Learned Helplessness

 

In the previous post I learned about assistive technology and transferring into college. In this post I learned about learned helplessness. Dell defines learned helplessness as, “ a condition that a person suffers from a sense of powerlessness” (289).

After learning about learned helplessness, I reflected on the term, and found that I have not had much experience with this term. I learned that there are five tips to overcome learned helplessness. They are as follows:

1.)    Build a daily expectation of communication.  Ex.  Allowing the student to choose an activity they would like to do

2.)    Construct a daily report that is communicated y the student

3.)    Allow for natural consequences Ex. This also includes less restrictive environment

4.)    Provide students with a choice whenever possible Ex. This encourages the student to use their augmentative communication system.

5.)    Provide powerful phrases on the augmentative device so that the student can reject or protest

With having little experience with learned helplessness, I can use these tips in my classroom to help my students become more independent with their communication.

References:

Dell, A; Newton, G and Petroff, J. (2012). Assistive Technology in the Classroom: Enhancing the School Experience of Students with Disabilities. Pearson Education.