Greetings

1. Greetings can be used in the morning, at the end of the day, or whenever students enter or exit the classroom (e.g., before or after lunch or going to another classroom). Identify the best time in your schedule to incorporate systematic, personalized greetings.
2. When the student walks in or out of the classroom, greet them individually (stating their name) with warmth, positivity, and genuineness. Greetings can be in the form of saying things such as “Good morning, Jane!”, “I am so glad you are here today!” “Bye, Kyle! It was great to have you here today, and we’ll see you tomorrow!”, gesturing (e.g., thumbs up, hands forming a heart placed over your heart, followed by pointing to the student), or an expression of warmth such as a hive-five, handshake, or touch on the shoulder.
3. Greetings should always be individualized and sincere. The goal is to express that you personally like the student and want to make a connection with them. Welcoming the entire class for the day does not have the same effect.
4. Use Beacon progress monitoring tools to evaluate the extent to which this strategy is improving the target behaviors as intended.

• When greeting a student, make eye contact, use the student’s name, smile, and get on their level. All of these gestures demonstrate that you are addressing the specific student and will help them feel special.
• Consider getting creative and making your greeting individualized for each student such as a special handshake, dance, or gesture, greeting in a different language each day, or letting the student choose a greeting from among several options. Providing options can be especially important for neurodivergent students who may have unique boundaries or may be receptive to less traditional greeting approaches.
• Take the child’s cultural background into consideration to ensure that the chosen greeting for that child is appropriate.
• If you need help implementing or evaluating this intervention, it may be helpful to seek out consultation from your school mental health professional or intervention team leader.

Greetings are rated as “not evaluated” at both the elementary and secondary levels as they have not been rigorously evaluated as a stand-alone intervention. Therefore, we cannot determine a level of effectiveness.

Elementary: Greetings have not been rigorously studied as a standalone or combined intervention among elementary students to determine its effectiveness.

Secondary: When greetings were studied at secondary level, they were paired with behavior- specific praise and pre-corrections for the class and for individual students. This greetings intervention coupled with praise and pre-correction resulted in reductions in off-task behavior, interruptions, out of seat behavior, and problems respecting others’ personal space.

Recommendations: If you choose to use greetings to address your student’s presenting problems at the secondary level, we recommend pairing greetings with pre-corrections, praise, and other classroom interventions. Similarly, if you choose to use greetings at the elementary level, pairing it with other interventions is recommended.