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Be Mindful of Your Non-Verbal Cues
Words themselves make up only a small portion of the entire message a person will communicate. Paraverbal and nonverbal communications expose feelings behind the words themselves. These cues are perceived by others, sometimes even subconsciously, and often how a staff member says something will provide more meaning than what is said.

Because of this, caregivers in schools, hospitals or other youth services looking to develop and foster supportive relationship skills learn to not only say the right things, but also learn to project supportive nonverbal messages through posture, gestures and facial expressions.

For instance, hands placed on the hips can impart disappointment or an authoritarian stance, while the use of excessive hand gestures can imply defensiveness. However, maintaining eye contact with a non-threatening facial expression can allow an adult to project care and empathy.

The paraverbal component of communication – relating to volume, tone and cadence – can also give a huge cue to what is actually heard. Speaking faster, louder or with a sarcastic inflection will obviously imply that you are speaking with more emotion and can add fuel to an already smoldering fire. In contrast, speaking more slowly and calmly may help to defuse an escalating situation.

Staff should also be respectful of personal space – which is roughly 2-3 feet around a person but may vary depending upon someone’s culture and upbringing. Personal space also can extend to belongings, so grabbing a child’s backpack, supplies or papers may create just as much anxiety as invading his or her personal space.

Caregiver Behavior Changes Have Positive Impact
Absent of proper training, rehearsal and practice, most individuals tend to react to difficult and challenging behavior based on the emotions of the moment and not on their professionally-trained responses.

Teachers, administrators and healthcare professionals might want change the one approach they can, their own.

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Test Your “Youth-ship” Skills

Most caregivers in healthcare and educational institutions have attended numerous conferences, self-improvement seminars, and read many professional publications intended to develop leadership skills. Bookstores are filled with many such publications, purported formulas, essential habits, and the like, depicting the pathway to hone these skills and provide effective leadership in organizations.

“Youth-ship” describes similar skills recommended for care providers who intervene with difficult youth or persons with special needs. This listing is based on common strands developed in many publications and perspectives. Caregivers can assess their “Youth-ship” skills t
hrough a self inventory. Alternately, this can be called “The Top 9 tips I can use today when interacting with the aggressive or challenging young people I serve.”

Caregivers should ask themselves: “When working with youth at our facility, do I consciously and consistently do the following?”

• Demonstrate active, empathic listening; attending and affirming skill sets that foster youth to talk, versus preaching or a language of blame

   

• Use supportive nonverbal messaging, posture, gestures and interactions, versus messages predicated on threats, compliance and intimidation

   

• Use silence appropriately, versus interruptions to talk over the youth, or discourse infused with excessive “shoulds”

   

• Use a supportive voice, tone and rate of speech, as opposed to sarcastic intonation and messages reliant on power and authority

   

• Use relationship-building skills, versus diminishing or dismissing comments and interactions

   

• Provide strength-based expectations and perspectives of the youth, versus deficit-based approaches

   

• Use statements, actions, beliefs and attitudes that value rather than devalue the youth

   

• Use youth-centered statements, actions, beliefs and attitudes, as opposed to self-serving or staff-centered approaches

   

• Be genuinely warm, caring, respectful and sensitive toward youth in their charge, versus a callous sense of obligation to “the job”

This part is easy, but caregivers are encouraged to go one step further. They could ask the students or youth they serve, a peer or a supervisor, to conduct a similar assessment of their daily interactions. The results could be eye-opening.

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New Jersey District Uses Video Surveillance to Assist Students with Autism

– by Kim Robbins

There is no substitute for well-trained school teachers and administrators when dealing with at-risk youth. Technology, however, can augment their efforts in innovative ways. The Morris-Union Jointure Commission (MUJC) in New Jersey is doing just that with help from its new video surveillance system from DVTel. MUJC is a regional collaborative public school district that offers services and programs to meet the needs of its 29 constituent member school districts. It provides public school programs in supportive environments for students with autism at its three developmental learning centers in Warren, New Providence and Union.

The Warren MUJC Developmental Learning Center is designed to bring real world experiences indoors, creating a community within a self-contained, structured learning environment. To this end, the school’s main hallway is actually modeled after a typical town’s main street. The hallway features a variety of storefronts and functioning businesses, including a hair salon, bank, supermarket, greenhouse, home improvement store, diner and others. These different businesses give students an opportunity to perform various job tasks, receive hands-on training and learn vocational skills through direct experience and application.

The facility in Warren has installed a video management system to provide video surveillance via its IT network. But in addition to the usual camera placements to provide surveillance for security, plans call for cameras to be deployed in the center’s many different learning environments. The school foresees including video clips of students in their records to chart progress and provide historical reference. The easy access of video for parents and other educational experts will prove invaluable in supporting and enriching the learning experience.

Kim Robbins is the director of marketing for DVTel. She can be reached at krobbins@dvtel.com.

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Randolph M. Boardman, Ed.D. is the executive director of research and development with the Crisis Prevention Institute. He can be contacted at (877) 877-5390 or rboardman@crisisprevention.com.

 

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