Overview

Communication skills and social behavior are tightly intertwined.  Deficits in one area can lead to difficulties in the other so it is important to address both communication and social skills for individuals with these types of challenges.  This section is designed to target basic social behavior that is the foundation of more complex social interactions.

It is important to note that individuals with social deficits often have difficulty taking another person’s perspective.  If you cannot “put yourself in someone else’s shoes” and contemplate how another person is feeling or thinking, it can be very difficult to recognize when you have said or done something that may be perceived as usual, offensive or rude to others; therefore, using social stories and graphic organizers to visually explain this “theory of mind” concept is key to developing appropriate social behaviors.

Teaching social skills to others requires a clear understanding of which level of social interaction the person has mastered and which levels are still to be worked on.  Below is a hierarchy of social skills to consider when planning for students.  In order for students to advance to higher level skills they must master prerequisite skills from the lower levels.

1st Level – Parallel Play Doing an activity next to someone else but not interacting	2nd Level – Sharing of Materials Doing the same activity and using the same items with another person
3rd Level – Turn Taking  Playing the same game and learning to wait and directly interact with another person	4th Level – Cooperative Games with Rules Playing a game that requires understanding of rules that are to be abided by all people interacting