October 15, 2015

Social Skills Activities for Middle Schoolers: Speech Therapy Goals and Ideas

27 minutes

Social Skills Activities for Middle Schoolers:

Speech Therapy Goals and Ideas

Many of our children with language delays also have trouble with social skills.  This may be due to certain conditions that impair social skills, like autism, or it may just be because these children have trouble learning language and social interactions rely heavily on language skills.  Whatever the cause, one of the best ways to help improve social skills is through the use of social skills groups.  Doing social skills training in a group setting allows children to practice new skills with their peers instead of just talking about them theoretically.  Practice is crucial for these children to actually be able to use those skills in real life.

However, knowing exactly how to run a social skills group can be tricky.  I’m going to present you with some great social skills activities for middle schoolers (ages 11-14 years).

Click Here to Download the Free Lesson Planner Forms with Sample Plans and Blank Data Collection Sheet!Social Skills Therapy Kits

No-Prep PDFs for Teaching Social Skills

Join the Hub to Access (Free Trial)Listen to the Social Skills for Middle Schoolers Podcast:Social Skills for Middle School:

Skills to Target

Topic Maintenance

Announcing Topic Shifts

Not talking too much (ask the other person questions)

Responding to others with relevant information

Not asking personal questions

Keeping secrets and respecting someone’s privacy

Including enough information for the listener to know what you’re talking about

Using clear speech with complete sentences

Beginning and Ending Conversations

Vocal Volume

How to Listen

Thinking about others

Using clues in conversations (making inferences)

Approaching and entering a group conversation

Not perseverating on a topic

Making small talk

How to Figure Out what Social Skills to Target for Middle Schoolers:

Observe student in natural interactions with peers (host a lunch group or push-in (“supervise”) during lunch or free time)

Ask teachers what social problems they’ve noticed

Ask the child what he has trouble with in conversation or when things seem to break down

Ask the child’s friends (with his permission)

Observe other children his age in typical interactions and see what they are doing that the student is not

How to Run a Social Skills Group for Middle Schoolers:

Choose one topic per session (or one topic for several sessions)

Read a story or watch a video about the topic or give a scenario where the skill was not used correctly and have the students identify what went wrong

Explain the skill to the children and write out rules for the situation or scenario

Have one or two students come up to the front to demonstrate the skill in a staged scenario that you control and plan out

Ask the students questions about the rules of this topic

Have students pair off and practice the skill while you watch and provide feedback

Come back together and ask questions again to ensure comprehension. Watch the video again or read the book again.

Assign each student to write in a journal about one time that they used the skill (either correctly or incorrectly) and review at the beginning of your next session

Check to see if the students retained the info during the next session. If not, repeat these steps.

The Amazing Tool that’s Going to Make all of this A LOT Easier!

Everyday Speech Social Skills Video Library

They’ve made the videos for you! Videos will include:

A brief explanation of the skill

Video demonstrations of the skill being done incorrectly

Analysis of the incorrect demonstration including the consequences of the child’s actions

Video demonstrations of what the child should have done instead and how that changes the consequences

Summary of the skill

Videos cover a variety of topics for middle schoolers (and some for younger kids as well), including:

Basic Conversation Skills

Advanced Conversation Skills

Nonverbal Communication

How we Act in School

Making Friends

Keeping Self Control and Handling Stress

Solving Conflicts with Peers

More Resources with Social Skills activities for Middle School:

If you’d like more resources for middle schoolers, check out this page on my site:

Click Here for More Middle School Resources (including a free middle school therapy material bundle!)

Social Skills Therapy Kits

No-Prep PDFs for Teaching Social Skills

Join the Hub to Access (Free Trial)About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLP

Hi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers.

Fun Fact: When my son was three, he once got mad at me and told me he was going to send me to Antarctica in nothing but a t-shirt. He had an overly large vocabulary for a 3-year-old….along with an overly large amount of sass. He still has both to this day.

Connect with Me:

The post Social Skills Activities for Middle Schoolers: Speech Therapy Goals and Ideas appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

...more

View all episodes

By Carrie Clark, M.A. CCC-SLP

4.6

156156 ratings

October 15, 2015

Social Skills Activities for Middle Schoolers: Speech Therapy Goals and Ideas

27 minutes

Social Skills Activities for Middle Schoolers:

Speech Therapy Goals and Ideas

However, knowing exactly how to run a social skills group can be tricky.  I’m going to present you with some great social skills activities for middle schoolers (ages 11-14 years).

Click Here to Download the Free Lesson Planner Forms with Sample Plans and Blank Data Collection Sheet!Social Skills Therapy Kits

No-Prep PDFs for Teaching Social Skills

Join the Hub to Access (Free Trial)Listen to the Social Skills for Middle Schoolers Podcast:Social Skills for Middle School:

Skills to Target

Topic Maintenance

Announcing Topic Shifts

Not talking too much (ask the other person questions)

Responding to others with relevant information

Not asking personal questions

Keeping secrets and respecting someone’s privacy

Including enough information for the listener to know what you’re talking about

Using clear speech with complete sentences

Beginning and Ending Conversations

Vocal Volume

How to Listen

Thinking about others

Using clues in conversations (making inferences)

Approaching and entering a group conversation

Not perseverating on a topic

Making small talk

How to Figure Out what Social Skills to Target for Middle Schoolers:

Observe student in natural interactions with peers (host a lunch group or push-in (“supervise”) during lunch or free time)

Ask teachers what social problems they’ve noticed

Ask the child what he has trouble with in conversation or when things seem to break down

Ask the child’s friends (with his permission)

Observe other children his age in typical interactions and see what they are doing that the student is not

How to Run a Social Skills Group for Middle Schoolers:

Choose one topic per session (or one topic for several sessions)

Read a story or watch a video about the topic or give a scenario where the skill was not used correctly and have the students identify what went wrong

Explain the skill to the children and write out rules for the situation or scenario

Have one or two students come up to the front to demonstrate the skill in a staged scenario that you control and plan out

Ask the students questions about the rules of this topic

Have students pair off and practice the skill while you watch and provide feedback

Come back together and ask questions again to ensure comprehension. Watch the video again or read the book again.

Assign each student to write in a journal about one time that they used the skill (either correctly or incorrectly) and review at the beginning of your next session

Check to see if the students retained the info during the next session. If not, repeat these steps.

The Amazing Tool that’s Going to Make all of this A LOT Easier!

Everyday Speech Social Skills Video Library

They’ve made the videos for you! Videos will include:

A brief explanation of the skill

Video demonstrations of the skill being done incorrectly

Analysis of the incorrect demonstration including the consequences of the child’s actions

Video demonstrations of what the child should have done instead and how that changes the consequences

Summary of the skill

Videos cover a variety of topics for middle schoolers (and some for younger kids as well), including:

Basic Conversation Skills

Advanced Conversation Skills