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Group Topic: Peer Relationships and Social Skills Training 

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Group Topic: Peer Relationships and Social Skills Training 

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Everywhere Yet Nowhere Middle School Profile:

School climate: High standards and expectations of all students, effective school leadership, clear and shared focus, and high levels of collaboration.

Size: about 600 students

Student population: 51% White, 14.7% Black, 5.8% Asian, 23.6% Hispanic, 4.9% multiracial (other minorities)

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Our targeted audience of this Needs Assessment is to identify 7th grade boys and girls who show a deficit or impairment in social skills and obtaining positive peer relationships.
Without SEL Skills, middle school students are more likely to dislike school, and perform poorly on academic tasks and later experience grade retention and dropout ( Raver & Knitzer, 2002)

References

Raver, C.C., & Knitzer, J. (2002). Ready to enter: What research tells policymakers about strategies to promote social and emotional school readiness among three- and four-year-old children. Chicago: Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.

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A needs assessment is a survey completed by students, parents, teachers, and/or administrators that offers a data-informed direction for a comprehensive school counseling program.

References: https://www.counseling.org/resources/library/vistas/2011-v-online/article_41.pdf

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Why do we need social skills?

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Social Skills  - What are Socials  Skills - Improving Social Skills

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CASEL Framework for Social Emotional Learning

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CASEL Framework for Social Emotional Learning

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SEL 101: What are the core competencies and key settings?

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Mindset
M 2. Sense of acceptance, respect, support and inclusion for self and others in the school environment
M 3. Positive attitude toward work and learning
M 4. Self-confidence in ability to succeed

Behavior
B-LS 7. Long- and short-term academic, career and social/emotional goals

Self Management

B-SMS 6. Ability to identify and overcome barriers

Social Skills
B-SS 2. Positive, respectful and supportive relationships with other students who are similar to and different from them
B-SS 3. Positive relationships with adults that support success
B-SS 4. Empathy
B-SS 5. Ethical decision-making and social responsibility
B-SS 6. Effective collaboration and cooperation skills
B-SS 9. Social maturity and behaviors appropriate to the situation and environment

References
https://www.schoolcounselor.org/About-School-Counseling/ASCA-National-Model-for-School-Counseling-Programs/Templates-Resources

American School Counselor Association. (2019a). ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.)

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Where: Students will meet in the school library.  Group may move to a different location to practice skills (outside, the gym, etc).

When: The group will meet every Tuesday during EYN's flex period which is an hour long.  Flex is an extra period for making up classwork and getting extra help. The group will meet for 1 quarter of the school year.

Teachers: Information will be given to teachers explaining the group and its rationale. The teachers of the students in our group will receive a tracking sheet to monitor and report back on the student's developing social skills.

Parents will receive a letter home with information about the group including when, where, the group's rationale, and how we will conduct our sessions.

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Tips on Social Skills Groups from a Special Education Teacher - Resource

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Tips on Social Skills Groups from a Special Education Teacher - Resource

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Practical tips from real world experience

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As a middle school special educator, social skills have been one of my favorite areas to teach. These skills are so important but often get left behind, especially in the upper grades. These are a number of roadblocks to teaching social skills to kids and young adults, including now having enough time, difficulty scheduling a group, or just not having the right resources to get started. That's why as a curriculum specialist now, I feel it's so important to help educators find a way to teach these important skills. So many kids struggle with understanding others' perspective, engaging in peer conversations, making friends, managing their emotions, dealing with conflicts, and much more. These are all critical skills that help kids have success in school, with friends, and for the rest of their lives.

Sometimes it might feel like there is not enough time in the day for social skills instruction due to scheduling, academics, and other needs throughout the day. Still, there are ways to fit it in. If a middle or high school student still needs social instruction, it's critical they get it right away! Consider pulling a group out of study hall once a week for instruction, having a lunch group every day for a week, or structuring time for a morning meeting. It's important to think outside the box to find a time that works. Once you figure out the timing, here are some tips and strategies for making social skills groups work for you and your students:

Identify social needs ahead of time. Consider the students you are thinking of and what specific social skills they need the most. Start with the most important skills first and work your way through. For example, if a young adult is getting into trouble for acting out in aggressive ways, focus on managing emotions first. If you have a student who is constantly arguing with peers because they only see things one way, focus on perspective-taking. The term "social skills" is really a huge umbrella, so work to be purposeful about what specific skills you are teaching.

Involve peer role models. This can't be stressed enough! Inviting peer role models into a group can help kids feel more excited for the activities. Of course, it's no secret that kids learn best from other kids. Peer role models are perfect supports to help give appropriate social responses throughout activities. You really need these learners around to help support the other students who need the social skills the most.

Communicate with other educators and professionals. Let the students' teachers and other professionals know what skills the students will be working on. Encourage them to reinforce certain behaviors to help kids generalize the skills they are learning. I always found this extremely helpful because if I wanted to work on conversations with a group, the speech language pathologist could use strategies to help highlight the same skills. Communication and collaboration is key.

Give time to get to know each other. If students in your group aren't already friends, it's important to give time for them to develop relationships. Some students might feel nervous to meet in a small group with other kids they don't know well. Use your first session to give kids time to just get to know each other and start to feel more comfortable. Let students share important facts about themselves through activities or games. My favorite is "Two Truths and a Dream". In this activity, kids write down 3 things about themselves: two that are true and one that isn't true yet but is a dream for the future. Have students read their three statements and see if others in the group can guess what is true and what is a dream. Whatever icebreaker activities you choose, it's important to give that time so that all students can feel comfortable and open in the group.

Incorporate interests. Find out some interests for each student in your group. Work to incorporate those interests into your lessons. For example, if a few students love basketball, you can use references of playing on a team to teach about friendship skills and sportsmanship. If students are into art, you can teach acceptance by painting a picture and discussing how each of ours are different and unique. Adding those interests into the group will help kids feel more invested in the group, which of course leads to increased learning over time.

Teach social skills explicitly. Once you know exactly what skills you want to target, spend the time to explicitly teach those skills. Note that it's most helpful to really define your group to focus on the skills your students need. "Social skills" is a huge umbrella, so it helps to narrow down what social skills really need to be targeted explicitly. Some of my favorite social skills units to teach include perspective-taking, communication skills, and managing emotions. If you are struggling with where to start, consider this complete set of social skills lessons with activities and more. Let students know what skill you are working on, why it matters, and give practice with each skill in action. Kids and young adults need to know exactly what skills they need to improve and how to get there.

Use role-play. One of the most fun and effective way to learn some of these social skills is acting them out! Students can work in partners or small groups to act out a variety of situations. Have students role-play having a group conversation at lunch. Encourage kids to act out how to solve a disagreement with a friend. Those are just a few small examples! The options are really endless. Best of all, with the added practice, this strategy can really help the skills stick over time.

Encourage real-life connections. Give time for kids to relate their new skills to what is going on in their real lives. You can ask questions to prompt these connections, such as, "When have you seen someone use this skill in your life?" or "When do you think you might need this?"

Incorporate hands-on activities. Middle and high school kids need something active to keep them focused and engaged in social skills groups! Have students create interactive crafts, color, act out situations, and just get up and move. Kids will always remember more when they are doing something!

Add incentives (and make them learning activities, too). Let your students know that they will get 10 minutes of activity time at the end of the group if you get through what you need to. Then, of course, plan that activity to be centered around critical skills! Give time to play basketball, but discuss and encourage turn-taking as kids play. Watch a funny (but appropriate) YouTube video and see if kids can use their self-control to not laugh right away. In the small amount of time educators get to support kids with social skills, we really need to make every minute count.

Discuss real-life scenarios. Real-life situations can help kids understand social skills in a meaningful way. My favorite way to do that is to give a scenario and pose a question. For example, "You notice your partner in math has their head down. How might they feel? What can you do?" In this situation, kids can work on learning social cues, building empathy, and developing social problem-solving skills all from one scenario. You can make your own or use sets already created for you.

Give encouragement. I can't stress enough that learning new social skills will often take lots of practice, discussion, encourage, and repetition. Learning these skills is often challenging, especially for the kids who struggle socially. Know that it will take time, so provide lots of encouragement and positive reinforcement along the way.

Play games. Social skill learning can be tough for kids who struggle in this area. Sometimes kids even avoid participating because they are embarrassed or nervous to work on the skills head on. A perfect strategy for this is to play games. Blurt is one of my favorites to practice self control, while games like Pictionary can help encourage teamwork. I've even developed some games to specifically target skills like building empathy, improving social communication skills, or working on social problem-solving.

Provide follow-up. A few weeks after the group, check in with the students to see how they feel about what they've learned. Learning social skills is often an on-going and evolving process.

Get in the classroom. If possible, spend time in the students' classrooms to see those social skills in action! This is the best place to provide extra encouragement and reinforcement to make sure our learners are following through with what we've taught them. This can also be a great way to provide support to the classroom teacher, too.

Teaching social skills can be lots of fun and extremely rewarding when you see kids making social gains. If you are teaching older kids, give this complete set of Social Skills Lessons and Activities for Older Kids a try! It includes units and activities teach about basic interactions, managing emotions, conversations, empathy, and perspective-taking. Just some of the lessons and activities target being respectful, following directions, accepting criticism, working with others, understanding emotions, dealing with anger, understanding perspectives, accepting different perspectives, flexible thinking, understanding social cues, developing empathy, using perspectives to resolve conflicts, and more.

If you're needing resources for younger kids, try this set of Social Skills Activities for Younger Kids. It includes social skills task cards, lessons, worksheets, and social stories for teaching positive social behaviors. Skills targeted include basic interactions, conversations, empathy, friendships, dealing with conflicts, and more.

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15 Tips for Leading a Social Skills Group

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As a middle school special educator, social skills have been one of my favorite areas to teach. These skills are so important but often get left behind, especially in the upper grades.

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Age: 12 (7th grade)

Group Size: 10 students for a small, closed group

Parameters: Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, and caring are some characteristics that would make up our small group

“Good social skills are important contributors to socially competent behavior at every level of interaction. They may be defined as discrete, observable behaviors such as making eye contact, using suitable language, and asking appropriate questions that promote effective social interaction and contribute to the broader construct of social competence” (pg 323 Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P.).

References:

Broderick, P. C., & Blewitt, P. (2019). The Life Span (5th Edition). Pearson Education (US).

Rex, M. (2017, June 8). Small group counseling documents. Elementary School Counseling. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from http://www.elementaryschoolcounseling.org/small-group-counseling-documents.html

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Our aim is to assist 7th graders who need intervention in acquiring or demonstrating social skills amongst their peers.

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California Department of Education - Relationship Skills - Resource

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California Department of Education - Relationship Skills - Resource

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Investigate Relationship Skill competencies appropriate for each grade level band. Create a free account to access many more resources.

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DEFINITION:
Description of the competency, key ideas, and examples.

The abilities to establish, maintain, and restore healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities among individuals and diverse groups. This includes the capacity to use restorative practices to reflect on the impact of their words and actions and to repair and heal relationships with others. Relationship skills include abilities such as:

Listening actively, communicating effectively, and self-advocating

Developing mutually healthy and productive relationships

Making and maintaining trusting, respectful friendships

Demonstrating gratitude

Demonstrating cultural humility and competence

Practicing collaborative problem-solving focused on the common good

Attending to harm or conflict through restorative practices

Resisting negative social pressure

Showing leadership and contributing productively in groups

Standing up for the rights of others

(Adapted from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning 2020 )

RATIONALE:
Research-based reasons for developing this competency.

Developing relationship skills in students and adults is integral to:

Positive development, school engagement and success: Supportive, nurturing relationships with adults are essential to the healthy and holistic development of all young people. Warm, caring relationships where educators have high expectations and appropriately challenge young people to grow contribute to a stronger connection to school and higher grades (Osher et al, 2020; Roehlkepartain, 2017). The quality of relationships between teachers and students impacts students' participation, behavior, and long-term academic success (Roorda, 2011).

Building healthy relationships and navigating conflicts: Restorative practices are used both to proactively build healthy relationships and community, and respond to conflict and wrongdoing with the goal of repairing harm, rebuilding relationships, and restoring community (CASEL, 2020). Additionally, students who engage in conflict resolution and peer mediation programs demonstrate greater academic achievement, increased social support, self-esteem, and wellbeing, and decreased victimization, anxiety, and depression (Johnson & Johnson, 1996).
Cultural competency and humility: Cultural competence includes developing the capacity to navigate cultural differences; form connections with people from different social, racial, and cultural backgrounds in ways that honor their identity and culture; and solve problems across race, culture, gender, and social lines. Young people and adults require relationship skills in order to cultivate cultural humility "in which one recognizes the limitations of one's own culture and sees diversity as a potential asset" (Jagers, Rivas-Drake, & Borowski, 2018, p. 7).

STUDENT
AND
COMMUNITY STATEMENTS:
"I Can and We Can" short statements about the competency.

Student Statement: I can communicate clearly, listen to others, be open to solutions, and seek and offer help when needed to build positive and healthy friendships and other relationships with people who are similar and different from myself. I can make positive choices and prevent and resolve conflicts with care and respect.

Community Statement: We can build a sense of social and community responsibility by building positive, constructive relationships with individuals of diverse perspectives, cultures, languages, histories, identities, and abilities. We can prevent and resolve conflicts in ways that maintain and heal relationships.

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DEFINITION: Description of the competency, key ideas, and examples. The abilities to establish, maintain, and restore healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities among individuals and diverse groups.

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Questions for Potential Group Members when forming groups

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Questions for Potential Group Members when forming groups

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One counselor's take on important questions to ask potential members of small groups.

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When I am planning for and getting ready for group counseling, interviews with students are always a part of my planning process. I want to get information from their perspectives to help me better understand their experiences at school and at home as well as their perspective on their skills! Keep reading to find my 5 must-ask group counseling interview questions.

Group Counseling Interview Questions

1. What do you think it would be like to be in this group?

I always explain to students what the group will be like, the types of activities we'll do, and explain my expectations for participants. I want to better understand what they think it will be like to get a feel for their willingness to participate and their feelings about being a group member.

2. What is hard for you right not in school? with peers?

These questions help me better understand how the student sees themselves as a student and how they see themselves as a classmate and friend. They always have great insight about where they might need help, and while I have this information from screeners and interviews with teachers/caregivers, it's important for me to get their perspective too!

3. How are you feeling about school? peers?

I also want to get a read on how they're feeling about school and their relationships at school as well. This helps me understand what coping skills might be needed or what other lagging skills might need to be addressed in group.

4. What are you good at doing at school? outside of school?

In addition to knowing what students are struggling with, I also want to know what they're good at going! Understand student strengths can help me plan for ways to let their strengths shine in group. And knowing what they're good at doing outside of school gives me insight into their interests, which I can incorporate into the group to get more buy-in.

5. What do you like to earn?

For younger students, I also like to know what types of things they like to earn as I'm planning for behavior management. Do you like to earn time with adults, time with peers, tangible rewards, or something else? This helps me make a strategy for behavior management in the group as well. (Read more about Kindergarten group behavior management on this post.)

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When I am planning for and getting ready for group counseling, interviews with students are always a part of my planning process. I want to get information from their perspectives to help me better understand their experiences at school and at home as well as their perspective on their skills!

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The membership pool will be identified using one or more of the three categories.  Further screening will then take place to ensure a good fit between the student's goals and the goals of the group.

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School Counselors are recommended to include assessment, appraisal, and evaluation of delivery and program management in their school counseling program (ASCA, 2019a). School Counselors use data to evaluate and make changes to school counseling programs (ASCA, 2019a).

School counselors can track and evaluate student progress before, during, and after the intervention is put in place and revise interventions when needed. This work allows for collaboration with others within the school and provides a means to identify and remove systemic barriers
(Cook et.al., 2017).

SCRD (Single Case Research and Design Analysis) is appropriate for use in evaluating school counseling interventions due to its ability to be implemented quickly and its flexibility when adjustments must be made mid-study (Cook et al., 2017).

SCRD is a quantitative, experimental research approach that uses baseline logic (Sidman, 1960). As with other quantitative procedures, dependent variables (e.g., student behaviors) and independent variables (e.g., school counselor interventions or treatments) are necessary to conduct the study.

References

American School Counselor Association. (2019a). ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.)

Amy L. Cook, Robin S. Codding, Meghan Silva & Laura Hayden (2017) Enhancing School Counselor Research and Practice in Data-Based Assessment Through Single-Case Research Design, Counseling Outcome Research and Evaluation, 8:1, 48-62, DOI: 10.1080/21501378.2017.1327746

Sidman, M. (1960). Tactics of scientific research: Evaluating experimental data in psychology. Basic Books.

Sowell, S. M., Hunter, Q., Richey, K. G., & Baxter, C. (2020). Demonstrating School Counselor Efficacy in Individual Interventions Using Single-Case Research Design: A Guided Process. Professional School Counseling. https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X20904491

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Home - Association for Specialists in Group Work 

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Association for Specialists in Group Work - Resource

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Association for Specialists in Group Work - Resource

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Learn more about group work!

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Association for Specialists in Group Work - Our passion is group work

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ASGW stands with other ACA divisions in Affirming Choice. We unconditionally affirm that, as mental health professionals, we believe in the empowerment of women and that all human beings have rights to privacy and personal decision-making about their own bodies.

We are devastated by the recent senseless murders of grocery shoppers in Buffalo, NY, churchgoers in Orange County, CA and now schoolchildren and teachers in Uvalde, TX. We are grieving for their lives violently cut short and heartbroken for their shocked families.

Statement from ACA Divisions to affirm support for LGBTQIA populations in light of discriminatory initiatives and legislation nationwide, referencing the long history of ACA’s stance against discrimination as antithetical to the profession of counseling.

Presidential Statement from the ASGW Members Meeting, April 2021

ASGW Statement on Where We Stand and What We Believe

ASGW Statement on Anti-Trans and LGBTQIA Initiatives

ASGW Statement on this Divided Nation

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Home - Association for Specialists in Group Work

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We empower helping professionals with knowledge, skills, & resources to practice effective, socially just, and ethical group work in a diverse, global society.

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Group Counseling Document Examples - Resource

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Group Counseling Document Examples - Resource

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Includes sample items like Parent Consent Forms, Data and Surveys, Icebreakers, and Activities.

http://www.elementaryschoolcounseling.org/small-group-counseling-documents.html

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Learning from the students how their group experience went.

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National Association of School Psychologist Podcasts - Resource

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National Association of School Psychologist Podcasts - Resource