Teaching Social/Problem Solving Skills

Teaching Social/Problem Solving Skills By Kent Moreno

According to a corralational study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, social skills are the "number 1" factor in predicting future success for individuals with developmental disabilities. If you think about this it makes perfect sense. I have yet to meet a person who does not know someone who is extremely intelligent and competent yet, their poor social skills limit the individual's ability to be as successful as they might be.

Yet as important as social skills are, I can think of very few IEP's which contain specific goals and methods pertaining to the teaching of "social skills". Too often, it is assumed that just by putting individuals with Autism or other developmental disabilities in with their typical peers, that the individual will acquire these appropriate social skills. Research by Timbergen and Timbergen and others indicate that unless the individual with Autism or other developmental disability's level of cognitive impairment is mild that the individual will most likely not acquire these appropriate social skills unless they are specifically taught the appropriate responses.

Too often, when we are working with or parenting individuals with Autism or other developmental disabilities who have problem behaviors, we run across an attitude of "let the person experience the "natural consequences" for their behavior and, they'll quit doing "that". While natural consequences can be a powerful teacher for some, the problem for many individuals with Autism and other developmental disabilities is, because they have such a limited repertoire of skills, they know of no other way to act or react in a particular situation. Thus, regardless of the "natural consequences", these individuals will continue to behave in the same problematic manner.

One of my favorite strategies for teaching social/problem solving skills are "Social Stories" which were developed by Carol Gray.

A Social Story is a simple narrative of approximately a paragraph in length which seeks to teach an individual a new and appropriate response to a social or problem situation.

For example: John is walking down the hall. Mary walks up to John and says "hi John!" John smiles and says "Hi Mary!" John's teacher Ms. Baxter is very proud of John for saying "Hi" to Mary.

Social Stories, have a great deal of flexibility in how they are developed and thus can easily be individualized to take advantage of what is significant for a particular individual. Perhaps John is extremely resistant to social interaction, but, loves to be on the computer. e.g. John is walking down the hall. Mary walks up to John and says "hi John!" John smiles and says "Hi Mary!" John's teacher, Ms. Baxter is proud of John for saying "Hi" to Mary and lets him have 5 extra minutes of computer time.

The next example uses the same components but, teaches an appropriate response to a situation which results in the individual exhibiting problem behaviors.

Dustin is going from the kitchen to the family room as he goes up the step, he bangs his shin (you may need to teach Dustin what his shin is or use a word that is more familiar to him.). This hurts a great deal. Rather than hitting and kicking the walls, Dustin goes to Mom who puts ice on his shin and makes it feel much better. Dustin's Mom is very proud of Dustin for coming to her when he is hurt and tells Dustin's Dad what a big boy Dustin was when Dad comes home from work.

Notice in both examples how easy it is to visualize the situation and the appropriate response.

Social Stories are comprised of three sentence types; Descriptive, Directive and, Perspective.

The "Descriptive" sentence describes the environment where the learning is to occur. e.g. Dustin is going from the kitchen to the family room as he goes up the step...

The "Directive" sentence describes the appropriate response to social or problem situation. e.g. John smiles and says "Hi Mary!" Note that in this example, both the appropriate non-verbal and verbal responses are described.

The "Perspective" statement describes the reaction of others in the environment towards the individual for their exhibiting the appropriate response. e.g. Dustin's Mom is very proud of Dustin for coming to her when he is hurt and tells Dustin's Dad what a big boy Dustin was when Dad comes home from work.

When developing Social Stories, make sure that you use real environments and people and that both the locations and character described in the Social Story (except of course for the main character, the learner) are varied. This helps to ensure that the individual will be able to demonstrate the appropriate response in all locations and with all persons.

Some final considerations, a Social Story will usually need to be repeated a number of times before the individual masters the targeted skill. Reinforcing the story with pictures of the environment and the interaction will make the learning process more visual and usually increase the likelihood and rapidity of the person acquiring the new skill. And, whenever possible and, prudent, try to set up the environment so that after reviewing the social story with the individual, the situation actually occurs. e.g. After reading the social story about greeting Mary in the hall, we go out into the hall for a drink of water and who should happen to be there but, Mary who says "Hi John".

Added by Kat Moncol January 27, 1998 at 10:20