Life Success
For Students With Learning Disabilities:
A Teacher Guide
Expand the Circle of Support
This success attributes intervention model is intended primarily to be implemented by the classroom teacher in his/her classroom. A more powerful approach involves expanding the “circle of support” beyond the classroom, and even the school itself.
Within the school, additional support, input, and opportunities for “practicing” the success attributes may be provided by school counselors, school psychologists, and peers. This “interdisciplinary support team” can also move beyond the school setting, to include parents, therapists, coaches, and mentors. (Of course, confidentiality policies must be followed regarding any sharing of information regarding the student.)
It is clear from research with many different at-risk populations of children, including children with learning disabilities, that growing up with wide school, community, and familial support systems increases the chance for success in adulthood. Furthermore, studies of curriculum designed to foster positive social skills and self-concept development in children with learning disabilities point to the increased effectiveness of programs that use both classroom teachers and counselors to effect change in student behavior. Hence, an expanded circle of support appears to yield better results.
How might a success attribute be fostered within this expanded circle? Let’s take perseverance for example. It might start with introductory classroom activities about the attribute perseverance led by the teacher, as suggested in the next section on Success Attribute Activities. For participating students, a follow-up discussion in a group or individual counseling session, or a social skills group conducted by the school psychologist could be arranged. To widen the circle of support to peers, an in-service for members of the student council or the student conflict resolution team could be conducted by the group supervisor. Finally, the circle of support could be expanded to include homework assignments, to have discussions with parents in the home, to practice particularly relevant success skills with the coach or activities with the Scout troop leader.
In sum, by having input from multiple sources and facilitating the opportunity for students to practice the elements of the success attribute perseverance in a variety of settings, with a variety of key adults and peers, the likelihood that a youngster will generalize the success attribute perseverance to other experiences in his/her life is dramatically increased.
Next: Personalize the Experience
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