“Students have become more aware of others’ feelings.”

“She has begun to socialize much more and initiate contact with her peers.”

“One student was being teased by others... He was able to come up with different strategies for dealing with it.”

These are the voices of real-life elementary school teachers who have used this research-based curriculum to reach a crucial goal: improving the social skills of students with mild to moderate disabilities and their peers. Field-tested with 400 elementary school students, this curriculum focuses on developing the cognitive skills behind appropriate social behavior rather than teaching children a set of specific behaviors to enact. Along with a thorough overview, teachers will get 66 activity-based lessons on social skills, organized around topics that build on each other. Students will learn to

• assess their own emotional states and develop new coping mechanisms
  
  
• identify and interpret social cues and other interpersonal dynamics
  
  
• set appropriate social goals, generate problem-solving strategies, and think about the consequences of their actions
  
  
• consider characteristics of good friendships and explore ways to improve their relationships
  

Each 30– to 45–minute lesson provides a list of materials, descriptions of the activities, variations for more advanced and less advanced students, and suggestions for reinforcing the skills throughout the school day. To help them implement the lessons effectively, teachers will also find student handouts, helpful illustrations, parent newsletters, and lists of additional children’s books and videos. This inventive curriculum will enhance children’s cognitive abilities to help them become socially successful — both inside and outside the classroom.

About the Author
Preface
Acknowledgments

An Introduction to the Promoting Social Success Curriculum

• Appendix

Unit 1: Introductory Lessons

• Coming Together to Form the Group
  
  
• Introducing Role Play
  
  
• Practicing Role Play
  
  
• Introducing Problem-Solving Meetings
  
  
• Practicing Problem-Solving Meetings

Unit 2: Understanding Feelings and Actions: Emotional and Behavioral Regulation

• Using Feeling Words
  
  
• Identifying Happy Expressions
  
  
• Understanding Sadness
  
  
• The Difference Between Alone and Lonely
  
  
• Understanding Fear
  
  
• When Are We Surprised?
  
  
• Understanding Love and Hate
  
  
• Understanding Frustration
  
  
• Understanding Anger
  
  
• Feelings in Different Contexts
  
  
• Different People Have Different Emotions
  
  
• Understanding Emotional Intensity
  
  
• What to Do When You Are Angry
  
  
• Expressing Feelings in Appropriate Ways
  
  
• Why Calming Down Is Important
  
  
• Ways to Calm Down
  
  
• Introducing the Red Light Calming Down Steps
  
  
• Practicing the Calming Down Steps
  
  
• Applying the Calming Down Steps
  
  
• Reviewing the Calming Down Steps
  
  
• What Helps Me Calm Down?
  
  
• Reviewing Feeling Words

Unit 3: Using Social Information: Noticing and Interpreting Cues

• Introducing the Yellow Light Thinking Steps
  
  
• Introducing Body Language
  
  
• Interpreting Body Language
  
  
• Interpreting Tone of Voice (Feelings)
  
  
• Interpreting Tone of Voice (Sincerity)
  
  
• Accident or On Purpose?
  
  
• Identifying Intention
  
  
• Is This Mean?
  
  
• How to Tell When Someone Is Busy
  
  
• Reacting to Other People
  
  
• Reviewing Emotional Displays
  
  
• Reviewing Social Situations

Unit 4: Planning What to Do: Problem Solving

• What Does it Mean to Have Goals?
  
  
• Identifying Goals
  
  
• Practicing Identifying Goals
  
  
• Generating Strategies to Solve a Problem
  
  
• Practicing Generating Strategies
  
  
• Generating Multiple Strategies
  
  
• Assertive Problem-Solving Strategies
  
  
• Using Compromise as a Strategy
  
  
• Predicting Consequences
  
  
• Practicing Strategy Selection
  
  
• Introducing the Green Light Action Steps
  
  
• How Did it Go?
  
  
• What to Do If We Don’t Reach Our Goal
  
  
• Applying the Problem-Solving Steps
  
  
• Reviewing Problem-Solving Skills

Unit 5: Making and Keeping Friends: Social Knowledge

• What Makes a Good Friend?
  
  
• The Ups and Downs of Friendship
  
  
• The Importance of Trust
  
  
• Give and Take
  
  
• Encouraging Empathy
  
  
• Communicating with Friends
  
  
• Dealing with Rejection
  
  
• Sharing Hurt Feelings with Friends
  
  
• Coping with Teasing
  
  
• The Importance of Forgiveness
  
  
• Keeping Friends
  
  
• The Importance of Compliments

General Reproducibles

• Body Language Photographs
  
  
• Large Feeling Faces
  
  
• Small Feeling Faces
  
  
• Parent Newsletters
  
  
• Role-Play Footprints
  
  
• Stoplight Posters

Bibliography