Has anyone ever worked with a student who displays little or no emotion about anything? Although internally he may be motivated to learn, this 4th grade student shows little or no emotion about anything we do in the resource room. I have found him to be a frustrating student to teach because he doesn’t have any affect even when we do fun learning activities. He also does not believe that he needs any help when he’s in the regular classroom, so doesn’t ask for it. His grades indicate that he is doing poor to failing work but he doesn’t seem to be affected by it. Any suggestions? His parents have noticed this also and think it has something to do with the fact that he is the middle child of 6.
Re: LD student with no affect
I have an adult student (started age 18, now age 19) who has never had a proper diagnosis but is suspected of having some form of PDD or related whatever. He shows very little affect most of the time his voice is generally very flat and he doesnlt do well with social amenities, is just now starting to give his nme on the phone instead of expecting you to know who it is — and when he does show any affect it tends to be either inappropriate or explosive.
I had a breakthrough with him last week; he was supposed to read some very serious things about Remembrance Day and we were talking about the World Wars and how devastating they were. He was acting up and giggling and then started saying how it would be so cool to order the army around and making machine-gun noises (as I said, inappropriate) and then when I became quite frustrated with him and told him off, he became very angry and started yelling at me (explosive). BUT the next day he called me up and said that while driving home he was thinking about the things I said, about how awful it must have been for the officer to send his men into those battles, and he understood where I was coming from. So for the first time he is putting himself in other people’s places and understanding their feelings, *and* he is learning to apologize, a hard thing for many adults even without disabilities. Then of course this week he was too busy at work and missed his lessons again, a continuing problem.
But I think after a year’s hard work we are really getting somewhere.
So when you talk about your student with no affect, perhaps he is also on the autism spectrum somewhere. Something to think about.
And perhaps if you work and work with him and get a real conversation going, including a few real arguments now and then, he may start to understand what you’re getting at.
Re: LD student with no affect
Absence of affect is often a side effect of schizophrenia. The inability to perceive the need for help would also be typical of schizophrenia. This is not to say the child is schizophrenic! Just want to mention this because it has to do with brain chemistry.
Nancy
Re: LD student with no affect
Is the absense of affect universal, or just in class? Is he the same way before & after classes? On the playground?
I was reflecting this morning on the thrill of victory when I work past affect issues with students — in my case an “angry not-so-young not-a-man.” Have no idea whether it’s really attitudinal or a wiring thing, but tho’ she’s still abrupt, there’s been a major turnaround. In this case it took ignoring the (nondisruptive) negativity and treating her as if she were a positive, successful student… and it didn’t happen overnight.
If the lack of affect is part of how his brain works, it probably won’t be that “easy,” of course.
yeah I have some of those students too
I go into classrooms and work with kids who aren’t on my caseload. One kid frowns 24/7 but shen I am in the classroom she always smiles and talks with me. She has a beautiful smile that reaches her eyes; her whole face lights up but when I leave the smile is gone. She knows how to perform for me and talk but she won’t with other people and they said that is just the way she is. I will keep trying to be positive and pleasant but it is difficult to deal with students when they are unresponsive because you can’t read them and know if you are helping them to make a positive difference in their life. :-D
Re: LD student with no affect
I think the big question on this one is: Is the lack of affect in EVERYTHING? If it isn’t, if there are things that make the kid happy, excited, sad, then this is perhaps a normal response to school failure. If it is in everything then you have some other problem like autism spectrum or depression.
—des
I think being a middle child in six would be difficult, but it shouldn’t cause such serious symptoms. (Unless there are serious family problems.)I think that this may be a symptom of depression. Especially if he shows no pleasure in anything, even fun things that he used to like. If he never showed any pleasure in anything it is most likely quite serious.
However, if it is just in his poor subject areas or school, he may be having a secondary effect of school failure. Instead of being angry or upset, he “shows” his feelings by showing no feelings.
Some autistic kids (Aspy) sometimes have low affect, but they may be quite involved in some special interest (perhaps narrow) that others aren’t interested in. In this case, they would be very enthusiastic on this one area, but perhaps not show normal range of emotion. Some kids with fetal alcohol syndrome also don’t show full range, but have emotional reactions, just less so.
Obviously this is not in any way to diagnose him. I think he needs to be seen by a mental health professional.
—des