As a paraprofessional in schools, building relationships with students will help them feel safe and comfortable. While this support helps students to engage in classroom activities , it can also cause learned helplessness.
Research shows students who receive one-on-one support sometimes become dependent on their paraprofessionals. They may ask for help with every task, even ones they can complete on their own. To prevent this, paraeducators must be mindful of the concept called “fade the aide”. This means the primary goal is to promote student independence, and gradually decrease support as the student gains confidence and skills.
Learned helplessness is a psychological phenomenon when someone stops trying because they’ve come to believe that nothing they do makes a difference. Educators often see this condition in students with disabilities who have experienced repeated failures, leading them to think they’re incapable of success on their own.
For example, paraeducators are a constant source of support across different learning environments . No matter where the student’s schedule takes them, they know you’ve got their back. If a challenging situation arises in the middle of PE, you’re there. If they need help communicating in a social setting, you’re there. Your constant support creates an environment of trust, but it can also lead to learned helplessness if not handled carefully.
If you notice any of these signs, it’s important to address them promptly and work on promoting independence. The key is to fade the aide or gradually reduce your support while emphasizing the strategies below.
Let’s look at seven strategies for building teacher-student relationships that prioritize student choice and voice, and help minimize learned helplessness.
What skills does the student you’re working with already have? What are their strengths? How can you help them overcome their weaknesses?
The answers to these questions can help you create a learning space that encourages independence, while building a relationship with students. You’ll definitely want to collaborate with the lead teacher on this, but maybe you can create a dedicated area in the classroom for your students or work together to ensure the entire classroom supports independence.
Depending on your student’s needs, this could include:
The more your student can do independently, the better. However, they may need specialized materials or accommodations to complete tasks successfully.
For example, you could:
Your student's specific accommodations and modifications are spelled out in their Individualized Learning Plan (IEP). Become familiar with this document and use it as a guide to help set your student up for success.
This could look like:
The lead teacher will be a valuable resource in identifying and implementing adaptations or modifications. Collaboration can ensure your student gets consistent support across all subjects.
Scaffolding allows you to build upon a student’s prior knowledge and skills. It connects new information with what they already know and helps them make connections between concepts. This practice can benefit students with executive function or processing difficulties.
You’ll need to break down the task into smaller pieces. Then, teach the students each piece individually, giving them plenty of opportunities to practice and master before moving on to the next step will work against the learned helplessness concept.
This could involve:
5. Plan your positioning.
Standing too close can be overwhelming and make it challenging for a student to stay focused. But if you’re too far away, they may miss your instructions. You’ll have to find the right balance.
At first, you’ll likely need to stand closer to provide more support. But you can gradually give them more space as they become more comfortable and independent. This space can encourage them to try things independently, instead of defaulting to asking for help.
Stay flexible when planning where you’ll be. Be mindful of your student's needs and adapt as necessary.
Prompting can help guide a student toward a desired action or behavior, but it’s important not to overdo it. Providing too many prompts can create a dependency and prevent your student from developing independent problem-solving skills.
A prompt is anything that helps a student complete an action, such as:
A prompting hierarchy can help you determine the level of support needed for a specific task. This hierarchy typically starts with the least invasive prompts, such as verbal cues or visual models, and progresses to more intrusive ones, like physically guiding a student’s hand.
Once you determine how much prompting the student needs to complete the task, reassess and adjust as they become more proficient. That way, they don’t become overly dependent on you or the prompts.
If you’re a substitute paraeducator , you’re working with a student with special needs. What you do in the classroom makes a difference for these students and their learning experience. Focusing on building a positive relationship accomplishes the following:
As you build relationships with students , you’ll learn their individual strengths, weaknesses, favorite activities, and learning styles, allowing you to customize your support.
However, if they become overly dependent, they might struggle to follow classroom rules, finish tasks, or feel helpless if you aren’t around.
Building relationships with students is a key part of the substitute paraeducator job. We have an entire library of helpful articles for paras and school educators.
They include:
If you're interested in becoming a paraprofessional, simply fill out our brief interest form. One of our recruiters will contact you to answer your questions. They’ll also share more about opportunities to work with our school district partners.