As an Inclusion Specialist, I always seek inclusion opportunities for self-contained classrooms. Assemblies are an excellent way to create shared experiences between students from self-contained classrooms and general education peers. However, assemblies can also be stressful for students from self-contained classrooms, as they are often out of the students’ everyday routine. In this blog post, I share five tips to attend assemblies with success.
1. Social Stories
Social stories are a learning tool to foreshadow and teach specific social situations and circumstances to students who struggle with appropriate social communication. They are designed to clarify expectations during these particular situations and circumstances.
In this case, your social story would foreshadow what to expect at assemblies and teach students how to respond appropriately. TeachersPayTeachers™ and LessonPix™ have premade social stories that target attending assemblies with success.
2. Practice, Practice, Practice
While social stories outline expectations and appropriate responses, they do not replace hands-on practice. Students need repeated opportunities to apply what they have learned from the social stories.
To help my students attend assemblies with success, we practice lining up in the classroom, walking to the auditorium, and sitting in the bleachers; we also practice respecting the speaker by being quiet, looking at them, and clapping when they are done. We rehearse these skills throughout the year, especially when assemblies are scheduled. Giving students many repeated opportunities to practice out-of-routine situations desensitizes them and allows for success in the actual event.
3. Sensory Tools
Assemblies are stressful for students from self-contained classrooms for many reasons. One of the reasons is that assemblies are highly sensory stimulating. For instance, the amount of students causes spatial stimulation, using voice amplifiers causes auditory stimulation, and using projection causes vision stimulation. That being said, some tools can help mitigate these stimuli to make the experience of attending assemblies more manageable and successful for our students.
Some examples of sensory tools that may support attending assemblies with success include:
- Noise-canceling headphones. They are great for eliminating ambient noise and thus minimizing auditory overload.
- Fidgets such as pop-its and stress balls. They give the students something to do with their hands while they sit and listen to the speaker.
- Weighted lap pads. They offer a calming effect and could increase the likelihood of students remaining seated.
4. No Pressure
Attending assemblies should be a low-pressure activity for students. There should be no pressure put on students about how long they need to stay at an assembly. When considering attending assemblies with success, the last thing we want is to cause an aversion due to pressure. With my students, I encourage them to communicate when they need to leave an assembly, and I honor their requests.
5. School-Wide Ability Awareness
Indeed, there are strategies and tools to help students from self-contained classrooms attend assemblies with success. However, it can be more powerful to empower other staff and peers to create a supportive environment that successfully allows students from self-contained classrooms to attend assemblies.
For instance, staff and peers can learn to applaud in American Sign Language to limit auditory stimulation. Additionally, strategically plan the seating arrangement so that students from self-contained classrooms can present the least disruption to the assembly when they need to access their sensory tools or if they need to leave.
