Relationships Module

Relationships Module

This module is broken into five lessons, one focusing on each of the following:

Take a chance with caring - Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Get to know the whole child - Adults have to pay attention to all four aspects of development as they build relationships with young people.
Relationships have stages too - Relationships with youth develop in three predictable stages.
Stay connected while they figure it out - Youth need adults to support them as they solve their own problems.
Other relationship issues you might encounter - Based on feedback from OSU students’ work with youth, several miscellaneous behavior issues are discussed.

You can view these lessons in any order. All of the lessons discuss the importance of the relationship you have with your student.

Each lesson consists of :

1-3 situations to consider and decide how you would respond;
Video clip(s) to illustrate the topic further;
A summary/wrap-up;
A brief evaluation of the lesson.

It is important to note that though there may be “wrong” answers, leading to ineffective interactions and diminishing the experience for both you and the student, there is no one single “right” answer. Your response in a given situation will undoubtedly be different from someone else’s, but it is important to view a variety of potential responses so that you can have a broader "toolbox" of responses at your disposal when you come across various situations. Therefore, when you read the situations and view the video, consider them suggestions for appropriate responses rather than the one-and-only answer.

Finally, be aware that when working with youth, you are the adult! In this module, “student” refers to the child with whom you are working. This means that the students will be looking to you for guidance, feedback, validation, attention, and more.

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