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Friendships in Young Students with Severe Communication Problems: Are We Providing Enough Opportunities?

Happy children playing

“This student has no friends.”

I often hear teachers and therapists commenting that a particular student has no friends. These comments always make me wonder about how we see friendships developing in young students. What do we mean by “s/he has no friends”?

Do we mean that these students:

  • sit mostly by themselves?
  • do not seek out others in a way that we expect them to?
  • show no preference of whom to play with?

The comment “This student has no friends” generally signals the beginning of a discussion on how what we do in classrooms impacts on students’ opportunities to make friends.

Continue reading “Friendships in Young Students with Severe Communication Problems: Are We Providing Enough Opportunities?”

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Professional Development: Are We Effective in Helping Teachers and Therapists to Grow?

Teachers with students in classroom

It is the beginning of a new school year. This is a time when educational staff—teachers and therapists—are trying desperately to engage with new students in their classrooms or caseloads. Questions, e.g.…

  • How do we get students to pay attention and focus on the lessons we prepare with great dedication?
  • How can we deal with challenging behaviors, different language and reading levels of students, as well as diverse levels of skills of classroom assistants?

…can be all-consuming and overwhelming as we search for external solutions to the interaction and teaching challenges we experience in the classroom. The challenge for those involved in professional development of educational staff is how best to support teachers and therapists during this process. Continue reading “Professional Development: Are We Effective in Helping Teachers and Therapists to Grow?”