Teacher: I’m shocked. I asked the class some questions and it turns out that several students don’t know the difference between a pasuk and a perek. No wonder they can’t follow along!

Principal: It seems that the problems are still there, but Sara has more direction… and confidence.

Parent: Just got back from PTA. Mrs. Markowitz explained how she’s breaking down directions and it clicked: We have that problem at home too. Maybe I wrote her off too quickly.

Today the blazer is pink and the blouse is a black-and-white print. Sara’s eager to start.

“The first thing we need to do,” I explain, “is identify why your students are unable to follow directions.”

“Okay,” Sara agrees. “I have a student, let’s call her Malky. She still has her siddur on her desk halfway through the Chumash lesson. I need to tell her, ‘Malky, please take out your Chumash.’ When I give general directions to the class, it’s like she doesn’t even hear it.”

It sounds like Malky isn’t focused. “For such students,” I explain, “it helps to institute a consistent cue, or alert, every time you give an instruction, like a little bell you ring, or a raised hand, or a clap. It’s a way of alerting them: Instruction coming up! Pay attention!”

“I could do that,” Sara says, writing it down.

“Another helpful strategy is to write the schedule on the board, with clear, detailed instructions: ‘Page 22, examples 1–5.’ That way, Malky can refer to the board to see what subject, or which pasuk, she should be at.”

“Amazing,” Sara says, writing furiously. She looks up. “What about the kids who are paying attention, but still can’t follow? I say, ‘Turn to pasuk beis,’ and they just… can’t.”

“Then we need to find out why they can’t. Often, they don’t really understand the instructions. In the Chumash class, they may not be able to identify a pasuk, or differentiate between a perek and a parshah.

“Photocopy some pages from a Chumash and teach them the map of the sefer: Where to find each piece of information and how the different parts work together — a parshah contains smaller perakim, which contain many short pesukim. Practice with them until they can easily find the place” [This is not a difficulty unique to Chumash. Any time a child or student doesn’t follow directions at home or at school, make sure they understand them.]

“Got it. What else?”

“Remember that some kids would follow the directions if they could only remember them. You know how you tell your kids, ‘Put away your briefcase, put away your shoes, wash your hands, and come to the table’? And then you get annoyed because they didn’t listen?”

We both laugh at the familiar scenario. “It’s too many directions at once. Break it down, one direction at a time.

First, tell them to put away their siddurim. When that’s done, direct them to take out their Chumashim. When they’re ready, direct them to the place [When issuing directions, pause to give processing time between each step. If you’re giving multistep directions, give extra processing time]. As they progress, you can move on to two-step directions, but tell them you’ll be giving them two instructions at a time.

“Just like you can teach them the vocabulary, you can also teach them the routines. ‘For Chumash, you need your Chumash, notebook, and pencil.’ At home it might be, ‘Pack your lunch, your snack, and your homework.’”

Sara looks happy to hear this. “That sounds good. I want them to be independent.”

D. Himy is a speech-language pathologist in private practice and creator of the Link-It and STARPower curriculums. The fictional characters in this column represent typical client profiles.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 658)