Lesson Starters

Self-Management Instruction to Teach Social Skills

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Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of self-management instruction to teach social skills to individuals with disabilities

Settings and Materials

Settings

Classroom, school gymnasium

Materials

Self-monitoring forms, games, or gym equipment such as basketball, ping pong, etc.

Content Taught

The teacher will provide students with social skill instruction in the areas of appropriate peer reactions, appropriate reactions to losing, and appropriate reactions to winning. The students will use these skills to demonstrate appropriate social skills in the context of playing games in the gymnasium.

Teaching Procedures

  • For the first target social skill (i.e., appropriate peer reactions, appropriate reactions to losing, or appropriate reactions to winning), first provide students with a definition of the skill and a rationale for why it is important. Discuss scenarios and outcomes for responding in a positive or negative way.
  • Next, use modeling to demonstrate two positive examples of the skill. Lead students in a discussion after each example about why the scenario was positive. Provide one negative example and discuss the differences between appropriate and inappropriate responses to the scenario.
  • Then, provide students the opportunity to engage in role-play to practice the social skill. Students may choose to complete role-play from a script or create their own. Lead students in a discussion about what was appropriate or inappropriate in the example.
  • After role-play, encourage students to discuss a time when they may need to use this target social skill.
  • Last, provide students a homework practice assignment in which they are instructed to try out the target social skill with someone new and describe the outcome, along with how they felt during and after the situation. Discuss the assignment with students after they complete it.
  • In the third week of instruction on a skill, introduce students to the self-monitoring form. They will indicate the number of times they used the social skill during a game session by making tally marks on each occurrence. Games may occur in the classroom, gymnasium, or other natural environment (e.g., outside).

Evaluation

As students self-monitor their use of appropriate social skills, the teacher may consider observing and collecting his/her/their own data. If the student’s self-monitoring data closely matches the student’s, provide verbal praise or other reinforcement for the student.

Lesson Starter Based On:

Moore, R. J., Cartledge, G., & Heckaman, K. (1995). The effects of social instruction and self-instruction and self-monitoring on game-related behaviors of adolescents with emotional or behavior disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 20(4), 253-266.

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Lesson Starter: Using Self-Management Instruction to Teach Social Skills (docx)

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The contents of this Research to Practice Lesson Starter were developed under a grant (H326E200003) from the Department of Education. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be:

National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: the Collaborative (2021). Research to practice lesson starter: Using parent training to promote parent knowledge in the transition process. University of North Carolina at Charlotte.