Why should I do it?
- Many students lack basic social skills
- Increases instructional time
- Improves student interactions
- Increases student productivity
- Helps students improve daily social functioning
- Helps students make friends
- Teaches students essential life skills
- Helps students to fit in
- Helps students to function better in classes
- Teaches students to follow rules, expectations, procedures, etc
- Increases self confidence, self concept, and self esteem
- Gives students a common “language”
When should I do it?
- It is important to teach all students appropriate social skills with any and all opportunities
- When students have poor hygiene
- When students seem out of place, ostracized, or isolated
- When students exhibit poor social routines, like taking turns, sharing, waiting in line, shaking hands, poor eye contact, etc
- When students are rude, short, pushy, etc
- When students demonstrate poor personal care habits, like blowing nose, using a napkin, etc
- When students appear socially awkward, weird, out of place, etc
- When students are perceived as weird and strange by the class
- When students do or say weird, silly, inappropriate, or out of place things
How do I do it:
- In the realm of social skills, there is a broad range of skills and topics, as well as a good deal of overlap with other skills, like interpersonal skills, coping skills, etc
- Some common areas for social skills instruction include:
- Hygiene
- Manners
- Listening
- Being polite
- Being considerate
- Being respectful
- Sharing
- Taking turns
- Appropriate words
- Appropriate touch
- How to behave in the halls, lunchroom, during instruction, etc
- Etc
- Please refer to the supports and resources below for lesson plans, ideas, and strategies
Resources:
- A Social Skills Lesson: What Is A Friend
- Age Appropriate Social Skills Lessons
- Break Through Strategies For Teaching Social Skills
- Do2Learn.com Schedules
- Elementary Etiquette: A Lesson Plan on Using Polite Words
- Embedding Social Skills Instruction Throughout The Day Presentation.ppt
- Hand Washing Song.pdf
- Multimedia Instruction Of Social Skills
- Personal Hygiene Lessons
- Reading Facial Expressions.pdf
- Reading Social Cues And Emotions.pdf
- Social Skills Activities
- Social Skills For Middle School Students
- Social Skills Instruction Presentation.ppt
- Social Skills Lesson Plan: Initiating Interaction With Peers
- The Deodorant Story.pdf
- Visual Schedules
- Your Emotions Impact Others Lesson.pdf
- Social Skills Stories, Games, Materials, & Resources
- Hygiene Social Story.pdf
- Social Skills Interventions, Trainings, & More
- Great Social Skills Training & Tips Geared Toward Adults But Easily Adapted And Applied Toward Children & Adolescents
- Activities People Do When They Hang Around Each Other
- Anxious Traits That Can Hinder Your Social Success
- At Times It’s Socially Practical To Know Things Other People Care About
- Being Honest With Yourself About Your Social Problems
- Being Too Negative Can Hinder Your Social Success
- Benefits Of Improving Your Social Skills, Even If You Don’t Care About Them
- Coping With Nervousness
- Dealing With Regrets Caused By Your Poor People Skills
- Examples: Starting Conversations, Inviting People Out, and More
- Getting Along With New Groups
- How Being Less Naturally Social Can Affect Your Interpersonal Success
- How To Be More Friendly And Social
- How To Be More Fun
- How To Meet People
- How To Talk To Shyer and/or Less Social People
- How Your Interests Can Affect Your Social Success
- Insecure Traits And Behaviors That Hinder Your Social Success
- Is Bitterness Holding You Back Socially?
- Is It Okay To Hang Out With Another Guy One On One?
- Is Thinking You’re Better Than Other People Holding You Back Socially?
- Learning To Make More Eye Contact With People
- Little Social Annoyances That Will Never Go Away
- Loosen Up To Be More Socially Successful
- Making Plans With People
- Mistakes Lonely People Often Make
- My Experience With Becoming More Self-Confident
- Other People Often Aren’t As Shallow As They Seem
- Reasons People Can Mistakenly Think They Don’t Like Something
- Reflections on Being Defensive and Secretive
- Reflections On Getting Over Low Self-Esteem
- Some Interpersonal Pitfalls More Intellectual Types Can Fall Into
- Some Thoughts On The Point Of Small Talk
- Some Tips On How To Be Less Quiet In Conversations
- Some Ways People Are Mentally Lazy About Judging Others
- The Importance of Getting Your Appearance In Order
- The Importance Of Simplicity And The Basics In Social Interactions…
- Thoughts On ‘Connecting’ With People
- Thoughts On How To Be Funny
- Thoughts On How to Be More Interesting
- Thoughts On How To Make A Conversation
- Thoughts on Seeming Less Weird
- Traits That Help You Hang Out With Other People
- Ways People Can Unintentionally Leave Friends Out Of Social Events
- When People Say “How’s It Going?”, “What’s Up?” or “What’s New?”
- When You Feel Like Your Friends Suck
- When You Want To Do Better With People… But Not Really
- When Your Friends Tease You A Lot