Learning to be Buddies

In the earlier years of teaching I was working with a young child who had a hearing impairment.  The child had hearing aids, was communicating with speech but was struggling socially.

One of the fallacies about children who have cochlea implants or hearing aids it that they will pick up sounds in the same way as a child who doesn’t need to use these aids.  This is not true.  There are many factors that influence a child’s language development, such as when they recieved the aides or cochlea implant.  It may still be hard for the child to pick up the nuances of language and social interaction as they may process the the sounds and other senses differently.

Later in my career I worked with another young child who had a cochlea implant.  This child also was struggling socially.  In both cases, the child was hitting and pushing other children.

The reason why rules, rewards, “I” statements and so on didn’t work for these children was that it wasn’t getting at the purpose of the behaviour.  In both cases, it was about not having the right language or communication techniques for getting included in other children’s play.

For example, instead of asking to play or asking for a turn of a toy, they would simply stand and watch or grab or hit their way to what they wanted. 

The solution was to teach the children a procedure.

Step 1:  Get the other child to look at you by calling their name.

Step 2: Wait until they look at you.

Step 3:  Say, “Can I play? or “Can I have a turn?”

Step 4: Wait for the answer.

Step 5: “Yes” means you can have a turn now.  “No” means find something else to do, or wait a bit longer.  (This requires a bit of adult intervention to keep the peace and encourage inclusion or patience. LOL)

You might want to read Why is this child consistently aggressive? for more ideas.