ABSTRACT
Teachers need to ask the pupils for a show of hands as to who has a brother, cousin, family member or family friend who is a boy between the ages of 13 and 17 who has problems with open and fluent communication – in other words, they tend to grunt their answers to a simple, ‘Good morning’. Whilst the reference to grunting may raise a smile amongst the class, it is important not to be condemnatory of boys who find talking to parents and siblings hard. As one or two pupils put up their hands to share their experiences of the teenage boys who fit this description, draw out from these anecdotes that the boys in question tend to spend a lot of time in their bedrooms; they don't always get on well with their younger siblings; and they often don't present as particularly happy or fulfilled.
