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Are you concerned about their child’s social
emotional development and ability to play
and interact with other children? You know
that your child has wonderful qualities but
their social skills are poor, in part
because of the specific traits attributed to
their disability. Children become
frustrated because they desperately want to
have friends and don’t know how to establish
and maintain relationships with peers.
Simple exposure to social situations is not
enough for some children to learn these
skills; they need to be explicitly taught.
Typical concerns related to social skills
development include difficulty in
reciprocity, initiating and maintaining
interactions, maintaining eye gaze, sharing
joy, empathy and reading social cues of
others. This makes it difficult to develop
and maintain meaningful and fulfilling
personal relationships. This is a lack of
ability not a lack of social interest.
This program addresses the needs of children
ages 3 through 16 who need one-to-one or
small group. Support. Services may be
provided at home, in the community, at the
Step by Step EDU-Play Center or any
combination of locations depending on the
focus of the intervention. Services are
offered year-round, in 6 month cycles.
Groups are 1.5 hour sessions.
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Step By Step EDU-Play Program
process: |
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Step 1. |
Phone referral and intake |
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Step 2. |
Assess and identify needs in
relation to social skills and
social emotional development
in collaboration with the family
and upon recommendations
provided from all current
reports and/or any other
interventionists working with
the child |
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Step 3. |
Develop intervention strategies
and an intervention plan |
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Step 4. |
Implementation of intervention |
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Step 5. |
Assess and modify intervention
as necessary |
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Step 6. |
Transition to a less
intensive service or exit
service |
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Services focus on development of the child’s
skills in engaging with others and accepting
others in reciprocal interactions and
“Play”: |
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Initiating appropriate interactions with
others |
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Self Regulation |
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Conflict Resolution |
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Two way Communication |
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Self esteem |
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Development of advanced play
skills |
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Transition to settings where one-to-one
support is reduced and the child is
successful in all settings. |
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Parents must participate and are encouraged
to learn and practice techniques and tools
to help their child in successful
interactions. |
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Parent involvement may be met via coaching,
video review, view on the monitor and review
with the facilitator, parent meetings and
conferences. |
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Tools and strategies may include peer
mentors, activities on reading social cues
(thoughts and feelings), facilitating
reciprocal interactions, use of social
stories, Role play or rehearsal, video or
tape recording, art, music and drama. An
assessment of communication skills is
necessary to determine the use of
multi-modal communication tools such as
Picture Exchange Communication, visual
schedules, and sign language or augmentative
communication (computers and switches);
Sensory strategies for self-regulation are
also used to assist with anxiety and
organizational skills.
Social
Skills Lessons Include (but are not limited
to…)
Communication Skills
Conversation Skills
Maintaining appropriate physical distance
from others
Listening position
Tone of voice
Greetings
How and when to interrupt
Staying on topic
Maintaining a conversation
Taking turns talking
Starting a conversation
Joining a conversation
Ending a conversation
Asking a question when you don’t understand
Saying “I Don’t Know”
Introducing yourself
Getting to know someone new
Introducing topics of interest to others
Giving background information about what you
are saying
Shifting topics
Don’t talk too long
Sensitive topics
Complimenting others
Use your H.E.A.D (happy voice, eye contact,
alternating turns, distance)
T.G.I.F (timing, greeting, initial question,
follow up questions)
Cooperative Play Skills
Asking someone to play
Joining others in play
Compromising
Sharing
Taking turns
Playing a game
Dealing with losing
Dealing with winning
Ending a play activity
Friendship Management
Informal versus formal behavior
Respecting personal boundaries
Facts versus opinions
Sharing a friend
Getting attention in a positive way
Don’t be the “rule Police”
Offering help to
When to tell on someone
Modesty
Asking someone to a play date
Appropriate touch
Dealing with peer pressure
Dealing with rumors
Calling a friend on a telephone
Answering the telephone
Emotion Management Skills
Self Regulation
Recognizing feelings
“Feeling thermometer”
Keeping calm
Problem solving
Talking to others when upset
Understanding anger
Dealing with making a mistake
Trying when work is hard
Trying something new
Empathy
howing understanding of other’s feelings:
Preschool-Elementary
Showing understanding of other’s feelings:
Preadolescent-Adulthood
Cheering up a friend
Conflict Management
Asserting yourself
Accepting “no” for an answer
Dealing with teasing: K-4th grade
Dealing with teasing: 5th grade and up
More words to deal with teasing
Dealing with being left out
Having a respectful attitude |
