"Learned Helplessness," as described on the Education.com site, can develop if students experience uncontrollable events which cause them to believe they have no control over their lives. Students with learned helplessness demonstrate decreased motivation, failure to learn, sadness, anxiety, and frustration. Students with learned helplessness usually either give up trying to learn or do not even try to learn. Students working with Cabrini's DRC can exhibit learned helplessness which may be a reaction to feeling that they have no control over their disability. Accordingly, to decrease the possibility of learned helplessness and increase the potential for independence, we strive to provide our students with appropriate accommodations without "over helping" them.
The following strategies can also be used to address learned helplessness (Dell, A., Newtown, D., & Petroff, J.):
-To build the daily expectation of communication, have students make choices regarding daily activities such as what to do at recess, book selection, and where to sit at lunch
-Prepare short daily reports for students to communicate to parents
-Allow natural consequences to occur and offer options to fix any problems that might arise
-Discuss with students ways to alter their environment that will reduce levels of support needed
-For students using augmentative communication systems, provide choice opportunities for which they can use their device to communicative their selection
-Program powerful phrases into augmentative communication systems for students to use when they choose to reject something.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/learned-helplessness/
Dell, A., Newton, D., & Petroff, J. (2012). Assistive technology in the classroom. Boston:
MA: Pearson.
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