Michael Mongeau
Disability category
Strategy
Goal/Objective
When to use this strategy
Step by step instruction- How to use this
in a social studies classroom. You will
partner with a classmate to teach them
your strategy so be explicit and provide a
sample for your partner.
Assessment- How could this strategy be
used to evaluate student learning?
Emotional Behavioral Disorder (EBD)
Small group work
To engage critical discussions on specific topics in an
environment that feels manageable and safe for a
student struggling with generalized anxiety disorders
When you plan on conducting a group discussion and
have students who do not work well in large group
settings due to anxiety or another EBD.
When you have a co-teacher (this strategy is most
effective when a co-teacher is involved).
1). Choose the topic for discussion and have students
read material related to the discussion at home. Give
students questions to be discussed in advance.
2). Pair the student with EBD with two or three other
students that they feel comfortable working with (at the
students request) and bring them to the back of the
room.
3). While the class is working on a whole group
discussion, the group in the back will work on their mini-
discussion on the same topic with the same questions.
4). If a co-teacher is present, they can facilitate that
discussion, if not, one of the students can act as a
facilitator, and you can pass by the table from time to
time, to see how the students are doing.
There are a number of ways that this could be used to
evaluate student learning.
The co-teacher or other facilitator can take notes on
participation and references to points made. If the
taking of notes during the discussion causes anxiety, the
notes can be taken from memory after class.
Casual observations made by the teacher can be used to
assess student knowledge.
Exit tickets can be used to determine what students
gained during discussions.
Anonymous forms can be used to determine student
learning. These forms could both discuss what the
students learned and to grade other members of the
group.
 Michael Mongeau

Citation Massachusetts General Hospital, School Psychiatry

Program and MADI Resource Center. (2010).
Interventions for Social Fears. Retrieved from
https://www.mlschools.org/cms/lib/NJ0100180
1/Centricity/Domain/461/Social%20Phobia.pdf