[Ana Espinoza]

Nonverbal communication such as smiles, nods and other gestures builds relationships between children and adults by building a sense of trust, and confidence to grow, learn and development

[Stephanie]

I can remember having several teachers in elementary school who were friendly and engaging and seemed to genuinely care about what I thought or said. It made a huge difference and fostered a life long love of learning.

[brenda]

I attended Catholic school as a child. I remember one nun who every child feared. She never smiled or spoke kindly. My sister had this nun for a teacher, however, and said she was very warm and inviting in the classroom. My sister enjoyed that class very much. The rest of us students were still leery of her.

[Shannon]

I had a teacher that always frowned so all the students gravitated towards her aid who was always smiling. She made everyone feel at ease and safe.

[Shannon]

Often times it’s easy to point to famous people who had a significant event shape their future. Many have both positive and negative follow on affects. As for myself, I wasn’t shown much affection as a child so I show my own children so much to make sure they always know they are loved. Had I not known the opposite I may not have shown so much to my own kids.

[Reshmi]

In my elementary school days , we had a very strict teacher who never smiled. She had the most serious expression on her always. We never felt welcome in her class, we didn’t open up or ask questions on our own. We had many other teachers who were more welcoming and we felt a sense of trust and this increased our confidence. Non verbal communication like smiling, nodding, dancing etc makes kids feel more welcoming, boosts their confidence and fosters fun learning environment.

[Jeanene]

I will always remember my dislike for dance classes due to both my Ballet and Tap teachers always looking cranky and I felt I was always trying to get their approval but could never determined if I had from their facial expressions, then I got a younger jazz teacher and she was always positive, bubbly and smiled when I had nailed a movement, this in turn made me feel good about what I had done.

[Allison Aubry]

I have a child at my daycare who has been there since 3 months old. They still get sad at drop off and nervous around others who they are not familiar with. Our smiling faces and upbeat tone of voices help at drop off and throughout the day let them know they are safe and will do everything to make sure the kids have a great day.

[Janine Kearney]

Nonverbal communication, especially gestures of encouragement like a smile, nod, shoulder touch, and eye contact make a huge difference in all relationships, but especially those involving children on the autism spectrum or who have different learning needs. I saw a significant bond forming between myself and a 3 year old boy attending the center where I work. He started learning some basic words, counting numbers, and would grab my hand and bring me to certain toys and books that he was interested in.

[Mari]

SIgn language, hugs, dancing, smiling and eye contact are all ways to make a nonverbal connection.

[Laura]

When unsure of an answer, a teacher gave me a smile and encouraging nod and made me that much more confident in class.

[Sherri Lewis]

I had a teacher make me cry because she asked me a question and didn’t believe my answer. So she called me a liar in front of my class and continues to ask me the same question over and over. Then tells me to sit down at my seat if I wasn’t going to tell her the truth. But I did tell the truth of why I was absent for a week. My mother had surgery for the sixth time and she was glued together where they took out her uterus. I had to take care of my younger siblings while my mother was bed fast because my dad was working daytime shift at the plant. I was in fifth grade when this happened and it was the first couple months of school. After that, I couldn’t approach people or talk in front of a class clear into college. I didn’t think I was going to be a teacher because of my fear. But I did overcome it in time.

[Madi Grevel]

A smile is just what a child needs when he or she is having a bad day! Smiles can make the energy around you happy and positive.

[Eleanor Jones]

My 3rd-grade teacher had a huge impact on me! She always greeted me and her other students with a kind smile and this helped me to trust her and what she taught me.

[Christine]

Smiling boosts your credibility, productivity, encourages others to want to interact with you and supports your confidence as well. It lowers your stress which can help to lower the overall stress in the environment.