What do we mean when we say
“social skills” or “pragmatic skills”?
Often times as speech
therapists we may use the words social skills or pragmatic skills when talking
about students or lessons. As adults we
have a basic understanding about what “social skills” mean. However, when a child needs help with their
social skills it can mean a variety of different things based on the needs of
an individual child. You may be
thinking, “my child doesn’t have friends"or "my child needs to learn how to make
friends” as a “social skill” difficulty.
Or, maybe you are thinking “my son/daughter has many friends, why are
they getting help with their social skills?”.
The information below is provided to give you some information about
what social skills include and some internet resources.
What is meant by the word
“social skills” in the school setting?
Social skills include some of
the following skills:
·
Establishing and
maintaining eye contact when speaking or interacting with peers and teachers
·
Greetings (saying
hello/goodbye)
·
Beginning and
ending conversations, maintaining conversations
·
Understanding
figurative language (i.e. idioms, metaphors)
·
Problem solving
social situations
·
Understanding non
verbal language – reading facial cues, body language, personal space, gestures,
tone of voice,etc.
·
Understanding and
developing vocabulary for labeling emotions (i.e. happy, joyful, frustrated,
annoyed, etc.)
·
Recognizing
emotions of peers and teachers in the classroom setting
·
Social Thinking:
Simply put, social thinking is our innate
ability to think through and apply information to succeed in situations that
require social knowledge. Social thinking is a form of intelligence that is key
to learning concepts and integrating information across a variety of settings;
academic, social, home and community. Limited abilities for learning and/or applying
socially relevant information can be considered a social thinking learning
disability. (Michelle Garcia Winner, socialthinking.com)
·
Recognizing bullying, responding to
bullying
·
Flexibility in thinking, interacting
with peers, understanding boundaries in the classroom with teacher
directions/routines
·
Turn taking skills (for example, when
playing a board game it is important for all players to know the “unwritten
rules” while playing a game such as knowing when it is “my turn”, waiting for
others to take their turns, having a good attitude towards both winning and
losing, etc).
·
Perspective Taking
Social skills can be taught and learned. When a social skill deficit is identified, a
student may receive speech therapy services by attending a social skills
group. At Shaker Lane, there are many
people who help with social skills. Our
classroom teachers often provide many learning opportunities on a daily basis
(reading books, using the HEART program, discussing social problems in a large
group setting/small group setting, solving a problem as it occurs). The speech therapists will run social groups
to work on specific social skills that have been labeled and identified on an
Individualized Educational Program. In
addition, The ABA teacher and assistants have social skills groups and there
are times when the ABA teacher and speech therapist will collaborate and teach
a social skill lessons to a small group.
In addition, our guidance counselor at Shaker Lane provides assistance
through regular education services to help students formulate friendships and
of course, develop social skills.
Below is a list of good resources from the Internet to learn
more about “social skills”:
Sherrie Susser
