Social / Academic Instructional Groups (SAIG)

These groups meet weekly and focus on re-teaching and practicing specific appropriate behaviors. Students will be placed in groups with same age peers, and length of participation may vary for each student. Behaviors will be observed to monitor progress.

This section is designed to provide PBIS teams with an overview of social skills instruction as a group-based, Tier 2 intervention, steps for developing a social skills intervention, strategies for effective implementation, and example resources.

More intensive instruction in social skills can be provided as a Tier 2, group-oriented intervention. This intervention is designed for students whose problem behaviors

(a) are unresponsive to Tier 1 practices and systems,

(b) do not require more immediate individualized interventions, and

(c) are observed across multiple settings or contexts. In addition this intervention is primarily for those students who demonstrate social skills acquisition deficits. This could include students who have trouble making or keeping friends, have an inability to respond appropriately in particular situations, and/or are uncooperative.

Reasons for Social Skill Deficits

• Lack of knowledge
• Lack of practice
• Lack of cues
• Lack of reinforcement
• Presence of competing problem behaviors

Types of Social Skill Deficits

• Acquisition deficit
  • A student does not know the skill or how to use it appropriately.
• Performance or Fluency deficit
  • A student can perform the skill but does so infrequently.
• Competing Problem Behavior
  • A problem behavior interferes with a student’s performance of a learned skill.

Explicit instruction for use of social skills is grounded in several related research supported theories including social learning theory, applied behavior analysis, and cognitive behavioral approaches (Elliott and Gresham, 2008).

Key principles associated with use of social skills instruction as an intervention include the following:

Social Skills …

• Are learned behaviors
• Deficits can be acquisition or performance
• Include specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors
• Require both initiations and responses
• Are interactive by nature
• Are highly contextual – depend on environment
• Deficits and can be identified and treated

Teaching social skills is most effective when provided using an explicit instructional approach. This format includes the same instructional techniques used when teaching schoolwide expectations and rules (i.e., Tier 1 Lessons). The difference at Tier 2 relates to the “dosage” of instruction. Students in a Social Skills Intervention Group participate in lessons that are supplemental to the universal social skills curriculum and are given more opportunities for practice, cueing, and specific positive feedback to correct use of skills. The following figure summarizes the instructional approach recommended for an effective Social Skills Intervention Group.

Intervention Overview

Implementation of Social Skills Intervention Groups occurs using the following basic approach. First, students are identified as needing additional behavioral support in the area of social skills. Next, these students are grouped according to similar needs based upon identified deficits. Lessons are gathered for teaching skills in the areas of need. Co-facilitators use these lesson plans to introduce and practice each skill during group sessions. Student demonstration and performance of skills is regularly prompted and recognized by all adults in the child’s environment. Finally, student data is generated on a regular basis and is used to monitor progress and make decisions about the intervention effects.

Social Skills Intervention Groups include:

Smaller number of students with access to high rates of adult attention

• Situated learning
• Positive peer models
• Systematic, explicit instruction
• Modeling, role-playing, problem solving, feedback
• School to home communication
• Self-assessment and recording component

After students are identified for the social skills intervention, skill deficit areas are assessed. Students having common areas of concern are grouped together and matched with a group facilitator. Sessions are scheduled to occur at least once per week. Sessions include a five-phase instructional approach. Students' use of social skills are monitored daily. Individual student data is examined weekly or every other week and used to determine response to the intervention.

Students Who Are Most Likely To Benefit

This intervention is designed for students with deficient social skill functioning. These deficiencies may be due to lack of knowledge, lack of practice, lack of understanding of social cues, lack of reinforcement for appropriate behaviors, or the presence of competing problem behaviors (Elliott and Gresham, 2008). These students may be classified as having internalizing as well as externalizing concerns. Social Skills groups are most effective for students with acquisition deficits. Students are classified as having an acquisition deficit when particular, essential social skills are missing from their repertoire.

A Social Skills Intervention Group also may be appropriate for students having performance deficits (i.e., those who know the skill but do not demonstrate it) if the deficit is due to lack of practice, lack of understanding the social cues, or when to use the skill. It is less effective for those students who find competing behaviors more reinforcing. Social Skills Interventions are known to affect changes in a wide range of problem behaviors including: communication, cooperation, assertion, empathy, engagement in tasks, showing responsibility, and self-control.

Resources Needed

Intervention Coordinator

In most cases one staff member will be designated to coordinate the Social Skills Intervention Group in a school. The primary responsibility of the Coordinator is organizing resources and supports for effective delivery of the intervention. The Coordinator typically has limited contact with student participants. Instead, the Coordinator manages and supports the intervention service providers (referred to as Facilitators). Typically a Coordinator trains staff and parents for their role in supporting the intervention. The Coordinator also may assist with or be the primary manager of data that is used to monitor each student’s response to the intervention. The Coordinator communicates regularly with the school’s Tier 2 Team and school staff to provide information about numbers of students participating in Social Skills Intervention Groups, fidelity checks for the intervention sessions, maintenance procedures, student progress during intervention, and long-term outcomes after a group has ended.

Social Skills Group Facilitator(S)

In addition to the Coordinator one or more Facilitators, ideally two, are assigned for each group of students who receive the social skills intervention (e.g., six to eight children per group). Facilitators are responsible for direct contact with student participants. They meet weekly, at minimum, with a small group of students who demonstrate similar social skill deficits. Facilitators organize lesson plans and materials and provide 30 to 60 minutes of social skill instruction in a consistent location. Facilitators also serve as a communication link with teaching staff who will prompt and reinforce student use of newly learned skills. A critical role of the Facilitators is to let teaching staff know exactly what skills have been taught in each session, specific steps students must demonstrate to be considered successful with the skill, and variations of the skills that may be recognized as “reasonable approximations” of the target behavior. Finally, Facilitators assist classroom teachers as they regularly rate student performance of specific social skills learned during the intervention sessions. Typically the teacher rating data is then given to the Coordinator to be entered in a database and graphed so that student progress can be easily reviewed during Tier 2 Team meetings.

Steps for Effective Implementation

The following list of steps is helpful for school PBIS teams to follow as they work toward development of a Social Skills Intervention Group. These steps are divided into preparation and implementation tasks. This means some steps will be completed once and then only need occasional revision while other steps will be implemented in a cyclical fashion each time a new social skills group is formed. At minimum developing a Social Skills Intervention

The following figure represents activities that will be completed prior to implementation of a Social Skills Intervention Group. These can be viewed as tasks to be completed during a “preparation phase”. After the Tier 2 Team makes decisions about each of the components listed, then social skills facilitators will be ready to begin implementation of the intervention group.

STEP 1: Assess To Identify Skill Deficits

Once students have been identified to participate in a Social Skills Intervention Group (e.g., teacher nomination, discipline or other school data, screening score) further assessment of student skill deficits is necessary. Determining social skill deficits that are common across most or all members of the intervention group allows lessons to be matched with the needs of selected children. Assessment of skill deficits should not be time intensive or delay access to intervention. Most commercially published curricula include brief rating scales that can be completed by teachers, parents, and/or students. Results from use of these scales will help the intervention Coordinator and Facilitators determine which skill lessons are most needed. Review of disciplinary events (e.g., office and classroom) may be a second option for assessing student skill deficits. However, some students identified as appropriate candidates for a social skills group may not have any documented discipline data. This often is the case for children experiencing primarily internalizing problems. When discipline data is not available, teacher, parent, and/or student rating results should be used to determine appropriate social skills lessons.

STEP 2: Gather Lessons

While it is important that social skill lessons be matched with student deficits this does NOT mean curriculum development and organization must wait until after children are identified to participate in the group. To support this pre-planning effort, consider the following five broad dimensions of social skills identified within the research literature as common deficit areas for many children and adolescents (Gresham, 1992; Walker et al., 1983):

• Peer Relations Skills
• Self-Management Skills
• Cooperation or Compliance Skills
• Assertion Skills
• Academic Skills

Once the category of social skills is identified for a group of students, lesson plans should be created or gathered.

STEP 3: Plan for Generalization and Maintenance

Generalization refers to the ability to perform a behavior outside the original training environment (Stokes and Baer, 1977). Social skills instruction can be effective, but delivering social skills instruction so that generalization and maintenance occur is very difficult and has not been broadly perfected (Gresham, Sugai, and Horner, 2001). There are strategies that increase the likelihood of generalization.

During the session, real life examples relevant to the students’ circumstances should be used. If possible, train in the problem setting with peers the at-risk students are likely to encounter. Allow other adults or students to visit sessions. Train for a sufficient number of sessions on the same topic.

Regular communication with teachers and staff as to social skills lessons taught encourages them to prompt for use of the skill. Reinforcement of student efforts and regular feedback further increases the generalization of skills. Posters of the skill and steps for use can be posted in prominent locations. In addition, in some cases intervention students may enjoy teaching new skills to the entire class.

STEP 4: Establish Session Procedures

It is recommended that two adults with specific roles and responsibilities conduct the social skills instruction periods. They should establish procedures and expected behaviors similar to any well-run classroom (i.e. attention signal, behavior expectations/rules, incentives). Sessions should be between 30 and 60 minutes in length, depending on the age of the students, and be conducted at least weekly. Two or three shorter periods per week may be the most effective arrangement for younger children. A standard location and time brings consistency to the sessions. Consider conducting sessions before school (breakfast club), during lunch, or after school (social skills club) if a consistent time frame cannot be established during the school day that does not remove students from critical classroom instruction. Students should be in groups of 6 to 8 (even numbers work best) according to assessed needs. Age and a balance in severity of issues are also factors to take into consideration.

Key Considerations establish these procedures prior to beginning the intervention group:

• Who facilitates the intervention groups?
• What are the expectations and rules during group meetings (align with schoolwide)?
• How long will instructional periods last?
• When will instruction take place (i.e., time of day)?
• Where will the group meet?
• What is the maximum number of children per intervention group?

After personnel have been selected, students identified and grouped, lesson plans gathered, and session details developed, implementation with students begins. The following figure represents key activities that take place each time a Social Skills Intervention Group is established.

Some schools opt to provide two intervention groups per academic school year. For example, the first group takes place over the course of the first semester (e.g., October through December). Then a second group, with different participants, is conducted over the second semester of the school year (e.g., January through March or April). This schedule allows an identified group of children with similar needs to work together to learn new skills over an extended period of time. In some cases a new student may be added to an already existing group, but this occurs on a case-by-case basis. As a general rule the Social Skills Intervention Group is closed once the initial participants are identified and group procedures are introduced.

STEP 5: Notify Participants

In addition to identified students, classroom teachers and student families also will participate in the intervention. Clear communication of expectations for ALL participants will maximize success of the intervention. Typically classroom teachers are the first participants to be notified when a student is identified as a possible candidate for a Social Skills Intervention Group. Classroom teachers are notified prior to students and families because they are asked to collect initial baseline data, which verifies the student is or is not an appropriate selection for the intervention.

Collecting Baseline Data

Three to five days of baseline data should be acquired before a student begins the intervention group. To collect this information the Tier 2 Team provides the main classroom teacher(s) with a packet of Daily or Weekly Progress Reports. Teachers monitor and rate student social skill areas of concern but do NOT provide feedback to children who are rated. After data are collected the Tier 2 Team reviews it to determine: (a) whether the student truly needs additional support, (b) an initial daily/weekly point goal that is reasonable for the student to achieve, and (c) the level of teacher commitment for implementation. If data were not recorded diligently the team should consider the extent to which there may be future concerns or issues with accurate implementation of program components.

Contacting The Student’s Family

If baseline data confirms the student as an appropriate candidate for the Social Skills Intervention Group, a member of the Tier 2 Team or the intervention Coordinator will contact parents/guardians of eligible participants.

Introducing the Intervention

After family members are notified their child has been selected to participate, the intervention Coordinator or Facilitator should provide explanation and details about the purpose of the intervention and process for participating. Ideally this introduction will occur in a face-to-face format with the student, his or her parents, and at least one classroom teacher attending together. During this meeting the social skills curriculum is described, opportunities for recognition of success are defined, responsibilities of each participant are clarified, and information about fading to a self-managed plan and/or graduation from the program is provided. The introductory meeting is the time to establish commitment for active participation from each individual stakeholder (i.e., teacher, parent, and student). Written materials that specifically describe steps for active participation will be helpful for communicating how the intervention components will be implemented across the facilitator, the student, the classroom teacher(s), and family members.

STEP 6: Teach the Social Skill Lessons

Review of Previous Skill: Reviewing previously learned skills consists of a discussion that allows students to recall, by telling or showing, the steps for use of the social skill that was introduced during the last meeting. In addition, students also are given opportunities to explain or describe when, where, and how often they used the skill since the last session. Review of previously learned skills should include discussion of outcomes associated with use of appropriate or inappropriate skills (what happened). Participation in this discussion fulfills the homework requirement for involvement in the group. Students are reinforced for using appropriate skills. The review period may periodically include examination of data collected from the student’s teacher(s) about performance of skills learned during group meetings.

Tell: The lesson begins with an introduction, which includes a description of the skills to be learned, an explanation of why the skill is important, and situations where the skill can be used.

Show: After the introduction, the next step is modeling or demonstrating the skill. Typically the Facilitator models examples and non-examples of the skill and then asks students only to demonstrate the appropriate skill.

Practice: The steps to the skills may be posted or students may be given a personal copy for easy reference. Students are asked to debrief by reviewing the main steps of the skill and when and where it may be used. The Facilitator then creates situations for students to practice the skill with peers. This can be done through role-playing or another activity. The first practice session is structured and if students are not actively participating in the activity or role-play, they are asked to watch and evaluate those who are.

Positive and Corrective Feedback: Reinforcement for accurate attempts is given and corrective feedback also is provided if needed.

More Practice: Students are given time to socialize in less structured ways which allows continued practice using the social skill.

More Feedback: Facilitators continue to give feedback while students engage in practice opportunities.

Plan for Generalization and Maintenance of Skills: A homework assignment for use of the skill in other settings is discussed and assigned.

STEP 7: Monitor Student Progress

The school Tier 2 Team will create a progress report that teachers complete daily. The Daily Progress Report (DPR) lists social skills, and any steps related to the skills, that are being learned during group meetings. The teacher uses the DPR to document ratings of student skill performance. The DPR is the primary method for monitoring student response to the social skills intervention. The DPR also serves as a reminder to teachers for skills they should prompt and reinforce for students. Classroom teachers use the DPR as a structured format for providing specific, positive feedback and corrective feedback to group participants. At minimum, students should receive feedback at the end of each school day. However, to promote generalization and maintenance of skills, additional feedback provided throughout each school day will maximize effects of the intervention. DPR data is submitted to the intervention Coordinator or Facilitator. Daily points are totaled, converted to a percentage, entered into a spreadsheet, graphed, and reviewed regularly (i.e., weekly or every other week).

Data Spreadsheet

For tracking Spreadsheet in Google Drive go here.

The spreadsheet includes a page for entering student information that is typically collected prior to selection of an intervention (e.g., date, grade, gender, attendance, academic performance, ODR, function of behavior etc.). Also included is a second page where daily or weekly percentages can be entered for each student in the Social Skills Intervention Group. The spreadsheet is designed to automatically generate a graph of student progress when data is entered. In addition, a trend line also appears as data is entered. The trend line is useful for determining positive, questionable, or poor response to the program.

Interpreting Student Data

Graphs provide a visual representation of each student’s acquisition of skills and allows for easier analysis of progress.

Important features to examine within each graph that is reviewed include:

• Level of Performance – The child’s level of performance is entered.
• Desired Level of Performance – The desired level of performance is determined by the student’s behavioral goal. This line on the graph is called the “Goal Line.”
• Trend Line – A line that is drawn through a series of data points to represent the student’s actual rate and level of progress.
• Time to Goal – The number of weeks it will take the student to reach his or her goal.