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PBIS Skill of the Week:  Asking for Help

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PBIS Skill of the Week:  Asking for Help

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“Here are the steps of the skill of ‘Asking for Help.’”
1. Look at the person.
2. Ask the person if he or she has time to help you.
3. Clearly explain the kind of help that you need.
4. Thank the person for helping.
SAY: “These are the steps we are going to use for the skill of ‘Asking for Help’ in this class and building.”

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Learning to ask for help is an incredibly important life skill!

As obvious as this sounds, it's not always intuitive for individuals with social learning challenges. Learning to ask for help in the early years prepares individuals, as they get older, to self-advocate and not rely on others to anticipate their needs. Teaching different types of advocacy (stating one's opinion, negotiating, letting people know when you need something that you have not received, etc.) are all steps to add to a treatment or education plan.

Asking for help is also an important part of building workable and meaningful relationships with others. The person who never asks others for help or defaults to telling others what he or she knows, can be perceived as a "know it all" or arrogant.

Within the Social Thinking® framework, we include asking for help as part of the category of Initiation within the ILAUGH Model of Social Thinking. Here are some examples of ways to explore asking for help:

Establish a system for how to ask for help.Most students in a classroom raise their hand while looking in the direction of the teacher to indicate the need for help. If, after ongoing explanations and clear models of how to get help in this manner the student still does not use this strategy, then it's time to try another approach. For example, start with having the student simply flip a card on her desk to indicate, "I need help." Some students may benefit from having a visual cue card to hand to the teacher. These strategies can be very helpful to our less verbose or more anxious students. This is often a concrete, although temporary, solution to an abstract problem. Also, student with selective mutism may be willing to stand by the teacher's desk as a sign they need help. Continue to brainstorm different choices for different students.

Know your students' strategies -both constructive and problematic!Teachers and parents should be assessing the strategies a student uses to ask for help as well as avoidance techniques! We should also observe how often the individual uses these positive or negative strategies when doing homework, when working in class, etc. Sometimes students don't ask for help in a traditional manner but instead appear to have behavior problems (highly distracting to themselves and others) when unsure what to do. You may notice that this same student does not use these behaviors when highly engaged in a task that she understands.

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Thoughts on Encouraging Students to Ask for Help

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Learning to ask for help is an incredibly important life skill! As obvious as this sounds, it's not always intuitive for individuals with social learning challenges. Learning to ask for help in the early years prepares individuals, as they get older, to self-advocate and not rely on others to anticipate their needs.

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Don't Forget... Spring into Science Family Night on March 15  5:00-7:00 PM

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Don't Forget... Spring into Science Family Night on March 15  5:00-7:00 PM

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IEP Day
8:00-8:15  Televised Announcements
New Kid Principal and Vice Principal Introduced
New Skill of the Week
Bucket Fillers of the Week

3:00-4:00 PBIS Tier I and Tier II Meeting in Library

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IEP Day
Brough out for Principal Topics
3rd Grade Math Planning Day at PD Center
8:10-8:40  PBIS Family Meeting with Ms. Cannady
3:00 - 5:00 18/19 Budget Planning Meeting in Conference Room

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1:00 - 3:00  Grade Level PLC/Collaboration
2:30 - 3:30  Parent Wellness/Anti-Bullying Workshop, Ms. Garcia
2:40-3:40  Kinder/TK Staff Meeting in Library
3:20-4:20  Staff Meeting in Library

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Brough out with 4th Grade
4th Grade Wonders Plus training at PD Center
Kinder Articulation Day
2:30 - 3:00  100 Mile Club on Field

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Brough with 5th Grade
5th Grade Math Planning Day at PD Center
9:50 Begin Free Recess for Perfect Attendance for the Week

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"ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies"

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"ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies"