Social skills pdf

66 Important Social Skills for Kids (Printable PDF)

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What social skills will my kid need to develop?

There are few parents or educators that have not explored at some point in time questions related to social skills for kids.

We wonder how we can help our kids with social skills.

We fear they may be struggling to make friends.

We get disappointed when they don’t address their elders respectfully.

And for those of us with kids with special needs, lack of social skills is a reality that we need to work on every day.

In today’s post, you will find a comprehensive checklist of social skills for kids that may give you ideas of areas you may need to develop or work on.

You will also be able to download a social skills printable PDF (poster size)  at the end of the post.

(Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon. com and affiliated sites. You can also read our Disclosure & Disclaimer policy here)

What are Social Skills?

Social skills are those skills we use every day to communicate and interact in society, both verbally and non-verbally.

Why are Social Skills Important for Kids?

Social interaction is a key component of human learning.

Children learn about norms and acceptable behaviors through their social interaction with parents, teachers, and, later in life, peers.

Good social skills will help kids successfully interact in social situations, build positive relationships and have a better self-image.

Examples of Social Skills

The list of social skills that will help us succeed in social situations is long.

Different skills are interwoven to facilitate more complex ones.

Let’s take as an example the skill “Being able to start and maintain conversations”

If we wish to train that skill in a kid or an adult, we will also have to train several different skills like:

• Making good eye contact
• Respecting personal space
• Reading facial expressions
• Using open-ended questions
• Active listening
• Empathy

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Social Skills Activities for Kids: 50 Fun Exercises for Making Friends, Talking and Listening, and Understanding Social Rules

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Understanding Social Skills for Children

This post will capture a selection of more than 60 very important social skills that may help our kids (or us adults!) interact successfully in social situations.

Before we move into the checklist itself, let me explain how I have organized these sets of skills, to help you assimilate the enormous amount of information you will find in the social skills checklist.

You will find them organized in the following relevant sections:

1. 1. COMMUNICATION
      VERBAL COMMUNICATION
      Verbal communication is the use of sounds to express yourself.
      There are different types of verbal communication like interpersonal communication, communication in groups and public speaking.
      NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS
      Non-verbal communication may be as important as verbal communication. Social success may rely on occasions on non-verbal messages.
      Non-verbal communication may:
      -replace verbal communication in some situations
      -complement, modify or contradict what we say in our verbal communication.
      Non-verbal skills are divided into:
      -body language (eye contact, posture, facial expression, personal appearance)
      -paralanguage (voice tone, voice volume, voice inflection)
   2. LISTENING
      Listening skills are essential for effective social communication.
      Have you ever been in a situation in which you are so focused on sharing your own views that you miss out on what is going on around you?
      Or have you ever told your kids that hearing you is not the same as listening to you?
   3. FEELINGS & EMOTIONS
      Being able to identify, label, and express their own emotions and others’ emotions is an important part of kids’ social and emotional development.
   4. PARTICIPATING IN GROUPS  & SPEAKING UP FOR THEMSELVES
      Have you ever looked at a kid and thought, he/she is good in one-on-one interactions, but he/she is lost in a group situation.
      Groups have their own social rules.
      Being part of groups, our kids also need to learn to speak for themselves, show respect, kindness but be able to stand their ground.
      More on the topic: Assertiveness for Kids
   5. PROBLEM-SOLVING
      Problem-solving is a lot more than an academic skill. Maths is probably the first thing that comes to mind when most people think about problem-solving. Problem-solving in life and in the social context is a key skill.

➡️ Recommended reading: 101 Ways to Teach Children Social Skills

Checklist of Social Skills for Kids

(FREE Social Skills for Kids Poster download at the end of this post!!!)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

VERBAL COMMUNICATION

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Introducing yourself
            2. Starting a conversation
            3. Maintaining a conversation
            4. Giving a compliment
            5. Accepting a compliment
            6. Learning how to finish a conversation
            7. Learning how to speak in public
            8. Learning how to address different people (a peer, a teacher, the principal, a stranger)

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

1. 1. 1. 1. 9. Using the appropriate tone of voice
            10. Using an appropriate volume of voice
            11. Making eye contact
            12. Learning about facial expression
            13. Using gestures to convey information
            14. Respecting personal space
            15. Use of touch / Touching others
            16. Learning about body posture
            17. Learning to read body language
            18. Understanding personal appearance and “decoding” it

LISTENING SKILLS

1. 1. 1. 1. 19. Learning to listen with complete attention
            20. Teaching active listening
            21. Problem-solving in a social /group context
            22. Learning to negotiate

FEELINGS & EMOTIONS

1. 1. 1. 1. 23. Identifying emotions
            24. Labeling emotions
            25. Expressing emotions
            26. Learning to express strong feelings like anger appropriately 

PARTICIPATING IN GROUPS

1. 1. 1. 1. 27. Joining a group
            28. Meeting new people
            29. Asking questions during conversations
            30. Learning to share
            31. Learning to cooperate
            32. Taking turns
            33. Not interrupting while others speak
            34. Following rules
            35. Accepting diversity
            36. Being patient
            37. Being assertive
            38. Accepting other people’s opinion
            39. Coping with criticism
            40. Providing feedback to other people’s opinions
            41. Learning about empathy
            42. Using good manners
            43. Asking for permission

TAKING CARE OF ONESELF & OTHERS / SPEAKING  UP FOR YOURSELF

1. 1. 1. 1. 44. Learning to ask for help when needed
            45. Helping your friends when they need help
            46. Showing kindness to others
            47. Showing interest in others
            48. Understanding how others feel about the way you act
            49. Learning the meaning of friendship
            50. Showing respect
            51. Apologizing
            52. Learning to forgive
            53. Learning about bullying and how to avoid it
            54. Learning to express your opinions assertively
            55. Learning to say no
            56. Learning to apologize
            57. Problem-solving in a social /group context
            58. Learning to negotiate
            59. Knowing what you can and can’t share about yourself with others

PROBLEM-SOLVING

1. 1. 1. 1. 60. Learning to identify problems and describe them
            61. Generating solutions /alternatives
            62. Predicting consequences for those alternatives
            63. Choosing the alternative that best solves the problem
            64. Taking action to solve your problems
            65. Learning to compromise
            66. Understanding behaviors that can lead to problems

Other Social Skills Resources in this Blog

• Social Skills ACTIVITIES for kids
• Social Skills Games for Kids
• Assertive Communication Worsheets
• I-Statements Worksheets
• Conversation Starters
• Roll the Question Dice Activity
• Friendship Activities for Kids
• Empathy Activities for Kids
• Conflict Resolution Activities for Kids
• Learn how to read anger signs

FREE Social Skills for Kids POSTER ⬇️

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66 Social Skills for Kids to Succeed in Social Interactions

10 Best Activities + PDF

Being socially awkward is not just a problem kids face; adults can battle with social skills too, leading to anxiety and even serious phobias.

Struggles with social skills in adulthood can cause avoidance of social situations and interfere with building long-lasting relationships.

Providing social skills training to clients with anxiety, fear of public speaking, and similar issues could ensure more optimal functioning.

This article provides strategies and training options for the development of various social skills. Several resources to help target specific struggles related to the development of social skills in adults are also included, and the approaches can be tailored to improve social responses in specific domains.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free. These science-based exercises will explore fundamental aspects of positive psychology including strengths, values, and self-compassion, and will give you the tools to enhance the wellbeing of your clients, students, or employees.

This Article Contains:

• Social Skills Training for Adults Explained
• Social Skills Coaching: 2 Best Activities
• Role-Playing Exercises: 4 Scripts & Examples
• Top 2 Resources & Worksheets
• 4 Insightful Videos & Podcasts
• PositivePsychology. com’s Helpful Tools
• A Take-Home Message
• References

Social Skills Training for Adults Explained

Social skills training includes interventions and instructional methods that help an individual improve and understand social behavior. The goal of social skills training is to teach people about verbal and nonverbal behaviors that are involved in typical social interactions (“Social,” n.d.).

Social skills training is usually initiated when adults have not learned or been taught appropriate interpersonal skills or have trouble reading subtle cues in social interactions. These instances can also be associated with disorders that impede social development, such as autism.

Therapists who practice social skills training first focus on breaking down more complex social behaviors into smaller portions. Next, they develop an individualized program for patients, depending on what social skills they need to work on, and gradually introduce those skills to their patients, building up their confidence through gradual exposure.

For instance, a person who has trouble making eye contact because of anxiety in social situations might be given strategies to maintain eye contact by the therapist. Eye contact is the foundation for most social interaction, and interventions will often start with improving the individual’s ability to maintain eye contact.

During therapy, other challenging areas will be identified such as starting or maintaining a conversation or asking questions. Each session will focus on different activities that typically involve role-play and sometimes will take place in a group setting to simulate different social experiences.

Once confidence has been built up during therapy or social skills group settings, these social skills can be brought into daily life.

Useful assessments: Tests, checklists, questionnaires, & scales

Before engaging your clients in social skills interventions or any type of therapeutic intervention, it is important to determine if social skills therapy is a good approach to help them with their current situation.

The Is Social Skills Training Right for Me? checklist is a self-assessment opportunity for clients to determine if social skills therapy is appropriate for their specific situation or if another approach will be more beneficial.

However, self-assessment activities can sometimes be unreliable, as the individual might not fully understand the treatment models that are available to them. Additionally, if a client has issues with social skills, they may not be aware of their deficiencies in social situations.

In these situations, therapists should ask clients about the issues they are having and encourage them to engage in self-questioning during sessions.

9 Questions to ask your clients

Prior to starting social skills training or activities, the therapist and client should narrow down which areas need help. A therapist can do this by asking the client a series of questions, including:

• Where do you think you are struggling?
• Are there any social situations that make you feel anxious, upset, or nervous?
• Do you avoid any specific social situations or actions?
• Have you ever had anyone comment on your social behavior? What have they said?
• What do you think will help you improve the skills you are struggling with?

Clients can also ask themselves some questions to determine if the social skills therapy process is right for them.

These questions can include:

• What aspects of my life am I struggling with?
• Are there specific social situations or skills that I struggle with?
• Do I have trouble keeping or maintaining relationships with friends, family members, and coworkers?
• Am I avoiding specific social situations out of fear?

Getting clients to ask these questions will help determine if this process will benefit them. Having clients “buy in” to the process is important, to ensure that the approach is right for them and increase the likelihood that they will be engaged to complete activities with a reasonable degree of efficacy.

Social Skills Coaching: 2 Best Activities

Eye contact is considered one of the most important aspects of communication.

It is estimated that adults make eye contact 30–60% of the time in general conversation, increasing to 60–70% of the time when trying to form a more intimate relationship (Cognitive Development Learning Centre, 2019).

Giving people who are struggling socially the tools to make more eye contact is usually the first step in social skills training exercises.

The Strategies for Maintaining Eye Contact worksheet provides some practical strategies and tips to practice making eye contact.

Sometimes, people who struggle with making eye contact overcompensate, leading to social blunders while simply trying to increase their ability to socialize effectively. This handy worksheet on Do’s and Don’ts When Making Eye Contact breaks down exactly what is acceptable when making eye contact and what behaviors should be avoided.

Role-Playing Exercises: 4 Scripts & Examples

Often, one of the most prominent struggles for people lacking social skills is starting a conversation, especially with people they are not familiar with.

Fleming (2013) details a helpful method for people who struggle with starting conversations. The ARE method can be used to initiate a conversation and gain an understanding of the person’s interests to facilitate a strong relationship.

• Anchor:
  Connect the conversation to your mutually shared reality (e.g., common interests) or the setting in which you encountered the individual.
• Reveal:
  Provide some personal context to help deepen the connection between you and the other person.
• Encourage:
  After giving them some context, provide the other person with positive reinforcement to encourage them to share.

This worksheet Starting a Conversation – The ARE Method guides participants through each step in the ARE process. It also provides examples of how the ARE method can be incorporated into a typical conversation and used as a workable strategy in social skills training activities.

A Guide to Small Talk: Conversation Starters and Replies provides an outline of conversation ideas to help start any conversation, no matter the setting.

After developing the ability to start a conversation, being able to project assertiveness and understand one’s limits is essential in ensuring clear communication.

These worksheets on Different Ways to Say ‘No’ Politely and Using ‘I’ Statements in Conversation facilitate assertive communication and give clients the confidence to set personal limits.

Top 2 Resources & Worksheets

Problem solving is another skill people seeking social skills therapy often want to develop further.

A lack of opportunity to learn coping strategies and difficulty with emotional regulation have been associated with anxiety and low problem-solving abilities (Anderson & Kazantzis, 2008).

An individual’s lack of ability to problem solve in social situations significantly affects their ability to come up with reasonable solutions to typical social problems, which in turn, causes them to avoid more difficult social situations.

Practicing social problem solving is a key component of social skills training. This worksheet on Social Problem Solving allows your clients to define the problems they are facing and rate the potential solutions from low to high efficacy.

Based on the rating, therapists can instruct clients to practice their social reasoning during sessions. Practicing these skills builds clients’ confidence and increases the likelihood that they will access these solutions under pressure.

Similarly, the Imagining Solutions to Social Problems worksheet implements a related process, but challenges participants to engage in a visualization activity. While engaging in visualization, participants have the opportunity to imagine what they would say or do, and reflect on what they have learned and why the solution they chose was best for that particular problem.

4 Insightful Videos & Podcasts

Supplementing modeling and practical activities with interactive audio-visual aids, such as podcasts and videos, is an essential practice in ensuring that patients seeking social skills training are getting multiple perspectives to develop their social intelligence.

Below, we have provided resources to help your clients with different social skills and situations.

Videos

An introvert’s guide to social freedom – Kaspars Breidaks

This TEDx talk focuses on providing guidelines for self-identified introverts. In this video, Breidaks frames introversion as an opportunity, rather than a weakness.

Based on his experiences moving from a small town to a big city and eventually starting improv comedy, he developed a workshop to help integrate principles of improvisation into social skills training.

His workshops focus on creating connections through eye contact and breaking through shyness by training the small talk muscle. Because of his experience, he recommends you say yes to yourself before saying yes to others. Breidaks theorizes that only by developing our awareness of our own true emotions and thoughts can we become more comfortable interacting with others.

This video is helpful if your patients need workable tips to improve their interactions with strangers and is an excellent complement to some of our worksheets on developing skills for small talk.

10 Ways to have a better conversation – Celeste Headlee

This TEDx talk is focused on tactics to have more effective conversations. In her TED talk, Headlee emphasizes the importance of honesty, clarity, and listening to others as well as yourself.

Headlee shares her ideas about how to talk and listen to others, specifically focusing on sustaining clear, coherent conversation and the importance of clear, direct communication.

She argues that technology has interfered with the development of interpersonal skills, stating that conversation is an art that is fundamentally underrated and should be emphasized more, especially among young children.

The main point Headlee tries to get across is to avoid multitasking and pontificating during conversation. Individuals who are struggling with active listening and keeping a conversation going would benefit from the tips she offers in this video, as she uses a lot of the same principles when interviewing her radio guests to ensure that she is getting the most out of their appearances.

She specifically emphasizes the importance of being continually present while talking and listening to someone, which is strongly emphasized in social skills training.

Podcasts

How Can I Say This – Beth Buelow

This podcast provides tips and advice on challenging social situations including navigating difficult conversations, giving and receiving feedback in a professional setting, and negotiating your salary.

Each episode also provides techniques or approaches to help listeners become more confident when dealing with different social situations. The podcast also takes listener questions about dealing with social situations and issues.

If your clients are struggling with introducing themselves to new people, they may benefit from the episodes on talking to strangers and how to have difficult conversations.

Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Social Skills Coaching – Patrick King

King specializes in social interaction and communication, and he is a social skills coach based in San Francisco, California.

King focuses on using emotional intelligence and understanding human interaction to help break down emotional barriers, improve listeners’ confidence, and equip people with the tools they need for success.

Although King’s expertise is centered on romantic relationships, this podcast provides strategies to improve one’s emotional awareness and engage in better communication.

People engaging in social skills training would benefit from the episode on social sensitivity, which examines the social dynamics of the brain. It also explains why our brains are programmed to respond more to specific traits (e.g., warmth, dominance) and why people with those traits are often elevated to higher positions within the social hierarchy.

Available on Apple Podcasts.

PositivePsychology.com’s Helpful Tools

There are several resources available on our website to complement the social skills training that you are providing to your clients.

Our Emotional Intelligence Masterclass© trains helping professionals in methodology that helps increase their client’s emotional intelligence.

The client workbook has several exercises that practitioners can give their clients to develop an awareness of their emotions and, subsequently, understand how those emotions might contribute to interactions with others.

Our Positive Psychology Toolkit© provides over 400 exercises and tools, and the Social Network Investment exercise, included in the Toolkit, focuses on reflecting on a client’s current social network. By further looking into the amount of time and investment devoted to the members of their social network, clients can further identify who is supportive of their endeavors and who negatively affects experiences.

With this knowledge, relationships can be analyzed before devoting even more time and investment that might not facilitate positive emotions.

People who struggle with initiating conversation might also have trouble talking about their emotions. Our exercise on Asking for Support, also in the Toolkit, can provide assistance to someone having trouble communicating their emotions.

It also provides strategies to practice asking for help when needed. This exercise also gives you the opportunity to identify any personal barriers that are impending your ability to seek help from others.

You might be interested in this sister article, Social Skills Training for Kids, which provides top resources for teachers. To enhance your knowledge, our Social Skills Books for Adults & Kids is a must-read selection of top books.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others enhance their wellbeing, this signature collection contains 17 validated positive psychology tools for practitioners. Use them to help others flourish and thrive.

A Take-Home Message

Improving social skills is an important skill to develop for anyone trying to facilitate professional and personal connections.

However, sometimes clients might not even realize they need targeted interventions to help with their social skills, and they might approach a therapist with other challenges around anxiety entering new situations.

For that reason, we hope this article provided valuable options for the development of social skills, with useful activities and social skills worksheets to be incorporated into your sessions.

We encourage you and your clients to explore these exercises together and engage in goal-setting tools to target areas that will benefit their daily lives, relationships, and communication.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free.

• Anderson, G., & Kazantzis, N. (2008). Social problem-solving skills for adults with mild intellectual disability: A multiple case study. Behaviour Change, 25(2), 97–108.
• Cognitive Development Learning Centre. (2019). Training eye contact in communication. Retrieved May 4, 2021, from https://cognitive.com.sg/training-eye-contact-in-communication/
• Fleming, C. (2013). It’s the way you say it: Becoming articulate, well-spoken and clear (2nd ed.). Berrett-Koehler.
• Social skills training. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia of mental disorder. Retrieved May 4, 2021, from http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Social-skills-training.html

Psychological and pedagogical conditions for the formation of social skills in young children

%PDF-1.5 % 10 obj > /Metadata 4 0 R >> endobj 5 0 obj /Title >> endobj 20 obj > endobj 3 0 obj > endobj 40 obj > stream

Criteria and levels of formation of social skills of students, methods of diagnosing them

Author : Evglevskaya Snezhana Vladimirovna

Heading : Pedagogy

nine0009 Posted in young scientist No. 44 (230) November 2018

Publication date : 11/01/2018 2018-11-01

Article viewed: 4093 times nine0005

Download electronic version

Download Part 3 (pdf)

Evglevskaya, S. V. Criteria and levels of formation of social skills of students, methods of their diagnosis / S. V. Evglevskaya. - Text: direct // Young scientist. - 2018. - No. 44 (230). - S. 268-270. — URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/230/53465/ (date of access: 01/28/2023).

 nine0005

The article discusses the criteria and levels of socialization of schoolchildren, the methods of diagnosing are given.

Key words: socialization, social skills, abilities, pupil, student, boarding school, criteria, diagnostics.

The socialization of the individual is a complex continuous process of human interaction with society. In the process of socialization, a person is formed as a member of the society to which he belongs. nine0005

The development of social skills is considered as one of the components of the content of the process of socialization of the individual. “Social skills are a set of methods and techniques of social interaction that a person masters throughout his life path and uses to live in society, establishes his balance with others” [1, 133].

The following groups of social skills should be distinguished:

‒ communicative — skills of effective communication. These include: use the means of verbal and non-verbal communication, ease of establishing contact, maintaining a conversation, arguing one's own opinion, etc.; nine0005

- perceptual - understand the emotional state of another person, take the position of another, show and accept sympathy, support, etc. ;

- cognitive - "to see problems in joint activities and solve them, apply the acquired knowledge in non-standard situations";

- organizational - to plan collective activities, determine ways and means to achieve the goal, evaluate resources, the ability to resolve conflicts, etc.;

- reflexive - "the skills of self-control, self-regulation, self-organization, self-management, to correlate one's behavior with the behavior of others, to analyze oneself" [2, 25]. nine0005

The analysis of the considered social skills made it possible to identify the components of the adolescent's socialization: activity-behavioral, cognitive, reflective-evaluative component.

The activity-behavioral component shows the formation of students' skills of full communication and interaction with adults and peers, including when performing socially significant activities.

The cognitive component is the student's perception of social information at the level of sensations, knowledge, skills. nine0005

The reflexive-evaluative component is manifested in the ability, on the basis of values ​​and existing knowledge about oneself and others, the rules of behavior, to explain and evaluate one's behavior, evaluate the act of another person.

Based on the presented components of socialization, it is possible to identify the levels and criteria for the formation of students' social skills, which are presented in Table 1.

Table 1

Levels and criteria for the formation of social skills of students

Literature:

1. Kodzhaspirova, G. M. Pedagogical dictionary [Text]: for university students / G. M. Kodzhaspirova, A. Yu. Kodzhaspirov. — M.: Academia, 2005. — 175 p.
2. Comma, O. F. Formation of social skills of younger students in the educational environment of the school [Text]: author. dis.... cand. ped. Sciences: 13.00.01 / O. V. Comma. - Krasnoyarsk, 2011. - 181 p. nine0004

Basic terms (automatically generated) : reflexive-evaluative component, cognitive component, skill, basis for assessing the situation, way of behavior, action, social activity, rule of conduct, social skill of students, way of solving.

Keywords

socialization, social skills, skills, student, student, boarding school, criteria, diagnostics

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