Classwide Social Skills Program





GRADE 1 - 4 CLASSWIDE SOCIAL SKILLS PROGRAM


BELIEFS OF THE CLASSWIDE SOCIAL SKILLS PROGRAM


We believe that the long-term, healthy social development of children depends upon:
their acquisition of internalized standards of social and moral conduct; and,
their application of these standards to guide their actions in interpersonal situations

We believe that the goals for promoting social competence should result in children:
making and maintaining positive interpersonal relationships
feeling positive about themselves; and,
coping with life stresses

A successful strategy to promote social competence in young children needs to include:
strategies to accentuate particular social skills as being important;
the use of naturally occurring opportunities in schools for children to practice social skills; and,
receive clear and consistent consequences for prosocial behaviors.

OVERVIEW OF THE CSSP

The Classwide Social Skills Program has been successfully implemented in hundreds classrooms and has been a subject of research articles in scholarly journals. The following are some quotes from teachers who have implemented the program.
³It acknowledges the importance of behavior and discipline in the learning process and takes a positive, prevention-oriented stand.
³ It was concise, simple and easily carried on during regular activities.
It gives a positive, concrete structure to the teaching of many skills which must be in place before learning can occur.The children found it very motivating...complimented what I was already doing...
³. . .builds self-esteem. . .lesson plans done for us. . .social behavior improved. . . ²


The CSSP is a multi-element intervention that attempts to structure the classroom and school environments to foster heightened social competence in all children. The components consist of:
(a) classroom presentations of targetted social skills;
(b) teachers¹ prompts and reinforcement of children¹s use of the targetted social skill during natural occurring opportunities throughout the school day;
(c) on-site coaching in the implementation of the program.

Social Skills Selection
The 22 social skills that are promoted in the program represent a cross-section of skills addressing the following common deficit areas for maladjusted children: a) interpersonal problem solving (thinking); b) social behaviors (behaving); and, c) affect (feelings). The 22 social skills are presented in domains of communication skills, interpersonal skills, coping skills and classroom skills. The pace of introducing new social skills is determined by each teacher¹s judgment of the class¹readiness, but with the guideline of a new skill to be introduced each week for grades 1 to 4. Synchronization of skill introduction across classes enable schools to highlight the ³social skill of the week².


Social Skill Presentation
A social skill is introduced through a five-step training procedure, 20 minutes in duration, to orient children to the skill being targetted and its subskill components.

Adult-adult modelling of the skill. A social skill is modelled by two adults (classroom teacher and a ³facilitator²) role-playing a scene that demonstrates that skill in use.
Following this brief modelling of the social skill, the teacher solicits from the class the identity of components that composed the social skill (e.g. Teacher: Class, what was the first thing that Mrs. Beamer did to stay out of a fight?). The teacher displays pictorial cue cards depicting each subskill to assist children in understanding and recalling the components.

Adult-adult inappropriate demonstration. Next, the two adults role-play the social skill a second time, but intentionally omit a skill component. The children then are asked to identify which component was missing. This step gives children practice discriminating skill examplars from non-examplars - a teaching strategy that is important in concept formation.

Child-adult role-play. A child is then invited to practice the target social skill with the teacher in front of the class. The rest of the children are asked to be "good detectives" so that they could give feedback on the child¹s execution of the skill. Following the child-adult role play, the teacher refers to each of the cues cards and prompts the class to give feedback whether or not each of the skill components was demonstrated (e.g. "Did Frank stop what he was doing ?").

Child-child role play. Finally, two children are invited to practice the social skill, with the previously described procedures used to solicit class feedback.

Daily program activities The bulk of the program relies on teachers¹ use of naturally occurring opportunities throughout the school day to promote the target social skill. No further presentation of the social skill is conducted unless the teacher feels that the class needs more practice in identifying skill components.

Reinforcement system. Within the busy school day, it is often difficult for teachers to remember to praise children¹s behavior at sufficiently high rates to maintain student behavior change. For this reason, as well as to cue and motivate children¹s use of the target social skill, five children are selected by the teacher at random each day to wear a stick-on "sunshine badge". Following the presentation of a skill and at the beginning of each subsequent day, the teacher leads a class discussion to identify times during the school day when children can practice the target social skill (e.g. recess, music period, gym). The teacher then marks a "ray of sunshine" (line from yellow pen) on the badge of selected children when they are observed to be practicing the target social skill. To reinforce the behaviors of children not wearing badges that day and to fade the badge system, the teacher increasingly relies on "invisible rays of sunshine" (an imaginary line from a finger) and praise alone.

Daily review. At end of each school day, the teacher asks children with sunshine badges to describe how they earned their "rays of sunshine". The review is also an opportunity for the teacher to mention other children he or she noticed using the target skill and provide additional praise.

Homenotes. To encourage transfer of effects to the home, parents receive a homenote describing the target social skill and asking them to write an example of their child using that skill at home. Returned homenote are used by the teacher at the beginning of school days to mention childrenšs application of the social skill at home and to help remind children of the skill that is being promoted. As with the badge system, the homenote system should be faded out over time.

Self-Management. Grades 2, 3 students who had received the CSSP from January to June, additionally learn a set of self-management skills during September to December of the following school year. One self-management skill consists of "self-talk" instructional statements to mediate children¹s implementation of other social skills. These self-talk strategies are modelled and practiced during the previously described procedures for presenting a social skill.
A second self-management skill consists of children setting goals about their use of a social skill when a new skill is introduced. In provided workbooks, children identify one or more situations in which they plan to use the target social skill. Finally, during the daily review, children record in their workbooks the number of times they recall practicing the target social skill that day and circle one of three drawing of faces to indicate their satisfaction with their practice.

In-class facilitators. Teachers should learn the CSSP through co-teaching with a facilitator in the classroom. There are a number of advantages to this teacher support strategy: (a) it places low demand on teacher time; (b) the facilitator models the program components; (c) the facilitator can help the teacher tailor the program to better fit the class; and, (d) it is more efficient to "train the trainer" than to train directly all teachers.
Facilitators are expected to be present in each primary class to model the social skills program.
The classwide social skills program is designed to place minimal demands on teachers. No separate time for teacher training is typically needed. Teacher will learn the CSSP primarily through your modelling and discussions before and after lessons.
It is also very important to recognize that the success of the social skills depends upon it implementation during other times of the school day (e.g.- recess, transition in the hallway, gymnasium, lunch time). You should encourage collaboration among teachers in the school in promoting similar strategies for dealing with children¹s behaviors.
It is important to begin a routine when consulting with individual teachers. About 5 minutes with each teacher should be set aside before lessons to discuss what will occur in the lesson and issues that would impact upon its implementation. This is also the time to discuss strategies to manage the class and/or the behavior of individual children. You should meet with the teacher some time after the lesson to discuss how the social skills program is going and to provide feedback to the teacher.
It is important to use a collaborative approach to consulting with teachers, where you solicit and build on their strengths.

Monthly teacher meetings. Opportunities for teachers to share reactions about classroom techniques has been described as an important learning experience. Monthly, 45-minute meetings of teachers in the primary division should be held to discuss the implementation of the program and further adjustments that can be made.

Teacher manuals. The skill-by-skill implementation of the CSSP is described in a manual for grades 1 - 3 (approximately 250 pages) and a manual for kindergarten classes (approximately 75 pages). Both manuals contain cue cards depicting the components for each social skill and a sample script that illustrates the presentation of skills.
Manuals for both versions of the CSSP has been written to help facilitators and teachers. They contain the details of each lesson and an example of a possible script for conducting the lesson This script is not intended to suggest the specific words that a teacher should use, but is included to illustrate how the program works. It is important to realize that the social skills program will need to be adjusted to fit various classrooms and the comfort level of individual teachers.

Here are the cue cards for Ignoring Distraction social skill.

THE MANUAL IS OVER 250 PAGES, COVERING 22 SOCIAL SKILLS.

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