Sensational Social Skills: Be Kind

Do you have a student who always needs to win the game or be first in line? Some students struggle to think beyond themselves. This may impact their ability to develop positive relationships with peers. This week's Sensational Social Skills will feature strategies to help students make others happy using the Pillars of Performance (PoP) framework. 

PoP is a framework we use to help students acquire and apply social skills. These pillars include: PRACTICE, PRIME, PROMPT & PRAISE.  We have created a series of PoP cards to directly teach critical social skills.  

First, introduce the concept of thinking of others with a social narrative like the one below:

Social Narrative:   Going first, being right or winning the game feels good and makes us happy.  Everyone can’t be first or win every time. When you let others go first or you are a good sport when they win, they like being with you because you make them happy. Practice thinking of others and being kind and you will make friends and be happy!

Click the image below for a free handout of the Be Kind PoP card.  Print, cut out and laminate the card to use as a visual support when teaching this skill. 

Let’s PRACTICE!

Practice makes perfect. In order to master any skill your student will need to deliberately practice the skill. This makes it much easier to apply the skill in the moment when it is needed the most. Try some of these practice activities to strengthen skills. Repeat, repeat, then repeat.

1. Okay to lose- Play a simple game. Have the student practice going second or even last. The goal of the game is to play and lose with a positive attitude. The activity should be quick, so you can start a new game, providing plenty of opportunities to practice and praise this skill.  Give points or stickers each time the student responds in a positive way.  If the student struggles with not being first in line, create a visual to show a rotation of placement. This will provide structure and predictability to reduce anxiety.

2. Use a Calming Strategy- Help the student identify a quick in-the-moment calming strategy such as deep breathing or palm presses. Practice regularly so this strategy can be applied when the student is feeling anxious about losing or peer conflict. Click below to try some nature themed calming strategies from the Best Friend Books book MindFun.

3. Think about the other person- Use cartooning as a visual strategy to practice guessing what the other person is thinking in different scenarios. Draw stick figures with thought bubbles showing what people are thinking when someone lets them go first or congratulates them when they win.  Show what people are thinking when a person yells or becomes angry when they don’t win. It may not always be fair. Did the winner win because of skill or luck? Help the learner understand that most people have good intentions and just want to have fun. Click below to learn more about cartooning.

4. Say something nice- Create scripts (written or picture strips) to teach the student what to say in response to loosing or conflict. Replace “you always win, not fair” with “you are good, teach me how to win”. Use role playing to practice the script as you would practice for a play. Focus on positive responses for typically challenging situations. Click below to learn more about scripting.

5. Social Behavior Flowchart- Help the student see the long term consequence of being kind and thoughtful. Focus on the green path to make friends. Use this tool to resolve social conflict by considering the thoughts and feelings of others and identifying ways to compromise. Present this tool as a positive planning tool rather than a punative reaction. By giving the student the power to make good choices rather than coercing the student to comply, you will  help develop the students intrinsic desire to take responsibility and do the right thing. Click on the image below to get your free Social Behavior Flowchart!

Time to PRIME!

Use the priming bullets on the Be Kind card to review the strategies you have practiced. If these strategies are fresh in the mind of your student, the student is more likely to apply the strategies. Make a point of reviewing these strategies prior to situations where the student demonstrates anxiety about winning, being first or being right.  If a Social Behavior Flowchart has been completed for a situation that may occur, this is a good time to quickly review it.  If you have been practicing a script, provide a sentence strip to visually prime them for expected language. Finally, have the student engage in the calming strategy for a minute or more.  These are all strategies that have been practiced so the student should be very familiar with how to implement them. The priming session should be a positive pep talk to review these strategies and instill confidence in your student.  If the student does not like to talk about it, simply give them the card as a visual reminder. By priming the student, you are setting them up for success.

PROMPT

Even with a priming session, the student may become anxious or excited and forget to think of others. Use the Be Kind card as an in-the-moment, nonverbal prompt to be kind. If the student is showing signs of escalation, prompt or model the use of the calming strategy. Consider other nonverbal prompts such as tapping on the sentence strip (script) to cue positive language.

 

Give PRAISE!

Our final pillar is the most important. We know that in order to increase any skill we need to actively reinforce the skill.  Any time you notice that the student is thinking of others and being kind, give them praise.  Encourage peers to give positive feedback and facilitate the student’s intrinsic motivation for developing positive relationships.

That’s it! Those are the 4 pillars to teach your student how to be kind and begin developing positive peer relationships.  Each pillar is important in supporting the application and generalization of these critical skills. Taking the time to implement all 4 pillars will result in the outcome you want. It may take some time so be patient and have fun with it. Teaching the skill with a positive attitude will help the student develop a positive association with the strategies. Developing your student’s confidence and ownership of the goal will help your student succeed. 

Communication Corner: Peer-Mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII)

Peer-mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII) is an evidence-based strategy used to teach neuro-typical peers how to support and engage in social interactions with students who have Autism Spectrum Disorders. The goal of PMII is for the student with ASD to acquire a broader range of age-appropriate social skills by increasing peer interactions within natural contexts such as playgroups, lunch or recess. There are multiple programs for implementing PMII, but all involve systematic training and coaching of peers in various strategies for engaging in social interactions with students with ASD. In today's Communication Corner we will explain the 5 steps to building an effective Peer-Mediated Instruction and Intervention.

Step 1

Select an available and willing student (or students) who will model good behavior, communication and social skills. Some teams look for volunteers interested in helping others. It can also be helpful to find peers that share common interests with the student being supported.

Step 2

Train the selected peer(s), how they can best support the social interactions of the student with ASD. Some of the training may be general information about autism. There are a variety of great books available to introduce common characteristics. We particularly like the following for young students.

  



For older students, the following titles are great.

 


In many cases, it is recommended that the peer training includes specific information about the student whom will be supported such as ways they communicate, any unexpected behaviors that may arise, and information about special interests.

Angie Kleinhans
Stebbins High School, Mad River

Step 3

Provide ongoing feedback to the peers and give additional supports, such as scripts as needed. Give peers the opportunity to brainstorm ways that can further support their student. 

Rachel Engle
Horace Mann Elementary, Springfield

Also use feedback to plan for additional instruction to the student being supported to assist them in interacting with their peer buddy. 

Annette Baker
Miami East Elementary, Miami East

Nancy Cera
Brookville Elementary, Brookville

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Step 4
Implement the practice sessions through a variety of settings and classroom activities. We love this example of an interactive art activity where students provide directions to peers on how to do an apple rolling pin project using AAC and picture-supported communication.

Step 5
Teach the student with ASD to transfer and generalize the learned skills across the day to a variety of natural situations such as jobs, daily routines, recess time, or sensory breaks.

Emily Ottmar
Brantwood Elementary, Mad River

For more information, visit and view the PMII Modules at www.autisminternetmodule.org and https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/

Organization Station-- Waiting and Taking Turns

Students with autism and other social communication disabilities often struggle with waiting and taking turns during activities and games. These students often need these skills directly taught because they struggle to pick them up in the context of these social activities. Today's Organization Station focuses on strategies for teaching waiting and turn taking skills to help these students be more successful.

When directly teaching social skills, Carol emphasizes using the 4 Pillars of Performance--Practice, Prim, Prompt, and Praise.

Practice
To start, practice waiting and turn taking in a structured, predictable setting to reduce frustration. For some students, you may need to start with 1:1 sessions and gradually add additional practice partners to start generalizing these skills. Once the student shows success in a structured setting, begin practicing in naturally occurring locations. Sometimes, these skills can be addressed through class-wide structural supports that make turn taking more predictable.

We love this visual for remembering whose turn it is in a preschool classroom. The push pin moves daily to determine who the helper will be.

Jessica Burns
Demmitt Elementary, Vandalia

For some activities, everyone may get a turn but visual supports are needed to determine the order. A fun way is the use of turn taking sticks. All of the sticks can be mixed up in a container and the teacher can build anticipation and engagement through shaking up the container and choosing a stick. When their turn is over, students can choose the next student to go which is a great way to work on identifying peer names.

Prime
When staff anticipates the student will need to wait or take turns, they should prime the student to prepare them. Remind them of the strategies that have been practiced and present any priming visual supports that have been directly taught.

Carol developed a "WAIT" card that can be used to prime students when waiting in line, when waiting for their turn to speak, or when waiting for their turn during an activity. The back of the card lists strategies that have been directly taught to the student to help them cope with waiting. This can be presented to the student beforehand to prime them. The front of the card can be used to prompt the student in the moment to remind them to use their strategies.

Prompt
Visual supports can also be used to subtly prompt students in the moment.

This great visual tool can be held by students while they are waiting to keep their hands busy and prevent them from grabbing materials or game pieces.

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

The staff in Christine Scarborough's class at Tecumseh Elementary use these simple visuals to cue students when playing games. The yellow paper says "wait" and prompts students to stay seated while the green paper says "go" to let the student know when it is their turn.

Christine Scarborough
Tecumseh Elementary, Xenia

Praise
Once a skill has been directly taught, students should be praised and reinforced for using the skill during practice sessions and within the naturally occurring locations.

Around Town Round Up-- Speech Bubble/ Thought Bubble

Many students with autism and other social-communication deficits struggle with knowing when it is socially appropriate to say what they think and when it is better to only think those thoughts. For today's  Around Town Round Up our wonderful SLP, Carol Dittoe, will focus on strategies for teaching the skill of Speech Bubbles and Thought Bubbles.

We know the importance of presenting concepts and expectations to our students in a visual way.  Consider creating a speech bubble and a thought bubble that can be presented as a visual tool.  Laminate the tool and make it big enough to allow you or your students to write on it.

Speech bubble 

This image allows you to illustrate the importance of initiating important communication functions such as greeting, requesting, asking questions or giving feedback.  The speech bubble can remind students to “use words” to communicate rather than communicating with unexpected behaviors or expecting others to be mind readers.

Thought bubble 

The use of this visual is a great way to illustrate the concept of “thought”.  Some of our students may assume that every thought should be said out loud.  Teaching the concept of “keep it in your thought bubble” allows a student to have thoughts that they can keep to themselves or save for later when talking is expected. Teaching “keep it in your thought bubble” is a positive way to cue a student to “stop talking”.  If you have a student who often interrupts during instruction, you can prompt them to write it in a thought bubble and assure them that they can share this thought later.

Here is an activity to try:

• Laminate a stack of index cards with speech bubbles and thought bubbles. 
• Write words (draw simple pictures for non-readers) in the bubbles. 
• Quickly present the cards to the students and ask them to say all the words in the speech bubbles out loud, but keep the words in the thought bubbles in their mind.  This is a fun way to practice switching between speaking thoughts and keeping thoughts “in the bubble”. 
• Students can practice this activity on their own by working in pairs.

Other Activity ideas:

We have seen some other great examples of ways to practice this skill including the use of Speech Bubble/Thought Bubble dry erase boards, post-it notes, and even headbands for role playing!

Athenia Eversole
Versailles Elementary, Versailles

Cartooning:

Speech bubbles and thought bubbles can be used together in a cartoon format to illustrate social situations and show the perspective of others. For example, a student who does not see the perspective of another person may say comments that are true, but not realize they are being hurtful.  A cartoon with speech bubbles and thought bubbles allows you to illustrate what others may think and feel in response to unexpected words or behaviors.  Sometimes our students become upset when they misunderstand the intentions of others in a social situation. Showing the thoughts of others may help a student better understand the intentions of others.  While all of these thoughts and intentions can be explained verbally, we know that visual information is processed much more effectively than auditory information. When processing social situations, verbal dialogue alone can often overwhelm your student.  Visual strategies, such as cartooning can help illustrate difficult to grasp concepts about the social situation in a more effective and less stressful manner.

Learn More

If you are interested in learning more about these strategies there are some wonderful resources out there for you. 

Click the speech and thought bubbles below to be taken to the SocialThinking website for an article by Michelle Garcia Winner. 

Or to learn more about Cartooning click the book below to see where to purchase Comic Strip Conversations by Carol Gray.