Didactic Conversation Strategies

Even though this book is addressing didactic conversations many of the strategies described are applicable to larger group conversation/presentations. For example, last night several parents became very emotional and confrontational around the issue of their child being bullied in school. In attempts to disuse the situation examples of strategies that have been used in the past to address bullying. One strategy mentioned was presenting to the class about a student’s disability. This was said with a warning about confidentiality. However, our director saw what a slippery slope this suggestion could be. She used story telling with Contrasting to assure the importance of confidentiality was understood. She talked about an incident that happened
in the past. A parent came to a classroom to talk about her child and how autism affected him. During the discussion another parent came into the room. This second parent also has a child with autism in the class. One of the students asked the teacher, “Is autism why (the other student) acts in similar ways?’ Without speaking the teacher nodded her head. The teacher and district were sued. That story changed the conversation. It moved us from a point of defending ourselves to working with families to figure out way to increase acceptance of individual difference.