--- title: "Positive Greetings at the Door" url: "https://whysheet.press/sheets/positive-greetings-at-the-door/" published_at: "https://stimpunks.org/why/positive-greetings-at-the-door/" summary: "A greeting policy that turns a teacher into a threshold to be performed past." reach_for_it: "When a school is adopting PGD and nobody has asked what it costs to walk through that door." topics: [school, policy] updated: "2026-09-19T07:08:41-05:00" licence: "CC0 1.0" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" source: "https://github.com/Stimpunks/Why-Sheets/blob/main/Positive%20Greetings%20at%20the%20Door.md" pdf: "https://whysheet.press/pdf/positive-greetings-at-the-door.pdf" companion_prompt: "https://whysheet.press/prompts/positive-greetings-at-the-door.txt" --- # Positive Greetings at the Door Many neurodivergent people have difficulties with the [eye contact](https://stimpunks.org/eye-contact/), [touching](https://stimpunks.org/access/perceptual-worlds/), [speaking](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/situational-mutism/), and other acts of performative [neuronormativity](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/neuronormativity/)that are expected when entering a classroom that implements Positive Greetings at the Door (PGD). [Exposure anxiety](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/exposure-anxiety/), threshold anxiety, and [situational mutism](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/situational-mutism/) are widespread in our community. Their intensity is overwhelming. PGD policies turn teachers into anxiety-inducing “threshold guardians” that we have to get past by performing. This is an exhausting and dysregulating start to the day. Classroom door greetings are steeped in [PBS/PBIS](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/behaviorism/), a form of [behaviorism](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/behaviorism/) overwhelmingly opposed by the neurodiversity movement. Two studies often cited in favor of PGD are full of behaviorist framing and language. - [Positive Greetings at the Door: Evaluation of a Low-Cost, High-Yield Proactive Classroom Management Strategy – Clayton R. Cook, Aria Fiat, Madeline Larson, Christopher Daikos, Tal Slemrod, Elizabeth A. Holland, Andrew J. Thayer, Tyler Renshaw, 2018](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098300717753831) - [Effects of Teacher Greetings on Student On-task Behavior – PMC](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1885415/) [Behaviorist](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/behaviorism/) education is [ableist](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/ableism/) education. You don’t need to do door greetings. There are better ways to invite people into shared space that don’t induce anxiety at thresholds, those liminal lines between [inclusion](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/inclusion/) and exclusion. We advise against posting any sort of threshold guardian or threshold ritual. If you must implement PGD, PGD policies can be improved and better avoid ableism by supporting multiple [modalities](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/modality/) and embracing [flexibility](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/flexibility/) as good [UDL](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/universal-design-for-learning/). Allow greetings of all sorts: - Spoken - Fist bump - Handshake - Thumbs up - Hug - Virtual hug - Head nod - Sign of the horns > Nonverbal interpersonal interactions, such as a friendly handshake or a thumbs-up, can help make greetings feel authentic and build trust—as long as students feel comfortable with physical contact. > > [Welcoming Students With a Smile | Edutopia](https://www.edutopia.org/article/welcoming-students-smile/) Also allow no response at all. Compliance is not the goal, a good start to the day is the goal. Forcing students to perform against their mood is a bad start to the day. Forcing students to be false to themselves and their reality is counterproductive. [Trust](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/trust/) and [authenticity](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/very-grand-emotions/) are important to many autistic people. We’re [wired for it](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/canary/). Forcing us to perform neuronormativity and [toxic positivity](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/toxic-positivity/)destroys trust and authenticity. Such coercion is [gaslighting](https://medium.com/@sheaemmafett/10-things-i-wish-i-d-known-about-gaslighting-22234cb5e407), as it is an attempt to “[overwrite another person’s reality](https://medium.com/@sheaemmafett/10-things-i-wish-i-d-known-about-gaslighting-22234cb5e407)“. Such coercion contributes to [school-induced anxiety](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/school-induced-anxiety/). ## What to Ask For in the Room - **Ask that no greeting be required.** Any greeting, including none, and nothing recorded either way. That single sentence is the whole ask, and everything below is what to do if the answer is no. - **Ask for the accepted modalities in writing** — spoken, nod, thumbs up, fist bump, sign of the horns, or walking straight past. A list that lives in one teacher's memory ends when that teacher is away. - **Ask that the greeting never be scored.** The moment it feeds a behaviour system it stops being a welcome and becomes a checkpoint, and a child who cannot pass it starts the day already behind. - **Ask what happens on a day a child cannot speak.** [Situational mutism](https://stimpunks.org/glossary/situational-mutism/) is not refusal, and a policy that cannot tell them apart will punish the first as the second. - **Ask whether there is another way in.** Arriving early, using a different door, or coming in without crossing a threshold ritual at all. - **Ask what problem the policy is solving**, and whether that problem exists in this classroom. PGD arrived as a [behaviourist](https://stimpunks.org/why/behaviorism/) fix for a behaviourist question. It may be answering one nobody here has. ## Signatories The following individuals, organizations, and communities endorse this [Why Sheet](https://stimpunks.org/why/). Want to join them? [Add your signature.](https://stimpunks.org/fieldguide/operations/forms/sign-why-sheet/) - [Stimpunks Foundation](https://stimpunks.org/) - [Autistic Realms](https://www.autisticrealms.com) - Luis Robertson - [Neurodiverse Journeys](https://www.neurodiversejourneys.com) - [Katy Elphinstone](https://www.neurofabulous.org.uk) - Jen Summers - [bee austin, BEE- Neurodivergent Buzz](https://www.facebook.com/bee.neurodivergentbuzz/) - Dr Louise Lomas - [Laura Hellfeld](https://laurahellfeld.co.uk) - Lisa Bowen - [Chris McNutt](https://www.humanrestorationproject.org) - [Human Restoration Project](https://www.humanrestorationproject.org) - [Nick Covington](https://www.humanrestorationproject.org) - [Julia Lee Barclay-Morton, PhD](https://TheUnadaptedOnes.com) - Geoffrey Hume-Cook - [Kara James](https://www.playcreative.com.au) - [Julie M. Austen, Licensed Psychologist, Austen Psychological Services](https://www.austenpsychologicalservices.com) - [Kirsty McKenzie](https://www.adhd-coach.nz) - [bee austin](https://www.facebook.com/GRANN) - [Shifting the Narrative on Everything Autism Podcast](https://shiftingournarrative.podbean.com/) - [Bex Milgate](https://www.bexmilgatetherapy.com) - Emma Whittaker - Aaron Roldan - [Trisha Thompson](https://www.instagram.com/intentionalteachingsolutions/) - [Angela Kingdon, The Autistic Culture Podcast](https://www.AutisticCulturePodcast.com) - [Neurodivergent Infinity Network of Educators](https://tinyurl.com/NINEsite) - Emily Marcus ## License This why sheet is free to download, modify, and share. Version: 1.1 License: [“Positive Greetings at the Door Why Sheet”](https://stimpunks.org/why/positive-greetings-at-the-door/) is marked with [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=chooser-v1) Repository: [https://github.com/Stimpunks/Why-Sheets/blob/main/Positive%20Greetings%20at%20the%20Door.md](https://github.com/Stimpunks/Why-Sheets/blob/main/Positive%20Greetings%20at%20the%20Door.md)