Many neurodivergent people have difficulties with the eye contact, touching, speaking, and other acts of performative neuronormativitythat are expected when entering a classroom that implements Positive Greetings at the Door (PGD).
Exposure anxiety, threshold anxiety, and situational mutism are widespread in our community. Their intensity is overwhelming. PGD policies turn teachers into anxiety-inducing “threshold guardians” that we have to get past by performing. This is an exhausting and dysregulating start to the day.
Classroom door greetings are steeped in PBS/PBIS, a form of behaviorism overwhelmingly opposed by the neurodiversity movement.
Two studies often cited in favor of PGD are full of behaviorist framing and language.
- Positive Greetings at the Door: Evaluation of a Low-Cost, High-Yield Proactive Classroom Management Strategy – Clayton R. Cook, Aria Fiat, Madeline Larson, Christopher Daikos, Tal Slemrod, Elizabeth A. Holland, Andrew J. Thayer, Tyler Renshaw, 2018
- Effects of Teacher Greetings on Student On-task Behavior – PMC
Behaviorist education is ableist education.
You don’t need to do door greetings. There are better ways to invite people into shared space that don’t induce anxiety at thresholds, those liminal lines between inclusion and exclusion.
We advise against posting any sort of threshold guardian or threshold ritual. If you must implement PGD, PGD policies can be improved and better avoid ableism by supporting multiple modalities and embracing flexibility as good UDL. Allow greetings of all sorts:
- Spoken
- Fist bump
- Handshake
- Thumbs up
- Hug
- Virtual hug
- Head nod
- Sign of the horns
Nonverbal interpersonal interactions, such as a friendly handshake or a thumbs-up, can help make greetings feel authentic and build trust—as long as students feel comfortable with physical contact.
Also allow no response at all. Compliance is not the goal, a good start to the day is the goal. Forcing students to perform against their mood is a bad start to the day. Forcing students to be false to themselves and their reality is counterproductive.
Trust and authenticity are important to many autistic people. We’re wired for it. Forcing us to perform neuronormativity and toxic positivitydestroys trust and authenticity. Such coercion is gaslighting, as it is an attempt to “overwrite another person’s reality“. Such coercion contributes to school-induced anxiety.
Signatories
The following individuals, organizations, and communities endorse this Why Sheet. Want to join them? Add your signature.
- Stimpunks Foundation
- Autistic Realms
- Luis Robertson
- Neurodiverse Journeys
- Katy Elphinstone
- Jen Summers
- bee austin, BEE- Neurodivergent Buzz
- Dr Louise Lomas
- Laura Hellfeld
- Lisa Bowen
- Chris McNutt
- Human Restoration Project
- Nick Covington
- Julia Lee Barclay-Morton, PhD
- Geoffrey Hume-Cook
- Kara James
- Julie M. Austen, Licensed Psychologist, Austen Psychological Services
- Kirsty McKenzie
- bee austin
- Shifting the Narrative on Everything Autism Podcast
- Bex Milgate
- Emma Whittaker
- Aaron Roldan
- Trisha Thompson
- Angela Kingdon, The Autistic Culture Podcast
- Neurodivergent Infinity Network of Educators
- Emily Marcus
License
This why sheet is free to download, modify, and share.
Version: 1.1
License: “Positive Greetings at the Door Why Sheet” is marked with CC0 1.0
Repository: https://github.com/Stimpunks/Why-Sheets/blob/main/Positive%20Greetings%20at%20the%20Door.md
