1. NYC Dept of Health & Mental Hygiene: Supported Education Training Initiative- Day VI: Identifying and Developing Critical Skills for School
Michelle G. Mullen, MS, CRC, CPRP
Brittany Stone, MS, CRC, CPRP
Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation
April 20, 2015

2. By the end of today, you will be able to…
Identify the characteristics of a SKILL
Assess skills using the Functional Assessment and the Student Checklist
Utilizes ROPES for skill teaching
Develop a Direct Skill Teaching plan

3. Outstanding Questions, Comments, Issues
Review of Day V
Outstanding Questions, Comments, Issues

4. What is a skill? Definition and Characteristics
What are some of your skills? Ask about work based learning
How do you know if something is a skill?
What is a skill?

5. A skill is… Behavioral: actions that can be seen or heard by others
Purposeful: it is intentional
Generalizable: can be used in a variety of situations
Compound: combination of knowledge and behaviors
Standardized: there is an ideal way of doing it
Stable: can see this in multiple observations

6. Examples of Skills by Type
Physical
Health: make medical appointments for screenings, follow up with recommended protocols, self monitor health conditions
Emotional
Wellness planning: monitor effects of medication, practice coping skills, reach out to others for support
Intellectual
Budgeting: itemize monthly bills, open a checking account, write checks, balance check book, identify discretionary funds

7. Levels of Skill Functioning
Spontaneous use: person can do the skill on their own in the described circumstances and the amount of times needed
Prompted use: can perform the skill when asked
Performance: can do the skill during a practice session simulating the described circumstances

8. What skills are necessary for a student’s success?
Complete in large group and write responses on white board

9. Skills/Behaviors- Example: Academic Setting
Generic Behaviors: all/most students will need these skills; brainstormed list of all possible behaviors
Show up on time
Take notes in class
Participate in class discussions
Complete homework assignments
Personal Behaviors: behaviors or skills that the student identifies as a barrier for him/her
Critical Skills: only the skills that are essential to meeting the person’s individualized goal
These skills are translated from the functional assessment and written as specific objectives on the person’s plan.
Eg. Complete homework assignments for each class on time.

10. What are the skills with which students struggle?
Concentrating 83.3%
Time Management 74.4%
Maintaining Stamina 70.5%
Memorizing Information 69.2%
Prioritizing Tasks 67.9%
Maintaining Organization 67.9%
Managing Symptoms 62.8%
Taking Tests 61.5%
Top Reported Difficulties:
Mullen-Gonzalez et al., 2011
Slide is animated so the question will appear first.
Now ask large group what are the skills they think students struggle with the most- circle these if already on the board.
How do we know if a student has the skills necessary for success in school?

11. Assessing Skills

12. SEd Assessment Measures
Academic Skill Assessment (functional assessment): looks at the person’s ability to perform a skill and the circumstances surrounding use
Resource Assessment: evaluates the resources the person needs to be successful (Session VII)
Student Checklist: asks the person how they manage a variety of skills and environments as a student
Handout Academic Skill Assessment first- spend a few mins having trainees look it over while you explain how to use it.
Then handout the Student Checklist- spend a few mins having trainees look it over while you explain.

13. Assessing Skills: Practice
Working in small groups brainstorm ways to evaluate your specific skill
Summarizing Information
Initiating Conversation
Developing a Study Plan
Prioritizing Tasks
Budgeting Time
Developing an Outline
After figuring out how to evaluate if someone has a skill, one person will perform the skill. Using the criteria you developed, assess the level of skill proficiency .
As a group, talk about how you would further develop the skill.
Each group should record what went well, outstanding questions, and what they learned.
Half the groups will do the Academic Skill Assessment and half will practice with the Student Checklist.
1hr.

14. ROPES & Direct Skills Teaching Plan
Teaching skills

15. Breaking Down a Skill Brainstorm all of the steps that are required
Start simple: laundry
Move to more complex: Time Management
List all of the behaviors
Should be less than 6
If more, perhaps then it is a compound skill?
Parse apart compound behaviors
Eliminate optional steps
Go back to last training’s work based learning- have 1-2 people share what they wrote down.

16. Lesson Plan: ROPES (see handout)
Review
Overview
Presentation
Exercise
Summary

17. Review: The Person’s Experience with the Skill
Introduce skill
Ask Structured open ended questions:
What they know
How they feel
What they can do already
Make connection with skill to Overall Recovery Goal (ORG)
Summarize the review

18. Overview: Provide Information from Content Outline
Introduce performance condition
Provide more details if needed
Explain terms thoroughly after each step
Definition of skill
Create an example of
completed skill
Discuss benefit
Introduce critical behaviors

19. Presentation: Teaching the Skill
Introduce the name of the behavior
Create an example of the behavior
Provide more behavioral information
Why is it important?
How to do it
When, where, and with whom to do it
Practice opportunity
Demonstrate each behavior
Practice each behavior
Critique performance
Explain anything that is unclear at each step
Create examples of unclear terms

20. Exercise: Practicing the skill
Practice all of the behaviors together
Critique skill performance
Write clear directions

21. Summary Knowledge check
Get the person to tell you what they have learned
Give additional information about using the skill
Discuss future learning activities

22. The Session Plan Script (Direct Skill Teaching) Stay Connected
Making the Point

23. Triad Work Orientation
Roles
The Skills Teacher
The Learner
The Observer
The Feedback Loop
The Supervisor’s Checklist

24. Practice Skill Teaching
In your small groups from earlier, develop a session plan
As a group, think through what you learned from assessing a skill and revise the specific behaviors
Develop the Lesson Plan
Teach the Skill (remember ROPES)
Using the triad approach
Review
Each group should document what went well, outstanding questions, and what they had difficulty doing
1hr

25. This is where we stop… Work based learning:
What were the three concepts you feel most confident in knowing?
What are the three areas that you still have questions about?
Next Training from 10am-4pm: Monday, May 18, 2015
Content from training can be found here:
Work based learning:
Conduct an Academic Skills Assessment or Student checklist with a current or prospective student. Then develop and implement a Direct Skills Teaching Plan for one of the skills identified.