- Hey, y'all. It's Ayo here with some tips and strategies, so you can survive and thrive in Special Ed. And today, we're talking about Presumed Competence. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) I've gotta start by telling you a story.
I was out in the community, not that long ago. And I ran into a student that I used to have, great kid, right? And he was out with a service provider and excited to see me. So I stopped and chatted.
And the service provider was, kind of trying to brag on herself and show how she had been working with the student. So, she grabbed his hands. They started clapping and they saying, row, row, row your boat together, row, row, row row your boat. Now this is a 17 year old, grown man with facial hair out in the community, singing row row your boat (sigh) It made me realize that we really need to think about presumed competence.
Presumed Competence means, that you are always making the assumption that a student is completely capable, even if they can't demonstrate that with the outward behavior or communication. So, to break it down, you're gonna treat other student with a disability, with the respect they deserve, because you're not exactly sure what's going in and what's coming out because of the extent of their disability. Number one, is treat a student like their age. Treat a student their age.
If the student is a teenager, they should not be singing row, row, row your boat. If the student is a small child, you're going to treat them differently than if a student is over 18, and still on instructional setting. Those two situations are completely different. You also have to remember that students in wheelchairs should not be infantilized, because they're in a wheelchair.
So you wanna make sure that you're treating the student their age that they are and use resources and material that are age appropriate. Strategy number two, is to make sure that you're including students in the conversation. You should never walk into a room and talk above a student or around a student or through a student. You should talk to a student and then speak to the people around them.
We wanna make sure that the students are included in the conversation, and they don't become passive in their day. Remember, they're not a prop in the classroom. They're the purpose. Tip number three, don't ask a question if you can't wait for the answer.
Our students are using AAC Devices, Core Boards, CommBoards, Eye Gaze. There's lots of ways for them to communicate, but if you ask a question, and you don't wait around for them to answer, you're telling them that that mode of communication is not effective. And that is not the message we wanna send. So if you ask a student a question, make sure you wait around for the response.
All right y'all, this is Ayo reminding you to stay strong and teach on (upbeat music)
