Social+Skills

Social Skills Social skills are very important to a child's educational success. Many children enter kindergarten lacking in even the most basic social skills. CLIMBERS provides appropriate challenging activities to engage students in the practice of social skills. On display here are some of the models and handouts we use in teaching these social skills.
 * [|"I" Messages]
 * [|Respectful Disagreeing]
 * [|Problem Solving]
 * [|Basic Processing]
 * [|Evaluation]
 * [|Goal Setting]

Social Skills Deficits - Great article on Behavior Management: Getting to the Bottom of Social Skills Deficits By: Judith Osgood Smith (1995). Discusses social skills deficits and gives ideas on how to assist kids with these deficits.

The Teacher's Role in Developing Social Skills by Richard D. Lavoie A great article that explains the importance of an educator teaching social skills to children. The article goes through the different categories of social skills kids fall into. The four basic social categories in the school setting according to Lavoie are:

REJECTED: Students who are constantly subjected to ridicule, bullying and harassment by classmates. ISOLATED: Students who, although not openly rejected, are ignored by classmates and are uninvolved in the social aspects of school. CONTROVERSIAL: Students who have established a circle of friends based upon common interests or proximity but seldom move beyond that circle. POPULAR: Students who have successfully established positive relationships within a variety of groups

Lavoie's article then approaches way to teach acceptable strategies to get along in the world of social living and lifestyle in the classroom.

LETS FACE IT GAME : A game where you have to look at the characters and guess based off their faces and body language how they are feeling. It is a great way to teach kids about body language and how that plays a key role in social skills. You can also visit this site which does the same thing with real faces.Gotcha