Middle School Group
Brittany Carden
Tarribean Roberts
Nicole Murray-Roberts
Pre Group Planning
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Benefits of Social Skills Groups
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The role of a group has become more important in adolescence, due to the increasingly diminishing family influence and growing peer influence. Group work with adolescents offers an opportunity to be with peers who are similar to each other, who understand one another, and who satisfy their need for belonging. Cognitive focused approaches are often ineffective when working with adolescents. This article discusses the rationale for the use of creative, non-deliberative group activities with adolescents, and presents examples of practice that employ artful, action focused, and analogical forms of finding solutions. Non-deliberative activities that are explored include my card, stone of strength, favorite pie, and guiding with blindfold. Overall, the methods discussed promote active and creative methods that make it easier for the participants to develop trusting relationships with others, strengthening existing social skills and developing new ones.
Reference:
Vysniauskyte-Rimkiene, J., & Matuleviciute, D. (2016). How Creative Group Work Helps Adolescents Create Relations with Self and Peers. Social Work With Groups, 39(2-3), 234-245. doi:10.1080/01609513.2015.105607
Peer relations are strongly related to social, emotional, and cognitive functioning during adolescence. Thus, making it important for children to develop and practice these skills. The biological, social, cognitive, and personal identity transitions that occur during adolescence can make it a challenging time to establish and maintain peer relations. Social skill deficits and problematic peer relations can lead to difficulties including externalizing problems, such as antisocial behaviors, and internalizing problems, such as anxiety and depression. The article explores the efficacy of social skills training interventions on a group of adolescents ages 13-16 years old. The study found that adolescents reported feeling more confident in themselves and forming stronger relationships. Students felt more confident in engaging in social interactions and an overall positive image of self. The study showed how effective groups are when working with adolescents and the need for social skills groups during this stage of development.
Reference
Harrell, A. W., Mercer, S. H., & DeRosier, M. E. (2009). Improving the social-behavioral adjustment of adolescents: the effectiveness of a social skills group intervention. Journal Of Child And Family Studies, (4), 378.
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Social Skills Tips
Video 1
Think it or Say it
In this video children in middle school are learning how to consider their thoughts, emotions, intentions, knowledge, etc. This video demonstrates the right and wrong way of communicating ones feelings. “…social skills must take into consideration the possibility of a wide range of both negative and positive target behaviors” (Elliott, Sheridan & Gresham, 1989, p. 199). The way in which children problem solve is demonstrated through a snapshot of how they utilize their social skills. Self-awareness would allow the children to understand the social situation and the behaviors expected.
Reference
Elliott, S. N., Sheridan, S. M., & Gresham, F. M. (1989). Scientific practitioner: Assessing and treating social skills deficits: A case study for the scientist-practitioner. Journal Of School Psychology, (27) 197-222. doi: 10.1016/0022-4405(89)90007-1
Many children are taught how to interact with one another at a young age. Daycares are designed to help peer interactions at a young age. Unfortunately, everyone dose not pick up on the skills needed to be successful in social interaction, which causes them to feel antisocial or socially awkward. This picture represents how students can demonstrate healthy social skills. These 10 essential social skills are used to communicate and interact with others. Children, who struggle/lack with social skills may find it difficult to make friends, adjust their feelings, lack empathy, and many other unhealthy characteristics. As pictured above, social skills can be verbal as well as non-verbal.
10 Social Skills Essential for Success. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.dougsandler.com/news/2015/5/3/10-social-skills-essential-for-success
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Video 2
Emotions Bingo!
This video demonstrates that children often don’t know how to name their emotions. This bingo game allows children to have fun and name their emotions. Utilizing social skills is not always tools that children use when having conversations. It was mentioned that if children are accepted by their peers they would become socially skilled (Elliott, Sheridan & Gresham, 1989). When social behaviors is not aligned with what people expect it can determines how your social skills are looked upon.
Reference
Elliott, S. N., Sheridan, S. M., & Gresham, F. M. (1989). Scientific practitioner: Assessing and treating social skills deficits: A case study for the scientist-practitioner. Journal Of School Psychology, (27) 197-222. doi: 10.1016/0022-4405(89)90007-1
Schools are becoming more and more diverse and it is important for school counselors to be culturally competent. Being able to teach, counsel, or guide your students no matter how different they are from you. This picture represents a group of students who are dealing with social skill challenges. These students are capable of learning social skills, no matter their race, culture, or any other differences that may or may not be visible. Working together in a group setting will allow students to encourage one another to participate in the group activities, while building their character. The key things to keep in mind are; the students age level, making sure the activities are centered around each culture, and developmental appropriate activities. As the school counselor, you are to make sure that each group member is receiving equal amount of opportunity in the group. Working in groups will also allow the counselor to learn and embrace the differences in each student.
Resources for Educational Purposes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.greenboxaba.org/resources-
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50 Social Skills
Coping strategies are tips that can be kept in the students “resource toolkit”. Elliott, Sheridan and Gresham, (1989) mentioned that social skills are critical to successful performance of prosocial behaviors. When students encounter situations where they are feeling stuck can reference this tool. These tools would allow the student to learn strengthen base talk. Teaching positive talk would encourage students to sandwich the way in which they present information. Sandwich communication is where a positive statement is followed by a barrier closing with a strength. Students would learn how to incorporate certain language in communicating with others. Students will learn how to help others, be kind, problem solve and so much more.
Reference
Elliott, S. N., Sheridan, S. M., & Gresham, F. M. (1989). Scientific practitioner: Assessing and treating social skills deficits: A case study for the scientist-practitioner. Journal Of School Psychology, (27) 197-222. doi: 10.1016/0022-4405(89)90007-1
School counselors have to implement effective comprehensive programs that will benefit all students. Like other professions, school counselors have guidelines, rules and duties they must adhere to when working with students and their parents. The American School Counselor Association Ethical Standards was designed to not only help school counselors, but it also helps the students and their parents. The ASCA Ethical Standards outlines the duties of school counselors when administering groups, collaboration, confidentiality and many more things that can be helpful in pre-group planning, as well as throughout the course of the group. There are a lot of things that need to be looked over in the pre-group planning, and this document will definitely insure you are applying the appropriate skills needed to produce an effective counseling group.
American School Counselor Association. (2016). ASCA ethical standards for school counselors. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/Ethics/EthicalStandards2016.pdf
Pre-group planning can be demanding and in most cases, school counselors turn down the idea of small groups because of the time needed to prepare for them. Thomas and Pender (2008) describe the best practice guidelines for group work in a very informative article. This article breaks down the best practices for pre-group planning which The Association designed for Specialist in Group Work (ASWG). The ASWG specializes in-group work under the ethical implications, addressing guidelines for planning, performing, and processing groups. It is important to keep the strengths and weakness in mind when working with groups. Another important thing to remember is cultural competencies. The ASWG best practices do an excellent job breaking down how to be culturally competent when forming a group.
Thomas, R. V., & Pender, D. A. (2008). Association for Specialists in Group Work: Best practice guidelines 2007 revisions. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 33(2), 111–117. doi:10.1080/01933920801971184
Most schools implement programs that will help assist them in preventing unhealthy behaviors. School counselors are usually apart of these programs and are one of the first people other professionals’ consult when faced with a problem. PBIS, a Positive Behavioral Intervention Support, are in schools that implement this program to help students in basic skills and good behavior. The basic skills include productivity, interactions, making friends, and many more positive characteristics. The intervention is broken down into tiers that include whole class group, small group or individuals. PBIS is a form of prevention that allows schools to exhaust all options to help students. This program does not rely on a punishment system but more so on a teaching system. Incorporating some of the skills into the small group counseling session could be helpful in teaching social skills and good behaviors.
A Complete Tier 1 Through Tier 3 Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports System. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbisworld.com/
Franz (n.d) highlights key points that he found to be important in a book written by other authors. Though the article is very short and does not provide in depth steps, he summarizes the five essentinal techniques and practical aspects of social skills. These five techniques include the assessments of interpersonal problems, establishing objectives of training, the process of training, maintenance and transfer of training, and evaluation of results. One of the most important things that stick out in this article is the use of natural environments during training. This is god resource for counselors, experiencing training before implementing preventions of interventions.
Franz, H. J. (n.d). Perfecting Social Skill (Book). Educational Studies, 12(4), 490.
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Having the correct mindset and behaviors to get through life is essential for our students today. Many children grow up lacking the skills needed to communicate properly, express their feelings, and much more. The ASCA Mindset and Behaviors for student success outlines the skills needed to help students succeed. This document is broken down into two categories that demonstrate what the student should be able to do. Within category two is social skills. The social skills section breaks down appropriate behaviors that improve social skills interaction with their peers and their teachers. The ASCA Mindset and Behaviors for student success is an excellent tool to use when monitoring the social abilities of the students in the group.
Mindsets & Behaviors | American School Counselor Association (ASCA). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/about-asca/mindsets-behaviors
When conducting groups, there are a variety of aspects that go into conducting a successful group. According to Sink, Edward, & Eppler (2012), there are four phases in which school based groups form, which include the formation phase, implementation, evaluation, and follow-up phases. The formation stage appears to be the most important phase, as it entails all the pre-group planning that takes place. Pre-group planning activities may consist of conducting a needs assessment that is given to teachers and students. This allows school counselor to gain an understanding of the needs of the population that is being served. Once an identified group is selected, developing the group and what the goals will be is a main component (Sink, Edwards, & Eppler, 2012). The theme of the group should reflect he results of the needs assessment that was given. Also determining how many students will be in the group, where it will take place, keeping teachers involved, and the time of the group are important aspects in the pre-planning stage. Also getting all the material needed for the group, such as papers, markers, chairs, etc. is important. Furthermore, creating a consent form and discussing it with parents will be a component that is also important. All steps are essential when preparing for a group, to help prepare for when the implementation stage begins. By making sure that all the steps are completed, you are ensuring that you are prepared to help the students meet their goals.
Cultural competence is vital when providing groups within the school. Important issues include racial identity development, developmental perspectives, group member or leader cultural differences, English-language learners, and first generation students (Sink, Edward, & Eppler, 2012). Cultural differences among populations could pose challenges for school group planning. According to Sink, Edward, & Eppler (2012), group leaders should be aware that at times racial and ethnic minorities may become scapegoats in the group counseling experience. Although school counselors facilitating groups may value the diversity of the group, some students may not share the same attitude. Pre-group interviews allow counselors to determine a student’s sensitivity to diverse groups (Sink, Edward, & Eppler, 2012). School counselors should be active in the screening process when there is a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds to ensure that group members are appropriate. Additionally, school counselors should consider concepts of time, commitment to schedules, level of emotional expressiveness, and communication styles when facilitating diverse groups.
References:
Sink, C. A., Edwards, C., & Eppler, C. (2012). School based group counseling. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Developing and implementing groups require adequate preparation in order to be successful. According to Corey, Corey, & Corey (2018), there are five general areas of preparation that serve as a guideline for forming a proposal. These include rationale, objectives, practical considerations, procedures, and evaluation (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2018). Ensuring that you have a clear rationale for the group and can present data to support the group is vital. Additionally, stating what the goals of the group are and what will be learned is beneficial. School counselors must explore meeting times, frequency of meetings, duration of group, and location. Furthermore, who the selected population is and how they are selected. Finally, ensuring that your proposal contains strategies for evaluating the group and if the objectives were met. It is important that evaluation methods are objective, practical, and relevant (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2018).
Reference
Corey, M. S., Corey, G., & Corey, C. (2018). Groups: Process and practice (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole
Preparing for the Social Skills Group
- Provide staff with a needs assessment to gather information on the needs of the student population. (Results indicate the need for social skills groups for 7th grade students)
- Request information from teachers on which 7th grade students would benefit from attending the social skills groups.
- Conduct pre-screening assessments for students who have been identified by the teachers
- Determine when, where, and how long the group will go for. (Group will be held in an open classroom during 5th period, once a week, for 6 weeks. Each group will last 50 minutes and work on enhancing social interaction skills, building relationships, and conflict management.)
- Determine instruction and curriculum that will be utilized during the social skills group. Gather materials for activities and instruction that will take place in group.
- Call parents and discuss the group with them and how their child would benefit from the group process. If parents are okay with student attending group, send consent form home to be returned.
- Once consent forms are received, the implementation part of the group stage can begin.
Social Skills Groups cover a variety of content geared toward addressing feelings/emotions, communication, friendships,bullying and conflict resolution.
Reference
http://www.socialsolutions4autism.com/social-skills-group.html
Children are amazing individuals who are capable of wonderful things. Students need to be equipped with preventive mechanism in order for them to progress academically, socially and emotionally. If students are not provided with interventions early in life they run the risk of facing critical issues. Topics such as gender identity, cultural awareness, suicide and much more needs to be discussed in our school with children so they could develop their social skills by having meaningful dialogues.
Collaboration is vital to reinforcing the social skills children would be learning. Stakeholders would be a key component in ensuring they know how to implement the social skills during school time. Teachers would be trained in how to incorporate social skills strengthening while with students. These training would include, but not limited to, role modeling, mirroring behaviors, puppet demonstration and more Webster-Stratton & Reid, 2004).
Reference
Webster-Stratton, C., & Reid, M. J. (2004). Strengthening social and emotional competence in young children--the foundation for early school readiness and success: incredible years classroom social skills and problem-solving curriculum. Infants & Young Children, (2). 96.
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Social skills techniques can lay the foundation of skills that children could utilize throughout their lives. These skills can be taught by teachers in the daily lesson in class. These skills include showing empathy, generosity, helpfulness, communicating with others, problem solving and more (Lynch & Simpson, 2010). School professionals will create an environment where students are able to learn positive social skills while in school. These opportunities would also demonstrate for students positive and negative ways to problem solve.
Reference
Lynch, S. A., & Simpson, C. G. (2010). Social Skills: Laying the Foundation for Success. Dimensions Of Early Childhood, 38(2), 3-12.
Teachers are often the initial school professional that encounter students displaying some positive and negative social skills. The social thinking skill model allow teachers to incorporate some tools in their lesson planning. This model would allow students to use their social skills in everything pertaining to learning which would transition into adulthood. Social thinking skills can help students develop a richer understanding of social situations and to resolve potential problems (Leffert, Brady, & Siperstein, 2009).
Reference
Leffert, J. S., Brady, M. E., & Siperstein, G. N. (2009). A "Tools for Teachers" Approach for Infusing Social Skills Instruction into Daily Teaching Activities. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 6(2).
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