There are affiliate links contained in this blog post. It does not cost you anything, but I will receive a small commission if you choose to buy one of these items.
Most of us don’t get any social skills curricula from our schools. Cue to many of us spending hours making out own material and trying to write a scope of social skills curriculum. Yes, curriculum creator is kind of one of the many jobs we have as special educators. However, I think not having a set curriculum leaves us open to missing out on some super critical skills that our students, frankly, need to learn to be successful. It’s like trying to wing it through while cooking. Yeah, you might be able to make a really a really great casserole by just winging it, but have too much or too little of an essential ingredient can leave you dissatisfied with your creation. I have learned so much about teaching theory of mind, flexibility, and more thanks to using resources that really dig deep in to these vital skills.
Between teaching in a special ed classroom and working with in-home clients as a BCBA, I have definitely acquired a small collection of social skills curricula to help me. Whenever I am planning lessons in my classroom or writing a program for a client, I always consult these books. It just makes it so much easier to know how exactly to break to these skills in to manageable parts.
Teaching Theory of Mind
Confession: I have never heard of the concept of theory of mind until I was given a book on it by my clinical director. It’s really nothing none of us haven’t heard of. It is basically perspective taking, which many of us know this is tricky for our students. However, I love that this book begins with very basic skills, such as joint attention, emotions identification, and imitation. The book then moves up to targeting more advanced skills, such as understanding figurative language and self-assessment. There are also caregiver letters to photocopy or just use as a template for notes home to parents about skills targeted. The format is based on classroom lesson, so it’s super easy to implement for a special education classroom or small group. Out of all the curricula I have used over the years, this is honestly my favorite!
Lego-Based Therapy
This book gives you EVERYTHING to develop a Lego-based social skills club. I think it is more for social skills group run in clinics, but honestly, I have had no problem implementing a Lego club in my own classroom. This book goes through all the steps of creating a club, such as following rules, assigning roles, and assessment. I love using Legos because, although they are technically toys, there is a broad range of ages that can play with Lego. Keeping things age-appropriate while motivating the heck out of my student. Oh yeah!
Crafting Connections: Contemporary Applied Behavior Analysis for Enriching the Social Lives of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder
If you are familiar with writing ABA programs, this book is for you! I love the fact that this book is based on ABA principles. Not only that, it is easy to implement in a classroom or with an individual client. Each skill is task analyzed and lists prerequisite skills. I found this book could tackle a very broad range of skills. I have personally used it with clients as young as 7 all the way up to those in their teen years.
You are a Social Detective: Explaining Social Thinking to Kids
Hopefully by now you have heard of the glory that is the Social Thinking. Unfortunately, the books tend to come with somewhat hefty price tags. However, I found You Are a Social Detective to be worth the price. Just from this one picture book, you can pull several concepts, including (but not limited to): expected and unexpected behaviors, making smart and wacky guessed, making inferences….I could go on for quite a while. The first year I used this book, I was able to utilize it for an entire year. As I went along and taught the different concepts, I made sure to make a binder with all of the materials I used to support the book. In the following years, all I had to do was pull worksheets as I taught the lessons.
Social Skills Activities for Kids: 50 Fun Exercises for Making Friends, Talking and Listening, and Understanding Social Rules
This was a no-fuss, easy to implement book I found on Amazon. The pages are easy to print out and have ready to go for a social skills lesson. It touches upon topics from making friends, social skills at home, at school and more.
The best part about these materials is that these social skills curricula are much more affordable that a lot of curriculum out there. Even the most penny scrimping teacher can afford those types of prices!
Teaching Theory of Mind: A Curriculum for Children with High Functioning Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, and Related Social Challenges
LEGO®-Based Therapy: How to build social competence through LEGO®-based Clubs for children with autism and related conditions
Crafting Connections: Contemporary Applied Behavior Analysis for Enriching the Social Lives of Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder
You Are a Social Detective
Social Skills Activities for Kids
No Comments