Putting Social Skills onto the Curriculum
- Part 2

Oak Lodge School

Year 7 Plan of intervention: Autumn Term

Topics
In this term we will cover what we look like and what we are like (personal appearance and personality).  We will also complete an initial assessment of social skills using the Talkabout online assessment tool.

Resources
We will be using the resources in:

Talkabout level 1 pp 16-26

Talkabout Activities pp 33-50

Talkabout DVD scenarios 1 & 2

In addition we have made a number of games using photos of the children, symbols etc.

Groups
There are twenty-six children in year 7 and they are currently in two classes.  We have divided these children into three groups according to their social skills levels; two groups of nine and one group of eight. 

The children are all following the same programme but the less able group is moving at a slightly slower pace and some of the activities have been altered to accommodate their skill level. 

Sessions
The sessions are all forty minutes long and follow the same pattern each week:

1. A group gelling game - it is essential to start each session with a short activity to bring the group together and reduce any anxiety.
   
   
2. How do we feel today? Every session we ask the children to tell the group how they are feeling using a feelings board made with symbols and Velcro.  We use different boards with different groups depending on their ability, so some groups just decide between 'happy' and 'sad' and some have a choice of six feelings.
   
   They are then asked to tell the group why they feel this way.  This is an opportunity to hear about other children's feelings as well as reflect on their own.
   
   

3. The main activity. This is related to the topic which has been planned in advance.
   
   
4. How did we do? We ask the children to then rate themselves on a traffic light system based on how they found the session:

• Red: 'I needed lots of help' or 'I found it difficult'
• Amber: 'I needed a bit of help' or
  'I found some things difficult'
• Green: 'I didn't need any help' or
  'I found it easy'
  

They then place a coloured sticker next to their name on a laminated sheet.

5. A group gelling game.

A detailed plan of activities for the autumn term                  

1. Group cohesion activities

Our first aim is to gel the groups and so the first few weeks we just play group cohesion activities

2. What do people look like?

• Cut out pictures from magazines of different people and make a collage of people and describe them (Activity 1)
   
• Create a visual map of how we describe people - e.g. eyes, faces, height etc using symbols (Activity 2)
  
  
• Talkabout DVD scenario 1 (Activity 3)
  
  
• Start writing down words that children use to describe people - divide it up into nice things, and not nice things to say
  
  
• Play games where you have a number of pictures of people in the middle of the group and see if children can identify who you're describing

3. What do we look like?

• Take pictures of everyone in the group and label three or four things about the way they look (Activity 4)
  
  
• Play games where you describe a member of the group - who am I describing? Different people bingo (Activity 5)
  
  
• Do a group survey on what we look like using a number of characteristics - display this on a chart (Activity 6)
  
  
• Divide the room up into different descriptors e.g. long hair, short hair and medium hair; blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes - get the children to move to that part of the room
  
  
• Play a guessing game where children have to describe a person in the school using a number of headings: sex, pupil/adult, hair-type/colour/length, eyes, clothes... Work in pairs and see if they can guess who they are talking about (Activity 7)

4. Personality - what are people like?

• Come up with some basic descriptors; kind, chatty, helpful, loving, mean, confident. Can we think of anyone who's like that? Use Mr Men to help describe different personalities (Activity 8)
  
  
• Talkabout DVD scenario 2: what words would you use to describe people?
  (Activity 9)
  
  
• Famous people - what are they like? Harry Potter, Voldermort, Mr Bean, topical famous person (Activity 10)

5. Personality - what are we like?

• Pick a number of words to describe someone in the group
  
  
• Pair children up to think about what each other is like - choose three words and share with the group (Activity 11)
  
  
• Group games where you describe someone e.g. 'Martin is chatty', or 'throw the bag to someone to someone who is kind'
  
  
• Group survey on a number of personalities - how many of us are... talkative, shy, quiet, confident, funny...
  
  
• Use Mr Men to get children to identify which one they are most like
  
  
• Divide the room up into different descriptors e.g. quiet - noisy; confident - shy -get the children to move to that part of the room
  
  
• Complete Talkabout Assessments on all children

This plan has been put into a simple plan for the three groups (see table) so that every teacher has a quick reference for their group. Click here to download the table (PDF).

So, hopefully that has given you some ideas on how we have practically planned for one term of developing the children's self and other awareness. 

In the next issue I will talk about the plans for the spring and summer term.  

Alex Kelly
Speech & language therapist and social skills consultant www.alexkelly.biz

 

Alex Kelly is the author of Speechmark's best selling Talkabout series.

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See the Talkabout online assessment tool at www.alexkelly.biz

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