I write often about my program’s cadet teachers (peer models). When teaching normative social skills to adolescents, tapping into the resource of other teens is powerful. While younger children may enjoy and seek the approval of teachers, teens (yes, including those with intellectual disabilities, ASD, or behavior disorders) prefer acceptance and approval from people their own age. The sooner you, as a teacher, make your peace with this reality, the sooner you will be able to utilize and leverage positive peer relationships in your social skills class.

But first, you have to pick your peer models.

I teach general education classes as well as special education. I interact with a lot of lovely teenagers every day. However, being a lovely person doesn’t necessarily translate into being an effective peer model. There isn’t one a single personality type required to be an effective peer model; some of my cadets are natural-born leaders who are talkative and outgoing, while other cadets are collaborative teammates who hate to get up in front of a crowd. Both personality types can make a great cadet.

I think it’s essential to choose cadets for your program that represent a spectrum of personality traits and interests in order to develop a well-rounded group where individual differences can be appreciated. Basically, keep your peer models as heterogenous as your students so there’s someone everyone can relate to. However, there are a few shared qualities to look for in your cadets:

1. Good attendance during the class period when you have class. Cadets who are frequently absent from class won’t be a good fit. Even if the reasons are related to school activities (ex. being called out for debate tournaments), their absence will create stress and inconsistency. My cadets are very involved in school activities. Many of them frequently miss the last two periods of the school day. We intentionally scheduled our social skills class earlier in the day to circumvent this issue. However, if you can’t, this is a key consideration when choosing peer models.
2. An attitude of equality towards people with disabilities. Great cadets approach their peers with disabilities with a sense of equality and a genuine desire to form relationships based on commonalities. If a cadet applicant enters into social skills class with a sense that they are doing community service or charity work, the dynamic can become unhealthy. I know how tough a line with is to walk. A cadet teacher has to come in to class with a desire to serve others. However, there is a distinction between being of service and martyrdom.
3. Comfort with behaviors that make other people uncomfortable and comfort talking about those behaviors. Sometimes, it’s behaviors that students can’t control (bathroom accidents, drooling, involuntary shrieking) but that cadets can help instruct students to manage discreetly. Sometimes, it’s behaviors that can be changed with ongoing, consistent instruction and redirection over a long period of time (not giving socially-appropriate verbal responses, invading others’ space bubbles). Some discomfort is normal and abates with time. However, cadets who are highly uncomfortable with behaviors won’t be successful.
4. Patience and persistence to model, teach, and reteach the same skills repeatedly. Students with intellectual disabilities can take a long time to master a skill that may seem simple and straightforward to their peers. A good cadet if comfortable with the long game and doesn’t get discouraged practicing the same thing over and over again over an extended period of time. I have a great example. There is a young person in my social skills class with intellectual disabilities. One of his areas of disability is language. When he was a freshman, his only communication was partial echolalia (he’d repeat a few words of the question someone asked him, but that was all). He’s a senior now, and he’s made progress. Now, when you say “Good morning. How’s it going?” to the student, he now replies with “Okay.” That took the better part of four years. The wrong cadet would find this frustrating; that person may not be a good fit.
5. Willingness to be a verbal and outspoken advocate for people with intellectual disabilities in the school and in the community. I don’t hear it nearly as much as I used to, but “retarded” still comes out as an insult sometimes in the hall. Good cadets are willing to speak up and tell their peers that it isn’t cool to say things like that.
6. Unwavering dependability and reliability. Good cadets have a proven track record of doing what they say they’ll do and being where they say they’ll be. EVERY TIME. Our extracurricular events are student-driven; I’m just there in case of an emergency, but I keep my distance. I rely on my cadets to be at events when they say they will and to take responsibility/be hands on with students at those events. Good cadets involve students and interact with them, even when other friends come by. Good cadets are a bridge between students with intellectual disabilities and other peers.

These are some thoughts to get you started thinking about WHO. Next, I’ll give some direction on how to set up and execute a selection process. Here’s how my program does it, including our timeline:

1. The week after Spring Break, applications for cadet teaching become available. Current cadets inform their friends, and we have an announcement read over the PA every morning. I keep a stack of applications with me, a stack in the main office, a stack in the SPED office, and let current cadets take some to hand out. Here’s a link to the Cadet Application Form we use; there’s a link at the bottom that will let you access a Google doc you can copy and edit to fit your
2. We give students about a week to turn in applications, then go through the applications. We talk to the students’ current teachers to see if there are any issues and access their grades and discipline history via the online grade book. We send e-mails notifying each candidate if they have or have not been selected for an interview.
3. Candidate interviews are conducted in 15-minute time slots. I create a Google doc, then send it out to candidates, having them sign up for an interview slot. If you use Calendly or other software like that, the process may be even easier. The interview panel includes me, my PLS co-teacher, the AA teacher, and at least one current cadet teacher. We take turns asking questions, and each of us fills out a copy of the Cadet Interview Sheet.
4. Once all potential candidates have been interviewed, the teachers engage in discussion and cadets are selected and placed. All candidates are notified via e-mail if they were/were not selected. Our whole process takes about two weeks.

As you move forward with the selection of peer models for your own class/program, hopefully you find this information directive and helpful. If your peer models remotely approach the quality and caliber of mine, you’ll have a stronger program every year.

Tags: secondary special education, peer models, student directed learning, SECD lesson