You may have heard the term before but what is the definition of social skills? And why is it important for our students?
The Definition Of Social Skills
In the most basic form, the definition for social skills is one’s ability to interact and communicate with others. Communication is both in verbal and nonverbal forms. As a reminder, verbal means things that you say. Nonverbal means things like body gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice.
This basic definition of social skills involves everyone from ages 1-99. There isn’t a span of age on it. Everyone is able to notice some type of communication between people, even if it isn’t in the form of a common language.
Social skills is a type of smarts. We have book smarts – those who can rattle off factual information found in a textbook. Street smarts – those who can give great real-life information. And now social smarts – those who are able to easily interact and communicate with others in an appropriate way.
What Does It Mean To Have Good Social Skills
Now that we know a short definition of social skills, what does it mean to have good ones vs. poor ones?
Good skills are just that, those who have the ability to interact appropriately and communicate well with others. This means you are able to say the right things at the right times. It also means you are able to respond to a situation in an appropriate way (similar to the size of the problem/reaction).
A lack of social skills definition would be just the opposite. This is someone who struggles with understanding basic skills that are necessary to interact and communicate with others. This person would struggle to be around peers in the classroom. They might do things that would be seen as “atypical”. This can lead to things like not having someone to play with at recess, struggling to find a partner during activities or even has a hard time doing partner or group work.
What Are The Basic Social Skills
Wondering what are the most important social skills?
There are 13 basic social skills. These 13 skills are:
- Listening
- Sharing
- Making eye contact
- Following directions
- Working well with others
- Respecting personal space
- Using manners & polite words
- Taking turns
- Being a good sport
- Waiting and having patience
- Focusing on what you are doing
- Having an appropriate reaction to the problem
- Good hygiene
If you are wondering what some of these things are or want it broken down a bit, visit this post for more information on what do social skills include.
So What is the Definition of Social Skills Training?
Social skills training is just that, working on getting better at your skills in that area.
Training is often done in a specific area of struggle. So if a student is struggling to have a reaction size that fits the problem, training would be done on the size of the problem.
This specific training is often done in small groups. A group of 3-4 students is a great size. It leads to conversations happening and new ideas forming from what others say and do. Groups also help to give a social component to the training. Role playing also is done best in a group setting.
Teachers will often do this as part of a behavior plan. If you are looking for an easy step-by-step process to writing an amazing behavior plan, I got you covered. Tell me where to send this guide to and it will be delivered straight to your inbox.
Social Skills Training
So does social skills training work? I’ve seen some great success with direct instruction on a specific topic.
Giving direct instruction followed by plenty of practice can be very helpful. Sometimes awareness of a subject just needs to happen. Other times, students need to practice in a safe setting or they just need to practice until it becomes a more generalized skill.
If you are looking to start social skills instruction, check out this beginning social skills resource. There are 2 lessons – totally scripted out for you. All the materials are provided so you need to do is print and some minimal cutting. Students will be given the meaning and definition of social skills in one lesson. The other lesson focuses on noticing social things and thinking with your eyes. There are also several included activities for students to practice this new information. Find this resource here.
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More On Social Skills Definition And Examples
Check out PBS.org for some great information on what is the definition of social skills along with a breakdown by age. You can click different age groups to see what skills are developing when.
Read this article from ChildNexus for the definition of social thinking skills and more on the program from Michelle Winner.
For more on types of social skills training and groups, check out this post on Understood.
Happy Teaching!
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