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!