Learned Helplessness

Beginning users of augmentative communication (AC) are often unskilled in active participation and become passive learners. These students sometimes feel a sense of dis-empowerment, believing they have no control over their environment. It is important that teachers identify this feeling of learned helplessness within their students and provide them with a voice and support to overcome their own passive responses.

Tips for overcoming 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
• Construct a brief daily report to parents that is communicated by the student
• Allow natural consequences to occur and provide avenues for repair
• Provide for choice making whenever possible that requires the student to use his or her AC system
• Provide powerful phrases on the device for students to reject or protest something

Resource: Dell, A., Newton, D., Petroff. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom: Enhancing the school experiences of students with disabilities. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.