________________ Special Ed FYI! Christina Tuohey
No Motivation!
Strategies that will Help.
Strategies to Improve Motivation
Many students with disabilities lack motivation. The lacking
motivation often stems from a low self-esteem or
confidence level. As teachers and parents there's a lot
that can be done to improve the motivational level. One
needs to remember, these students are often fragile
mentally and require a great deal of confidence boosting
before the following techniques will work. The goal is often to help develop a 'can do'
attitude, one that sets the child up for success.
Try the following strategies:
Always build on prior knowledge, this means you really need to understand exactly
where your student is academically.
Be sure to praise and recognize ALL efforts and attempts at improving. Give lots of
verbal and non-verbal reinforcements.
Provide opportunities for peer mentoring, buddy up, social skill development and
cooperative learning whenever the situation presents itself.
Use graphic organizers to assist the student.
Give immediate feedback for on task, task completion, solid efforts and
demonstrated improvement at every opportunity.
Encourage independence at every opportunity and provide positive feedback when
the student is working well independently.
ALWAYS focus on the student's abilities NOT disabilities.
Provide opportunities for the child to take risks in new learning situations
Give the child opportunity to provide feedback, let him/her tell you why he/she
thinks you're happy with them.
Always provide opportunities throughout the day for the student to experience
success.
When the opportunity presents itself, be sure to send home 'happy notes'. Remember,
consistency in approach will help to change undesirable behaviors (lacking motivation),
your time and patience will pay off and slowly but surely your efforts will be rewarded!
Remain positive! Modified from About.com
Department of Career and Technical Education
Joseph M. Barry Career and Technical Education Center
1196 Prospect Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 (516) 622-6800 Fax: (516) 333-9384 www.barrytech.org