings to practice skills
It’s important to provide both structured and unstructured settings to practice the new skills. This means that students are practicing their new skills all the time. Remember to incorporate a balance of down time, various structured times, and unstructured times. Observe which settings students struggle the most and be sure to provide extra supervision and guidance during these times to ensure students success.
6. Reinforce desired behaviors
Learning a new skill is hard work. Find ways that the student enjoys to reinforce their behavior efforts. Be creative. Phone time. Break time. Free time. Game time. Getting a special job. Verbal praise. Find what is motivating enough for the student to change their behavior. A student may like something, but that doesn’t necessary mean that it will motivate change. Change is hard, and sometimes we need a good incentive to get there.
7. Every moment is a teachable moment
Think of each moment as a new opportunity to teach. Sometimes I find a student didn’t do what I wanted because I didn’t tell them what I wanted. The clearer you can be upfront, the more likely the student will follow those expectations. But sometimes we think we were clear and we weren’t. Use that as a teaching moment. Or give the student the benefit of the doubt—they forgot, they didn’t hear you, they were absent the day you addressed that—okay, tell them what you expect now, no biggie.
8. Accept neurological differences
Our students are unique. We want to set them up for success by teaching them necessary skills. We also want to accept our students and all their differences and quirks because it makes them who they are.