1. The Shawnee Mission Parent Resources Center Teaching Social Skills Ciloue Cheng Stewart, Ph.D., MSE, LCMFT Family Therapist Clinical Associates, P.A. 913-677-3553 www.clinical-assoc.com

2. 2 Why teach social skills? “Nobody taught me!!!”

3. 3 Parents’/Adults’ Readiness Our own anxiety Pain & grief, shame, fear Social skills can be taught, but... We can… Look at the world from the students eye Learn the basics, and strategies of social skills It’s not enough to tell them “Don’t Do…”

4. 4 Turning Don’t s to Do s Don’t throw a tantrum * Don’t give up too quickly * Don’t isolate yourself from your peers *

5. 5 Students’ Availability & Specific Needs 1. Personality 2. Emotional awareness & regulation 3. Cognitive style / perspective taking 4. Executive functioning Skills 5. Attention/Processing modality 6. Recall speed + Perseveration 7. Frustration tolerance 8. Play skills 9. Usage of language (verbal & nonverbal) 10. Hidden curriculum 11. Depression/Anxiety

6. 6 Recognizing & Managing Emotions Patterns Strategies Lack of awareness of one’s own & others’ feelings Difficulty interpreting: voice, gestures, facial expressions, etc. Difficulty modulating: frustration, anger, vocal volume, facial expression Teaching emotions modeling, roundtable discussion movie/T.V., feeling charades numbered scales Feedback

7. 7 Perspective Taking Patterns Strategies Rigidity vs. flexibility Concrete vs. abstract Inability to see others’ point of view Facts vs. opinion Do it after me drawing, blocks Self talk Visual story telling thought & speech bubbles Differentiation techniques context specificity WH questions

8. 8 The Mechanics of Social Interaction Patterns Strategies Ineffectual joining Poor management of the flow small talk changing topics give n take Clumsy termination Greeting skills Inventory box Making an entry Getting unstuck Turn taking

9. 9 Final Thoughts How do kids grow and change???