3rd Grade Level Fiction- Bing AI Mario and Luigi were taking a walk in the Mushroom Kingdom when they saw a strange portal. They had never seen anything like it before. "What do you think it is?" asked Luigi. "I don't know," said Mario. "But let's go find out!" Mario and Luigi jumped into the portal and disappeared. When they opened their eyes, they were in a strange new world. The sky was purple and the trees were blue. Mario and Luigi had never seen anything like it before. "Where are we?" asked Luigi. "I don't know," said Mario. "But it looks like we're going to have an adventure!" Mario and Luigi started walking through the strange new world. They soon came across a group of friendly creatures called Yoshis. The Yoshis told Mario and Luigi that they were in the Land of Yoshi. "Welcome to the Land of Yoshi!" said one of the Yoshis. "We're so glad you're here." T...
“Use your words.”
To me, the most ineffective teaching method is telling a child to “use their words.”
No one is innocent, and I will admit that first. I have used that prompt in the past. There are a number of reasons I feel we should be cueing our students in different ways. Students with Autism, emotional challenges, and developmental disabilities often hear these words- “use your words.”
As educators, family members, and people… we can do better.
For students with Autism, I see “use your words” as a problem because we are assuming something; that the student has the capability of “using their words” but isn’t.
For students with emotional challenges, we are figuring that there is something that we will unlock for the child when they “use their words.”
For students with developmental disabilities, we are guessing that there are words in there and that there is hope they will use them.
This is not even to consider the prompt dependence that we might foster by giving that cue. This goes for not just the classroom teacher, special education teacher, or the speech/language pathologist. It especially goes for the paraprofessional who has the direct contact with students.
While we WANT our children to talk, we can fall back on habits that might not give us exactly what we are hoping for.
Instead of saying “Use your words,” you can:
- Ask a student a question and wait. At least 5 seconds- it might seem like the longest wait of your life, but let the silence encourage communication, not your prompt.
- Make eye contact, give an excited/engaged look, and wait. 5 seconds again- you will be surprised how often this pays off.
- Say “Tell me”- I know it’s a minor semantic difference, but my experience has shown that this works.
- Say “You say” or “You do” while pointing to the student. For some of my students with developmental disabilities, this really pays off.
- Change the tone of your voice when asking a question. This re-engages some students who might have been day-dreaming/thinking of something else.
- Say “I’m listening”- for some students with emotional challenges, I have found this to be successful as well
In the end, we are going to fall into habits when interacting with students. Our habits are colored by our perception of the students, our previous experiences with other children (not just the ones at school), and our emotions/mood at the time. You are more likely to fall into old habits when you are stressed, thinking about something else, or upset.
It’s easy to say and not so easy to do, but be mindful of your communication with students. The simple act of paying attention to the way you phrase questions and engage in conversation will open a new world of possibility. You don’t have to fall into old habits- you can change how you interact with each moment you are with your student.
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