Teacher: Ava, again, please start working on your project.
Ava: What? You didn’t say I couldn’t use this site.
Teacher: I said you should be researching the historical figure you chose for your project.
Ava: I am researching. Look. [turns tablet so that Ms. Harris can see it]
Teacher: Hey, I see that you’re having a hard time transitioning over, so if you want to go ahead grab a sip of water to regroup,
you can.
Ava: I think that would help. I need a minute.
Teacher: [hands Ava a pass] Here take a pass. Thank you.
[ Johanna Staubitz commentary ]
We see the same interaction between Ava, who's off-task, and Ms. Harris, who’s redirecting her. They're both kind of sounding increasingly
touchy and Ava's getting argumentative. However, this time, Ms. Harris, instead of walking away after making a final redirection,
crouches down, gets on Ava's level, and quietly just makes an observation about the difficulty of that transition. And then she suggests getting
a sip of water, which is a way that Ava can take a break without standing out to her peers in a way that she might want to avoid
standing out. Instead, it's something that's totally innocuous and socially acceptable but also just creates some space between the
super fun activity and the less interesting activity. And this space is even more important now that Ava's, you know, behavior kind of
demonstrates she's agitated beyond Trigger. That break becomes even more important. So again, we start out with the difficulty of the
trigger being that transition, but it's made more complex by these interactions between Ava and Ms. Harris. So, escaping the situation
is now also something that's important. And the sip of water allows her to do that. And there are just important nuances that I hope
you're picking up on in the way Ms. Harris delivered that: getting low, speaking quietly where other people aren't likely to hear it,
and offering a suggestion that is subtle or discreet for the student.