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Why teach social skills?
Why teach social skills?
For many students with disabilities, social interaction doesn't come naturally as it does for typically developing students. This may be for a variety of reasons, including limited access to peers. However, as teachers, it is imperative to teach and practice social skills, as these are skills that are utilized across settings; from school to the workplace, and within the community. Social skills teaching can assist students with learning:
Foundational Skills: Skills needed for basic social interaction (i.e. eye contact, personal space, understanding facial expressions).
Interaction Skills: Skills needed to interact with others (i.e. conflict resolution, beginning/ending conversations, interacting with authority figures).
Affective Skills: Skills needed for understanding oneself and others (i.e. understanding feelings, demonstrating empathy, decoding body language).
Cognitive Skills: Skills needed to maintain complex interactions (i.e. making choices, understanding social norms, determining appropriate behavior for different social situations).
Below are free resources you can use when teaching social skills within your classroom. CPS does not recommend one curriculum over the other.
Developed by LaTanya Craig, M.H.S. CCC-SLP/L.
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