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Peer supports are one of the most effective ways to help students with disabilities reach their potential and ensure that their academic and social needs are met. Whether you're implementing a formal peer buddy program or more informal student-to-student partnerships, peer supports don't have to require a huge time investment-but before you begin, the young people participating will need some preparation and guidance. Today's post gives you 10 tips on getting students ready to help, so they can provide the most effective, appropriate supports to their peers with disabilities.

TIPS FROM: Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning, by Erik Carter, Lisa Cushing, & Craig Kennedy

Don't Underestimate Young People

"Adolescents are often capable of much more than adults give them credit for. The current generation of students has grown up attending inclusive schools and classrooms, they are experienced at working collaboratively with others, they are savvy with new technologies and educational innovations, and they recognize their potential role in increasing the participation of their peers with disabilities in everyday school life. In other words, peers often have a good understanding of why inclusion is important and how they can help support it."

"Although students will need some initial orientation to their new roles at the start of the semester and an introduction to basic support strategies, educators can be flexible with how training is provided... Students do not have to learn everything at the outset. Training can often be delivered informally through sharing additional strategies as new needs emerge; modeling appropriate interactions when necessary; or periodically meeting briefly with students before or after class, at lunch, or during down time in class."

Align Training with Students' Needs

"Peers are able to provide a rich and diverse array of supports to their classmates with disabilities [see the examples at the end of this post]. Peer support arrangements, however, are individually tailored interventions designed to help address just some of the educational and social support needs of students with severe disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Because support needs vary from student to student and class to class, peers do not need to be taught to provide every conceivable form of support. Rather, they only need to be shown the specific strategies they will need to support a specific classmate."

Anticipate Potential Challenges and Concerns

"Consider from the outset some of the early questions and concerns students might have [and] make certain that the questions are addressed during orientation activities. Some of the common questions we hear raised by peer supports in our work with schools are as follows:

What do I do if my partner has behavioral challenges? Is it my role to address these issues?

What if my partner decides he or she just does not want to work during a particular class?

Am I responsible for making sure that he or she keeps up with the rest of the class?

What do I do if I find myself falling behind in my own work? What if I ever feel overwhelmed or unable to keep up?

What if my partner and I find we do not get along as well as we thought we would?

Who do I go to if I have questions, need help, or have something I would like to share?

Talk through these or other questions students might have, and brainstorm possible responses before any potential challenges might emerge."

Model Desired Behaviors

"What attitudes and behaviors do you want peers to adopt? They will learn from watching adults, so it is important to be very aware of how you and your colleagues interact and work with students with disabilities. When adults encourage independence, offer choices, and promote self-determination, peers are likely to mirror these actions. When adults use age-appropriate language, model respectful interactions, and hold high expectations, anticipate that peers will do the same."

TIPS FROM: Peer Buddy Programs for Successful Secondary School Inclusion, by Carolyn Hughes & Erik Carter

"As a group, teachers and paraprofessionals in a school must meet to discuss and come to consensus regarding roles, responsibilities, and expectations for peer buddies in their particular school. Expectations and roles will vary from school to school, which is why staff should strive to develop their own expectations. For example, in some schools, peer buddies will be expected to accompany their classmates with disabilities to work-study jobs. In other schools, peer buddies will focus more on adapting academic assignments and teaching study skills."

Clarify Supervisory Roles

"It is important to determine which staff members will be responsible for the day-to-day supervision of peer buddies. For example, in a geography class, peer buddies could be told to go to the general education teacher for academic-related questions but to ask the special education teacher when they have questions about the social behavior of the student with whom they are working. Supervisory roles will differ across schools and even within school settings."

Maintain Communication

"A contact person should be established for peer buddies in case students need to ask questions or report challenges. This point of contact could be the classroom teacher, club sponsor, lunchroom monitor, special educator, job coach, paraprofessionals, or school counselor. A communication system also must be established for reporting emergencies, such as seizures or accidents."

Ask Students to Journal about Their Experiences

"We recommend having peer buddies complete daily or weekly reflective journals to record and think about the activities in which they have engaged and interactions they have shared...Such writing prompts students to think about, process, and learn from their experiences as well as improve their skills as a peer buddy. Students' entries provide teachers with insight into both the successes and challenges that peer buddies are experiencing."

Give Students Ideas for Specific, Real-World Supports

Here's a list of 28 small but powerful things peers can do to help students with disabilities inside and outside the classroom:

For more guidance on peer supports, explore the two books quoted in today's post:

Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning, by Erik Carter, Lisa Cushing, & Craig Kennedy

Peer Buddy Programs for Successful Secondary School Inclusion, by Carolyn Hughes & Erik Carter

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10 Practical Principles for Peer Supports: Getting Students Ready to Help

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Peer supports are one of the most effective ways to help students with disabilities reach their potential and ensure that their academic and social needs are met. Whether you're implementing a formal peer buddy program or more informal student-to-student partnerships, peer supports don't have to require a huge time investment-but before you begin, the young people participating will need some preparation and guidance.

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Before my daughter learned to speak she learned to sign, and the first sign she mastered was "more". More meant more - as in, " Give me more milk before I scream-cry in 5-4-3-2-1..." - but for her, it also meant "again". Sing that song again. Push the toy cash register button again. Make that funny sound with your armpit again, again, again.

Kids like repetition. Most parents get that, but when you've been reading the same story for the past hundred days and that damn caterpillar is still hungry, you can't help but think, "Come on, let's diversify here." You might even start to wonder if your kid is getting a little stuck.

This was a concern I had when I chose my daughter's play-based, child-led preschool. On one hand, I loved how the children had the freedom to explore without a constricting routine. On the other hand, sure, while she could build things with Magna-Tiles or dig in the sand or observe the Komodo dragon, without any direction, wouldn't she just do the same thing she does at home, all day, every day? (At that time, she was obsessed with putting nappies on baby dolls.)

"She might," the school's director Sylvia told me. "But what's wrong with that?"

When I recently asked her about this again, she elaborated. "What adults don't see is that each time a child does something, they see something differently. Why is it that when people travel, they go to the same place again and again? You see something new every time. That's how you get a true understanding of something."

There's scientific evidence to back this up. When children do the same thing over and over - reread the same books, dump and refill the same bucket, ask the same question - connections are being made in their brains that are critical for learning and development.

A study on language acquisition found that kids who were read the same book multiple times picked up new words faster and retained the meaning of those new words better than kids who were read different texts. Another study discovered that when kids reread stories, their conversations about those stories deepened upon subsequent readings - their responses to questions became more varied and complex.

And repeating things is simply comforting for kids - and for adults, too. Familiarity makes us feel safe and secure and less alone. Knowing what comes next is empowering. In this world of uncertainty and chaos, how nice is it to be able to say goodnight to the Moon, stars, air and noises everywhere before drifting off to sleep?

A piece from The Daily Beast titled "We've Been Saying Goodnight to That Moon for 70 Years" quotes Lucy Mitchell's 1921 Here and Now Story Book:

It is only the blind eye of the adult that finds the familiar uninteresting. The attempt to amuse children by presenting them with the strange, the bizarre, the unreal, is the unhappy result of this adult blindness. Children do not find the unusual piquant until they are firmly acquainted with the usual.

What should you do about your kids' repetitive behaviours? As tedious as they might be, go with them. But not in a way that'll make you crazy. Here are some tips:

Even as you cycle through books, keep some familiar favourites around on the shelves.

Look for sequels and books by the same author - kids build stronger connections when they have something familiar to grasp onto, such as a character or style of writing.

Offer open-ended materials that support "schemas", repeated patterns of behaviour. Here's an excellent list from early childhood educator Michelle Thornhill.

Change up the familiar little by little. For instance, after you've read a book for the umpteenth time, cover up some words and let your kid fill in the blanks. Or change up the ending. In time, the kid will feel confident enough to ask, "OK, what's next?"

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Why You Should Let Your Kid Be Annoyingly Repetitive

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Before my daughter learned to speak she learned to sign, and the first sign she mastered was "more". More meant more - as in, "Give me more milk before I scream-cry in 5-4-3-2-1..." - but for her, it also meant "again". Sing that song again. Push the toy cash register button again.

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Tools for a Lifetime: Strategies for Communication, Literacy, and Friendships

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 Hanser 2010 Emergent Literacy OT Practice

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peer support strategies for improving all students' social lives and learning

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Brookes Publishing: Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning

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Peer Support Strategies,,Peer Support Strategies for Improving All Students' Social Lives and Learning,978-1-55766-843-1,Disabilities,none,Carter, Erik W

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Center for Literacy and Disability Studies

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Center for Literacy and Disability Studies

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Support for Implementation

The resources found on this site were developed by the ERLC, a member of Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC), as a result of grants from Alberta Education, to support implementation.

Engaging All Learners | Copyright © 2021
Terms of Use | Contact Us

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Literacy for All: In conversation with Dr. Caroline Musselwhite

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The resources found on this site were developed by the ERLC, a member of Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC), as a result of grants from Alberta Education, to support implementation. Engaging All Learners | Copyright © 2021 Terms of Use | Contact Us

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Name writing is a classic goal that sometimes stays on the IEP for decades! Students typically practice name writing by copying and tracing, which leads to little or no generalization. Signing our name is a very important goal, as it is a part of who we are, so it is very important - but we need to address it using strategies that work! This series of tips suggests several strategies that are interactive, motivating . . . and successful!

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'Sign In' refers to have students sign in each day, and tracking their name writing as data across a semester or year. Students can sign in for: school, therapy, afterschool activity, Scouts, etc.

February 2014

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'Sign Up' refers to having students sign up for desired activities or materials. This can be more motivating than signing in, especially when signing up for exciting events. Use actual sheets or PostIts so that students understand the POWER of signing up!

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'Sign Off' refers to having students sign off when leaving or signing off on their personal work. This can be more motivating than signing in, especially when signing work to be shared or celebrated. Use actual materials (cards, artwork), so that students understand the power of signing off!

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This rating scale is an attempt to help capture and quantify the progress students make with name writing before their name is spelled correctly.
**Based on assessing the students' errors. Students' errors are very valuable as they offer a window in to what they know.
*This rating scale was developed by informally looking at a group of students name writing samples across a year. Patterns and features that were seen across students' attempts were identified as possible indicators for this rating scale.

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Here's a super fun 'barrier communication' game to play with students using AAC devices (or speech).

'Barrier Games' are activities that teach students to share information across a boundary. In this case the two girls were on opposite sides of the table, and couldn't see each others' cookies!
June 2014

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Before Writing: getting the right tool, which will often be an alternative pencil

Setting a Topic: writing for a real reason

After Writing: giving informative feedback

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This tip provides background information for:

WHY we should read familiar texts over and over with children

WHO is especially in need of hearing multiple re-readings

HOW we can make this happen

Repeated read alouds are fun for both children and adults - so jump in and read it again . . . and again . . . and again!August 2014

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This tip shares strategies to support emergent readers in 'practice' reading to their siblings, cousins, pets, stuffed animals, or dolls! This practice reading supports students in:

Feeling like a reader

Practicing concepts about print

Developing fluency

This can be helpful for students who are emergent readers and early conventional readers. The tip also includes what NOT to do when practicing.

September 201 4

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This tip describes approaches to writing using

Word banks

Core + Content (Communication system)

Alphabet

Samples are provided, and the importance of increasing use of the alphabet and core plus content for writing is emphasized.

Letter of the Week is a common preschool and special education practice. This tip advices against that practice, and suggests alternatives.

This tip provides background information for:

WHY we should stop doing letter of the week

WHO this tip is for

HOW we can do alternative activities that help students compare letters

November 2014

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Alphabet books are a staple of preschool education. This tip shares ideas for finding and using alphabet books with older students.

This tip provides background information for:

WHY we should share alphabet books with older students

WHO this tip is for

WHERE to find alphabet books that will engage and support older students who are emergent readers

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Our little idea guy marks the tip attachments. They are posted in pdf format. On the few occasions where there was more than one document to attach, we have "zipped" the files.

PDF File Information
If you don't have Acrobat Reader on your computer, go to the following site:
http://get.adobe.com/reader/

Contact us if you need tips in another format.

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tools for communication with special needs kids

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Name writing is a classic goal that sometimes stays on the IEP for decades! Students typically practice name writing by copying and tracing, which leads to little or no generalization. Signing our name is a very important goal, as it is a part of who we are, so it is very important - but we need to address it using strategies that work!