Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Your Classroom: Social Skills Interventions

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Promoting Social Emotional Competence in Your
Classroom Social Skills Interventions

• Liz Asmuth
• Rachel Wonner
• Mollie Koshak

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Whats in it for me?

• A brief overview of social emotional
  development,
• social skills, and their importance in our
  classrooms
• You will learn how to use childrens literature
  to teach
• and promote social skills
• You will better understand the features of
  teaching
• social skills
• You will walk away with a wealth of information
  
• book lists, evidence-based social skills
  programs,
• and additional resources about social skills
  

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What is Social Emotional Development?

• A sense of confidence competence
• Ability to follow directions
• Ability to develop good relationships with peers
  and adults (e.g., make friends, get along with
  others)
• Ability to persist at tasks
• Ability to identify, understand, and communicate
  ones feelings
• Ability to constructively manage strong emotions
• Development of empathy

Adapted from
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Social Skills

• A set of abilities and behaviors that create
  positive interactions with both peers and adults.

• Being a Friend ? Feelings ? Problem
  Solving ? Teasing
• ? Empathy/Caring for Others ? Good Behavior
  Expectations

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Essential Social Skills for Academic Success

• Getting along with others (parents, teachers, and
  peers)
• Gollowing directions
• Identifying and regulating ones emotions and
  behavior
• Thinking of appropriate solutions to conflict
• Persisting on task
• Engaging in social conversation and cooperative
  play
• Correctly interpreting others behavior and
  emotions
• Feeling good about oneself and others (Smith,
  2005)

The emotional, social, and behavioral competence
of young children is a strong predictor of
academic performance in early elementary school
(Zero to Three, 2003).
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Why Teach Social Skills in your Classroom?

• Nationally, early child care and education
  providers report that challenging behavior and
  social skill problems are their greatest
  challenges (Gilliam, 2005 Hemmeter et. al,
  2007).
• Social skills in young children are more closely
  associated with school readiness and success in
  kindergartenthan cognitive and academic skills
  (Raver Knitzer, 2002 Smith, 2004).
• Children who enter kindergarten with positive
  Social- Emotional Learning profiles also develop
  positive attitudes about school, successfully
  adjust to the new experiences there, and
  demonstrate good grades and achievement (Denham
  Weissberg, 2004).

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Promoting Social Skills through Childrens
Literature
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Promoting Social Skills through Childrens
Literature

• Direction instruction is a key feature of social
  skills training (Vaughn, S., Ae-Hwa, K., Claire,
  V., Sloan, M., Hughes, M.T., Batya, E., Dheepa.
  S., 2003).
• Educational research and literature highlights
  the use of childrens books as a beneficial
  approach to direct instruction of social skills
  (Forgan, J. W. Gonzalez-DeHasse, A., 2004
  Riley, D., San Juan, R. Klinkner, J. Ramminger,
  A., 2008).
• The use of childrens literature allows children
  to explore feelings about self-esteemand the
  ability to relate to a main character with
  similar experiences (Iaquinta and Hipsky, 2006).
• Using literature allows school professionals to
  help children battle and explore internal
  conflicts (Heath, Sheen, Leavy, Young, Money,
  2005).

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Promoting Social Skills through Childrens
Literature

• Example Lesson Hands are Not for Hitting
• http//www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/preschool.html
• (scroll down to Module 2, 10 under video clips)
• Teacher Activity ? How you might design
  activities to support emotional development in
  learning centers and outside play?
• Example Activities from CSEFEL
• http//www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/booknook/hands/ha
  nds.html

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Categorized Social Skills Books for Your
Classroom CSEFEL Childrens Booklist (see
attached)
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Ive read the book now what?
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Features of Social Skills Interventions

• Prompting Rehearsal of Desired Behaviors
• Guide and practice
• Modeling of Specific Social Skills
• Model using students, adults, puppets
• Play Related-Activities
• Embed skills into regular class activities or
  freeplay
• Free-Play Generalization
• Cooperative learning, outside play

Vaughn, S., Ae-Hwa, K., Claire, V., Sloan, M.,
Hughes, M.T., Batya, E., Dheepas., S, 2003
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Features of Social Skills Interventions

• Reinforcement of Appropriate Behaviors
• Verbal praise, rewards, etc. will motivate
  children to demonstrate the desired behaviors
  more frequently
• Storytelling
• As narrators and listeners, children can infer a
  characters emotions in hypothetical situations
• Imitation of Appropriate Behaviors

Vaughn, S., Ae-Hwa, K., Claire, V., Sloan, M.,
Hughes, M.T., Batya, E., Dheepas., S, 2003
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Promoting Social Skills through Evidence Based
Programs
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What Makes a Benefical Social Skills Intervention
Program?

• The program should be embedded into regular
  classroom activities by the teacher in the
  classroom
• Children should be instructed in social skills as
  well as the behavioral contingencies for
  appropriate and inappropriate behaviors
• Use of integrated social interaction groups for
  children with and without disabilities
• Includes trained parent or peer models

Vaughn, S., Ae-Hwa, K., Claire, V., Sloan, M.,
Hughes, M.T., Batya, E., Dheepas., S, 2003
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Evidence Based Universal Social Skills
Intervention Programs

• Second Step
• http//www.cfchildren.org/programs/ssp/overview/
• Incredible Years
• http//www.incredibleyears.com/
• PATHS
• http//www.channing-bete.com/

• Als Pals Kids Making Healthy Choices
• www.wingspanworks.com/educational_programs/about_
  als_pals.php
• Open Circle
• www.open-circle.org/
• Project ACHIEVE
• http//store.cambiumlearning.com

Research clearly demonstrates that social and
emotional skills can be taught through
school-based programs. SEL improves students
positive behavior and reduces negative behavior.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and
Emotional Learning, 2009
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Additional Resources
The Center on the Social and Emotional
Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) is
focused on promoting the social emotional
development and school readiness of young
children birth to age 5. They provide training
modules, practical strategies, and a wealth of
free resources!
http//www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel Collaborative
for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) is a not-for-profit organization that
works to advance the science and evidence-based
practice of social and emotional learning (SEL).
They provide books, articles, and briefs
detailing evidence-based programming.


www.casel.org The Gray Center for Social Learning
and Understanding is a non-profit organization
providing resources to create individualized
social skills books for your students.
www.thregraycenter.org
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References

• Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations
  for Early Learning. (2003). Promoting the
  social-emotional competence of children. Training
  modules Online. Champaign, IL Author.
  Available http//csefel.uiuc.edu/modules/facilita
  torguide/facilitators-guide1.pdf.
• Denham, S. A. Weissberg, R. P. (2004).
  Social-emotional learning in early childhood
  What we know and where to go from here. In E.
  Chesebrough, P. King, T. P. Gullotta, M. Bloom
  (Eds.), A blueprint for the promotion of
  prosocial behavior in early childhood (pp.
  13-50). New York Kluwer Academic/ Plenum
  Publishers.
• Dise-Lewis, J. E., Calvery, M. L., Lewis, H. C.,
  Puls, M., Griebel, C., Denlinger, K. (2002).
  Brain injury Strategies for teams and
  re-education for students. Denver, CO U.S.
  Department of Education, Office of Special
  Education Programs.
• Forgan, J. W. Gonzalez-DeHasse, A. (2004). How
  to infuse social skills training into literacy
  instruction. Teaching Exceptional Children, 36,
  24-30.
• Heath, M. A., Sheen, D., Leavy, D., Young, E.,
  Money, K. (2005). Bibliotherapy A resource to
  facilitate emotional healing and growth. School
  Psychology International, 26, 563-580.
• Iaquinta, A., Shellie Hipsky, S. (2006).
  Practical bibiliotherapy strategies for the
  inclusive elementary classroom. Early Childhood
  Education Journal, 34(3), 209-213.
• McArdle, S., Byrt, R. (2001). Fiction, poetry
  and mental health Expressive and therapeutic
  uses of literature. Journal of Psychiatric and
  Mental Health Nursing, 8, 517-524.
• Raver, C., Knitzer, J. (2002). Ready to enter
  What research tells policymakers about strategies
  to promote social and emotional school readiness
  among three- and four-year old children. New
  York, NY National Center for Children in
  Poverty.
• Raver, C. (2002). Emotions matter Making the
  case for the role of young childrens emotional
  development for early
• school readiness.Social Policy Report of
  the Society for Research in Child Development,
  16(3), 1-20.
• Riley, D., San Juan, R. Klinkner, J. Ramminger,
  A. (2008) Social Emotional Development
  Connecting Science and Practice in Early
  Childhood Settings. St. Paul, MN RedLeaf Press.
• Smith, B. (2005). Recommended Practices.
  Recommended practices Linking social development
  and behavior to school readiness. Retrieved on
  April 27, 2009 from http//www.vanderbilt.edu/csef
  el/modules/module4/handout3.pdf.
• Vaughn, S., Ae-Hwa, K., Claire, V., Sloan, M.,
  Hughes, M.T., Batya, E., Dheepas. (2003).
  Social Skills Interventions forYoung Children
  with Disabilities A Synthesis of Group Design
  Studies. Remedial and Special Education,
  1(24),2-5.