Students with disabilities may engage in bullying behavior or unknowingly invite it because they don’t know how to safely navigate social media. It’s important for IEP teams as well as school districts to improve upon students’ social media literacy skills to prevent negative situations in the future. Here are some tips to share with IEP teams to promote safe social media use in IEP goals to prevent possible bullying and mental health issues.
1. Reduce the “fear of missing out” (or FOMO as the kids call it these days)
Conversations about the appropriate uses of social media are very important to have. IEP teams and teachers should try to help students understand that it’s not necessary to respond to every single post online or even read everything that their friends are posting. Turning to social media to vent about how you feel about someone, or something is not the best way to react. You might try showing students examples of celebrities who have received backlash for what they have posted on the internet and highlight that what they post online doesn’t only impact them but could also affect their relationships and life after school.
2. Tap into emotions
A student may benefit from having an IEP goal related to reflections about social media posts. This could help put things into perspective for the student and practice seeing things from someone else’s point of view without reacting in a potentially harmful manner. The goals should be focused on self-regulating and self-awareness surrounding potential posts on their own social media.
3. Talk about different types of social media
Empower students to avoid trouble and discern fact from fiction and distinguish reliable sites from sites that could be riskier. Goals around detecting persuasive language or fact-checking could be helpful. Encourage students to read about the serious consequences of dangerous online challenges that involve blackmail and phishing.
4. Promote help-seeking behaviors
Creating goals that are designed to build help-seeking behaviors not only helps students while using social media platforms. It’s helpful in so many other parts of life. Creating a plan with a student about who they can go to when they think they need help with a serious situation whether it be on social media or in real life is an empowering tool that all students should learn.