Being able to initiate, establish, and maintain friendships is a critical component of social competence. A child’s program for initiating friendships is much more direct than the typical step-by-step curriculum for adults. A child’s approach is direct and straightforward: “Hi. Would you like to play with me?” Friendships are built around shared activities. The child’s non-verbal behavior is the area most likely to need attention. Therefore, this module features initiating contacts in the classroom and with friends, and, as usual, provides practice opportunities.
Anger and high anxiety are emotions that children experience in stressful situations. Children need to cope with these emotions to develop social competence. These skills are internal and must be self-initiated to be effective. To control anger, children are taught to initiate a Time-Out or break for themselves when they feel high anxiety or a desire to act aggressively. The purpose of this Time-Out is to create time and space for cooling down. Another skill that helps control anger is cognitive self-coping talk. This skill’s purpose is to increase competence for handling difficult situations through talking to oneself through the experience.
ACT 6: A Social Skills Training Program for Children Grades 3 – 6 – Criticism and Maintenance Skills
In this module, children are taught specific ways to self-reinforce when receiving negative feedback. This facilitates maintenance of high-esteem and assertive behavioral responses. The integration of overt rehearsal of covert self-talk and behavioral role-play is an important step in the development of social competence.