Visual Referencing is a more neurodiverse/inclusive term for making eye contact. Also called social referencing, we teach our learners how to seek and use information to evaluate or gain knowledge from a situation. Make sure to download this free activity and lesson plan for your next visual referencing lesson!
Teaching Visual Referencing to Elementary Students
We can teach visual referencing to our students who feel uncomfortable making eye contact with others. Teaching visual referencing will help your students acquire the skills to look or glance in the direction of the speaker from time to time to show the speaker that they are listening. It will also help them to gather important body language and facial expression clues from the speaker.
Visual Referencing Lesson Plan & PDF
1. Start by Breaking Down the Skills
Begin by teaching how we can use visual referencing. Students turn their bodies towards their conversation partner or group. Next, look in the direction of their face or eyes, while taking as many breaks to look down or away as they need. Lastly, they should try to use what they see to figure out how the other person is feeling. These feeling clues help us all know how to act or what to say next in a conversation.
2. Teach Why It’s Important
Visual referencing is one of the most important skills we can learn because it shows interest in a conversation, helps us be better communicators, and is crucial for successful interactions. It is equally important to learn how to advocate for yourself and your needs as a speaker in order to be comfortable. That’s why we teach our students that it is okay to take breaks and look away if that feels better for them. Our goal poster below is a great resource for breaking down the importance of skills and the steps to teach them (included in our 30-day free trial).
3. Use Our Free Visual Referencing Activity and Lesson Plan/PDF
The downloadable PDF can be used to help your learners practice visual referencing. The spinner activity can be printed out and spun on a pencil or pen tip to actually spin! Students will practice each scenario they land on.
Sample Video
Our online platform provides thousands of video lessons, web games, & digital and printable activities such as this sample Visual Referencing video below. We also have a library of data-tracking resources, an IEP goal bank, and the ability to send materials as homework! Our primary goal is to make your life as an educator easier!
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