Skillstreaming In The Elementary School
Marilina Crawn
This clear and concise manual is written for the elementary school student and fully explains the Skillstreaming four-part training approach, which helps to reduce anxiety about learning new social skills in a group setting.
Designed to be a fun and engaging experience, this manual includes definitions of skills, homework assignments and answers questions that come with trying to practice newly acquired social skills in real life settings. Skill steps are organized by groups and are also alphabetically listed for quick reference. This guide is helpful to parents and guardians who can better support the student when practicing the skills and completing the necessary homework assignments.
Shown below is episode two of Prosocially Yours, a podcast produced by Research Press. In this episode, host Elizabeth Hess interviews educator and author, Dr. Ellen McGinnis, about the widely acclaimed Skillstreaming program.
This DVD features a Skillstreaming session in progress in which group leaders model a skill; and then students role play the skill, receive feedback from other group members, and choose homework assignments. The on-screen narrator helps student viewers understand what is expected in the group, points out the many benefits of using the skills, and motivates students to become more actively involved in the group.
In order to implement this training program, you will need Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child: A Guide for Teaching Prosocial Skills, which contains the complete skills curriculum and necessary training procedures.
Ellen McGinnis, PhD, holds degrees in elementary education, special education, and school administration. She has taught elementary and secondary students in the public schools and has served as special education consultant in both public and hospital schools, school principal, special education director, executive director of student support services, and a program consultant at the state level. The author of numerous articles on identifying and teaching youth with emotional/behavioral disorders, she collaborated with Dr. Arnold P. Goldstein on early Skillstreaming books and is author of the most recently released editions of Skillstreaming in Early Childhood, Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child, and Skillstreaming the Adolescent. She is also co-author with Rich Simpson, PhD, of Skillstreaming Children and Youth with High-Functioning Autism.
This widely-acclaimed approach developed by the late Dr. Arnold P. Goldstein and colleagues is now in a larger format with reproducible skill outlines, skill homework reports, and program forms. Now includes forms CD. Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child employs a four-part training approach: modeling, role-playing, performance feedback, and generalization, to teach essential prosocial skills to elementary school students. This book provides a complete description of the Skillstreaming program, with instructions for teaching 60 prosocial skills. Chapters on effective Skillstreaming arrangements, Skillstreaming teaching procedures, refining skill use, teaching for skill generalization, managing behavior problems, Skillstreaming in the school context, and more. Skill outlines are handy one-page summaries for each skill, including skill steps, guidelines for skill instruction, and suggested situations for modeling displays. Homework reports list skill steps and guide students in practicing the skills and evaluating skill use outside the Skillstreaming group.
Wooden shape and tile matching game to reinforce cognitive development
Set includes 40 chunky puzzle pieces and canvas bag with drawstring
Find a shape and match the symbols to the tiles
Chunky puzzle pieces
This brightly colored 22 piece wooden block set consists of six stackable disks. Included are a set of 48 picture cards which depict diagrams of different objects that can be constructed with the blocks. Children can practice sequential thinking & problem solving skills with the picture cards. Promotes creativity too!
Skillstreaming is a social skills training method introduced by Dr. Arnold P. Goldstein in 1973. It has been widely used in the United States, as well as other countries, in schools, agencies, and institutions serving children and youth. The Skillstreaming programs for early childhood, elementary age, and adolescence are published by the Research Press Publishing Company of Champaign, Illinois.
Behavior theorists, including Albert Bandura described the processes of modeling, behavioral rehearsal, and reinforcement which are the basis of the Skillstreaming approach. However, rather than emphasizing operant procedures such as prompting and shaping of behaviors, Skillstreaming takes a more psychoeducational approach, viewing the individual as a person in need of help in the form of skills training.[1] The method provides active and deliberate learning of desirable behaviors to replace less productive behaviors.[2]
In 1950s and 1960s, the main therapeutic approaches for dealing with inappropriate behavior in individuals were (psychodynamic, nondirective, and behavior modification). These three types of therapy focused on helping individuals to express their pre-existing effective, satisfying, or healthy behaviors.
After the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s resulted in the discharge of large numbers of people from mental health and other institutions into local communities, Arnold P. Goldstein developed Structured Learning Therapy,[3] the precursor to Skillstreaming, as a practical method of behavioral training. Structured learning methods deal with aggression, withdrawal, and other nonproductive actions as learned behaviors that can be changed by teaching new, alternative skills.
During this time, progressive education and character education,[4] supported the teaching of values, morality, emotional functioning and values clarification,[5] moral education,[6] and affective education[7]
As well as filling its initial purpose as an intervention for low-income adults deficient in social skills, Skillstreaming has been used with other populations. In the 1980s, Dr. Goldstein's skills training program, by that time known as Skillstreaming, was adapted to modify aggression and other problematic behaviors in adolescents,[8][9] elementary children[10][11] and preschool and kindergarten children.[12] The Skillstreaming approach has been employed with elderly adults, child-abusing parents, industrial managers, police officers, and others.[13]
Between 1984 and 2012, Goldstein and Ellen McGinnis published a series of books describing the Skillstreaming program, organized into three age groups: early childhood, elementary and adolescent. These volumes integrate the research findings on program efficacy with training recommendations provided by teachers, administrators, youth care workers, and other practitioners who have used Skillstreaming to teach social skills over the years.[1][15][16]
Last year I started teaching social skills to my group of kindergarteners and first graders using the skillstreaming approach to social skills instruction. Skillstreaming is a method of instruction that contains four main parts:
There are entire programs, camps and schools that are based on the skillstreaming model because it is research based and it works! My little version is a compilation of lessons and ideas that work for an elementary classroom with a limited amount of time! I set aside 30-45 minutes on Monday to teach social skills and we practice it all week for approximately 15 minutes per day.
Modeling
To introduce and model the social skill of the week, my aides and I act out the skill together. Depending on the group, we can use a bit of humor and act out the WRONG way to do something (always gets some laughs!) and then act out the RIGHT way to use the social skill.
Role-playing
After the skill has been modeled, my students get to come up and act out the skill. This takes a bit of practice and modifications for certain students but they LOVE it! We practice role-playing every day that week to secure the skill.
Performance Feedback
After the students role-play, they are given feedback on their performance to show that they followed the steps of the social skill correctly. I give green points (Class Dojo) and a whole lotta enthusiasm to get them pumped up about their performance!
The purpose was to investigate the additive effects of Social Skills Training (SST) to Check-in/Check-out (CICO) on academic engagement of students. Participants were 3 elementary students who exhibited disruptive behavior who were nominated by teachers. The two dependent variables were the level of Appropriately Engaged Behavior (AEB) of the student as well as the student's behavior ratings indicated by teacher responses on the Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC) with and without SST. A noncurrent multiple baseline across students design was used to examine both dependent variables. Goldstein and McGinnis' program, Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child, was used during SST. The current study assessed whether the combination of CICO and SST was more effective than CICO in increasing AEB. All three students demonstrated increases in AEB during CICO. However, when CICO/SST was implemented, all three students did not demonstrate additional increases in AEB compared to CICO. In addition, all three students' teacher-rated performance on the DBRC remained variable during intervention phases. Teachers found both Tier 2 interventions as acceptable; however, the majority of teachers indicated that both interventions did not positively affect students ' classroom behavior. Theses results support the use of CICO in elementary school students.
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