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SEL in Texas for Neurodivergent High-School Students: A Teacher's Guide

Social-emotional learning (SEL) can support students as they develop self-awareness, navigate relationships, respond to challenges, understand different perspectives, and make decisions in school and beyond.
However, states do not all have a dedicated statewide SEL standards framework.
For educators in Texas, understanding what the state does and does not provide can be a useful starting point. This guide identifies relevant state guidance, frameworks, competencies, or related education resources and considers what they may mean for supporting neurodivergent high school students.

Texas SEL at a Glance

Texas officially frames social-emotional skill development through its Positive Character Traits and Personal Skills standards and Health Education TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).

Official Framework & Core Terminology

Framework Name: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Positive Character Traits and Personal Skills (19 TAC Chapter 120, Subchapter A) & TEKS for Health Education (19 TAC Chapter 115)
Structure & Terminology: In Texas state policy, traditional "SEL" is officially designated as Positive Character Traits and Personal Skills (mandated under Texas Education Code §29.906 / SB 11) alongside Socio-Emotional Health, Self-Regulation, and Healthy Relationships within Health Education TEKS.
Official Links:

Grade Ranges & High School Applicability

Grade Bands: Required across four state grade bands: K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and Grades 9–12 (19 TAC §120.9).
High School Relevance: For high schoolers (13+ / Grades 9–12), state standards focus on real-world application: workplace reliability, self-regulation under stress, navigating mental health (under Health TEKS), post-secondary readiness, and making ethical decisions within complex social and community contexts.

Core Strands Overview

  1. Trustworthiness: Demonstrating personal integrity, honesty, loyalty, punctuality, and reliability in academic, post-secondary, and community settings.
  2. Responsibility: Exercising self-control, self-management, goal-setting, perseverance, and taking personal accountability for decisions and actions.
  3. Caring: Practicing interpersonal skills, showing compassion, empathy, patience, and effective cooperation in peer and adult relationships.
  4. Good Citizenship: Demonstrating respect, fairness, understanding diverse social and cultural contexts, and making responsible decisions for the common good.

Educator Mandate: State Explanation & Interpretation

Under TEC §29.906, Texas public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools must provide instruction in TEKS for Positive Character Traits and Personal Skills at least once in high school (Grades 9–12). School districts may deliver this through standalone character education courses, advisory periods, or integrated across content areas like Health Education, English, or Social Studies. State law explicitly mandates that character instruction must empower students with practical decision-making and problem-solving strategies without proselytizing or political indoctrination (TEC §29.906(d)).

High School Competency Breakdown for Neurodivergent Learners

Strand 1: Trustworthiness (Reliability, Integrity, & Punctuality)

  • What the State Identifies: Demonstrating reliability, loyalty, honesty, punctuality, and ethical behavior in personal and academic responsibilities (19 TAC §120.9(c)(1)).
  • What This Looks Like in High School: Arriving on time to class/lab, turning in independent work reliably, keeping agreements with peers/teachers, and acting ethically online and in person.
  • Neurodivergent Teaching Considerations: Punctuality and temporal reliability are heavily influenced by executive functioning (time blindness, transition inertia) and dysautonomia/sleep disturbances common in ADHD and Autistic teens. Unreliable behaviors are frequently executive breakdowns, not moral failures or lack of integrity.
  • Communication Considerations: Avoid framing missed deadlines or tardiness as dishonesty. Provide explicit visual timelines, alarms, and transition warnings. Validate internal effort even when external execution falters.

Strand 2: Responsibility (Self-Control, Self-Management, & Perseverance)

  • What the State Identifies: Demonstrating self-management skills, goal setting, self-control, perseverance through challenges, and taking accountability for personal actions (19 TAC §120.9(c)(2)).
  • What This Looks Like in High School: Managing study schedules, regulating emotional reactions during stressful exams, persisting through difficult coursework, and taking ownership of mistakes.
  • Neurodivergent Teaching Considerations: True self-control and self-regulation rely on interoceptive awareness (detecting physiological stress signals before a meltdown/shutdown occurs). Expecting a dysregulated neurodivergent teen to "demonstrate self-control" without offering sensory accommodations ignores their underlying physiology.
  • Communication Considerations: Provide pre-established, low-demand regulation protocols (e.g., visual check-in cards, scheduled sensory breaks) rather than expecting immediate verbal self-advocacy during moments of overload.

Strand 3: Caring (Interpersonal Skills, Empathy, & Patience)

  • What the State Identifies: Utilizing interpersonal skills to listen, share, cooperate, show compassion, consideration, and practice empathy (19 TAC §120.9(c)(3)).
  • What This Looks Like in High School: Partnering in group assignments, active listening in discussions, navigating peer conflicts, and showing patience with diverse perspectives.
  • Neurodivergent Teaching Considerations: Apply Damian Milton's Double Empathy Problem. Communication breakdowns between neurotypical and neurodivergent teens stem from a mutual difference in communication styles, not a lack of caring or empathy on the neurodivergent student's part.
  • Communication Considerations: Explicitly teach paralinguistics (decoding vocal tone, pace, and body language in context) as objective communication signals. Avoid enforcing eye contact or suppressing natural stimming as conditions for "showing consideration."

Strand 4: Good Citizenship (Responsible Decision-Making & Respect for Community)

  • What the State Identifies: Practicing responsible decision-making, recognizing multiple perspectives and cultural contexts, demonstrating respect, and making choices for the common good (19 TAC §120.9(c)(4)).
  • What This Looks Like in High School: Evaluating consequences before acting, contributing positively to group projects, respecting diverse learning needs, and advocating for accessible learning spaces.
  • Neurodivergent Teaching Considerations: High schoolers need concrete frameworks for decision-making under stress. Executive dysfunction can cause decision fatigue or overwhelm when evaluating multi-step choices.
  • Communication Considerations: Frame self-advocacy as a key component of citizenship and personal responsibility. Give students structured templates to communicate accommodation needs directly to educators.

Neurodivergent Interpretation of Texas Character & Personal Skills

In Texas, the state framework prioritizes practical personal skills that lead to workforce readiness, self-management, and positive community contribution. For neurodivergent high schoolers, building character and personal skills must not mean forcing neurotypical masking. Personal skills like self-management require interoceptive awareness, while interpersonal skills rely on understanding context and paralinguistics without erasing natural processing differences.
To connect Texas TEKS with practical, affirming neurodivergent instruction, explore the Neurodivergent Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) Course curriculum, designed to build internal self-regulation and real-world communication skills without requiring masking.

Applying SEL & Character Skills in Practice: High School Classroom Examples

Example 1: Interoception & Self-Management / Responsibility (Strand 2)

  • Scenario: A 10th-grade Autistic student experiences intense anxiety and sensory overload during noisy high school assemblies or crowded cafeteria periods, leading to unexpected class departures.
  • SEL Strategy: Aligned with TEKS Self-Management and Health Education coping standards, the teacher guides the student to use an interoception tracking log (identifying physiological signs like elevated heart rate or jaw clenching). The student uses a pre-arranged accommodation pass to move to a quiet library space before sensory overload causes a crisis.

Example 2: Paralinguistic Decoding in Interpersonal Skills / Caring (Strand 3)

  • Scenario: An 11th-grade ADHD student is misunderstood during lab assignments because their rapid, enthusiastic tone is interpreted by peers as "aggressive" or "bossy."
  • SEL Strategy: Grounded in the Caring strand's focus on interpersonal skills and cooperation, the teacher incorporates a lesson on paralinguistics (how pitch, volume, and pacing alter message delivery). The lab group uses an objective communication checklist to evaluate ideas based on content rather than vocal inflection, validating authentic enthusiasm while clarifying tone intent.

Example 3: Self-Advocacy Matrix for Responsible Decision-Making / Citizenship (Strand 4)

  • Scenario: A 12th-grade student with executive functioning challenges struggles to request extended time on research papers, resulting in incomplete work and stress.
  • SEL Strategy: Supporting the Good Citizenship strand's focus on responsible decision-making, the student uses a 3-step self-advocacy decision tree: (1) Identify assignment bottleneck 48 hours prior to deadline, (2) Choose an approved accommodation option, and (3) Send a pre-formatted email template to the teacher.

State-Specific FAQs

Does Texas use the term "Social and Emotional Learning" (SEL) in its official state curriculum?

  • No. Texas state standards officially frame these concepts as Positive Character Traits and Personal Skills (under 19 TAC Chapter 120 and TEC §29.906) alongside Socio-Emotional Health within the Health Education TEKS. While core concepts (self-regulation, relationship skills, decision-making) overlap, Texas educators must align instruction with the state's official character trait strands.

How are Texas high schools required to deliver Positive Character Traits instruction?

  • Under TEC §29.906, school districts must provide instruction in TEKS for Positive Character Traits at least once during Grades 9–12. Schools can fulfill this through a standalone course, homeroom/advisory periods, or by embedding the traits into existing TEKS courses such as Health Education, English Language Arts, or Social Studies.

How do Texas Character Education TEKS accommodate neurodivergent students with IEPs or 504 Plans?

  • The TEKS for Positive Character Traits are designed as developmental skill targets. For students with IEPs or 504 Plans, accommodations—such as modified communication formats, sensory breaks, or visual decision-making tools, serve as the necessary access points for students to practice and demonstrate character traits without being penalized for neurodivergent differences.
Go Deeper

Want to explore these communication skills further?

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Understanding SEL in High School

SEL does not end in elementary school.
For high school students, social and emotional learning may intersect with increasingly complex situations involving friendships, group work, classroom participation, conflict, communication with teachers, employment preparation, further education, and greater independence.
For neurodivergent students, these situations can involve communication and social demands that are not always obvious.
A student may:
  • understand a literal message but not an implied one
  • find tone of voice difficult to interpret
  • communicate differently from peers
  • need more explicit information about an interaction
  • find it difficult to recognize or describe changing internal states
  • communicate less effectively when stressed
  • need alternative ways to participate
These differences do not automatically represent a lack of social or emotional competence.
The goal is to support students in understanding themselves, understanding different communication styles, and developing strategies and choices that are useful to them.

What Are the Core SEL Skills?

SEL is often described through five broad areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. CASEL uses these as five interconnected areas of competence, although states do not all adopt the CASEL framework or terminology directly.

Self-awareness

Understanding emotions, thoughts, preferences, needs, strengths, and internal experiences.

Self-management

Managing emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in ways that support a student's goals and circumstances.

Social awareness

Understanding other people's perspectives and recognizing that people may communicate, respond, or interpret situations differently.

Relationship skills

Building and maintaining relationships through communication, listening, cooperation, problem-solving, boundaries, and repair after misunderstandings.

Responsible decision-making

Considering context, possible consequences, and available options when deciding how to respond.

SEL and communication

Communication is one of the many ways students apply SEL skills.

SEL area

Communication connection

Self-awareness
Recognizing emotions, internal signals, communication preferences, and personal needs.
Self-management
Managing communication when stress, frustration, or strong emotions affect an interaction.
Social awareness
Interpreting tone, pacing, facial expression, body language, context, and different communication styles.
Relationship skills
Navigating conversations, misunderstandings, disagreement, collaboration, and communication repair.
Responsible decision-making
Considering possible interpretations and choosing how to respond.
For neurodivergent learners, making these communication patterns explicit can provide a practical bridge between broad SEL goals and everyday experiences.
Read more: SEL and Communication: Supporting Neurodivergent Learners

Communication Beyond the Words

Some information in a conversation is communicated through more than the words themselves.
Tone of voice, pitch, pacing, volume, pauses, facial expression, body language, and context can all influence interpretation.
For some neurodivergent learners, these features may be difficult to interpret or may be interpreted differently from the people around them.

Educators can explore questions such as:

  • How does the same sentence sound when the tone changes?
  • What role does context play?
  • What can a student do when they are unsure what someone meant?
  • How can different communication styles coexist?

Interoception and Self-Awareness

Interoception refers broadly to awareness of signals originating within the body.
In a communication-focused learning context, discussing interoception can provide one way to explore connections among internal states, emotions, communication, and everyday experiences.
A student might notice that they are becoming tense, that their heart is beating faster, that thinking has become more difficult, or that an interaction suddenly feels uncomfortable.
Rather than assuming that a particular physical sensation always has one meaning, educators can encourage students to explore:
SpeechScape incorporates relevant interoception concepts in the context of communication and emotional awareness. It is not a sensory therapy program; rather, these concepts are used to support communication awareness and understanding of internal states in everyday situations.

Supporting Communication Without Teaching One "Correct" Way to Communicate

SEL instruction for neurodivergent students should not automatically become instruction in how to appear more neurotypical.
A student does not necessarily need to change a natural communication style simply because it differs from the style expected by another person.

Instead, educators can help students:

  • understand different communication patterns
  • recognize that communication can be interpreted differently
  • identify their own preferences and needs
  • ask for clarification
  • communicate boundaries and needs
  • repair misunderstandings
  • consider different response options
  • choose strategies that are useful in particular situations
The goal is greater understanding, flexibility, and communication choice—not compliance with a single social norm.

Practical SEL Applications for Neurodivergent High-School Students

SEL becomes more meaningful when students can connect concepts with situations they actually encounter.

Tone and meaning

Compare different ways of saying the same words and explore how tone, pacing, or volume can influence interpretation.

Communication preferences

Explore what makes communication easier or more difficult for individual students and what support they may need.

Recognizing internal signals

Identify physical or emotional changes that students associate with stress, frustration, excitement, discomfort, or other experiences.

Communication breakdowns

Discuss what students can do when they are unsure what someone meant or when someone has misunderstood them.

Relationship skills

Explore conversations, collaboration, disagreement, boundaries, perspective-taking, and communication repair.

Real-world communication

Connect learning with group projects, teacher interactions, workplace preparation, interviews, friendships, and other situations relevant to life beyond school.

Explore more SEL activities for neurodivergent students

A Practical Communication Focused SEL Resource

SpeechScape's Neurodivergent Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) Course explores communication skills that can intersect with SEL, including paralinguistic communication, tone of voice, direct and indirect language, nonverbal communication, social context, relationship skills, and interoception-related emotional awareness.
The course uses practical examples and professionally recorded audio to help learners explore not only what people say, but how communication can be expressed and interpreted.
For educators, it can provide a resource for exploring communication-related aspects of SEL with neurodivergent learners in high-school, transition, and other settings.

Explore SpeechScape's SEL Course

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