Describe a time when a student on your caseload showed frustration that interfered with their learning or social interaction. What physical, behavioral, or emotional signs did you notice, and how might greater self-awareness have helped that student in the moment?
I have a freshmen student on my caseload that has visual impairment and additional learning disabilities. This student has difficulties with reading and writing. When they are frustrated with the activity, they shut down and avoid doing the assignment. Having greater self-awareness would have allowed the student to recognize that struggling with reading and writing gave them frustration. If they had a frustration plan, they could have used a breathing technique to calm themselves prior to the frustration becoming too overwhelming. Also, the frustration plan may have had a sentence that states “I need 5 minutes to calm down” so that the student could take the 5 minutes, walk away from the assignment and return with helpful thoughts that allow them to continue.
I have a middle school braille reader who is learning how to use a screen reader for email and Google Documents/Slides. She doesn’t always listen to the whole message the screen reader is reading. In addition to this, she has a “I’ll figure it out” attitude…..great at times but not so great when she uses this tactic instead of remembering the key commands. When things “aren’t working right” she gets frustrated and either continues to try random key combinations or gets “sassy” with me when I try to help her. In either case we are not able to move forward in the lesson. I see her body getting tense, huffing and puffing and then just shutting down.
If she had a frustration plan she could recognize when she is beginning to get frustrated and instead of digging a deeper hole of confusion she could stop….take a breath…and then listen to the screen reader to see where she is. She could also evaluate if perhaps what she is trying to complete is not screen reader accessible in the first place and that she is going to need to ask for help to complete the assignment. It would also make her relationship with me in that lesson to not be as frustrating and rude.
Hello!
I had a “Little Learner” who was almost 3 years old with optic nerve hypoplasia. She was very mobile and wanted to be on the go all the time. I was working with her and her parents on introducing a cane. This lesson, we went to explore the apartment building which was new to her since the family just moved here. She wanted to explore the stairwell without any support from her parents or myself (she was feeling very independent like many 2 year olds). For safety purposes, her dad carried her down the stairs and she practiced walking up with him following closely behind to spot her while mom held the cane. He tried to help her walk down the stairs bare cement and encouraged her to hold onto the metal railing and his hand. She became very frustrated and upset. She started screaming and trying to pull away. At this point, due to safety, his dad picked her up and we moved to another part of the apartment building. The “Little Learner” screamed and squirmed in her father’s arms. The adults remained calm and tried to redirect her to another activity and allowed her to move independently. After about 5 minutes she was able to calm down and explored the carpeted hallway. Because this “Little Learner” was so young and learning about emotions she was not yet cabable of much self-awareness. However, her parents and I worked on helping her re-regulate and remained calm. To help this little one learn social and emotional skills her parents and I talked about labeling feelings with her during future situations. For example, saying “It looks like you’re frustrated” or “You are so happy right now” or “Are you mad?”. She has continued to grow and develop her emotional skills as she got older with the support of her parents.
I had a student become frustrated during a read-aloud assignment. This particular student struggled greatly with reading, as it is. When the student could not read/understand, the student would begin sighing heavily, clenching fists, avoiding eye contact with me, putting their head down, and finally, refusing to continue to attempt reading the passage. When other students within the small group would try to help, the student would become mean and angry toward them. Frustration escalated quickly. Greater self-awareness could have possibly helped the student identify the early signs of frustration and encourage the student to use a coping strategy before the point of shutting down. Deep breathing, asking for help, and/or giving them self a self-talk could have possibly helped regulate emotions and return to the task at hand.
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