1. DoSE Meeting October 28, 2016 Lori Dehart, Behavior Consultant
WHAT REALLY WORKS in Special and Inclusive Education Chapter 5 Strategy 3: Social Skills training
DoSE Meeting
October 28, 2016
Lori Dehart, Behavior Consultant

2. What Works Best?
Instead of asking “what works?,” ask “what works best?”
Effect size of 4.0 set s a level where the effects of innovation enhance achievement in such a way that we can notice real-world differences, and this should be a benchmark of such real-world change. Not a magic number or cut-off point, but a guideline to begin discussions about what we can aim for if we want to see students change - A standard from which to judge effects.
Most assessments can be used to calculate effect size. 1 year=.4, 2 yrs=.8
An influence needs at least 2 months to see change that can be measured by effect size.
(This info is key when doing interventions.)
Yellow – Developmental Effects
Red – Reverse Effects

3. Chapter 5
Social Skills Training

4. The Strategy
Social skills training is a set of strategies aimed at helping learners to establish and maintain positive interactions with others.
Relates to the CONTEXT and MOTIVATION compoents of the Learning and Teaching Model
Related to other strategies in the book:
Strategy 1: Peer Tutoring
Strategy 2: Behavioral Approaches
Strategy 11: Functional Behavioral Assessment
Strategy 12: Direct Instruction
Strategy 14: Classroom climate
Strategy 22: School-wide Positive Behavior Support

5. The Underlying Idea What do you mean by social skills?
Clearly specified teaching methods that have been shown in controlled research to be effective in bringing about desired outcomes in a delineated population of learners.

6. The Underlying Idea Why is social skills training needed?
Some learners need to taught social skills explicitly
In adolescence, inadequate social skills can lead to low social status among peers
Negative outcomes
Poor achievement
Drop-out
Victimization
violence

7. The Practice
Steps in social skills training: teaching learners how to:
Formulate goals for social interactions
Decode or interpret the most important cues in a social context
Decide on behaviors that would best meet the social goals for the situation
Perform the behavior and
Judge if the behavior was effective in meeting the goals
Generalization
Maintenance of social skills
Reduce competing problem behaviors

8. The Practice What social skills should be taught?
Conversation skills (including small talk)
Coping with conflict
Friendship skills
Group skills
These are skills most widely associated with social competence

9. The Practice How can social skills be taught?
Learners analyze what makes up social skill
Direct instruction on social skills
Explaining and modeling
These are skills most widely associated with social competence

10. The Practice Possible sequence of steps:
Describe and discuss the skills, explaining why this skill is important
Identify separate skills
Allow the learner to practice the skill in a structured situation providing feedback
Allow the learner to practice the skill and provide descriptive praise
Fade praise
Encourage those who work with the student to encourage the new skill
These are skills most widely associated with social competence

11. The Practice Sequence of intervention components: Rationale Modeling
Guided practice
Independent practice
generalization
These are skills most widely associated with social competence

12. The Practice Understand your own reactions
Be part of the solution NOT part of the problem!
These are skills most widely associated with social competence

13. The Evidence Hattie’s review
Effect size range from 0.2—0.87 with an average of 0.44
The lower range was attributed to resistance to intervention shown by some groups of learners

14. The Risks “Social Skills Classes” have limited value
Social Skills should be taught in natural contexts
Educators & Parents should determine what constitutes acceptable & unacceptable social behavior across settings
Consistently reinforce it
At school & at home

15. Resources
/chapter5.php