WHAT ARE SOCIAL SKILLS? Social and emotional learning is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions Collaborative for Social, Emotional and Academic Learning (CASEL), 2015
RESEARCH
71% of students in 6th through 12th grade thought their school did not provide
them with a caring, encouraging environment (CASEL, 2003)
60% of children enter school with the cognitive skills needed to be successful
40% have the social-emotional skills needed to succeed in kindergarten (Raiver, 2002)
GOOD SOCIAL SKILLS PREDICT:
Peer Approval (Bierman & Montminy, 1993)
School Adjustment, Attention Skills, Coping Skills
(Eisenberg, et al., 1996)
Mental Health Later in Life (Denham & Holt, 1993; Parker & Asher, 1987)
School Placement & Job Opportunities
(Rey & Putnam, 2002)
Better Overall Quality of Life (Howlin & Goode, 2000)
ADOPTING EXPLICIT EVIDENCE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING STRATEGIES:
• better academic performance: achievement scores an average of 11 percentile points higher than students who did not receive SEL instruction
• improved attitudes and behaviors: greater motivation to learn, deeper commitment to
school, increased time devoted to schoolwork, and better classroom behavior • fewer negative behaviors: decreased disruptive class behavior, noncompliance,
aggression, delinquent acts, and disciplinary referrals; and • reduced emotional distress: fewer reports of student depression, anxiety, stress, and
social withdrawal.
(Durlak, J., Weissberg, R., Dymnicki, A., & Schellinger, K., 2011)
ANCIENT
a holistic curriculum that requires a balance of training
in physical education, the arts, math, science, character,
and moral judgment (Plato)
THROUGH THE 19TH CENTURY
moral teachings of dominant religious
groups in local communities. Biblical
stories and moral lessons
SINCE THE MID-1950S the identification of moral
education goals and objectives was greatly
reduced in curriculum guides and materials produced by
state departments of education and many local
schools (US News and World Report, 1996)
HISTORY
School Development Program @ Yale (Comer) Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning
Emotional Intelligence – Goleman
1960
1994
1995
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT
“The broad enterprise of helping people develop and engage in adaptive, socially desirable
behaviors and overcome patterns of destructive and stigmatizing responding”
(Koegel, Keogel, and Dunlap)
1996
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS Why do some of our students not exhibit appropriate social skills?
National Association of School Psychologists
• Lack of knowledge
• Inconsistent despite knowledge
• Insufficient degree or level of strength
• Competing skill deficits or behaviors
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS
1. Focus on facilitating the desirable behavior as well as eliminating the undesirable behavior.
Talking to friends Swearing
Talk to friends Extra computer time
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS 2. Emphasize the learning, performance, generalization, and maintenance of appropriate behaviors through modeling, coaching, and role-playing. It is also crucial to provide students with immediate performance feedback.
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS 3. Employ primarily positive strategies and add punitive strategies only if the positive approach is unsuccessful and the behavior is of a serious and/or dangerous nature.
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS 4. Provide training and practice opportunities in a wide range of settings with different groups and individuals in order to encourage students to generalize new skills to multiple, real life situations.
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS 5. Draw on assessment strategies, including functional assessments of behavior, to identify those children in need of more intensive interventions as well as target skills for instruction.
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS 6. Look to enhance social skills by increasing the frequency of an appropriate behavior in a particular situation. This should take place in "normal" environments to address the naturally occurring causes and consequences.
TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS • Primary: school-wide
instruction • Secondary: specific social
skills instruction groups • Tertiary: individualized plan
Teaching: • Replacement Skills • Adaptive Skills
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
• Find the good and praise it • Unfailingly respond to positive
behavior • How much reinforcement do you
provide compared to instructive/corrective feedback?
PARENT ENGAGEMENT
• School Wide (Adams, Womack, Shatzer & Caldarella, 2010)
• Youth with ASD -
PEERS (Karst, et al 2014, Mandelberg et al, 2014 – and many more)
FINAL THOUGHTS
Social Skills can be
TAUGHT
Social Skills can be LEARNED
This is just the
BEGINNING
RESOURCES Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning
• http://www.casel.org/ Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning
• http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/ National Association of School Psychologists
• http://www.nasponline.org/resources/factsheets/socialskills_fs.aspx Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports
• https://www.pbis.org/