Adapted from “Treasure of Social Tools” created by Kim Copolla, OCPS

“I am not asking for my child to be the life of the party, or a social butterfly. I just want her to be happy and have some friends of her own. She is a wonderful kid, and I hope some day others can see that.”

 ALL students want to establish meaningful social relationships  If we want children and adolescents to be successful socially, we must teach them the skills to be successful  Successful social behaviors are not always appropriate social behaviors.  Social success is dependent upon our ability to adapt to our environment  Social interaction skills are not the equivalent of academic skills Scott Bellini, 2006

Scott Bellini

 “Socially acceptable learned behaviors that enable a person to interact with others in ways that elicit positive responses and assist the person in avoiding negative responses. (Elliott, Racine, & Busse, 1995)  Social interaction skills are the building blocks of successful social relationships. (Bellini, 2006)  The purpose of social skills is to facilitate positive interactions with peers. Bellini (2006) pgs. 1-9

DOING THINKING FEELING Bellini (2008) pgs Integrated Components Social Interaction depends on all 3 components. Difficullties in any of the 3 components can lead to impairment in social functioning They work together to: - promote or hinder successful social interactions

 Nonverbal Communication  Social Interaction  Reciprocity and Terminating Interaction  Social Cognition  Behavior Associated with Perspective Taking and Self Awareness  Social Anxiety and Social Withdrawal

Recognizes the facial expressions of others Maintains eye contact during conversations Has facial expressions that are congruent with emotion Recognizes the meaning behind the tone of another person’s voice Recognizes the nonverbal cues of body language of others Uses gestures to communicate needs correctly interprets the emotions of others Demonstrates a wide range of facial expressions Modulates the tone of his/her voice

Join in activities with peers Asks questions to request information about a person Demonstrate proper timing with social initiations Asks questions to request information about a topic Invites peers to join into activities Joins a conversation with two or more people without interrupting Initiates greetings with others Introduces self to others

Takes turns during a game Responds to greetings of others Allows peers to join in activities Ends conversations appropriately Maintains the give and take of a conversation Acknowledges compliments directed at him/her by others Responds to the invitations of peers to join in to activities Reads cues to terminate conversations

Compromises during disagreements with others Responds promptly in conversations Talks about topics that other people find interesting Avoid being manipulated by peers Correctly analyzes social situations Understands the jokes or humor of others Considers multiple viewpoints Correctly interprets the intentions of others

Maintains personal hygiene Expresses sympathy for others Talks about or acknowledges the interests to others Provides compliments to others Maintains an appropriate distance when interacting with peers Speaks wit an appropriate volume in conversations Refrains from making inappropriate comments Offers assistance to others

Interacts with peers during unstructured activities Interacts with peers during structured activities Engages in one on one social interactions with peers Interacts with peers in large group situations Attempts to interact with unfamiliar peers Experiences positive peer interactions Engages in positive self-talk

1. Assess Social Functioning 2. Distinguish Between Skill Acquisition and Performance Deficits 3. Select Intervention Strategies  Strategies That Promote Skill Acquisition  Strategies that Enhance Performance 4. Implement Intervention 5. Evaluate and Monitor Progress

 Commercial  Teacher made  Observations  Interviews  Rating Scales

Books with Assessment Tools Built In: Assessment Tools for Social Skills:

*** THESE ASSESSMENTS CAN BE DONE ONE ON ONE OR WHOLE GROUP ****

*** THESE ASSESSMENTS CAN BE DONE ONE ON ONE OR WHOLE GROUP ****

Skill Acquisition Difficulty: The person does not possess the skill and can not successfully perform the skill Performance Difficulty: The person has the skill but does not perform the skill.

Promote Skill AcquisitionEnhance Social Performance Thoughts, feelings and Interest ActivitiesReinforcement/Contingency Strategies Reciprocal Intervention StrategiesGaming Skills Social StoriesEnvironmental Modifications Role PlayingPeer Mediated Instruction Video ModelingIncreased Social Opportunities/Live Practice Social Problem Solving and Social RulesDisability Awareness Self Monitoring Relaxation Techniques and Emotional Regulation Prompting Strategies Interaction/Conversation PlanningVideo Modeling/Social Stories

“WATCH AND IDENTIFY” Using both live and video model “REACT TO A SITUATION” Students role-play a situation Your dog died. How do you feel? Emotion Charades- Advanced Level Emotion Charades- Basic Level Non-Verbal Teaching Activities Check it out! Check it out!

Use cartoons to teach emotions Capitalize on the child’s “likes” and “preferences”

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A Social Story presents social concepts and rules to students in the form of a brief story.  Written in response to the child’s personal need  Something the student wants to read on own  Match with student’s ability and comprehension  Use less directive terms such as “can” or “could”, instead of “will or “must”. Gray, 1995, 2000 Check it out! Check it out!

Video modeling intervention involves watching a video demonstration and then imitating the behavior of the model  Incorporates visual learning  Increases attention  Decreases anxiety  Increases motivation  Increases self-awareness

Great examples of nonverbal body language Examples of for all deficit areas Examples of figurative language and nonverbal body language

Hidden Curriculum Calendar: Items for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situations by Brenda Smith Myles and Megan Duncan Idea taken from Jill Kuzma Examples: Don’t argue with a policeman even if you are right. Don’t tell someone they are fat when they are Don’t point out other people’s mistakes Don’t insist that other people follow the rules Male bathroom rule

“The ball is in your court”

 We have them for all settings  Not the same for all settings  When we exhibit expected behaviors people have “good thoughts” about us  When we exhibit unexpected behaviors people have “weird thoughts” about us  These thoughts impact the way others treat us Michelle Garcia Winner Check it out! Check it out!

Thinking and Saying Thoughts No Okay Caution Green thoughts are good thoughts. These are thoughts that you can think in your head and say without offending someone. Yellow thoughts are caution thoughts. These are thoughts that you can think in your head but use caution when you say them. These are thoughts that are okay to say to some people but not okay to say to other people. Red thoughts are thoughts that you should not say out loud. These are thoughts you can think in your head but not say. Red thoughts usually offend people when you say them out loud.

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1.Need to have concept that can be broken into 5 parts. 2. Use a story/social story to teach the 5 parts of the concept. - can be positive or negative 3. Create a scale It is a self regulation tool that can assist a person in learning how to think about and understand their emotional responses to a situation.

Modified from Kari Dunn Baron’s book: ‘A 5 Could Make Me Lose Control’ A miniature scale for the back of ID badge A volume scale

Modified from Kari Dunn Baron’s book: ‘A 5 Could Make Me Lose Control’

Promote Skill AcquisitionEnhance Social Performance Thoughts, feelings and Interest ActivitiesReinforcement/Contingency Strategies Reciprocal Intervention StrategiesGaming Skills Social StoriesEnvironmental Modifications Role PlayingPeer Mediated Instruction Video ModelingIncreased Social Opportunities/Live Practice Social Problem Solving and Social RulesDisability Awareness Self Monitoring Relaxation Techniques and Emotional Regulation Prompting Strategies Interaction/Conversation PlanningVideo Modeling/Social Stories

 Individual  Group  Classwide  Self-contained class  Natural environment  General education setting  Include peers without disabilities Consider……………

 Progress monitoring  Observations  Structured  Natural setting  Interviews  Rating scales

 Assess Social Functioning  Distinguish Between Skill Acquisition and Performance Deficits  Select Intervention Strategies  Strategies That Promote Skill Acquisition  Strategies that Enhance Performance  Implement Intervention  Evaluate and Monitor Progress

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