Are you looking for hacks to motivate students to interact with their teachers ? If so, keep reading.

1. Make the learner practice positive oral communications with an identified number of teachers throughout the school day.

2. Make sure that all teachers interact with the learner regularly and use positive oral communications when speaking to him/her.

3. Make the learner interact with several adults (e.g., run errands, request learning materials, etc.) to increase the chances for communication with adults.

4. Teach the learner appropriate ways to connect to teachers that a problem exists (e.g., “I don’t understand the instructions.” “I couldn’t finish my task.” “I can’t find all my learning materials. ” etc.).

5. Find teachers with whom the learner most often interacts to make sure that they model appropriate oral communications for the learner.

6. Spend some time each day talking with the learner on an individual basis about their interests.

7. Teach the learner skills in keeping positive conversations with teachers (e.g., asking questions, listening while the other person speaks, making eye contact, head nodding, making remarks that relate to what the other person has said, etc.).

8. Assist the learner in becoming aware of their tone of voice when greeting, requesting, and/or disagreeing by calling attention to unacceptable voice inflections for the situation.

9. Ascertain an individual(s) in the school environment with whom the learner would most want to converse (e.g., custodian, librarian, resource teacher, principal, older learner, etc.). Let the learner spend time with the individual(s) each day.

10. Praise those students in the classroom who interact properly with teachers.

11. Provide instructions in a compassionate rather than a menacing manner (e.g., “Please finish your math paper before going to recess.” rather than, “You had better finish your math paper or else!”).

12. Do not criticize. On occasions where correcting the learner, be honest yet compassionate. Never cause the learner to feel negatively about themselves.

13. Always treat the learner with the utmost respect. Talk objectively at all times.

14. Do not embarrass the learner by giving them orders, requirements, etc., in front of others.

15. Get the learner to practice appropriate interactions with the teacher(s) in classroom learning activities (e.g., simulations, role-playing, etc.).

16. Consider using an adaptive behavior management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.

17. Click here to learn about six bonus strategies for challenging problem behaviors and mastering classroom management.