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"For Teachers" header

SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING

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Social skills are learned behaviors that students perform to successfully complete social tasks. Social skills facilitate the development and maintenance of positive social relationships and friendships, improve school adjustment, and help students to cope effectively and adaptively with the demands of their social environment. Social skills can and should be taught and reinforced in the classroom just as academics are taught. Students of all ages benefit from social skills instruction. Teachers can also use strategies to improve social skill performance and fluency in many settings over time. The following areas represent general categories of social skills that may be taught in the classroom, with specific skills given as examples for that broad category.

Category

Examples

Peer relationship skills
Joining a group, Giving compliments, Showing concern and respect for others’ feelings and viewpoints, Responding appropriately to teasing and name calling, Taking turns,

Self-management skills
Dealing with Anger, Identifying Feelings, Care for property or work, Following Rules

Academic skills
Listening, Study Skills

Compliance skills
Following rules, Cooperation, Compromising

Assertion skills
Asking Questions, Expressing a complaint
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While the strategies for teaching social skills involve general steps provided in the following sections, specific steps for an individual skill may be found under “Example.” Numerous social skills curricula offer specific steps for social skills training. One specific program that links strategies to assessment results is the Social Skills Intervention Guide (SSIG, Elliott & Gresham, 1991), published by American Guidance Service (AGS).