Why "Asking for Help" Deserves a Spot in Your Goal Bank

Ever heard a teacher say "they just sit there don't let me know when they need help" or "they say they need help but can't tell me what they need"? Me too. I've had several teachers report this to me, even when we've been working on problem solving scenarios in therapy sessions. I decided I needed to make something a little more explicit about HOW we can actually ask for help.

Asking for help sounds simple. But for a lot of our students it is actually a really complex skill. It requires identifying that something is wrong, knowing who the right person is to ask, getting that person's attention, and then clearly stating what they need.

I made this deck because I kept hearing the same thing from teachers across my caseload. Students were either shutting down completely when they hit a problem or going up to an adult and just saying "I need help" without being able to say anything more.

Asking For Help At School: A Social Communication Activity is a 40 page Boom Card deck designed for younger elementary students. It walks through the whole process in a simple way: what is the problem, who can help, and how do we ask specifically for what we need. Then we practice. There are 27 scenario cards each featuring a different student facing a real school situation; a broken pencil, a spilled lunch tray, a locker that won't open, a laptop that won't log in. Students look at the picture, learn a little about the situation, and then work through the three questions (what is the problem, who can help, and what could the person say to ask for help) together with their therapist.

At the end there are five blank pages for students to bring in their own real life situations.

I designed it to feel relevant to kids because it is stuff that actually happens at school often.

You can find it in my Boom store here: Asking For Help At School: A Social Communication Activity

I'm also hoping to make similar Asking For Help decks in the future! I'm hoping to make some in other settings (out in the community, at home, etc).