Unspoken Words

Abstract

Much of what is communicated in the classroom is through nonverbal means. Sending appropriate nonverbal signals, as well as recognizing and interpreting the nonverbal signals of others, are essential features of the learning process. Students’ abilities to encode and decode nonverbal communication have the potential to affect all aspects of their academic and social outcomes. Students must process what they see and make sense of it in the context of the situation and the people involved. The author describes how students with nonverbal learning disabilities may reveal themselves in the music classroom, and provides instructional strategies that can be used in the classroom to help students with nonverbal learning disabilities and Web-based resources for educators.