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Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 1

California State University, Monterey Bay

Digital Commons @ CSUMB

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

12-2022

Teaching Life Skills Communication to Students in Special

Education

Sara Sang

California State University, Monterey Bay

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Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 2

TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

Teaching Life Skills Communication

Students In Special Education

Sara Sang

A Capstone Project for the Bachelor of Sciences

Human Development and Family Sciences

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TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

Introduction

For students with special needs such as Severe Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder

(ADHD), Autism (Aspergers and Non-Verbal), Down Syndrome and Slow Memory Retention

between the ages of 14 and 18, there is a need to develop practical communication skills. These

skills are crucial because they will support them in preparation for post-high school graduation

success. Most special needs students lack the communication and social skills needed in

occupations, careers, and adult relationships. There will be a focus on communication by

establishing effective nonverbal and verbal communication skills, including greetings, physical

boundary awareness, and communicating intentions (Noens & Van Berckelear-Onnes, 2004).

These skills will aid Special Education High School in graduating and becoming successful and

productive members of society. There will be three 30-minute presentation lessons for special

education students in grades 9 to 12 in the Salinas Union High School District: Everett Alvarez

high school in Salinas, California. The lessons will address physical boundaries, communication,

and intentions using visual and hands-on methods. The lesson plans will be implemented for

moderate to severe classroom students.

Needs Statement

This project aims to teach Special Education students about different communication

techniques. Most students under the age of 18 who have one or more disabilities are unable to

communicate the way society expects them to by using verbal communication (Sperotto, 2016).

For example, they might need help understanding that they can ask for help instead of screaming

to get what they need or want from an adult. Students with learning and physical disabilities can

have problems attending to tasks with social communication, expressing intentions, and peer

acceptance (Cartledge, 2005). It will take practice and repetition in order for the students to

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accomplish this goal. However, students with moderate to severe disabilities graduating with

communication skills can be reachable if the students receive the necessary skills developed in

communication practices. The world we live in today is challenging for many students in special

education because technology is more prevalent and available. Technology has become a way for

students who cannot communicate better understand the world through cartoons and shows.

Adolescents and young adults with disabilities are often misheard or misunderstood by society

due to their inability to communicate. I created three lessons to focus on greetings, relationship

boundaries using colored circles, and proper communication with adults—accomplished in 30-

minute sessions.

Special education covers many different disabilities, from dyslexia to ADHD. The project

was for students with Non-Verbal Autism, High Functioning Autism, severe ADHD, and Down

Syndrome. The project was introduced to students in high school ages 14 to 18. The lessons’

scope will help determine ways that nonverbal communication improves social and emotional

functioning in students. Special education students in high school who have been working on

social and communication skills are better able to work in the real world and will be able to

attend certain colleges with programs specific to their disabilities. Wenzel and Rowley (2010)

discuss teaching social skills to people who have autism so that they can learn and understand

their sexuality, values, how to set goals and time management. In order for students with

disabilities to be able to function in these college courses, they first need to understand how to

communicate verbally and know the different types of relationships that are a part of their daily

life (p. 47). Communication for those who are nonverbal is crucial because the lessons will help

the students communicate intentions to professors, know who in their life they can trust, and how

to greet other students in their college experience. When there is an expectation by a parent for a

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student to seek college and a better job during their time in special needs education at the high

school level, there is a better chance that will happen. However, when the expectation is not

there, it can lead to difficulties in becoming a part of society because no goals are set by the

parent moving forward (Blustein et al., 2016).

The teaching of critical social skills that special education students can learn include how

to greet others, which is important to learn to improve the special needs students' connection to

others in their life. It can be a way to communicate with mainstream students. Compared to

Europe, the United States emphasizes teaching communication to special education students in

separate classrooms where students do not feel more included within the mainstream learning

environment. What is missing is the emphasis on including special needs kids in mainstream

classrooms in Europe. (Rose & Shevlin, 2017). Teaching special needs students to greet others

and request things verbally would help lead to more inclusion of special education students into

the mainstream. Special education students have communication issues because teachers do not

regularly include conversation lessons with others in their curriculum (Rose & Shevlin, 2017).

Teaching how to greet others will allow students to feel more included and make them able to be

a part of more mainstream classroom environments and outside activities. Communication helps

facilitate the inclusion of children with disabilities in the classroom and society.

Students need help with personal boundaries because special education students typically

do not have the skills to understand physical boundaries. A second lesson presented teaches the

students with disabilities to express themselves differently in a physically affectionate way and

shows which type of people they can associate with as someone with a disability. For example,

special needs students can express themselves through hugs or wanting to hold another student or

adult’s hand, which is not always appropriate. Special education students have difficulties with

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boundaries because it is not taught at home or in the classroom, where they tend to be more

informal in touching, which can be inappropriate with people in certain parts of the circle.

Learning boundaries through the circles program will allow those with disabilities a

visual way of using colors to understand appropriate and inappropriate touching because they do

not necessarily understand that these boundaries are important to their safety. It can get

dangerous for kids who do not understand boundaries, “We help these students distinguish

sexual love from familial love and encourage them to put people in a circle in such a way as to

reflect their real-life relationships. When students have no love relationships, teachers can not fill

this void” (Walker-Hirsch & Champagne). The circle program allows the students to understand

and categorize real-world relationships.

Special needs children with disabilities tend to have issues with communicating their

intentions to adults in intrusive ways. These forms of communication can include crying when

they have a terrible dream. When one teacher is not listening, they will scream or grab items to

get adults’ attention. The issue is that their communication skills could be more conducive to

real-world intentions with experiencing social situations. Special education students struggle

with communicating intentions because their brains work differently and can work through many

thoughts at once or have racing thoughts, allowing them to do what they want, which is not

socially acceptable. A great way to teach about verbalizing intentions is through short digital

social stories, as they allow the student to learn individually; in this case, a short digital story can

be used to help show how to gain attention through proper communication (More, 2008).

Learning to communicate clear intentions, like knowing to verbalize when they need help in the

proper ways that are more effective, can help special needs students in social situations inside

and outside the classroom within the lessons learned in the digital short stories.

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One program that has shown effectiveness with those special needs students that need

intervention is Social Skills Training, so they can interact and communicate with more

mainstream students in social settings. the training implemented in classrooms includes assessing

four phases: baseline, SST, feedback, and follow-up. During the academic year, 10-minute

training sessions are conducted 4 times a week to include greetings, initiating and responding to

interactions, maintaining interactions, giving and receiving compliments, turn taking, and sharing

(Rao et al., 2007).

Those with special needs face the issue that they do not have the social skills

that society might deem necessary for academic and social development. Specifically, SST

programs created for those with high-functioning autism focus on the deficits that can come with

interacting socially with family, peers, and other adults (Rao et al., 2007). The Social Skills

Training is designed with a specific purpose to teach special education students to navigate

through social situations based on the environment that they find themselves in, like a playdate

or a birthday party. While effective, one issue that can arise is that special needs students will not

outgrow the need for communication and face social skill deficiencies (Rao et al., 2007). These

programs can impact this group’s overall social skills in a controlled setting like classrooms or

homes, so there is repetition for these types of social situations.

The project presented focuses on students with disabilities between the ages of 14 and 18

years and aims to help those with Severe Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD),

Autism (Asperger’s and Non-Verbal), Down Syndrome, and Slow Memory Retention. The

purpose is to have the students learn better social skills and be able to safely be in different

environments outside and inside the classroom. Those social skills are wide-ranging, not limited

to values, setting goals, and time management. Learning to greet others properly is a critical

social skill that can be taught in a classroom environment to allow students with disabilities to

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communicate with others outside their classrooms with mainstream students for more inclusion

for these students. The circle's program teaches physical boundaries that help students with

disabilities understand that each personal relationship is different and that they must understand

the context of different social situations in their lives.

The last lesson helps to understand ways to

communicate intentions through compelling digital short stories. Social Skills Training is one of

many programs that can help bridge the gap between mainstream students and students with

disabilities. Together all these things are designed to help the special needs students being taught

become productive members of society.

Theory and Development

One of the central claims in Lev S. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and

Dynamic Assessment Theory is that students with disabilities can develop better social skills

through social interactions and communications with others, specifically other adults and peers

they see daily. The idea shows that the crucial part of developing communication skills is

applying them daily and through repetition. The other claim is that these opportunities to

socialize need to be practiced through classroom instruction and at home so that students with

special needs can apply the socialization skills learned through the theory—the more opportunity

to practice, the better chances of retention.

Regarding education, Lev S. Vygotsky’s theory toward special education, specifically his

Zone of Proximal Development and Dynamic Assessment Theory, can help to understand the

correlation between education and the proper assistance from adults with special education

students. Gindis (1999) explains what the theory addresses, “Vygotsky elevated this simple

observation to a theoretical generalization known as the

zone of proximal development

(ZPD).

He stated that the process of scaffolding brings about abilities that have been emerging and

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developing (that is, not yet matured), and thus reveals the hidden potential of a child” (p.336).

The theory mainly addresses the idea that an adult presence with those with special needs can

help the child’s emotional response, and success and failure are based on when adults should

intervene in the learning process through testing and retesting.

Vygotsky's theory claims that the dynamic testing of the child’s cognitive testing allows

one to see how they respond to adults, with instruction and guidance can show more of what is

going on in the mind of special needs children than standardized testing cannot do with the

special education students (Gindis, 1999, p. 337). The theory applies because nonverbal students

can better communicate with the help of guidance from adults (teachers and parents). The theory

plays a crucial role in social development, which can be applied to each of the three lessons

because they can be foundations for how students continue the lesson through repetition. Using

cognitive testing versus standardized tests can help a teacher assess where a student is in their

communication socially and emotionally.

Children with special needs or intellectual disabilities (ID) from an early age risk

developing communication issues (being nonverbal, for example) outside of their minds with

others like students and teachers. Students with special needs such as Severe Attention Deficit

Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Autism (Aspergers and Non-Verbal), and Down Syndrome fall

under the ID umbrella. What this can cause developmental communication issues when they

enter middle and high school. Communication can feel like a significant challenge for special

needs students, leading to more aggressive behaviors and the inability to work with their

classmates as more developed students their age (Hofmann & Müller, 2022). The biggest issue in

development is that special needs children being unable to communicate will lead to issues in the

future and into adulthood. One issue arises in competency, “Communicative-pragmatic skills are

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the competence as to when to speak, when not, and in what manner. The latter competencies are

assumed to be particularly important for social interactions” (Hofmann & Müller, 2022). If these

communication skills go unfixed through education, these developmental issues can follow a

child’s adolescence and adulthood.

Consideration of Diversity

This project was completed in a Life Skills class with moderate to severe students at Everett

Alvarez High School classroom in Salinas, California. According to the School Accountability Report

Card ( SARC, 2019), Everett Alvarez High School has an enrollment of 2,664 students. Of those

students, 280 have a disability, about 10.50% of the school enrollment.

First, the students I had the

pleasure of working with had specific disabilities, ranging from high to low functioning and

Nonverbal Autism, ADHD, slow memory retention, and down syndrome. As for planning each

project for the students, I needed to know each student's level of understanding, so I decided to do

simple social stories, and a project with colors that would help the students with disabilities

understand and relate better to the project. Also, some of the students were nonverbal but could

follow along on their tablets (AAC devices) to an extent. Second, all nine students with disabilities

come from different social classes: lower and middle classes. The three students in the middle class

tend to have a better comprehension of the lessons than those in the lower class because the

middle-class students had more therapies (speech and RSP). Third, as an educator, the different

types of social classes were not an issue because all of the students learn at a different level, but the

students from the middle class were quicker at answering questions on Kahoot or writing a journal

entry.

The group of special needs students would be diverse because each student's vocabulary,

speech, and comprehension level would be different. Students with disabilities come from many

different types of socioeconomic demographics because students have different support systems at

home and school. Each student comes with an influence of prior knowledge of communication. Not

all students that participated in the lessons had the same disabilities and materials. The students

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come from the same previous schools, have access to programs, and family contributions to their

communication skills, so some of these factors will influence the results. Some of the students will

be nonverbal or have speech delays. The lesson will be given through pictures, short sentences, and

easy-to-see PowerPoint for all levels of comprehension.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the project, the special education students that attend the intervention

lessons will be able to do the following:

Appropriately greet others in social situations

Learning to respect other’s physical boundaries

Communicating intentions to adults

Methods

Location and Participants

The location of the three lessons took place at Everett Alvarez high school in Salinas,

California. The participants will include 9 Life Skills high school students for all three lessons.

There will be 6 Hispanic girls, ages 15 (2), 16, 14, and 17(2). There will be 3 boys, 1 Caucasian,

age 17, and 2 Hispanic boys, ages 16 and 18. The location was chosen because of my familiarity

with working with Everett Alvarez High School students for the last three years. My relevant

experience in teaching the three lessons started with being a substitute paraeducator in early 2019

and then being hired as a paraeducator 2 for the class where the lesson will take place. My

experience of working with moderate to severe special education students helped with the

administering of each lesson. The students were told before the lessons that there would be

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lessons given by the paraeducator 2 adult teacher that they know in the classroom (that being

myself.)

Procedure and Materials

The lessons were completed over three weeks with one lesson per week. On the first day,

the first lesson opened by teaching them about greetings. A question was asked to the students in

the classroom verbally, “Do you know what a greeting is?” The point helped determine if they

do or do not know how and then it will be explained for emphasis. The next question asked will

be, “when you walk through a store or classroom door, what do you do first?” The next step

would be to have them all sit at their desks, be patient, and wait for them to answer. After giving

a simple answer, “You say Hi or Hello,” the lesson moved on to teach a social story of how to

greet a person when they walk into a room. The social story will have “Hi and Hello, How are

you? And how are you doing?” The social story includes pictures of ways to greet people. After

teaching this social story, the class reviewed what they learned in small groups. To conclude day

one's project, the students presented what they learned in small groups of 2 in front of the class

or filled out an assessment worksheet. See Appendix A, which includes part of the social story I

taught in the classroom.

The second lesson focused on understanding the distances and types of boundaries with

various people in their lives. On the second day, a reminder was put out to the students that this

would be a different lesson. The person leading the class was working to become a teacher. The

students were asked if they understood the meaning of boundaries. Once their version has a

definition, the lesson will continue explaining the idea behind the Circles Program to the

students. The students were asked if they needed help understanding or knowing what it means,

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the lesson explained boundaries in simple terms, as they have short attention spans, and then

there was a presentation slide show of the different color circles.

The circles go like this: The purple circle (middle circle) is the private purple circle,

which includes the student. The blue level is the close hug which includes the people closest to

the student. Green is a far away hug which includes aunts, uncles, and cousins. The yellow

handshake circle is a handshake that includes friends and adults whose names the student knows

and with whom they have familiarity. The orange circle is a wave to those in the student's

neighborhood, such as postal workers and bus drivers. The red circle, the stranger circle, is

where we do not touch them. After we review the circle program lesson, we review it as a class,

and the students repeat what they learned. A question will be asked to the students: “which

circle does your teacher and I belong to?” To conclude the day 2 lesson, there was an explanation

that one last lesson would happen later in the afternoon to do a Kahoot game, the assessment for

this lesson, with the students to test their knowledge of what they learned in the morning. See

Appendix B, which includes the colored circles slides.

On the last day of the lessons and the third learning outcome, the lesson began by

presenting another social story based on communicating intentions or gaining attention in the

classroom. A series of mini storylines were introduced on how to gain attention from the teacher

and staff properly. After presenting the mini-series of stories, the students were asked to do a

journal prompt. In their journals, after presenting and reviewing the mini-social stories, the

students were asked to write down, “what is one way you can gain a teacher or staff’s attention?”

The students came up with different answers. The staff, including the teacher, assisted the

students in how to write their sentences properly. The assessment for this lesson was the students

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working in groups of 3 on daily journal entries. See Appendix C, which includes the social story

slides.

Results

In previous lessons that focused on communication lessons with high school students

with disabilities, there was an expectation that students may not be able to meet the learning

outcomes; but the results presented unexpected surprises. For the first lesson on appropriately

greeting others in social situations, the classroom included 9 students. Only 67% of (6 out of 9)

participants understood how to cut and paste or write in answers on the worksheet. That is a good

percentage considering a few students are a little lower level than others. The 3 students who did

not meet the lesson outcome goal of appropriately greeting others in social situations were those

who have difficulty understanding many fundamental concepts and are more severely

handicapped, but they each fully met the learning outcome. The assessment for the first lesson

was the worksheet where they filled out the answers correctly; at least 4 of the nine boxes needed

to be correct for the participant to complete the lesson. The learning objective for the first lesson

was partially met.

The second lesson on communications for students with disabilities was the Circles

Program with the same 9 participants, with the learning objective being that the students

understand and respect physical boundaries with people in their life. The best thing from this

session was that 7 out of 9 participants (78%) understood these boundaries but will still need

weekly lessons for reminders. The lesson was assessed through the Kahoot game, which helped

them understand the different types of relationships when acknowledging others. The 7

participants that understood these types of boundaries have been using these techniques for the

last few weeks with staff, friends, and outside people like family, friends, and parents. So far,

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they love that they know whom to high-five, give a pat on the back, or can hug. The Kahoot

game emphasized how well they understood the different types of gestures when acknowledging

others. Even though 7 of the students fully met the learning outcome, two of them did not and

still need more lessons taught to them before they fully comprehend the material. It indicates that

the Circle’s Program has success with special needs children. The learning objective for lesson

two was fully met.

For the last session, communicating intentions with students with disabilities was with

the same 9 students. The learning objective was that the students learn to communicate intentions

to adults. Only 56%, 5 out of 9 students, understood the concept of how to communicate what

they need, such as “Bathroom? Can I use the bathroom? I want (an item), or Can I have a

break?” One of the interesting parts of the third lesson came with the presentation, as it used a

social story. About 5 of the 9 students partially met the learning outcome by being able to work

on daily journal entries in groups of 3 that were observed by myself. The 4 who were unable to

meet the learning outcome entirely are the more stubborn students, and it will take time to teach

them this lesson before all the students can fully meet the learning outcome. The result of the

third learning outcome is that it was partially met.

Discussion

These projects focus on teaching students with disabilities that have a more challenging

time understanding simple concepts, such as communicating what they need properly, and

understanding boundaries within friends, family, and people they may know or not know. In the

first lesson about greeting, the students were able to more than partially meet the learning

outcomes, but within time, as more of the same lesson is taught consistently, all 9 students

should fully meet the learning outcome. The second lesson was highly successful as most

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students fully met the learning outcome. The students still need more lessons in this area for

them to use these concepts for post-graduation. The last lesson, about communicating what they

need or want, was one of the hardest lessons I chose to teach as many students tend to have

certain habits from previous classes, schools, and home life. Even though 5 out of 9 students

partially met the learning outcome, there needs to be extra time and lessons on this subject to

break their previous habits.

All the learning outcomes and lessons were met, as all three lessons taught were above

50%, which is a success given that the students had limitations going into the lessons. One of the

ways that lesson one and lesson three could have been more successful is because the students

received lesson 1 time. If taught more times, 2 to 3 times a week, the students would have fully

met the learning outcomes. The only limitation I see is presenting fewer times throughout the

semester. These lessons will be taught so the students will understand more of the concepts but

other than that, it was successful in the teaching part.

Even though the project was not as successful as anticipated, the results show that if the

lessons were taught more often in this class and at home, the students with disabilities would

better understand each lesson. The decision to teach these lessons in future classrooms would

create these lessons in American Sign Language Videos for the students who cannot read or are

deaf and hard of hearing. These lessons can be used in grocery or clothing stores or other

classrooms to teach them physically about these types of communications. Another way to be

inclusive is to create PowerPoint or videos in other languages for the student’s better

understanding. The only thing that would be done differently is present again is do them in

smaller groups of 2 or 3, so the students would understand the concepts better and that the

special needs children have one-on-one assistance.

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Within all three learning outcomes being successful, there were some successes,

limitations, and future directions that can bring up these percentages for future lessons. With the

three lessons being only 30 minutes long and taught once a week, all three lessons taught had a

score of 50% or higher, which is excellent in the Special Education world. After each lesson, I

noticed that the student's level of mindfulness in greeting others is improving, and the same goes

for understanding relationships and boundaries. The students also were enthusiastic about

learning from me as they are familiar with me in the classroom and that I have worked with them

for 2 to 3 years seemed to play a part in the success of the lessons achieved. The students also

say they love learning from me because I made their learning experience fun.

One of the main limitations was the limited time during the week as the students had a

“set general education courses” and other lessons created by the teacher to fulfill English,

reading, and math. What I should have done was taught each lesson 2 to 3 times a week over

time so the students would have a better percentage for the assessments. Another limitation was

not having enough staff for the 3 weeks I taught the 3 lessons. I had a challenge knowing what

type of disability each student has other than Autism or ADHD. I do not precisely know what it

says on each student's Individualized Education Plan (I.E.P), but after working with most of

them for a few years, I can guesstimate which student(s) can fulfill an assessment or which will

still struggle moving forward. Learning Outcome 3 was one lesson that was partially met, but not

all 9 students could write a journal question and answer independently.

If I decide to teach students with disabilities in the future, there will be directions I will

go to change and move forward with the lessons. I plan to create virtual learning outcomes in

American Sign Language for those who are hard of hearing or deaf. Another future direction

would be to teach these learning outcomes in small classroom groups of pairs. Eventually, these

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social stories and slides would become decks of visual cards for the public to use with mild to

moderate, moderate to severe, life skills, and Special Day Classrooms (SDC). These visual cards

could be used with students from preschool to any age students/people with disabilities.

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Wenzel, Christine, and Laura Rowley. “Teaching Social Skills and Academic Strategies to

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Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 21

TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

(2010): 44–50. Web.

https://journals-sagepub-

com.csumb.idm.oclc.org/doi/pdf/10.1177/004005991004200505

Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 22

TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

Appendix Presentation Powerpoint

Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 23

TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 24

TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

Appendix A (L.O 1)

Appendix B (LO 2)

Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 25

TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

Appendix C (LO 3)

Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers — page 26

TEACHING LIFE SKILLS COMMUNICATION TO STUDENTS IN SPECIAL ED

Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers

Prompt to Clone This Communication Skills for Special Education Teachers

Apply this example's core structure, strategic pacing, and structural hierarchy directly to your own topic.

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