Middle School Social Skills FAQ

I have a high school student who could really benefit from the target skills addressed in Middle School Social Skills. Can I use the program with him?

If you feel that your student will respond to the older characters and the targeted skills addressed are appropriate, you can absolutely use the middle school program with older students.

Should I implement the program with all of my students?

Implement the program with any of your students who need instruction on and support for the target social skills. To help promote social interaction and increase social opportunities, try to implement the lessons in a group setting. If appropriate, use peer models to increase inclusive social opportunities.

How can I embed academic instruction within social skills lessons?

The Comic Strip Builder is a great way to build literacy activities into social skills instruction! Students are encouraged to write and illustrate their own social story that relates to specific targeted skills included in the curriculum. There is a pre-writing worksheet that students can use to plan their comic strips that follow the parts of a story.

My students are starting to go through puberty. Does the middle school curriculum have lessons that address body changes and puberty?

Yes! Middle School Social Skills includes a Personal Care behavior domain. Currently, there are video models and lessons that address Handling Body Changes, Managing Body Odor, and more!

My students struggle with relationships and boundaries. Does the middle school curriculum have lessons that address relationships?

Yes! Middle School Social Skills includes a Building and Maintaining Relationships behavior domain. This domain targets skills to promote positive and appropriate peer relationships, appropriate interactions with people in the community, and more!

I see that each lesson has a self-management strategy. How can I help my students build self-management skills?

Review the self-management strategy with your students often. Provide your students with visual reminders or cues, if necessary, and encourage your students to use the strategy throughout the day. The lesson plans for each skill detail ways to have students practice managing their own behavior. Self-management materials and other visual supports are provided within many of the lesson plans.

Do students have their own login information to access the interactive activities and comic strip builder?

Yes! Teachers will create a student username and password for each student who will login to the Middle School Social Skills program. Teachers will also have the ability to login as their student to assist students who need support. When students log in to Middle School Social Skills, they will only have access to the video models and interactive activities that have been enabled by a facilitator.

How can I support my students who have more complex learning needs on interactive activities and comic strip builders?

The computer-based Interactive Activities include a feature where the questions and response options are highlighted while they are read aloud to the student, making it accessible to students who are not fluent readers. If a touchscreen is not available, and your student is unable to manipulate the computer mouse independently, a staff member could click on the response the student points to (or otherwise indicates that they would like to select). The Comic Strip Builder is available in 2 different lengths for differentiation: a 3-panel comic strip and a 5-panel comic strip.

Staff may provide the students with sentences or dialogue for the comic strip and the students can place the characters. The comic strip builder could be projected onto an interactive whiteboard so that the students could manipulate the characters and objects on a larger scale, or it could be done as a group activity.