Social-Emotional Skills to Consider:

Perspective-Taking Skills

BASIC SKILLS

  • Predictions about cause-effect, If-then
  • Predict a character’s actions in a storybook with visual cues
  • Demonstrate understanding of the difference between a “thinking bubble” and “talking bubble” when cartooning social scenarios

ADVANCED SKILLS

  • Predict a character’s action when given story change
  • Visually map out different perspectives in story w/adult facilitation
  • Verbalizing different perspectives in stories without visual map.
  • Recognizing/conveying different character’s perspectives in role-play
  • Given hypothetical age-appropriate problem scenario, verbalize differing perspectives to event.
  • Given hypothetical age-appropriate problem scenario, role play differing perspectives to event.
  • Predict another’s actions as a result of student’s own hypothetical behavior.

Emotion Awareness & Management Skills

BASIC SKILLS

  • Naming feeling words when given facial expressions (various stimuli such as photos, line drawings, clip art graphics, in-person expressions, etc)
  • Understanding vocabulary associated with feelings
  • Use physical cues to identify others’ feelings/states
  • Use context cues to identify others’ feelings/states in a storybook (facial expression, body language, context)
  • Describe a time that student has felt various emotions

ADVANCED SKILLS

  • Naming gradations of an emotion
  • Use physical & thought cues to identify own feelings/states
  • Use context cues to identify own feelings/states (facial expression, body language, internal bio-feedback, context)
  • Anxiety prevention and calming strategies
  • Identify self-triggers for various emotions
  • Expressing emotions in an appropriate manner
  • Accepting “no”
  • Handling mistakes of self
  • Handling mistakes or “rule” infractions of others
  • Trying something new (Fear of a new situation)
  • Dealing with apology and accepting blame
  • Dealing with teasing – in fun vs. mean spirited.

Social Problem Solving Skills

BASIC SKILLS

  • Explain basic cause-effect
  • Identifying the problem and potential cause(s) for a hypothetical situation
  • Identify solutions for a hypothetical situation
  • Identify prevention strategies for a hypothetical situation

ADVANCED SKILLS

  • Acknowledge the possibility of a different perspective when talking/ processing with an adult
  • Identifying the problem and potential cause(s) for an actual situation the student was involved in
  • Identify solutions and prevention strategies for an actual problem situation the student was involved in.
  • Create a script with an adult to use in a problem-scenario
  • Role play that script with an adult/familiar peers
  • Execute that script independently in observed problem scenarios
  • Identify consequences of actions with adult prompting
  • Identify consequences of actions without adult prompting
  • Rock / putty (concrete / flexible ) thinking
  • When to report verses tattling
  • Identifying size of the problem (1-5)
  • Saying sorry and accepting blame

Conversation Skills

BASIC SKILLS

  • Greeting others
  • Conversational turn-taking
  • Introducing self
  • Topic maintenance/turn taking of a topic student initiated
  • Asking questions in conversation
  • Initiating a conversation about the present
  • Initiating a conversation about the past
  • Joining an existing conversation
  • Terminating a conversation to leave area
  • Terminating a conversation to change topic

ADVANCED SKILLS

  • Topic maintenance/turn taking of topic peer initiated (student may not be interested)
  • Spatial boundaries
  • Listening to speaker and mirror back statements during conversation
  • Non-verbal skills regarding active listening
  • Introducing others
  • Giving and receiving a compliment
  • Giving encouragement to others
  • Terminating a conversation to leave area
  • Changing topic within a conversation
  • Receptive understanding of non-verbal skills (facial expression, body language, gestures)
  • Expressive imitation of non-verbal skills
  • Expressive use of non-verbal skills
  • Understanding impact of tone of voice
  • Code switching (changing your style of communication depending on the listener)
  • Humor (Joke telling, understanding jokes, idioms, sarcasm)

Play Skills

BASIC SKILLS

  • Solo functional play with toys
  • Solo imaginative/dramatic play with toys
  • Joint attention with 1 peer to a toy
  • Functional play with toys with 1 peer
  • Imaginative/dramatic play with toys with 1 peer
  • Taking turns in a structured game: a) with adult models, b) when cued to the occasion
  • Joining play already established: a) with adult models, b) when cued to the occasion
  • Initiating play/partnership: a) with adult models, b) when cued to the occasion
  • Deciding who will go first: a) with adult models, b) when cued to the occasion
  • Sharing

ADVANCED SKILLS

  • Taking turns in a structured gameindependently.
  • Joining play already established independently.
  • Initiating play/partnershipindependently.
  • Accepting/Politely declining an invitation to play
  • Deciding who will go firstindependently.
  • Dealing with losing/being a humble winner/encouraging others
  • Letting others choose
  • Cooperating during a structured activity
  • Arranging the details of a play-date with adult guidance
  • Arranging the details of a play-date without adult guidance

Building Esteem/Self-Advocacy

BASIC SKILLS

  • Identify strengths and need areas of a character in a story.
  • Recognize sensory needs and verbalizing the need

ADVANCED SKILLS

  • Identifying strengths and need areas in oneself
  • Identifying strengths in others/give compliments
  • Recognizing sensory needs and taking action independently
  • Develop an understanding of one’s learning style / brain functioning
  • Understanding disability and share with others (with parental consent)

School Behaviors

BASIC SKILLS

  • Trying when it’s hard (Dealing with hard or frustrating work)
  • Ignoring distractions
  • Dealing with waiting/patience
  • Tolerating boredom
  • Responsibility of “jobs” within a classroom
  • Recognizing the need for help in oneself
  • Asking for help in small group
  • Following directions
  • Being prepared for learning
  • Appropriate behaviors in large group assemblies, field trips, substitutes
  • Participating in group activities and discussions

ADVANCED SKILLS

  • Expressing the need for help
  • Tolerating “pointless work”
  • Independently getting help for self in mainstream environment
  • Organization of materials (locker, desk, binders, assignment tracking
  • Turning in completed homework assignments without reminders
  • Independently writing in assignments/homework without needing adult tracking

Jill D. Kuzma, M.A., CCC-SLP –