Karen L. Bierman TIES Summer Institute, May, 2011 The Pennsylvania State University

1. New Directions in Social Skills Training Interventions to Promote Self-Regulation and Social Collaboration Skills Karen L. Bierman TIES Summer Institute, May, 2011 The Pennsylvania State University

2. Overview • Roots of social skills coaching models • Fast Track Friendship Group • Possible mechanisms of change: Innovations in the logic models • Future directions

3. Origins of the Coaching Model ofSocial Skill Training Late 1970’s: Emerging interest in peer relations and social competence as a protective factor Use of modeling and contingent reinforcement programs to address social withdrawal and increase rate of interaction Early 1980’s: Emerging interest in sociometric classification systems to identify risk Recognition that most chronically rejected children lack the social skills to make and sustain friendships. INT29

4. “Coaching” Models of SSTCognitive-behavioral blends Basic idea was that social skills can be taught in a manner similar to other complex performance skills (e.g. riding a bike) With instruction and modeling, practice and feedback, and more practice

5. Principles of Competency Training • Teach skill concepts • Provide guided opportunities for skill practice • Supply performance feedback to support self monitoring and skill refinement • Program for generalization INT29

6. Coaching Studies of the 1980s Short-term randomized trials demonstrated that coaching promoted new skills and improved social behavior Improving sociometric status was more difficult

7. Lessons Learned Social skills are organized as protocols or scripts of behavior, and are not taught well as discrete pieces of behavior: therefore, target molar forms or organizational approaches. “Real-life” practice is essential: therefore, peer inclusion is needed (of some kind). Peer reputations and contingent responses do not “automatically” change; social behavior is highly habitual.

8. Universal SEL Programs of the 1980s Community psychology was promoting the use of social problem-solving models around the same time…. Originally very instructive & cognitive, these models were moving toward more behavioral rehearsal…

9. Embedded Coaching of the 1990s “Sociometrics correlates” approach led to changes in children targeted for intervention and expansions of the logic models guiding interventions “Cross-fertilization” of universal (SEL) and selective/indicated (coaching) programs occurred Prominent role of externalizing behavior problems among rejected children contributed to a shift of focus to multi-faceted interventions

10. Multi-faceted programs for externalizing problems.. Encouraged the integration of cognitive-behavioral strategies focused on precursors of externalizing behaviors (hostile attributions, anger management) into coaching curricula Increased attention to the management of interpersonal contingencies in natural environments as a generalization strategy. Change the centrality of focus from promoting social competence to reducing behavior problems.

11. Expanded Focus on Multiple Skill Deficits Affective regulation: Difficulty regulating anger in interpersonal situations when frustrated or provoked; Difficulty understanding and reacting empathically to the feelings of others. Biased social cognitions: Interpersonal distrust and a tendency to infer hostile motives in conflict situations; difficulties generating proactive (non-aggressive) solutions to interpersonal problems. INT29

12. Skill Performance Variesas a Function of: • Skill knowledge (coaching models) • Stress reactivity: insecurity/threat (temperament & attachment models) • Cognitive appraisals (past experience/information processing biases; causal inferences) • Automatized (overlearned) habits • Interpersonal contingencies

13. Fast Track Friendship Group Model: A Blended Approach Coaching in Friendship Skills: • Focus on prosocial, communication, and fair play skills • Peer partners; sequenced super-ordinate goals Coaching in Coping Skills: • Self-control , anger-coping, conflict resolution Integration of SEL Skills: • Emotional awareness, social problem-solving dialogue • Contingency management: Teacher consultation for classroom management Parent management training INT3a

14. Fast TrackPATHS: Friendship Group Alignment • Friendship and play skills • Positive community values and social order • Emotion knowledge • Capacity to identify and label emotional states • Feelings of empathy and compassion for others • Intentional inhibitory control • Ability to calm down when emotionally aroused • Social problem-solving dialogue • Ability to consider other perspectives and plan ahead • Willingness to negotiate

15. Fast TrackThree Inter-twined Components Classroom – universal Friendship Group – intensive training Peer Pairing – classroom generalization, and peer reputation repair

16. PATHS: Focus on Social Inclusion -Sharing, Caring, Friendships

17. PATHS: Focus on Emotion Knowledge Basic Feelings • Comfortable/Uncomfortable • Happy • Sad • Mad • Scared Intermediate Feelings • Frustrated • Proud • Excited • Tired Advanced Feelings • Love • Worried • Disappointed • Jealous • Furious • Guilty

18. Friendship Group:Practice in Social Problem-Solving From : The PATHS Curriculum (Greenberg & Kusche)

19. Theoretically-derived Therapeutic Processes • the provision of positive support to increase comfort in social interaction and reduce anxiety • emotion coaching to foster emotional awareness, empathy, and emotion regulation • induction strategies to support self-regulation efforts • use of social problem-solving dialogue to support interpersonal negotiation and conflict management.

20. Creating a Positive Learning Community • Warm, positive, and supportive adult-child • relationships • Setting expectations for desirable behavior & • relationships • Establishing routines that support self- • regulation • Frequent use of specific praise, explanation, • physical affection, joint attention

21. Emotion Coaching Talking about feelings: Make frequent use of emotion labels, as you describe your own feelings and encourage children to describe and discuss their feelings. Reflecting feelings: Use feeling labels to describe a child’s experience.   Reframing feelings: When children are upset and angry, de-escalate emotional arousal and re-orient threat appraisals with a calm demeanor and the selective use of a feeling label.

22. Induction Strategies: Gentle Guidance Giving clear information about desired behaviors by praising other children who are exhibiting those behaviors or stating positive hopes and expectations. Giving feedback regarding the negative impact of problem behaviors by using I-statements or eliciting feedback from peers. Focusing on consequences that matter for the child by describing the impact of the child’s behavior on social rewards and peer reactions.

23. More Induction Giving choices and offering constructive behavioral alternatives by providing choices that indicate appropriate behavioral options or redirecting children into positive roles Responding to power struggles with de-escalation strategies by using a soft, neutral tone and expressing disappointment or concerns about the child’s difficulties, and staying on the child’s side to facilitate coping and problem-solving efforts.

24. End of Grade 1 INTERVENTION EFFECTSPromoting Social-cognitive and Cognitive Skills(Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1999) Target SkillEffect size Emotion Recognition .54 Emotion Coping .25 Social Problem-solving .33 Aggressive Retaliation .23 Observed Positive Peer Interaction .27 Peer Social Preference .28 OUTG3-4

25. Reducing Aggressive BehaviorINTERVENTION EFFECTS(Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1999b) Context & GradeEffect size Grade 1: Observer rating @ home .34 Observer rating @ school .31 Grade 3: Parent rating (PDR) .15 Teacher rating (TOCA) .19 OUTG3-4

28. Development Neuroscience: Implications for Promoting Self-regulation • Focus on developmental processes that promote the “neural architecture” of goal-oriented learning & adaptive problem-solving • EF development is delayed by poverty and appears malleable during early childhood • Social competence training would benefit from incorporation of models of regulatory skill development

29. Early disadvantage & adversity delays social-emotional readiness for school. • Poor impulse control (acting before thinking, difficulty waiting for turn) • Emotion dysregulation (irritability, negative reactivity) • Disruptive-oppositional (poor social skills) • At school entry, 17 – 21% have behavior problems that warrant mental health referrals

30. Early disadvantage & adversity delays cognitive readiness for school • Attention skills (Sustaining attention, following instructions) • Language skills (Vocabulary, grammatical understanding) • Memory skills (Working memory, memory) • Delays in emergent literacy & math skills

31. Executive Regulatory Control • Regulative (Inhibitory Control) Inhibit and modulate attention and behavior • Executive (Working Memory; Attention Set-shifting) Motivated, goal-oriented learning; problem-solving • Social-emotional (Effective Action in Context) Emotion regulation and social collaboration

32. What Impedes EF Development?# 1 The Role of Stress • Insecurity and stress exposure delay executive function and self-regulatory skill development • Insufficient or insensitive caregiving • Inconsistent or punitive discipline practices • Crowding, family disorganization • Under conditions of threat, self-protection is prioritized; vigilance and reactivity are more valuable than goal-oriented exploration

33. Implication for Intervention Focus on making social interactions less threatening (less fear of exclusion, domination) More predictable More controllable via non-domination strategies

34. What Impedes EF Development?# 2 The Role of Exploratory Learning and Joint Attention Increase opportunities for social exploration and discovery, capacity to learn from experience Stay in the “proximal zone” of learning: Increase intentional over-ride of automatic responses (provide novel guidelines; frame it as a challenge, and support intentional coping.) Use adult processes to focus attention on key cues for learning

35. Implication for Intervention Need to organize social experiences in a way that allows for the learning/discovery of prototypical social scripts Need to maximize attention to social cues and cause-effect social exchanges Need to minimize directives

36. What Impedes EF Development?# 3 The Lack of Sufficient Play Experience Play is nature’s training ground for EF development and social competence In optimal conditions, play skills develop hierarchically, from simpler to more complex forms This does not occur when you are delayed in social development, due to exclusion

37. Implication for Intervention Need to organize social experiences in a developmental heirarchy Need to provide enough experience at lower levels of social complexity to master the foundational skills needed for higher-order social functioning Need to attend more to the nature of practice activities in intervention sessions

38. Tools of the MindFocuses on Engaged Learning and Dramatic Play(Photo from ToM web-site: http://www.mscd.edu/extendedcampus/toolsofthemind/) ToM includes play planning, extended dramatic play, and games that promote motor control. ToM reduces large group activitie and increases engaged learning with peer partnering.

39. JenniferAt the beginning of the year (September), Jennifer is able to draw a picture of herself and tell the teacher what center she wants to play in (dramatic play). Teachers use a color-coded system to help children remember what center they will go to; the children then use that same color marker to make their plans. By March, Alexander is hearing beginning sounds in all of his words. ToM Uses Play Planning (Photo from ToM web-site: http://www.mscd.edu/extendedcampus/toolsofthemind/)

40. Practice Impulse Control in Social Games & Collaborative Activities • Working memory games • Granny’s Suitcase • Inhibitory control games • Simon Says • Don’t Ring the Bell

41. Guiding Principle for Friendship Group: Strengthen Executive Control Skills with Practice • Like other cognitive skills, • practice plays a critical role. • The key is to motivate effortful investment in sufficient practice. Aware Awkward Automatic

44. Skill Deficits vs. Performance Deficits Changing skill knowledge is easy Changing performance is challenging We are falling short in our models of performance training We are falling short in our capacity to change social contingencies in natural environments .

45. Heterogeneity in Factors Contributing to Child Social Performance Children vary in the degree to which regulatory deficits underlie their social behavior problems Children vary in the degree to which other factors affect their behavior

46. Unexplored Issues:Impact of Group Size & Composition The larger the group size, the more challenging to manage therapeutic process The greater the “density” of children with acting-out behavior problems, the more challenging to manage therapeutic process Complementary, rather than similar, social profiles may enhance learning opportunities

47. Unexplored Issues:Intervention Timing, Intensity, Length? Value of early intervention? (Neurodevelopmental model, age 3-7) Vs. Complexity of social interaction and peer reputation in elementary vs. middle vs. high school What is the level of distributed practice needed to gain skills?

48. Take Home Points Intervention platforms for broad impact are useful Multi-component programs (going larger) are useful In addition, focused attention to the mechanisms of change that give power to each component may also strengthen impact.

49. Acknowledgments Colleagues: Mark Greenberg Celene Domitrovich Cynthia Huang-Pollock Rob Nix Lisa Gatzke-Kopp Scott Gest Janet Welsh Clancy Blair Sukhdeep Gill Damon Jones Emilie Smith Tom Farmer Keith Nelson Funders: Interagency School Readiness Consortium NICHD NIMH PA. Dept. of Health