Why Address Social Skills?

Richard Evans, PhDevansra@raevans.org

ESC XV -Behavior Conference9:00-11:30 & 1:00-3:30

Why Address Social Skills?• Social skills can have a big impact on a child’s

ability to succeed in an academic setting.

• Successful learning requires students to interact closely with teachers and peers.

• Social competence is linked to peer acceptance, teacher acceptance, inclusion success, and post school success.

• The classroom becomes both a training ground for development of social skills and an arena in which those skills are put to use.

• School curricula has traditionally been reserved for the teaching of cognitive skills, while social skills develop in the hallways and the schoolyard.

• Some educators say social and emotional knowledge can be taught in a classroom setting, and that the benefits can be seen in better attendance and improved test scores.

• Students who lack adequate social skills are at a higher risk for academic underachievement, dropping out of school, lack of friends, and unsuccessful employment.

• Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. By Robert Fulghum

The Reason We Teach Social Skills

• Child may not know the appropriate behavior.

• Child may have the knowledge but lack the practice.

• Emotional responses may inhibit performance of appropriate behavior.

Consider the Characteristics of a Well-Managed Classroom

1. Students are deeply involved with their work, especially with academic, teacher-led instruction.

2. Students know what is expected of them and are generally successful.

3. There is relatively little wasted time, confusion, or disruption.

4. The climate of the classroom is work-oriented but relaxed and pleasant.

Harry K. Wong

What exactly is social skillsManners and positive interaction with others and approaching others in social

acceptable ways– asking for permission rather than acting– making and keeping friends– sharing toys/materials

Appropriate classroom behavior work habits/academic survival skills– listening– attending to task– following directions– seeking attention properly– accepting the consequences of one's behavior

Better ways to handle frustration/anger counting to 10 before reacting– distracting oneself to a pleasurable task– learning an internal dialog to cool oneself down and reflect upon the best course of action

Acceptable ways to resolve conflict with others – using words instead of physical contact– seeking the assistance of the teacher or conflict resolution teaming

• Walker (1983) defines social skills as “a set of competencies that a) allow an individual to initiate and maintain positive social relationships, b) contribute to peer acceptance and to a satisfactory school adjustment, and c) allow an individual to cope effectively with the larger social environment” (p. 27).

• Social skills are components of behavior that help an individual understand and adapt across a variety of social settings.

• Social skills can also be defined within the context of social and emotional learning — recognizing and managing our emotions, developing care and concern for others, establishing positive relationships, making responsible decisions, and handling challenging situations constructively and ethically (Zins, Weissbert, Wang, & Walberg, 2004)

Classroom Management on the First Day of School

1. Make sure your classroom is ready. Teachers who prepare their classrooms in advance maximize student learning and minimize student misbehavior. Readiness is the primary determinant of teacher effectiveness.

2. Do everything possible to welcome the students and to make sure that they know where to go and how to get there on time.

3. Keep in mind that what you do on the first day may determine how much respect and success you will have for the rest of the school year.

Effective TeachersEffective teachers typically have specific

characteristics in common: 1.positive expectations for student success, 2.the ability to manage a classroom effectively, 3.knowledge of lesson design that leads to the

students’ mastery of lessons, 4.the drive to continuously learn about and grow

within the teaching profession. Harry K. Wong

Example of an Introduction

Welcome to another school year.

• My name is Mr. Wong. There it is on the chalkboard. It is spelled W-O-N-G and is pronounced “wong.” I would like to be addressed as Mr. Wong, please. Thank you.

• I am looking forward to being your teacher this year. Relax. I have over 30 years’ experience as a teacher. I am what is called an experienced, veteran teacher.

Also, I love to teach, and I am proud that I am a teacher. So relax. You are in good hands this year with me, Mr. Wong.

You are going to have the greatest educational experience of your life.

We will not only study (subject), but I will also share with you some life-skills traits that will help you to be successful in tomorrow’s world.

I can assure you that if you should run into me at the shopping mall 25 years from now, you will say, “You were right, Mr. Wong. That was the most memorable, exciting, and fascinating class I ever had.”

So, welcome!

• Social skills are critical for long term success. Sometimes referred to as Common Sense or Emotional Intelligence.

• This is a combination of the ability to understand and manage one's own emotional state (Intra-personal Intelligence in Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences) and the ability to understand and respond to other people.

• Although social skills include understanding and using social conventions, it also includes the ability to understand the "Hidden Curriculum," the ways in which peers communicate and interact, reciprocity and the ability to build interpersonal relationships

• Difficulty with social skills, and deficits in social skills, are found to different degrees across abilities as well as disabilities.

• Both children with disabilities and children from low socio-economic groups may not have extensive understanding of social conventions, and may need instruction

• Students with disabilities have problems both with acquiring and applying social skills. They need lots of practice. Successful ways to learn and generalize social skills include:

• Modeling: the teacher and an aide or another teacher enact the social interactions you want students to learn.

• Video Self Modeling: You videotape the student performing the social skill with lots of prompting, and edit out the prompting to create a more seamless digital recording. This video, paired with rehearsal, will support the student's effort to generalize the social skill.

• Cartoon Strip Social Interactions: Introduced by Carol Gray as Comic Strip Conversations, these cartoons let your students fill in the thought and speech bubbles before they role play a conversation. Research has shown that these are effective ways to help students build social interaction skills.

• Role playing: Practice is essential for maintaining social skills. Role playing is a great way to give students an opportunity not only to practice the skills they are learning, but also teach students to evaluate each others or their own performance of skills.

Teach

• Appropriate greetings depending on relationships: i.e. peer to peer or child to adult.

• Appropriate and polite ways to make requests (please) and express gratitude (thanks.)

• Addressing adults. • Shaking hands. • Taking turns. • Sharing • Giving positive feedback (praise) to peers, no put

downs.

Method

• Describe, explain, and discuss.• Model through demonstration.• Role play.• Give performance feedback and

reinforcement.

[McGinnis, E. & Goldstein, A. (1984). Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child. Champaign, Il: Research Press Company.]

What the Research Says• Focus on social and emotional learning strategies

that encourage reflection and self-awareness.

• Create opportunities to practice effective social skills both individually and in groups.

• Adjust instructional strategies to address social skills deficits.

• Tailor social skill interventions to individual student needs.

it is important to follow an instructional format for social skills instruction:

1. Identify the social skill to be taught,2. Explain the importance of the social skill,3. Model the skill, 4. Provide examples, 5. Allow for guided practice, 6. Provide opportunities for independent practice, and7. Continue to monitor student progress (Miller, et al.,

2010).

While each school may choose slightly different school wide procedures, examples include:

1. Traveling Through the Building 2. Attention in Large Groups3. Restroom Use4. Playground5. Taking Care of Classroom and School

School Wide

A Class Divided• Elliott divided her class by eye color — those with blue

eyes and those with brown. On the first day, the blue-eyed children were told they were smarter, nicer, neater, and better than those with brown eyes.

• Throughout the day, Elliott praised them and allowed them privileges such as a taking a longer recess and being first in the lunch line. In contrast, the brown-eyed children had to wear collars around their necks and their behavior and performance were criticized and ridiculed by Elliott.

• Children who were designated as inferior took on the look and behavior of genuinely inferior students, performing poorly on tests and other work

• Displaying poor social skills is likely to get one rejected by others (other kids don't like them and won't associate with them). Others work hard to show the new and better behaviors they've been told to show, but are still rejected by others, perhaps due to past reputation or maybe because others don't like the awkward and unsure demonstration of the newly learned behaviors which don't appear "natural." At other times, our pupils may still fail because they have difficulty monitoring and controlling their behavior when unexpected reactions occur. They misread social cues given off by others.

• For example:– Not noticing the rejection actions by others that non-

verbally/verbally say, "Get lost."– Viewing the positive social forays of others as being

threatening. If rejected because of their behavior (past or present), they'll rarely-if ever-get the chance to display the "correct" behaviors under naturalistic circumstances and fail to incorporate them into their behavioral repertoire.

• Many of our youngsters never learned "appropriate behavior" for social setting-situations in which they must interact/cope with others. Perhaps they did not receive this guidance in the home, either because of lack of training by elders or another system of values & behaviors being taught. Perhaps they did have good role models in the home and neighborhood who promoted "appropriate" behavior, but didn't pick it up as well as most kids, just like some kids learn to read without formal instruction previous to school, and some need the structured process of reading instruction.

Kids will not respond positively to social skills instruction because they don't see the skills as being necessary or useful.

For example:• assisting the teacher• avoiding conflict with adults• disagreeing in a non-confrontational manner

The behaviors they display now seem just fine to them. They obtain the attention, objects or power they seek.

• Recent efforts at the federal level to improve school climate and reduce violence have focused on emphasizing a proactive disciplinary approach, establishing clear expectations for students, and supporting appropriate behavior (Dwyer, Osher, & Warger, 1998).

• Recent efforts at the federal level to improve school climate and reduce violence have focused on emphasizing a proactive disciplinary approach, establishing clear expectations for students, and supporting appropriate behavior (Dwyer, Osher, & Warger, 1998).

• Federal initiatives seeking to evaluate interventions directed at reducing youth violence and its risk factors (Thornton, Craft, Dahlberg, Lynch, & Baer, 2000; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001) concluded that effective school-based programs focus on (a) increasing positive student behavior through monitoring and rewards, (b) teaching social/life skills, and (c) utilizing nonpunitive methods of control.

• Although the use of reactive and crackdown tactics have increasingly been applied in schools to manage challenging behavior, evidence cited above suggests that efforts to support pro-social behavior, establish clear guidelines, and utilize behavior management techniques are more effective in changing student behavior.

Questions?