Social Skills

This site highlights strategies for teaching social skills to children and adolescents. Greeting someone when you see them, saying goodbye, and responding when someone talks to you, are examples of more basic social skills. These more concrete social rules are somewhat easier to demonstrate and therefore teach. They have a fixed precursor, such as when someone talks to you it is appropriate to reply. See more information on Social Skills Training.

Social Skills and Perspective Taking

Higher level social skills require taking into consideration the point of view of another person and responding to it. Here's an example demonstrated by a 9-year old boy: The boy has a birthday party. He doesn't invite a friend who had invited him to his party. The boy has a playdate with the friend a few days after the party and tells him that he got a special toy for his birthday. When asked by the friend if he had a party, the boy replies no. In this social situation, a white lie was told to protect the feelings of a friend who was not invited. This involves taking into consideration the feelings of others. While we don't encourage children to lie, we appreciate the nuanced social skill demonstrated of trying to spare a friend from getting hurt. Social Skills and Play

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Social skills may consist of direct verbal communication. That is, what people say to relate to one another. A more complex level of interaction involves nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is what we say with our faces and bodies without using words. Nonverbal communication is very important in understanding meaning during social interaction.

Social Skills Training

There are a variety of methods for teaching social skills. Examples include:

Social Skills Groups

Social skills groups may be found through organizations in the community or schools. These groups may teach how to establish and maintain friendships, understanding the feelings of others, dealing with bullies, etc. Groups that take place at school may require an IEP in order for the child to participate.

Visual Teaching Methods

Video modeling is a visual method for teaching social skills where the skill is demonstrated through video for the purpose of explaining it. What is helpful is to break down the skills into smaller pieces and demonstrate each part individually. In addition, those with social deficits often like an explanation for why a particular skill is necessary.

Other Social Skills Resources

There are a number of useful books on teaching social skills. A few are listed below:

Raise Your Child's Social IQ by Cathi Cohen
This book includes exercises that parents can do with their children to increase their social skills and awareness. Based on Cathi Cohen's social skills training groups, Raise Your Child's Social I.Q. provides the structure for working on social skills at home.

Let's Talk Emotions: Helping Children with Social Cognitive Deficits by Teresa Cardon
This is a collection of activities for children ages 4-18. The focus is on having the child identify and respond to his own feelings and the feelings of others in order to improve the chances of establishing successful social relationships.

Social Skills Training for Adolescents With General Moderate Learning Difficulties by Ursula Cornish and Fiona Ross
Following the success of their social skills work with children and adolescents, the authors have compiled a set of imaginative training sessions and workshops for teachers. Based on a multi-sensory cognitive-behavioral approach, the sessions cover pre-post intervention evaluation schedules, interview and observation tools and specification of materials that can be used and adapted by teachers to suit their individual needs.