Dr. Lori Desautels reminds us to pay attention to how we deliver messages to our students, particularly those with a history of trauma. Writing notes, directions or requests and providing students the option to write their responses rather than speak them can make a big difference for some students, especially for those who are emotionally shut down and/or unresponsive to words. “Personalized Check-in Notes” is a strategy that Dr. Desautels has found to work well to support an engagement system that facilitates a predictable and consistent environment for all students. She finds that sharing notes, small goals, affirmations and requests (Dr. Desautels uses waiter and prescription pads) helps keep connections with students and creates fun ways to make a payment or incentivize once the task or goal has been ordered and received.
Source: https://www.edutopia.org/article/reaching-students-emotional-disturbances-lori-desautels