27 Visual, Sensory, and Augmentative Apps for Autism

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Hi Everyone,
Again another article from eSchool News on iPad apps that you can use with children who have autism, quoting a veteran educator and autism consultant… ME! 

27 visual, sensory, and augmentative apps for autism

Veteran educator and autism consultant lists the best apps for autism

27 visual, sensory, and augmentative apps for autism
By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor
Read more by
June 14th, 2013

With the extremely large number of apps available for iPads, even those for autism are in abundance, and experts say it’s important to know which are most effective for students with different needs.

“One commonality emerges [in students with autism],” said Karina Barley, veteran educator, autism specialist and consultant, and president of Project Autism in Australia, during a recent edWeb.net webinar. “The majority of these kids are very competent using technology. They connect with technology, and where they have problems in the mainstream arena, they don’t seem to have the same difficulties using technology.”

Barley discussed how tablet technology, specifically the iPad, is more efficient for autism due to its design and touch capabilities—it turns on quickly and the transition from screen to screen is extremely fast, which appeals to the impatience of a child with autism.

The iPad, when coupled with effective apps, can also be an augmentative communication device, she said. “I firmly believe using iPads in my classroom as the student’s primary education tool can provide them with a means by which they can achieve their full potential.”

One group of apps that works well with students with autism focuses on visual aids and projects.

Barley suggests picking apps with photos because photos are immediate and instantaneous, reminders of activities, relevant and current, make lessons personal to the students, and are simply fun and interesting.

In the classroom, photos can be used in:

  • Personal diaries
  • Stories-especially social stories
  • Creating montage/poster style work
  • Creating vocabulary/spelling lists
  • Word and picture matching
  • Keynote presentations with real pictures
  • Creating worksheets that are more relevant

Good visual apps:

Keynote: Keynote is a presentation app designed for a mobile device. Users can highlight data with 3D bar, line, area, and pie charts, animated with new 3D chart builds such as Crane, Grow, Radial, and Rotate. $9.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keynote/id361285480?mt=8

Kid in Story: Kid in Story Book Maker makes it easy and fun to create visual stories to support learning, social modeling, and early literacy with the child as the star character. Templates come to life when you place a child or student’s picture on every page. The 8 story templates cover a variety of practical and fanciful topics from promoting good hygiene by washing your hands, to a playful exploration of emotions and facial expressions, to a fantasy visit to San Francisco. You can also write your own custom story or modify any of the templates as you see fit. $6.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kid-in-story-book-maker/id594403164?mt=8

Stories About Me: This app allows parents and teachers to create their own social stories for their children and students. Blending photos, text, and voice recordings into a talking picture book, children can play back rich media stories of their own personal experiences. $5.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/stories-about-me/id531603747?mt=8

Strip Designer: Create your own personal comic strips using photos from your photo album or iPhone camera. Select one of the many included page templates, insert photos into the cells, add balloons with fun words, and more. $2.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/strip-designer/id314780738?mt=8

Social Stories: Social Stories is an ABA app designed to help special needs children and young adults understand social situations and give them tools to respond correctly to their environment, in their environment. A photo is paired with a line of text and audio to show the child, and to help visualize what they need to do or understand on each page. $3.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/social-stories/id507893514?mt=8

Popplet: This app is a platform for ideas. Popplet’s simple interface allows users to move at the speed of their thoughts. With Popplet, users can capture ideas, sort them visually, and collaborate with others in real time. $4.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/popplet/id374151636?mt=8

Pictello: Pictello is a simple way to create talking photo albums and talking books. Each page in a Pictello Story can contain a picture, up to five lines of text, and a recorded sound or text-to-speech using high-quality voices. $18.99 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pictello/id397858008?mt=8

Friends of Ten: Little Monkey Apps Friends of Ten is an activity for the early years of schooling to introduce an understanding of numbers to ten, counting objects to ten, recognizing a collection of objects without counting them, counting on from a higher number, partitioning of objects, and the combinations that make ten (8+2, 2+8, 1+9, 3+7, etc.). These skills underpin mental addition and subtraction. $0.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/friends-of-ten/id488573871?mt=8

Comic Life: A photo comic creation app with speech balloons, photo filters, comic lettering, templates, shapes, shadows and effects. $4.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/comic-life/id432537882?mt=8

Pages: This word processor app allows users to create, edit, and view documents wherever they are. Pages works with iCloud, so your documents stay up to date on all your devices—automatically. $9.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8

Visual Schedule Planner: A completely customizable visual schedule app that is designed to give an individual an audio/visual representation of the “events in their day”. In addition, events that require more support can be linked to an “activity schedule” or “video clip” to help model the task even further. $14.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/visual-schedule-planner/id488646282?mt=8

Grafio: Create business models, flow charts, organizational charts, wireframes, network diagrams, business process diagrams, venn diagrams, mind maps, mockups, text-and-audio notes, sketches and other illustrations. Everything is custom and modifiable. $6.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grafio-diagrams-ideas/id382418196?mt=8


Barley also recommends a group of apps that focuses on sensory perception.

“I call them sensory apps as they provoke the student to touch, explore, and interact in a way that promotes sensory stimulation” she explained. “These apps are especially useful during those situations where I could tell that the student had become overloaded, or were feeling anxious. Using a sensory app can give you those five minutes you need to ‘calm’ your student and distract them from what might be causing the overload.”


Good sensory apps:

Fireworks: Let the show play or tap the screen to direct your own Show. Keep Tapping and the Fireworks keep coming, lighting up the sky. Even set the show to your own pictures and music. Swipe the screen and spin the sky and see the stars. $0.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fireworks!/id364390735?mt=8

Pocket Pond: Create relaxing ripples while enjoying the sounds of nature. Interact with the fish – scare them, feed them, and watch their schooling behavior.
Free; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-pond/id363154844?mt=8

Draw Stars: Draw Stars is game app using a lollol pen. The game scenario is that a starship travels around stars dodging the obstacles to complete a constellation. Users can experience precise movement like joystick in mobile.
Free; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/draw-stars/id655447118?mt=8

Gravitarium and Gravitarium2: Gravitarium combines music, art and science in one relaxing experience. $0.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gravitarium/id375602683?mt=8.
Gravitarium2 is $1.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gravitarium2/id438667778?mt=8

Heatpad: Enjoy a realistic simulation of various heat-sensitive surfaces reacting to the heat of fingertips. $0.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/heat-pad-relaxing-heat-sensitive/id312188695?mt=8

Scribblify: A universal drawing and painting tool for children and adults. Scribblify is packed with 42 hand crafted brushes, each with its own unique appearance and behavior. From neon glow to glitter, organic to surreal, most of the brushes are unique. The wide variety of exclusive brushes, preset backgrounds, advanced color effects, mirror drawing capabilities and social sharing tools ensures endless entertainment. $1.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scribblify-imaginative-doodle/id412842078?mt=8

Galaxart HD Pro: This app will allow anyone to create their own space backgrounds. Pick from a large selection of objects including stars, galaxies, nebulae and planets. $0.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/galaxart-hd-pro/id436425392?mt=8

Art in Motion: This app allows users to create a scene instead of a painting. Instead of drawing mountains, or trees, users can customize and add orbs to the scene. Instead of looking at the drawing, users can watch orbs come alive. Unlike a painting, there is motion and life in the creation. Users can even interact with the scene. $2.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/art-in-motion/id385456596?mt=8

Tiltoria: This app is a mesmerizing animated light show, music visualizer and psychedelic paint box all rolled into one. Free; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiltoria/id460391221?mt=8

Barley concluded her webinar by suggesting a group of augmentative apps. Augmentative or alternative communication is the term that “encompasses the tools and methodology used to support or replace communication for individuals that have speech or communication impairments,” she said.

Good augmentative communication apps:

Proloquo2Go: This app provides a “voice” to over 50,000 individuals around the world, who are unable to speak or have difficulty speaking. Proloquo2Go enables people to talk using symbols or typed text in a natural-sounding voice that suits their age and character. $219.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/proloquo2go/id308368164?mt=8

Grace: This app is a non-speaking, simple picture exchange system developed for people with Autism to communicate their needs independently. Users can select pictures to form a semantic sentence which they can then share, by tilting the iPhone or iPod touch to create a full screen view, and pointing at each card to hear the listener read each word. The cards are large enough on iPad not to need the full screen view. $24.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grace-picture-exchange-for/id360574688?mt=8

My Choice Board: The goal of this app is to present a visual display of “choices” to those with limited communication skills. This gives individuals with Autism, communication delays or learning differences the opportunity to be independent and express their own specific needs and wants. $9.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-choice-board/id384435705?mt=8

TapSpeak Button: This app modernizes the idea of a mechanical switch that records and plays messages. Developers have taken the idea and extended it to provide a portable, convenient, and stigma-free tool to use for basic teaching and communication tasks. TapSpeak Button is especially useful for teaching cause and effect relationships. $14.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapspeak-button/id359998293?mt=8

Assistive Express: An affordable Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) app, catered to people with difficulty in speech. The biggest challenge for such users when using AAC devices is the number of key strokes or hits required to construct any sentences, which can take up a significant amount of time to have a decent conversation with anyone. To overcome this challenge, Assistive Express is designed to be simple and efficient, allowing users to express their views and thoughts at the most express manner, with natural sounding voices. $17.49; https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/assistive-chat/id379891874?mt=8

Predictable: A text-to-speech application that offers customizable AAC functions with the latest social media integration. Using a word prediction engine and switch access, Predictable meets the needs of a wide range of people using AAC, including those with MND / ALS, Cerebral Palsy and people with communication difficulties after a stroke or head injury. $159.99; https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/predictable/id404445007?mt=8



– Karina

How iPads Can Support Learning For Students With Autism

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Hi Everyone,
eSchool news wrote an article about how iPads can support learning for students with autism, and quoted me and my work as their reference! They also included a few of my recommendations for what apps you can use with children with autism.

To read the article follow the link below:

How iPads can support learning for students with autism

Lesson personalization, interactivity can improve student engagement and social skills

How iPads can support learning for students with autism
By Laura Devaney, Managing Editor
Read more by
January 28th, 2013

Ed-tech advocates are discovering the numerous benefits that mobile devices, including iPads, can have for students. But a growing number of special-education teachers are finding that iPads can have a positive effect on their students with autism in particular.

Students with autism often have trouble communicating and might struggle with transitions, such as changing classes, getting on a school bus, or taking a field trip. A report issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last April indicated that one out of every 88 children is believed to have autism or fall somewhere on the autism spectrum.

Karina Barley, an Australian special-education teacher who runs Project Autism Australia, uses iPads with her students on the autism spectrum. Handheld devices such as the iPad offer students with autism the chance to personalize their learning while moving at their own pace, and the larger screen (when compared to a smart phone) makes it easy for them to manipulate various apps.

“They have fantastic implications,” Barley said. “One of the greatest things about them is that you can use iPads across lots of curriculum areas. I saw significant improvements in my kids within the first term.”

Barley uses iPads to teach math and English/language arts (ELA), and for customized learning programs based on each student’s individual needs. While some of her students with autism traditionally struggle with concentration, Barley said introducing the iPads caused a marked change.

“Some kids struggled enormously with concentration [but] had no issue sitting with the iPad,” she said. “They were incredibly motivated and eager.”

While acknowledging the financial challenges of using iPads, Barley said her students told their parents how excited they were to use the devices for instruction, and every parent wound up purchasing an iPad for home use.

Some apps have free and paid versions, and functionality and student needs likely will determine which versions are best, Barley said.

Some of Barley’s favorite English/language arts apps for teaching students with autism include:

Kindle
iBooks
Cliffs Notes Study Guides
Shakespeare in Bits 
The Poetry App
XComics 
National Geographic
PortaPoet
Keynote
Sights Words Pro
Spellboard 
Puppet Pals 
Play Time Theater
TED 
Aurasma 
PodCast Box
Montessorium Intro to Letters

When it comes to math apps, Barley advised looking for apps that advance users to new levels or units and do more than just one thing, in order to maintain engagement and keep students interested. Some of her favorite math apps include:

100s Board
Make Shapes
Montessori 100 Board
Five Little Monkey
Elevated Math
Montessorium Intro to Numbers
Math Magic
Jungle Time
Jungle Coins
Jungle Fractions
Approach to Montessori
Slice It
Numbers League
Fractions Calculator
Motion Maths
MathBoard
Skillbuilder Numeracy

“As students achieve more success, their confidence grows, and as their confidence grows, they are much more willing to attempt new challenges,” Barley said, noting that many of her students with autism become much more socially interactive once they started using various apps and sharing tips and successes.

“I really believe we need to focus on what these children can do, rather than what they can’t do,” she said.



– Karina

Five Questions for Students Accused of Bullying

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One of the main reasons why bullying is not addressed is that the bully tells teachers, the Principal, or their parents that they were just “playing around” with the victim. While it is socially acceptable for friends to call each other unflattering names or make harmless physical contact – it is NOT acceptable for people to do it to others who they do not consider “friends”.
Here are five questions that determine a student’s intentions in a neutral, non-accusatory way:
1. If someone I didn’t know came up to me and hit me or said something rude to me in front of my friends, would I laugh
and think it was funny? Would I do the same thing to a total stranger that I just did to my “friend”?
2. If the person I just “played around” with did the exact same thing to ME in front of my friends, would I laugh and think it
was funny?
3. Was this the first time I hit, kicked, made a joke about, or otherwise “played around” with this person?
4. Would I sit at the same lunch table with the person I just “played around” with? Would I invite this person to my
house to hang out and/or play?
5. Did I stop bothering this person immediately after they asked me to stop?

If the answer to any of these questions is “No” – then you are bullying the person that you are “playing around” with.
For more FREE information to help you deal with the bullies at your school, visit lesson one of our Bully Neutralizer online course 

– Shannon Holden

The Value of Using Photos with Children who have Autism

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Hi Everyone,
Students on the Autism Spectrum often have short attention spans, have difficulty adapting to change and may find difficulty in expressing themselves appropriately. Using pictures, pictographs or photographs can improve their ability to communicate by providing a visual image for their feelings, thoughts, wants or needs. Viewing pictures of routines/schedules can make transitions easier since the children can visually see what is expected of them and what comes next.


Benefits of using photos on the ipad for children who have autism



This blog covers how you can use the iPad and photos to assist your child or student who has autism, including:
  • How photos are beneficial
  • How you can use photos in the classroom
  • Apps that can use photos
  • My favorite apps that incorporate photos
  • A few examples of how your students can use them in lessons/projects

To read the rest of this blog follow the link below, and sign up to the Child Development Club website to receive regular updates.

The Benefits of Using Photos on the iPad for Children Who Have Autism

– Karina

Using The iPad to Create Social Stories

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Hi Everyone, 
We hear a lot about the term ‘Social Stories’ in the field of autism and there is a lot of discussion about how to use them for children on the Spectrum. I personally believe that social stories can be a really powerful tool that can be used for children who need visual cues and demonstrations to assist with concept development, behavior modification, and transitions and change management. As we use iPads and tablets more and more, it makes sense to also use the technology to create our social stories.

Social Stories can be used to:

  •  Change an unwanted behavior
  •  Encourage positive behavior or actions
  •  Alleviate stress and anxiety
  •  Visually explain a concept or idea that might be challenging or difficult to understand
  •  Create consistency and routine
  •  Transition between one event to another; or from one developmental stage to another i.e. toileting

Social Stories using the iPad

This blog with Child Development Club covers the basics of creating a social story using the iPad, including:

  • What social stories can do for your student with autism
  • What social stories can be used for
  • What to consider when creating a social story
  • Using technology to create social stories
  • What apps you can use to create social stories
  • Links to apps you can use to create social stories
  • Examples of social stories


Please follow the link to read the full blog:

Using the iPad to Create Social Stories

Visual Schedules (VS) Using The iPad

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Hi Everyone, 

There are numerous benefits to using Visual Schedules (VS) with individuals with Autism and there is also significant research supporting their use for individuals on the Autism Spectrum (AS). A Visual Schedule can be the key to increasing independence and managing anxiety for students with Autism. This can make a huge difference to the child and in turn diminish meltdowns, anxious behavior and foster positive growth. 

This blog goes through the advantages of visual schedules, how to create visual schedules, and what apps you can use to create visual schedules. 

Visual Schedules using the iPad

I recommend Keynote and Pages to create visual schedules, but there are many other options available. 
If you follow the links below you will be taken to the Apple App Store to download. 

                                       

   Keynote App                        Pages App

                                  

Popplet App                            Grafio App


To read the full blog follow the link, and sign up to receive regular updates.

Visual Schedules (VS) Using The iPad

– Karina 

iPads and Autism – Setting Up The Parameters

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Setting up the parameters for using technology is something every parent should do, but it is especially important when you are using an iPad for autism education. 
This blog gives you a brief introduction to how that is done, including:
  • How will you use the iPad?
  • Security issues
  • Selecting apps
  • Make sure you know how the apps work
  • Allocate the iPad for educational use only
  • The device cannot do the work for you, or replace you as a teacher
  • Implementing guidelines


Setting up the parameters blog

To read the whole blog, please visit iPads and Autism. Setting Up Parameters 

– Karina

Karina’s Child Development Club Blog – Using iPads With Children Who Have Autism

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Hi Everyone, 
I have been writing a blog for the Child Development Club’s website for a few months now. I have been sharing my insights on using iPads with children who have autism, not just in the classroom but for use at home as well. 

This is the first blog in the series, and I talk about iPads and why they work for children on the Autism Spectrum. 

ipads CDC Blog intro

If you follow the link to the Child Development Club website, you can read this full blog and sign up for their newsletter to get updates on my blog, as well as blogs from my fellow contributors. 

iPads and Autism. Why they work.

You can read the series of Child Development Club blogs on iPads for autism, and learn the many benefits of using the iPad with children with special needs:


– Karina 

Rational for using iPads in Education

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Imagine a school, just for one moment… Where you walked into the door of the school… And the very first questionnaire would contain the questions: “What do you love to do?” What is your favorite thing in life? What are you good at? What would make you smile? How would life/school be if you could do the things that you love to do?

Imagine a school whose curriculum catered for those kinds of questions… And designed a pedagogical program that is individual to your child, based on the answers to those questions?

Teaching to Children’s Strengths
It is then that we could abandon English, Math, Science, etc. in the way that it is taught now, where we just deliver buckets of information that has no relevance to kids. Alternatively, let’s say a child’s interest is cooking; what if we were to inspire them to want to learn for example they will want to learn to read because by reading they can gain more information from recipe books. They will want to learn about measurement because this knowledge will help them to become a better chef. They will want to learn about money because they will want to go shopping to purchase their ingredients. They will want to learn about science in the context of how cooking and science interrelate. They will want to learn to write, because they will want to write their own recipes. Just recently, there’s a program called Master Junior Chef and everyone is amazed at how incredible the children are.  
The comments I hear are “can you believe those kids?” “Those kids are just brilliant”.  “I can’t believe they can cook like that.”  The recipe (pardon the pun) really isn’t that difficult to understand and while I don’t want to take away from those amazing kids (because they really are amazing), but these kids are shining because they LOVE to cook; they LOVE to do what they are doing; and when children LOVE doing something, they WILL learn!!!  You don’t have to ask them, or cajole them into it, they can’t wait to get into the kitchen to cook; and to be a better cook, they will learn to read a recipe, learn the math required to get their recipes right; understand the science behind what makes recipes work, flavors taste better etc; and develop creativity in the way they present their food.  As I said above, it really is NOT difficult to comprehend and in my mind, this gives me a “recipe”, a foundation, a platform from which educating children should stem from.  If we start with what they LOVE to do; the rest comes naturally. 

I personally believe that using technology can bridge the gaps for those children who are struggling, but also make learning easier for any child. These kids come to school ‘tech’ ready and digitally aware so it makes sense that we give 21st century children the tools to learn using 21st Century technology. 

PD Staff Development

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Please watch a sample of how this school district saved thousands of dollars and shared valuable insight from leading teachers helping other teachers


Flipped Faculty Meetings from Shannon Holden on Vimeo.

iPads, Tablets, and Mobile Learning for Professional Development

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After talking with our best teachers and executive team we have decided to continue to serve the hundreds of teachers who have signed up for classes and our learning platform by asking every educator to create a sharable lesson or learning module.

We have the unique opportunity as a company to ask our fellow educators to use our platform to collaborate and help one another.

Look for many courses that you will be able to learn from for free.  For professional development, whether it is learning how to use media effectively in the classroom or famously known as flip teaching (our teachers is nationally known as the best coach and presenter on edweb.net made up of over 80,000 leaders).  Another popular course that has gotten international recognition is our ipad for teachers course.  Karina Barley as been equipping teachers using ipads and tablets in the classroom for over 5 years.  She has fine-tuned her graduate level course and is getting perfect reviews 100% of the time which is incredible.  Karina also has a passion for Autism solutions using ipads, sensory-based curriculum.

We have many more recruited teachers who are building courses in gamification or as Randall Fujimoto says, game-based learning.  He is in the process of developing a complete curriculum to modernize the learning experience needed for today’s educator and student.  Gamification or gamifying the classroom and online hybrid learning experience takes a lot of intentional planning as well as well-thought out pedagogy.  Stay tuned for many many helpful solutions.

Shifting gears for Digital Learning Tree

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After talking with our best teachers and executive team we have decided to continue to serve the hundreds of teachers who have signed up for classes and our learning platform by asking every educator to create a sharable lesson or learning module. We have the unique opportunity as a company to ask our fellow educators to use our platform to collaborate and help one another. Look for many courses that you will be able to learn from for free. For professional development, whether it is learning how to use media effectively in the classroom or famously known as flip teaching (our teachers is nationally known as the best coach and presenter on edweb.net made up of over 80,000 leaders). Another popular course that has gotten international recognition is our ipad for teachers course. Karina Barley as been equipping teachers using ipads and tablets in the classroom for over 5 years. She has fine-tuned her graduate level course and is getting perfect reviews 100% of the time which is incredible. We have many more recruited teachers who are building courses in gamification or as Randall Fujimoto says, game-based learning. He is in the process of developing a complete curriculum to modernize the learning experience needed for today’s educator and student. Gamification or gamifying the classroom and online hybrid learning experience takes a lot of intentional planning as well as well-thought out pedagogy. Stay tuned for many many helpful solutions.

Effective Teacher Professional Development

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Digital Learning Tree Professional Development

Digital Learning Tree Professional DevelopmentProfessional development needs to be ongoing and carried out over time, rather than presented in one-day workshops.

 
  1. That is exactly what Digital Learning Tree has done offering “Cutting Edge” 21st Century relevant Professional Development on-line.
  2. Professional development should be delivered “in the context of the teacher’s subject area”.
  3. Digital Learning Tree’s iPad and Android eCourses are designed to cover all subject areas showing teachers how to develop New Common Core Lessons and Content using the best Apps in each subject area.
  4. Peer coaches and mentors “are found to be highly effective in helping teachers implement a new skill” and so should be employed when possible.
  5. Digital Learning Tree’s eCourses are all developed by some of the very best teachers and administrators in the United States.
  In California the state has recently set aside (1.3) billion dollars to help school pay for “Professional Development having to do with the “New Common Core”.  Many of the eCourses that Digital Learning Tree is offering fall into this category for funding because they are helping teachers develop content and lessons to the New Common Core Standards.    

Why Do We Have To Explain “Why” To Students?

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Why do teachers have to explain why each rule exists? Everyone remembers their time in school. For most, it was a time of innocence, learning, and fun. Some remember it as a painful time…filled with bullies, mean teachers, and not being part of the “cool” group. People’s attitudes towards school remain unchanged with the passage of time, and their painful memories cloud their perception of what goes on in schools today. This has led to the erosion of power wielded by educators, as parents have increasingly resisted the school’s attempts to make their student “conform” to the standards of behavior considered acceptable by our society in previous years. In this post, I list the reasons why we now have to explain to students why they have to follow specific rules.

* “Top-Down” Leadership Is A Thing Of The Past – In the “Good Ol’ Days” of business, employees complied with the rules of the office or factory, no questions asked. If a worker had the audacity to ask why a certain rule had to be followed, the boss would reply “Because I said so!” As time passed, workers formed unions, studies were done that showed workers were happier and more productive if they were allowed to provide input to their bosses as to how the company should be run. Pretty soon, “collaboration” became the order of the day. Nowadays, you would be hard pressed to find a company that uses a top-down leadership style.

* “Because I Said So” Isn’t Good Enough Anymore – The paradigm shift in the workplace trickled its way down into the educational sector. Remember the “Good Ol’ Days” of education? Students complied with the rules with no questions asked. If a student had the audacity to ask why a certain rule had to be followed, the teacher would reply “Because I said so!” Students had no backing from their parents in this situation, the parents had the attitude that the school was always right. One day, a movement was born that encouraged students to “Question Authority”, and fight for their rights. The originators of the movement were convinced that many in positions of authority are corrupt. Students were encouraged to not blindly follow their leaders…they were encouraged to question why decisions were being made a certain way. Parents (many of whom felt that they were treated unfairly during their school career) didn’t automatically support the school when the school tried to discipline their children. As a result, students became more and more emboldened to question why their school operated in a certain fashion….and they gradually demanded more and more of a say in their own education and disciplinary consequences.

*The default setting on kids’ “respect” meter is “no” – In the past, students automatically respected their teachers (and other adults in their lives). It would take a traumatic event for a student to ever lose respect for their teacher. The default setting for student respect was in the “on” position. In recent years, many students and their parents have come to the conclusion that students are not required to respect adults just because they are adults. Many students believe that an adult has to “earn” their respect before they give it. Not only do students not automatically respect the position of teacher, they do not respect police officers or other authority figures. The reasons for this troubling development are a mystery to me, but could have something to do with TV shows and movies that belittle people in authority. When have you seen a TV show or movie where the policeman, teacher, or principal is seen as the hero? Most shows portray these authority figures as evil, “uncool”, dishonest, or stupid. Another reason why adults are not respected could be because of the high divorce rate in this country. Kids see their parents fighting, splitting up, having a new “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”, or using childish tactics to hurt the other parent. Kids’ lives are littered with adults that make empty promises or empty threats, which makes it hard for students to view their parents as a positive role model, worthy of respect. This lack of respect for parents has led students to disrespect their teachers as well.

*There’s a Higher Percentage Of Compliance When You Explain “Why” – For some reason, explaining why the rule exists (and why it needs to be followed) has a magical effect on students. Maybe it is because the student has an “A-Ha!” moment when he sees the school’s point of view…maybe it is because the student respects the person enforcing the rule because the person has taken the time to explain why the rule exists. In any event, explaining rules to students results in a higher percentage of student compliance. Not only are more students compliant, they seem happier while complying because they know why the rule exists.

**Do you want to reduce bullying behaviors at your school?  Check out my online anti-bullying course called “Bully Neutralizer” at this link:

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