Direct-Instruction Sequence for Teaching Social Skills

1. Describe the skill and why it is important (rationale). The description should include the task-analyzed steps of the skill being taught.

EXAMPLE: “Today we’re going to learn how to ask a friend to play with you. When you know how to ask a friend to play, you can play games that you like during recess and after school. Toni, you like to jump rope. You might ask a friend to play jump rope with you. Blake, you like to run. You could ask a friend to play tag with you.” (Teacher would continue giving an example of how this skill could benefit each student.)

“Here’s how you ask a friend to play” (pointing to a chart with written or pictorial steps of the skill):

· Think about what game you would like to play.

· Decide which friend you want to ask.

· Walk over to your friend.

· Look at your friend and say in a nice voice, “Would you like to playwith me?”

· If your friend says “no,” choose another friend to ask.

2. Demonstrate the skill. Usually the paraprofessional or another adult assists the teacher with this step. You should demonstrate the skill several times; the more examples, the more likely students are to understand how to perform the skill.

EXAMPLE: “Let me show you how you ask a friend to play. Let’s pretend we’re on the playground. I’m standing here by myself but I want to play.” (Now teacher begins to act the part of a student on the playground as the other adults or students without disabilities are engaged in “playground” activities away from her.)

· (Teacher talks aloud to herself): “I’d really like to play catch. I think I’ll ask Alicia if she wants to play with me….”

· (Teacher approaches “Alicia”): “Alicia, do you want to play catch with me?”

· (Other adult or peer): “Sure! I’ll get the ball.”

(NOTE: If students without disabilities are participating, they can be called on to demonstrate the skill).

3. Solicit student feedback on the skill. The teacher asks individual students to identify whether she correctly performed each step.

EXAMPLE: “Did I decide what game I wanted to play?” (get student responses); “Did I ask someone to play?” (have students name the friend); and so forth.

4. Have students role-play the skill. Each student should practice the skill at least once and more if needed. During the students’ role-play, other participants are needed to play the roles of other students. These can be the adults in the class or, preferably, peers without disabilities. Each role-play situation should reflect individual student preferences, styles, and so forth. If peers without disabilities are participating, they should demonstrate the skills first.

EXAMPLE: “Toni, it’s your turn to practice asking a friend to play. Let’s pretend we’re on the playground after lunch. What game do you like to play?” and so forth. Teacher arranges the role-play to reflect the situation on the playground.

5. Provide feedback on student performance of the skill. After each role-play, the teacher should solicit feedback from other students in the group about the role-play. The teacher should also give feedback to the student doing the role-play.

EXAMPLE (to other students): “Did you see Toni decide what game she wanted to play? What did she want to play? Did she ask her friend nicely?” and so forth.

Role-play continues until each student has had the opportunity to practice the skill.

6. Do generalization activities. Generalization activities take place after each student has demonstrated proficiency in the skill during the role-play sessions. The purpose of generalization activities is to facilitate use of target skills in natural settings. Generalization activities might include games that require students to use target skills, self-monitoring procedures in which students keep track of their use of skills in generalized settings, and reinforcement contingencies for use of target skills in generalized settings. One important generalization strategy is to conduct social skills lessons in environments in which skills are to be used (Frea, 1995). For example, the skill of asking a student to play might be taught on the playground. The skill of responding to greetings might be taught in the hallway and at the bus area.