Talkabout for Children 2: Developing Social Skills

Designed specifically for young children (aged 4 and above) or children with special needs, this practical resource is packed with activities and games for developing social skills. Social competence is an essential aspect of our quality of life and this resource will help you to develop these skills in young children. It creates the second level of the Talkabout heirachy, where self-awareness comes before non-verbal skills and non-verbal comes before verbal, with assertiveness coming last.

The book includes:

• Over 60 activities to develop social skills in body language, conversations and assertiveness
• A two year teaching plan to help teachers incorporate groups into the school curriculum
• A short introduction to working with children with social skills difficulties
• An assessment of social skills and planning sheet for intervention
• 25 excellent group cohesion activities to use within in your groups
• Forms and evaluation sheets to help with the smooth running of groups
• Downloadable resources with colour versions of the activities to print out and use

This second edition is presented with full-colour illustrations and handouts, and includes a new introduction by Alex Kelly reflecting on her own experiences of using the resources since they were first developed.

Puppets and animals bring some of the concepts to life and new Talkabout characters help the children to learn these essential skills. This is certainly a must have for anyone working with young children or children with special needs on social skills.

Table of Contents

Preface

• Introduction

This section includes a brief introduction to the book and the key points behind setting up and running groups.

• Initial Assessment

This section includes an assessment of social skills with a visual assessment summary and a sheet to determine where to start work.

• Level 1 TALKABOUT Body Language

The aim of this level is to increase awareness of body language and to improve skills in using body language effectively. It includes 26 activities which can be taught over a period of 2 academic terms or 25 sessions.

• Level 2 TALKABOUT Talking

The aim of this level is to increase awareness of conversational skills and to improve skills in using speaking and listening in conversations effectively. It includes 23 activities which can be taught over a period of 2 academic terms or 25 sessions.

• Level 3 TALKABOUT Assertiveness

The aim of this level is to increase awareness of assertiveness skills and to improve skills in using effective body language and speaking skills when being assertive. It includes 21 activities which can be taught over a period of 2 academic terms or 23 sessions.

• Group Cohesion Activities

This section provides 25 suggestions for effective group cohesion activities to use at the beginning and end of sessions.

• Plan of Intervention

This section provides you with a suggested plan of intervntion over 3 school terms.

• Forms

This section includes some forms that can be used for session planning and evaluation.

• Index

An index of topics and activities.