FACILITATING FOR A CHILD IN A TYPICAL CLASSROOM

GOALS

This document assumes that your primary goal in working with a child in a typical classroom is to nurture the child's motivation to play with peers. Related goals include helping the child to:

• Develop specific play relationships.
• Understand and respect personal boundaries.
• Be motivated to get a positive reaction from peers.
• Show interest in others' ideas about play.
• Learn how to ask peers to play, and how to respond when they say "yes" or "no."
• Learn how to sustain play over an extended period.

This document does not address issues related to behavior management or academic development.

BASIC STRATEGIES FOR EVERY SITUATION

• Remember the focus on developing social interaction skills. The child is in class primarily to practice interacting with other kids. Although each family's goals for a child's school experience will differ, a facilitator who is focused on social interaction may view the child's ability to develop cognitive skills, his or her behavior management skills, and everything else as secondary. Focus on those issues only to the extent that it supports the primary goal. If the child is struggling with an activity (for whatever reason) and you can't find a way to make it worthwhile, divert the child to another activity, or bend the rules as much as possible to accommodate him or her.
• Don't simply use the model "Step in, set up, fade out"; instead, stay close and stay engaged. The child is not in the classroom primarily for the facilitator to test his or her abilities; the child is there to develop them. When he or she is doing well without assistance, stay close so that you can praise what is happening, and so that you can provide support the moment it is needed. You want to avoid break-downs (situations where social interaction ends suddenly and untypically), and the best way to do that is to be ready to instantly coach the child or the other kids. You may not always be involved in the activity, but you want to monitor it closely.
• Praise absolutely everything. When the child makes any kind of social overture, responds to someone, looks at someone, or anything else, validate that motivation by offering praise enthusiastically. Don't forget to praise the child even when he or she doesn't do the "typical" thing. In other words, if the child starts to tease someone, praise the desire to interact before you start working on adjusting the child's execution. The more we thank the child for the things we love him or her to do, the more the child will come back to those behaviors.
• Stay enthusiastic, energetic, and dramatic. Many children will respond more easily to animated, high energy approaches. Be as crazy as you can in the environment. The other kids will tend to respond to this, too, which will provide more opportunity for togetherness. Remember that you don't always have to be loud or disruptive to be energetic. Much of your energy will come from your articulation and inflection, and from your facial expressions. Speak deliberately (although not necessarily more slowly), almost as if you were acting on a stage.
• Avoid too much talking, teaching, and explaining. Stay focused on developing the child's motivation to interact with others. The child will learn best through experience, so limit the amount of talk-learning that you provide. You can always provide the child with comments about why something worked or didn't work, but if he or she seems uninterested or reluctant to stop and listen, let it go for the moment. You can always mention the issue later in a quiet moment.
• Preview activities before transitions, then focus your energy on the new activity. Don't try to rush the child away from the old activity, but talk up the new activity as much as possible. Show the child that the new activity will be exciting and fun. At the same time, don't feel panicked or frustrated if the child is slow to give up the old activity. Gaining compliance may be an important goal, but focus on that goal can easily overpower efforts to help the child have a warm, connected experience.

BASIC ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN A TYPICAL ENVIRONMENT

The facilitator should always remain alert to times when the child may need support. When the child is interacting with peers, or is participating in a structured group activity, remain close so you can coach him or her (to make eye contact, to respond, and so on). You will want to support the child more aggressively when he or she is not engaged in a structured activity. In particular, you can assist when the child:

• Is not motivated to play with others.
• Does not ask others to play or does not initiate conversation effectively.
• Is not sustaining interactive play effectively.
• Is not responding effectively to conversational overtures.
• Is not interacting in a group activity effectively.
• Is not following the guidelines of the class effectively.

Some detailed suggestions for each of the above situations follow.

The child does not show motivation to play with others.

• Follow the child until he or she focuses on an activity of some kind. Prompt gently or suggest an activity after a few minutes of aimlessness. Don't panic if the child doesn't want to settle into something. Give the child lots of time, and encourage without pressuring.

• Sit near the child and comment excitedly about what he or she is doing. Suggest a few ideas, and begin to get involved in play. If the child shows no interest in allowing you to participate, simply play next to him or her. Continue to show a lot of interest in what the child is doing, and comment on your own activity as well.
• Avoid asking too many questions. By commenting, you will give the child plenty of opportunity to respond, and to invite you in when he or she is motivated.
• Show as much genuine interest as you can muster. Build on the child's activity in any way that you can. Think small-you don't have to do something radical to get his or her attention. Often, a tiny little adjustment will catch the child's interest.

Once you are engaged in some way with the child, choose one of the following strategies:

• Invite another kid to play, either with you, or with you and the child together:
• "Look at what we're doing, JP!"
• "Shelly, come help me build this!"
• "John, you and [name] hold that bridge and I'll roll the car under it!"

Continue to play next to (and with) the child, excitedly showing lots of drama and energy. See if someone will get interested in what you are doing and invite themselves over.

The child does not ask others to play or does not initiate conversation effectively.

• Try to be near when the child approaches someone. If necessary, coach him or her on what to say. Be as indirect as you can while staying supportive. In other words, instead of saying, "Tell Lauren that you want to play with her," try something like, "It usually works if you tell someone that you like what they're doing, and want to try it too."
• Help the child to show interest in what the other child is doing. For example, you might say, "Wow, I wonder what Jack is doing with those blocks." If that doesn't seem to be quite enough, you could then add, "I'll bet if we asked him, he could tell us what he's building." Remember to keep as much energy as you can in your voice.
• If someone says "no," praise the child's desire to offer, and sincerely praise the other child's consideration. Show enthusiasm for the possibility of playing later at that activity. Then show enthusiasm to the child about an alternative activity (one that might be close by).
• Do not show any disappointment, or try to coax the other child to play through your feelings. In other words, don't take the rejection personally. This will help you to stay focused on every positive opportunity; it will also show the child an excellent model for handling rejection (would that we could all handle it that well).

The child is not sustaining interactive play effectively.

If the child seems to be drifting out of an activity, or if he or she is responding to other kids in a way that they don't like or understand, this may be a sign that the child doesn't like the activity, or is overwhelmed for some reason. Some ideas:

• Remain focused on the basic strategies. Praise the child for everything that you can, and avoid sounding judgmental about his or her behavior.
• Help the child to find a more specific role to play in the activity. Suggest something fairly limited and simple that will give the child a way to re-orient in the activity.
• If the child still seems to struggle, offer another activity energetically. You can even ask outright if the child is tired of the activity. Be careful with this-avoid leading the child out of an activity (e.g., "you don't want to do that anymore, do you?").

The child is not responding effectively to conversational overtures.

• Try to be near the child when other kids approach. Be ready to encourage him or her to look at and talk to whoever initiates. Avoid commands like "Look at John." Always go for the child's motivation. "[Name], John might be able to hear you better if you look at him."
• Help the child to make eye contact and respond to questions and comments from peers with subtle physical prompting (such as a touch on the shoulder) and gentle verbal prompting. Try to be as non-directive as possible. For example, instead of, "[Name], please answer Caroline," say, "[Name], it sounded like somebody said something to you!" If the indirect approach doesn't work, you might ask Caroline to repeat her question a little closer to the child, or have her tap the child before asking again.

If that doesn't work, you might remind the child that when people ask questions of others, that it can be fun to answer, because you might get to play a new game. The trick here is to remain non-judgmental and playful, and not to pressure the child. Once you start feeling like the child has to answer, you will add a level of tension to the situation that will work against you.

• If the child still won't answer, help the other kids to reach satisfactory closure. For example, say "[Name] seems to be busy right now, Caroline. Maybe [name] can answer you later. If you want to play a game, John Paul might like to do it with you." It's always important to maintain the other kids' positive perceptions of the child.

The child is not interacting in a group activity effectively.

When the child is trying to engage in a group activity, or is having difficulty staying focused or cooperative in a group activity, you have several options.

• Suggest a role for the child to play. If a group of kids are playing in the kitchen, get the child interested in being the milkman, or the mailman, or the cook. By giving him or her a specific role that the other kids "need" to go to, you will help to narrow the scope of the activity for the child.
• Suggest a role for you both to play together. This is the same as the first strategy, except that you take an active or leading role in the activity. You might be the milkmen, or vacuum cleaner salesmen, or anything else that might appeal to the other kids.
• Get excited about what another kid is doing, and point the activity out to the child. Don't be afraid to simply watch other kids play while the child sits with you. If you develop a lively commentary about the activity, the child may stay interested, and might ultimately express a renewed interest to participate.

The child is not following the guidelines of the class effectively.

If your primary goal in working with a child in a typical classroom is social interaction, then you can relax in the knowledge that the child is not there to learn how to follow rules. It is important that the child follow rules primarily insofar as it is necessary to maintain the flow of the class. In other words, it may not always be possible to allow the child to do a special activity if the rest of the kids would expect to be able to do it also. However, whenever possible, give the child as much freedom as you can with respect to class rules and regulations. If he or she is struggling to comply with a routine or activity, try to change the rules of the activity. If this is not possible, try to remove the child from the activity entirely. The goal here is to minimize stress that is unrelated to social skills development.