2. “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.”
3. 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
5. “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
6. 3 Integrated Components
• Social Interaction depends
on all 3 components.
• Difficullties in any of the 3
THINKING
components can lead to
impairment in social
functioning
FEELING
• They work together to:
- promote or hinder
successful social
interactions
DOING Bellini (2008) pgs. 19-34
7. Nonverbal Communication
Social Interaction
Reciprocity and Terminating Interaction
Social Cognition
Behavior Associated with Perspective
Taking and Self Awareness
Social Anxiety and Social Withdrawal
8.
9. •Recognizes the facial •Recognizes the nonverbal
expressions of others cues of body language of
others
•Maintains eye contact
during conversations •Uses gestures to
communicate needs
•Has facial expressions that correctly interprets the
are congruent with emotion emotions of others
•Recognizes the meaning •Demonstrates a wide range
behind the tone of another of facial expressions
person’s voice
•Modulates the tone of
his/her voice
10. •Join in activities with peers •Invites peers to join into
activities
•Asks questions to request
information about a person •Joins a conversation with
two or more people without
•Demonstrate proper timing interrupting
with social initiations
•Initiates greetings with
•Asks questions to request others
information about a topic •Introduces self to others
11. •Takes turns during a game •Maintains the give and take
of a conversation
•Responds to greetings of
others •Acknowledges compliments
directed at him/her by others
•Allows peers to join in
activities •Responds to the invitations
of peers to join in to
•Ends conversations activities
appropriately
•Reads cues to terminate
conversations
12. • Compromises during •Correctly analyzes social
disagreements with others situations
•Responds promptly in •Understands the jokes or
conversations humor of others
•Talks about topics that other •Considers multiple viewpoints
people find interesting
•Correctly interprets the
•Avoid being manipulated by intentions of others
peers
13. •Maintains personal hygiene Maintains an appropriate
distance when interacting with
•Expresses sympathy for others peers
•Talks about or acknowledges Speaks wit an appropriate
the interests to others volume in conversations
•Provides compliments to others Refrains from making
inappropriate comments
Offers assistance to others
14. •Interacts with peers during •Interacts with peers in large
unstructured activities group situations
•Interacts with peers during •Attempts to interact with
structured activities unfamiliar peers
•Engages in one on one social •Experiences positive peer
interactions with peers interactions
•Engages in positive self-talk
15. 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
20. 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.
21. Promote Skill Acquisition Enhance Social Performance
Thoughts, feelings and Interest Activities Reinforcement/Contingency Strategies
Reciprocal Intervention Strategies Gaming Skills
Social Stories Environmental Modifications
Role Playing Peer Mediated Instruction
Video Modeling Increased Social Opportunities/Live
Practice
Social Problem Solving and Social Rules Disability Awareness
Self Monitoring Self Monitoring
Relaxation Techniques and Emotional Relaxation Techniques and Emotional
Regulation Regulation
Prompting Strategies Prompting Strategies
Interaction/Conversation Planning Video Modeling/Social Stories
22. Check it
out! Non-Verbal Teaching Activities
“WATCH AND IDENTIFY” Your dog died. “REACT TO A SITUATION”
Using both live and video model How do you feel? Students role-play a situation
Emotion Charades- Basic Level Emotion Charades- Advanced Level
26. 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!
27. 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
28. Great examples Examples of figurative
of nonverbal language and
body language nonverbal body
language Examples of for all
deficit areas
29. Idea taken from Jill Kuzma
http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com
Examples:
• Don’t argue with a policeman even if you are right.
• Don’t tell someone they are fat when they are
Hidden Curriculum Calendar: Items for • Don’t point out other people’s mistakes
Understanding Unstated Rules in Social
Situations by Brenda Smith Myles and • Don’t insist that other people follow the rules
Megan Duncan
• Male bathroom rule
31. 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 Check
it out!
Michelle Garcia Winner
32.
33. Thinking and Saying Thoughts
Green thoughts are good thoughts. These are
thoughts that you can think in your head and say
Okay without offending someone.
Yellow thoughts are caution thoughts. These are
thoughts that you can think in your head but use caution
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
No loud. These are thoughts you can think in your head but
not say. Red thoughts usually offend people when you
say them out loud.
35. 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.
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
www.5pointscale.com
36. A volume scale
A miniature scale for the back of ID badge
Modified from Kari Dunn Baron’s book: ‘A 5 Could Make Me Lose Control’
42. Promote Skill Acquisition Enhance Social Performance
Thoughts, feelings and Interest Activities Reinforcement/Contingency Strategies
Reciprocal Intervention Strategies Gaming Skills
Social Stories Environmental Modifications
Role Playing Peer Mediated Instruction
Video Modeling Increased Social Opportunities/Live
Practice
Social Problem Solving and Social Rules Disability Awareness
Self Monitoring Self Monitoring
Relaxation Techniques and Emotional Relaxation Techniques and Emotional
Regulation Regulation
Prompting Strategies Prompting Strategies
Interaction/Conversation Planning Video Modeling/Social Stories
43.
44. Consider……………
Individual
Group
Classwide
Self-contained class
Natural environment
General education setting
Include peers without disabilities
Many parents of children with significant cognitive disabilities echo this sentiment concerning their child's social functioning. They know that their children have many wonderful qualities to offer others, but the nature of their disability, or more precisely, their social skill difficulties, often preclude them from establishing meaningful social relationships. This frustration is amplified when parents know that their children want desperately to have friends, but fail miserably when trying to make friends.
Meaningful Relationships: We have to discard the long-held notion that individuals with ASD lack an interest in establishing social relationships. Many do desire social relationships. However, they typically lack the necessary skills to effectively establish social relationships, or want to establish relationships on with people whom they have not interest in interacting with.Teach Social Skills: There is a marked difference between teaching social skills and expecting somebody to perform them. Many behavioral and educational plans expect the child to perform socially without providing a framework for actually teaching skills. Such plans typically describe how social skills will be reinforced and encouraged, or how social opportunities will be provided, but rarely do they lay out a plan for directly teaching social skills. P. 13Think about if you were told that you would be participating in a dance recital in two weeks. But what if you didn’t know how to dance?Successful social behaviors not always appropriate Example of this: passing gas…. Passing gas is a skill that is both prized and valued by boys all over the county. Many adults find it disgusting and generally agree that it should be avoided in most contexts and settings. However…it is a behavior that can put a young man on the fast track to social success! I use to teach my students “proper manners’ instead of teaching functional social skills. “Hello, my name is Scotty, how are you today”. How would that hold up in a high school?Adapt to environment: The social skills be engage in are dependent upon the setting that we must function in. For example, the behavior expected in a library is different than the behavior at a sporting event. Think of the volume of voice, content of our discussions and the movements of our bodies based on the expected pattern of behavior. The same is true with our patterns of interactions. We act differently toward our boss or a police officer than how we act with our friends. The ability to adapt to the environment is critical for successful social interactions and is dependent upon our ability to successfully read and understand nonverbal and contextual cues.Social skills not the same as academic: Interacting with peers is more similar to dropping back to pass and reading a defense in a football game than it is to reading a book or doing a math problem. Therefore, we cannot expect to be able to teach social interaction skills in the same way we do academic skills. Social interaction skills are learned and mastered through practice and performance.
Show book and explain that it was used as a primary reference for this social skills section.
The most important aspect of the definition is the phrase “learned behaviors”. Social skills are indeed learned behaviors. “Neurotypical” children acquire basic social skills quickly and easily through experience, modeling and trial and error… they seem to be “pre-wired” to learn and perform social behaviors. Students with ASD and other social difficulties require these skills to be taught explicitly.We are not focusing on “pro-social” skills such as raising your hand to speak or standing quietly in line or other behaviors that make adults happy. We are focusing on “social interaction skills” because the term accentuates the human interactional component of social skills.Sometimes we focus too much on what adults will appreciate such as manner and etiquetteSocial interactions skills are not always “appropriate” social behaviors
Social interactions involve integrating three components: thinking, feeling, and doing. These components do not work in isolation. Instead they work in concert, each capable of promoting or hindering successful social performance.Thinkinginvolves knowing what to do (declarative knowledge) and how to do it (procedural knowledge). Thinking also involves taking another person’s perspective and self-awareness.Social Cognition –Knowing and thinking about oneself and others as individuals and about the relationships, values and customs among groups of people.understand the thoughts, intentions, motives and behaviors of ourselves and othersknow and understand social norms, customs, and valuesFeeling involves regulating emotions, such as anxiety, that might otherwise hinder successful social performance.Feelings directly influence our behavior, thoughts, and physiological processingFeelings have a reciprocal relationship with our thoughtsEven after a child has developed sufficient social-cognitive processing to be able to interact successfully with others, her social performance may still be significantly impacted by her feelings or emotions.How might our emotions impact social functioning?? Anyone ever had a bad day or perhaps an exciting/special day knows the answer…. Our emotions significantly impact both our motivation and our ability to interact socially.Feelings influence whether we approach, avoid, or withdraw from social situationsDoing involves the execution (e.g. motor movements) of the social performance. Often overlooked in social skill programs. For example, once we make a cognitive decision of when and how to initiate a conversation…we have to do it. Doing involves coordinating gross-and fine motor movements with language production and then integrating these actions with thinking and feeling.
It is important to understand that specific social skills do not operate in isolation. Every social skill is made up of component or related sub-skills that are required for successful performance of the skill. For instance, successfully performing the social skill of “joining in a conversation” requires certain prerequisite skills, such as the ability to read nonverbal and contextual cues, knowledge of social rules (e.g. when to join a conversation with two people without interrupting), regulation of emotion, coordination of motor movements, timing, use of eye contact and other nonverbal expression, and effective conversational planning, just to name a few.
Why is it important?Foundation of successful interactionsAll social interaction skills require the ability to read and understand non-verbal cus of othersOne of the first skills that should be taught to a childDifficulties the student displays:Oblivious to the nonverbal communications of othersLook for clues but don’t interpret them correctlyAttend to irrelevant detailsHave difficulty recognizing emotions and inferring emotions of non-verbal cues
Social initiations are activities that involve joining into social activities greetings and asking questions.Some students rarely initiate interactionsHave fear and anxiety towards social relationshipsGoal with this group is to increase social interactionsSome students initiate frequently, but inappropriatelyInteractions are inappropriate-bad timing, interruptingRepetitive questionsOnly talk about their interestsGoal with this group is to get the to initiate better
Reciprocity and terminating interactions involve the give and take of a conversationDifficulties:Social reciprocityOne sided interactionsFail to read the cues that signal the end of a conversationTerminatingDifficulty ending on interactionGood ByeThanks for your helpIt’s been nice talking to you
Social cognition is the ability to process social information which includes social problem soling and social rules.DifficultiesSocial CognitionDifficulty processing social informationDifficulty with “WHY” questionsUnwritten RulesDifficulty understanding the “hidden Rules”Hidden Curriculum-Brenda Smith MylesMultiple View pointsSee only one correct answerSlow Processing SpeedTake longer to respondAnswering questions literally- How are you?There is a hidden curriculum/expectations buried throughout the day that our students will not know. The set of rules that no one ha been directly taught but that everyone knows. So..you have to teach it. Start with the dey vocabulary: For your room, what do you say, do, or gesture that provide cues for your students about your intentions expectations.
Perspective taking and self-awareness are major deficit areas for students with autism. These deficits often lead to inappropriate behaviors.Difficulties: Perspective TakingSimon Baron Cohen-Theory of MindTaking another person’s perspectiveRecognizing that other people have thoughts and feelingsMaking socially inappropriate commentsFail to consider interests of othersSelf awareness deficitsDifficult with hygieneDifficulty with maintaining personal space
Social anxiety and social withdrawal is common with individuals with autism. The social anxiety can lead to social isolation and withdrawal.Difficulties:Social anxietyIntense fear of social situations (public speaking)Prefer one on one interactionsPrefer structured social actiitiesAvoidanceDenies the individual the opportunity to learn, acquire, and practice social interaction skillsCan lead to peer failure and negative peer interactions
We don’t teach “friendship skills” or “social skills” just like a math teacher wouldn’t say I am teaching Johnny “math skill” or a dance teacher saying I am teaching Sarah “dance skills. Must use assessment. We teach specific skills that comprise “social skills”. Instead of spending countless hours teaching the concept of friendship , the instruction should focus on skills that the child could use to make and keep friends.
This is important because you want to deliver an intervention that addresses the specific deficit area of the individual and deliver the correct intervention.Skill: For example, a child with ASD may not know how to effectively initiate a conversation with another person; therefore, he/she often fails to initiate conversations. We have to teach the necessary skills to do so.Performance: The student has the skill to initiate a conversation but for some reason chooses not to. In this case, we wouldn’t teach the student how to start a conversation, rather find out why…such as motivation, anxiety, sensory sensitivities.Example: If Tommy has not learned the skill of hitting a ball…all the reinforcement in the world won’t teach him…he has to be explicitly taught.
Have participants practice with the board and share something they have learned today.
Idioms are a figure of speech such as:Raining cats and dogsBack street driverPiece of cakeHitting the sackHave participants share one idiom with their table or shoulder partner
ThoughtsImportant to introduce the concept of thoughtsEveryone has themThey are not all the sameRemind them that where a person is looking can help you know what they may be thinkingCan be differentiated into green, yellow and red thoughts Some thoughts can be said, some maybe said and others cannot be said
We don’t teach “friendship skills” or “social skills” just like a math teacher wouldn’t say I am teaching Johnny “math skill” or a dance teacher saying I am teaching Sarah “dance skills. Must use assessment. We teach specific skills that comprise “social skills”. Instead of spending countless hours teaching the concept of friendship , the instruction should focus on skills that the child could use to make and keep friends.
