Social Skills Activities for Special Children

I was given the luck of getting to teach a behavior class to some of my Special Ed students. There was a general idea of what I need to teach, but no curriculum or resources whatsoever. This book has been a lifesaving Godsend. The lessons are organized in a logical order and deal with issues that are completely relevant to my elementary aged students with issues learning proper school behavior. I would like it if the lessons were a little more involved and longer lasting; but these lessons are a great starting point and help me organize how I will teach my class. I just find other lessons online to supplement the lessons in the book...or come up with my own ideas! I'm so happy I found this book!

As a therapist working with children (pre k through 6th grade) with various mental disorders and behavior problems I searched high and low to find interventions that target specific behaviors. It's not always easy to talk to younger children in a manner in which they understand. This book provides interventions that specifically teach children social behaviors that are are expected of them while they are in school and in the home. The interventions are simple enough for younger children and can prompt conversation for the older children. This book is filled with enough interventions to work with children throughout the school year.

Not crazy that it says for Special Children....but the activities and stories are great. I'm able to use the provided lesson for a quick social skills group and the kids enjoy them. They are super easy to change to fit the needs of individual students as well.

I teach special ed middle school students. This is an excellent resource, very practical lesson and easily taught in 5-10 minutes. I like it much, much better than the school district's choice of Second Step (which puts the kids to sleep and they hate).

I've used this book for over a decade. It's perfect for small group work and targeting specific skills. The worksheets work for any elementary level and the guiding questions for the facilitator are great for getting good discussion happening. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

This has proven very effective for my students. It helps them to really think about each scenario that is given and it also provides different worksheets and role playing activities which help the kids process the hypothetical situation. You will have to come up with more ideas for having it generalize into the gen ed classroom, but it's really a great place to start.

I bought this and several other books to use in my classroom. This book is fine for students who can read and who have a typical understanding of language but for my students I have had to modify every lesson. I teach high school students with significant cognitive and language deficits and find it very difficult to find materials that are not targeted for preK and kindergarten students. I have made my own lessons with my teenage students in mind over the years but although I use a lot of my free time on finding, modifying, and making materials , I need so much more.I am hoping that authors like Ms. Mannix, Ms. Weltmann, and some wonderful retired teachers will read this and come up with some great ready-to-use books and worksheets. Pictures need to be large and with few details, themes need concepts that build upon each other, and the language must be simple with a vocabulary that builds upon the last level/lesson. Pretty much add another level to the social skill just taught introduce the next skill using pretty much the same words in a continuation of the story/theme. If you have ever thought about doing something like this and you have the means-maybe this is your calling.

I work with federal setting IV special education students and this book provides us with meaningful and practical lessons to discuss and practice together as a class- one of the best social skills resource for its ease of use, practical nature and motivating and effective lessons

Excellent ideas for teaching social skills to children from 8 up I'd say. After each lesson there are worksheets to back up the lesson

Exactly what I was looking for. This is a good book for grade 3 to 6.

Great to use for 16 to 19 year old students with Autism. Can be differentiated easily and means I don't have to 'reinvent the wheel'.

I was disappointed when I received it. Not what I had hoped. Had it a few months and still haven't used it yet

Fantastic book!!