Learned Helplessness

In my last couple of blog posts, I have been talking about assistive technology (AT) available to help students who are struggling in math. In my next couple of blog posts, I am going to talk about students with disabilities who cannot speak. These students use augmentative communication to help them communicate with people around them.

A student using augmentative communication.

Many of these students go through what is referred to as, learned helplessness. "Learned helplessness is formally defined as a disruption in motivation, affect, and learning following exposure to non-contingent (uncontrollable) outcomes" (Fincham, F.). As educators, the last thing we want is for any of our students to go through learned helplessness. So how do you get your students to overcome learned helplessness?

A student demonstrating learned helplessness.

The purpose of this blog post is to help educators understand how to get their students to overcome learned helplessness!

How To Overcome Learned Helplessness:

• "Build a daily expectation of communication through specific activities such as choosing the activity during recess, picking a book to read, or identifying where to eat lunch" (Dell, A.G., Newton, D.A., & Petroff, J.G.). 
• "Construct a brief daily report to parents that is communicated by the student" (Dell, A.G., Newton, D.A., & Petroff, J.G.).
• "Allow natural consequences to occur and provide avenues for repair. This includes setups that alter the environment to provide less support or sabotage" (Dell, A.G., Newton, D.A., & Petroff, J.G.).
• "Provide for choice making whenever possible that requires the student to use his or her augmentative communication system" (Dell, A.G., Newton, D.A., & Petroff, J.G.). 
• "Provide powerful phrases on the device for students to reject or protest something" (Dell, A.G., Newton, D.A., & Petroff, J.G.). 

If you have a student in your life or classroom who is using augmentative communication, it is always important to encourage them to speak! Learned helplessness is not something that I would want to see in ANY of my students and I think that the above tips should be taken seriously and implemented into every classroom! 

Dell, A.G., Newton, D.A., & Petroff, J.G. (2012). Assistive Technology in the Classroom. Boston. PEARSON.

Fincham, F. (2009). Learned Helplessness. Retrieved From: http://www.education.com/reference/article/learned-helplessness/.