Small Group Social Skill Instruction as a Tier 2 Intervention: Big Ideas and Lessons Learned

1. Small Group Social Skill Instruction as a Tier 2 Intervention: Big Ideas and Lessons Learned Tim Lewis, Danielle Starkey, Barbara Mitchell University of Missouri Patti Pazdera Community Elementary School

2. Academic Systems Behavioral Systems • Intensive, Individual Interventions • Individual Students • Assessment-based • High Intensity • Intensive, Individual Interventions • Individual Students • Assessment-based • Intense, durable procedures • Targeted Group Interventions • Some students (at-risk) • High efficiency • Rapid response • Targeted Group Interventions • Some students (at-risk) • High efficiency • Rapid response • Universal Interventions • All students • Preventive, proactive • Universal Interventions • All settings, all students • Preventive, proactive Designing School-Wide Systems for Student Success 1-5% 1-5% 5-10% 5-10% 80-90% 80-90%

3. Universal • Matrix of school-wide expectations across settings • List of problems = replacements • “Scope and sequence” of social skills • Simple lessons with activities • Year long teaching schedule • Stages of Learning

4. Benton

5. Small Group • Students displaying social skill challenges as primary concern • Set of skills targeting common concerns • Set of clear generalization strategies for classroom teachers to implement

6. Individual • Social skill deficits / performance problem • Guided by functional behavioral assessment • Replacement “social skill” meets need • Environment supports use of new skill • High rates of reinforcement • New skill accesses previous function of problem behavior

7. Social Skill Instruction Definitions Functional Perspective Best Practices

8. Definition- Social Competence “Social competence represents an evaluative term based on judgments (given certain criteria) that a person has performed a task adequately. These judgments may be based on opinions of significant others (e.g., parents, teachers), comparisons to explicit criteria (e.g., number of social tasks correctly performed in relation to some criterion), or comparisons to some normative sample.”(Gresham, 1986, p. 146)

9. Definition -Social Skills Social skills are defined as "those behaviors which, within a given situation, predict important social outcomes" (Gresham, 1986, p. 5). a) social skills are simply one facet of an overall construct of social competence – if taught in isolation you will never reach the larger objective of improved social functioning, b) they are linked to the environment in which they occur, and c) targeted skills should reflect the larger school set of behavioral expectations

10. Functional Perspective “Inappropriate” social skills meet student need and until we teach an “appropriate” skill and alter the environment, they will continue to use the inappropriate

12. Best Practices

13. Steps in Social Skill Instruction • Assessment • Planning • Lesson Development • Teaching • Generalization

14. Assessment: Student Identification (Data, System) Use of existing data / assessment sources such as ODR, visits to discipline room, teacher referral, number of “buddy room” visits

15. Assessment: Skill Selection(Data) • Teacher Ratings • Ratings by others • Direct Observation Importance of discussing cultural, language, and other factors that impact perceptions of “appropriate” social skills

16. Assessment: Teacher Ratings Social Skill Improvement System(SSIS) Elliott & Gresham. Pearson (ages 3-18) • Social skills acquisition deficits • No interfering problem behavior • Social skills performance deficits • Interfering problem behavior • Social skills strengths

17. Assessment: Direct Observation Outcomes: • Needed social skills • Problem type • skill deficiency • performance problem • maintenance / generalization problems • Examples for instruction and tests

18. Planning Requirements(practices, systems) • Curriculum / Lesson Plans • Adapt/adopt • Group procedures • Generalization strategies

19. Lesson Components(practices) • rule for when to use the skill • set of useful skill variations • teach the rule (TELL) • demonstrate the skill (SHOW) • students practice the skill (PRACTICE) • review and test the skill (PRACTICE) • assign homework (PRACTICE) Teaching social skills follows the same format as teaching academic skills

20. Lesson Plans: Teach (tell) • definition of essential rule • description of skill components and variations

21. Lesson Plans: Demonstrate (show) • model / demonstrate the skill • select competent and respected students and adults • only the teacher models incorrect responses • select examples from natural context • at least two positive demonstrations of each example

22. Lesson Plans: Practice • role play activities • focus on relevant features • have student "think aloud" • teacher can provide coaching during lesson • involve all members of the group by assigning tasks / questions • have student self evaluate after activity

23. Lesson Plans: Review & TestMore Practice • review essential rule for the day • test on untrained examples through role plays • test each student as often as possible (daily) • request demonstration of skill whenever possible (verbally or role play) • lesson homework

24. Community Elementary School

25. MO SW-PBS Tier 2 • Systematic process for identifying students who need additional support • Selecting interventions that match student need • Check-In, Check-Out • Social Skills Instructional Groups • Check & Connect • Monitoring student progress • Evaluating outcomes and making decisions

26. Community R-VI Elementary • Implementing SW-PBS for 5+ years • Started Tier 2 in 2012-2013, data indicated: • Benchmarks of Quality (BoQ): 92% • Self-Assessment Survey: • Schoolwide: 86% In Place • Non-Classroom: 87% In Place • Classroom: 83% In Place • Piloted Social Skills to assess contextual fit

27. Getting Started • Selected classroom teacher to participate • Teacher nominated students likely to benefit • Teacher completed the Social Skills Improvement Systems (SSIS) Rating Scale to identify social skill deficits • Subscales • Social Skills • Problem Behaviors • Academic Competence • Completion Time: 10-25 minutes

28. Identifying Lesson Plans • Used assessment results to identify skill deficits • Selected replacement skills from SSIS Manual • School Counselor & Classroom Teacher together prioritized skills based on need

29. Group Logistics • 3 student participated • Selected time/location to meet • 2 times per week, 30-35 minutes each • School Counselor provided instruction • Classroom Teacher prompted use of skills

30. Group Procedures • One skill per week • Tell, Show, Practice • Video vignettes • Role playing/rehearsal • Example, non-example, example

31. Promote Generalization • Used Daily Progress Report format for monitoring student progress • Skills to be taught were listed • Skills to be monitored were highlighted • Student given feedback at the end of each day • Data collected and graphed

32. Maintenance • Tootling (opposite of tattling) • Classwide intervention • All students in the class are taught to look for demonstrations or examples of skills that were taught in the group • Students are instructed to record examples and submit them • Classwide goals set on number of tootles

33. Outcomes • Reviewed DPR data • Conducted post-assessments using SSIS • Informal teacher & parent perceptions

34. Lessons Learned • Found the SSIS Rating Checklist to be labor and time intensive. Computer software is better. • Mid-Missouri winter weather is not always your friend. • Need to do follow-up sessions upon the completion of the social skill group. • Stay positive during daily feedback with students.

35. Lessons Learned • Use a visual to remind students of their weekly skill. • Give small and quick prompts throughout the day. • Tootling is FANTASTIC! Great reinforcement tool once group is complete.

36. Next Steps • Created our own social skill rating checklist to use to create social skill groups. • Will choose students who are meeting data decision rules and would benefit from social skill instruction. • Will continue to use the Social Skill DPR. • Do a series of follow-up sessions upon completion so students can self-assess and review the skills taught.

37. Next Steps • Will create a formal survey of intervention effectiveness for teachers and parents. • Monitoring Jack, Johnny, and Susie’s progress in third grade. • Starting a social skill group using the SSIS program next week! Two Kindergarten and two first grade students will be the focus.