Once upon a time, there were students who struggled to understand what people mean by what they say, and what people intend with their actions and their words.

Some students often misinterpreted people's words and actions as negative or personal, even when they weren't.

Other students caused frustration amongst their family and teachers when they didn't do what someone expected them to do, because they failed to decode the expectation.

And then there were students who struggled to recognize if people's treatment of them was insincere or problematic.

I created this lesson for all of these students.

In this lesson, students learn different clues to help them figure out what something means, how to interpret the things people say when they speak indirectly, and to recognize the difference between friendly and mean teasing.

Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who struggled to receive social feedback from others.

Some students believed receiving social feedback meant someone was picking on them or even bullying them. These students sometimes had big reactions to receiving feedback.

Other students learned to apologize when they received social feedback, which led to them apologizing even when they didn't really mean it, and even when they didn't understand what exactly they were apologizing for.

And then there were students who tried to hide or minimize parts of themselves in order to avoid getting social feedback in the first place.

I created this lesson for all of these students.

In this lesson, students learn three different ways we can respond to feedback, why apologizing is sometimes the best choice, and we talk about scenarios when apologizing isn't necessary or even appropriate. We also discuss how to respond when someone apologizes to us, especially if it's for something that was not okay. And we end the lesson with having a conversation about over-apologizing, which a lot of students, unfortunately, can relate to.

Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who struggled to understand friendship. They struggled with concepts like: What is a friend? What isn't a friend? And what is expected when we're friends with someone?

Sometimes, these students thought everyone was their friend, including people they had just met.

Sometimes they didn't know how to determine who was a good friend and who wasn't, so they ended up spending time with people that we wish they wouldn't.

And some students struggled to recognize what the expectations are in a friendship, which gets in the way of them being a good friend.

This week's lesson was created for these students.

In this lesson, we talk about how friends are people that we choose to spend time with outside of the context where we know them. Students practice and role play making plans with someone, since most students don't know how to do that. We also talk about how a friend is someone who makes us feel good. We discuss different scenarios and whether they are a sign of a good friend or a not-so-good friend.