Social Skills and Peer-Mediated Instructional Strategies Rationale Assessment Social Skill Interventions Peer Tutoring Cooperative Learning

Rationale for Concern Problems in social skills result in difficulty interacting with others. A student with a poor self-concept regarding academics may withdraw from social interactions during academic activities and engage in off-task behavior throughout the day Lack of social skills tends to isolate students from peers, prevent positive interactions with teachers, and limit successful transitions after school. Consider –Frequency –Duration –Intensity

Social Skill Assessment 1 Social Skills Ratings –Teachers, peers, and others rate a targeted student’s performance of skills associated with friendliness, ability to get along, general classroom skills, and the like. Over time the ratings can be charted to determine growth. Also, the ratings can be compared between environment (home, school, and other). –Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) by Gresham et al –School Social Skills Rating Scale (s3) by Brown et al –Walker-McConnell Scale of Social Competence and School Adjustment by Herm Walker and McConnell

Social Skill Assessment 2 Social Status Nominations –Used to identify targeted social status. Students are ranked by order of social standing compared to others. –Students may by asked to list the three students with whom they would most want to work or socialize –Drawbacks: 1- may overlook a student inadvertently, 2- not being ranked as top or bottom tells the teacher little, 3- nomination pools are often completed arbitrarily Direct Observation –Either for specific skills or general observations –define behavior (topographical, frequency, duration)

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) DSM-IV –Loses temper –Argues with adults –Actively defies or refuses to comply with adults’ requests or rules –Deliberately annoys people –Blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior –Touchy or easily annoyed by others –Angry and resentful –Spiteful or vindictive Assess not only the student but also the teacher, lessons, materials and class arrangement (Maag, 2005)

Social Skills Intervention: General Guidelines 1 Teach for Success –Use effective lesson components –Provide positive feedback –Teach to mastery Promote Proactivity –Push internal locus of control over luck –Set goals; Give responsibility; Promote self-talk Recognize sensory needs –Possible dietary issues –Providing the necessary input in a proper context

Social Skills Intervention: General Guidelines 2 Teach Self-Management –Self monitor, evaluate, and reinforce Model Target Behaviors and Attributes –Teach Cognitive Behavior Modification through think alouds, student overtly speaks of process, follows steps. Focus on Motivation –Take students from extrinsic reinforcement to intrinsic reinforcement. –Use praise as a means to bridging the gap.

Social Skills Interventions: Commercial Materials Getting Along with Others –tell-show-practice method using role playing of 17 core social skills. Skillstreaming –Involves modeling, role playing, performance feedback, and transfer training for transition. Walker Social Skills Curriculum –ACCEPTS Program (Walker et al) teaches to 28 social competencies in five areas (classroom skills, interaction skills, getting-along with others, making friends, and coping with adversity.

Social Skills Interventions: Classroom Games Decision Game –Teacher describes a situation and gives responses. Students stand on a line representing whether they felt the response was absolutely or somewhat right / wrong Socialization Game –On a gameboard, students roll dice and take cards on social situations. The student explains the response. Best and Worst Game –Teacher describes a social situation and instructs students to write down or discuss what would be the best and worst thing to do in response. Each student tells the class of their ideas. The class votes on the best decision and that student decides the next situation.

Cooperative Learning Peers working together to solve problems or share information using teams of 3 or 4. Homogenous groups vs. heterogenous groups –Vygotsky theory –How are students with disabilities involved? –What kind of instruction can be used with groups? tests?sports?reading? Responsive Classroom –Morning meetings which include greetings, personal announcements, and systematic responses.

ADHD ADD is… ADHD is… Assessment Symptoms of ADD/ADHD –Severity –Early onset –Duration Characteristics Accommodations

Characteristics (Barkley) 1.Concerns with impulse control and the ability to work for delayed gratification 2. Excessive off-task behavior and activity that is poorly paced to the demands of the situation 3. Low amounts of engagement, academic persistence and sustained attention

ADHD Assessment Russell Barkley from MUSC – Assessment Samples showing the good and bad of opined diagnosis – _medrecords_childattentionpr.pdfhttp://elcaminopediatrics.com/documents/forms _medrecords_childattentionpr.pdf –

Severity of ADHD Dendy, % have academic problems 25-50% have SLD –65% written expression –26% math (particularly computation) –24% spelling –19% reading 35% drop out of school 46% are suspended (10x average rate) 11% expelled (7x average rate) 95% do not graduate from college Linked to substance abuse and juvenile justice issues

Associated w/ Executive Functioning Oversees the flow of thinking, takes care of the planning and regulation and evaluation of information processing routines, allocates attention and concentration, applies strategies for learning, and organizes information for storage and ultimate retrieval.

Managing Anger Emotional sensitivities of ADHD –Anger- protection; influencing; controlling How to manage (Romaniuk, 2003) 1.Say vs. Display Focus on what you mean otherwise, people will react only to how you say it 2.Express your true emotion Anger is easy to display and less problematic than frustration or sadness. Find a safe environment to show your emotions 3.Develop realistic expectations Recognize your anger is your emotion and not another’s fault (ex. Road rage)

Medical v. Pharmaceutical Approach How drugs affect the behavior - neurotransmitters Metadate; Adderall XR; Ritalin SR; Concerta –Over-prescription follow American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines –Teacher tolerance Glyco nutrition –Challenges weaknesses of current brain research –Argues that even natural products lack nutritional content because of early picking and quick ripening processes

Summary Why is it important to consider a student’s social skills in academic settings? What are the pros and cons of social status nominations? What criteria would you use in your observation to show a student has trouble making friends? What is a benefit of thinking out loud when modeling a social skill? Why is medication a controversial approach?