Supporting Social Competency
at School: Pre-K - Kindergarten
PRESENTATION CREATED BY:
CATHERINE TELLER, M.A. & DANIELLE HARRINGTON, M.A.
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
PRESENTED BY: [NAME]
Presentation Overview
 Introduction
 Social Competency in Early Childhood
 Signs of Social Problems
 What Can I Do to Help?
 When to Get Outside Help
Proposed Outcomes
The goal of this training is to help you to:

Have a clear understanding of what social competency is.

Be able to recognize students lacking social competency who
may need your support & guidance.

Learn strategies to support students who are struggling
socially.

Better understand when students may need more intensive
help beyond what you can provide.
Feel empowered to support student social
competency at school!
Introduction
Educating the “Whole Child”
A growing approach to
education recognizing that…
 Academic preparation is one of
many important pieces to
preparing students to become
successful, independent
members of society
 Addressing social, emotional,
behavioral & environmental
needs can lead to long-lasting,
positive outcomes
Powerful Implications
Presence of social-emotional support has been
shown to boost:

Enjoyment of daily activities in the classroom

Commitment to school and learning

Self-esteem

Protection against mental illness

Recovery from setbacks (resiliency)
Powerful Implications
Absence of social-emotional support puts students at
greater risk for:
Learning problems
 Feeling disconnected from school
 Disruptive behavior
 Peer rejection
 Development of mental illness
 Long-term negative outcomes (e.g., dropping out of high
school, criminal activity, social or mental health problems
in adulthood)

With this in mind…
How can we make a difference?
Targeting Intervention Efforts
Research indicates that there is a strong relationship
between the presence of social competency and:
 Positive peer group adjustment
 Social-emotional well-being
(Smith & Hart, 2005)
What is Social Competency?
What is Social Competency?
Social Competency involves:
1) Possessing and appropriately using social skills
2) Learning from past experience and applying that
learning to the ever-changing social landscape
Essentially: Combining social skills and past
knowledge to build and maintain
interpersonal relationships
What is Social Competency?
The acronym C.A.R.E.S. identifies five major clusters
of social skills that socially competent people have:
• Cooperation
• Assertion
• Responsibility
• Empathy
• Self-control
(Gresham & Elliot, 1990)
Typical Social Development:
What should we be seeing?
Typical Social Development in Early Childhood
In Pre-K-Kindergarten, typically developing children…
 Are able to play independently or in small groups without
constant supervision
 May have trouble interpreting behavior as intentional or
unintentional
 Are perpetually active and may have trouble concentrating
 Understand the difference between right and wrong
 Recognize and respect authority figures
 Show initiative, curiosity and the desire to explore
Typical Social Development in Early Childhood
Specific social skills developing during these years:
 Self-control skills such as sitting still and keeping hands to
self
 Cooperation and sharing (without adult reminders)
 Assertiveness and emotional regulation
 Ability to talk about their feelings
 Ability to sense the friendliness of other children
 Ability to gain entry in a play group on their own
Typical Social Development in Early Childhood
Characteristics of friendships at this age:
 Unstable and children are sometimes unkind to peers
 Based on proximity and availability
 Not gender based; boys and girls freely play with each
other
 “Friends” are peers who share and play reciprocally
 Adults play a large role in building and maintaining
friends
 A dominant peer may emerge in a group who controls the
play without much resistance from others
Cultural Considerations
 “Typical social development” can look different from
culture to culture.
 Cultures can vary in their:

Social norms

Expectations for behavior (i.e., A behavior desired in one
culture may be frowned upon in another)

Interpretation of others’ behavior/ social cues
 Become familiar with the cultural makeup of your school
and community, and keep this in mind when
determining whether student behaviors are “typical.”
Recognizing Children Who are
Struggling Socially
Signs of Social Competency Problems
 Aggressive/hostile behavior
 Withdrawing from or avoiding peers or social
situations
 Excessive shyness
 A lack of friends
 Rejection from peers
Rejected-withdrawn
Rejected-aggressive
Signs of Social Competency Problems
Other signs that intervention may be needed:
 Talking back/arguing with adults
 Acting bossy, controlling, and/or dominating
 Frequent teasing by peers
 Separation anxiety
 Not sharing, even with prompting from adults
Signs of Social Competency Problems
Social Skills Deficits:

Acquisition Deficits


Performance Deficits


The student does not have the knowledge to perform a particular
social skill. (“Can’t do”)
The student has the particular skill in his/her repertoire but rarely
performs the skill or does not have the motivation to perform it.
(“Won’t do”)
Fluency Deficits

The student has the skill in his/her repertoire but performs it
inconsistently or awkwardly.
Signs of Social Competency Problems
What else have you seen while working in schools
that tells you a student is struggling socially?
What Can I do to Help?
Tiered Approach to Intervention
 80% of students will not exhibit major behavior problems
because of previous successful learning experiences.

These children should respond to Environmental Supports (Core
Interventions)
 15% of students will be at-risk for severe behavior problems.
These students engage in problem behaviors beyond acceptable
levels and will not respond to basic school wide interventions.

These students should respond to Programmatic Supports (Targeted
Interventions)
 About 1 to 5% of students display chronic patterns of violent,
disruptive, and destructive behavior that do not respond to either
of the above approaches.

These students need Individual Support (Intensive Interventions)
Tiered Approach to Intervention
Used by permission of School Specialty Inc., (800) 225-5750, http://eps.schoolspecialty.com.
Positive Effects of Intervention
In addition to boosting social competency,
intervention efforts at each level can lead to increases
in:
 Resiliency
 Positive behavior
 Positive relationships with peers and adults
 Academic achievement
 Emotional well-being
What Can I do to Help? Core Interventions
Environmental Supports (Tier I: helping 80% of students)
 Create a supportive school climate
 Give children ample positive attention and let them give
input on rules
 Encourage students to believe they can succeed if they try

Frame failure as an opportunity from which to learn
 Model respect for others, optimism, and forgiveness
 Create an environment with clear, consistent expectations
What Can I do to Help? Core Interventions
Naturalistic Intervention
“Informal social skills intervention . . . takes
advantage of naturally occurring behavioral incidents or
events to teach prosocial behavior . . . There are literally
thousands of behavioral incidents that occur in home,
school and community settings, thereby creating rich
opportunities for using these behavioral incidents as the
basis for social skills trainings.”
(Gresham, 2002)
What Can I do to Help? Core Interventions
Naturalistic strategies (Tier I: helping 80% of
students)
 Help children recognize the emotion they are expressing.
 Suggest solutions to social problems that arise.
 Encourage non-competitive games.
 Talk about self-control and making good decisions.
 Talk about why it is important to be patient, share, and
respect others’ rights and what each “looks like” (e.g.,
taking turns).
What Can I do to Help? Targeted Interventions
Programmatic supports (Tier II: helping 10-15% of
students)
 Bibliotherapy

As a preventative strategy

To start a general discussion after an incident has
occurred
 Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curricula that can be used
in a whole-class setting or in smaller groups
 Counselor or Psychologist-led social skills groups that
students can be referred to
What Can I do to Help? Targeted Interventions
Specific Strategies promoting social skill acquisition (Tier
II: helping 10-15% of students)
 Modeling
 Coaching
 Behavioral Rehearsal
What Can I do to Help? Targeted Interventions
Modeling involves learning by observing another person
perform a behavior
 One of the most effective and efficient ways of teaching
social behavior
Steps for Modeling:
Present the entire sequence of behaviors involved in a
particular social skill
1.
1.
2.
2.
First, demonstrate each step or part
Next, model entire sequence together as it should look
Teach the student how to integrate the behavior into their
social interactions
What Can I do to Help? Targeted Interventions
Coaching involves using verbal instructions to teach
social behavior
Steps for Coaching:
1.
2.
3.
Explain social concepts or rules
Provide opportunities for practice or rehearsal in controlled
situation
Provide specific informational feedback on the quality of
behavioral performances
What Can I do to Help? Targeted Interventions
Behavioral Rehearsal involves practicing a newly
learned behavior in a structured, protective situation of
role playing
Steps for Behavioral Rehearsal:
Explain and model a new behavior
2. Provide a role play prompt for students to practice the skill in
3. Have students switch roles within the role play to help reinforce
learning
1.
 Example -- Say: “Greg, you and Max are playing handball at recess
and you see Julian sitting by himself. I want you to practice the
‘inviting a friend to play’ skill we just learned.”
A Note on Behavior Change
Remember…
 Developing or learning a new social skill is a form of
behavior change.
 Changing behavior takes time and is a gradual
process.
With this in mind, each step towards the goal behavior
should be praised and reinforced.
In other words,
reward DIRECTION to guide towards PERFECTION
Vignettes & Practice
Mariana
Mariana is a 6 year-old girl in Kindergarten. On the
playground, she is usually near other children, but does not
seem to be playing with them. You have seen her several
times walk over to groups of children playing, but when she
gets to them she stands silently, watching what they are
doing. As the other children continue playing, Mariana
usually ends up walking away. In class, she often needs
teacher help to join a group because when instructed to try
on her own, she walks over, stands near other children, not
saying anything, and eventually walks away. You have been
seeing this type of behavior for several weeks and are noticing
that Mariana is beginning to become isolated.
Vignette Discussion
In your groups discuss the following:
 Based on what you have learned today…

Is this a problem warranting intervention?

Is there something you could do to help Lucas?

If so, what do you think might help him?
Isaiah
Isaiah is in Pre-K and you have been noticing him having
trouble on the playground. When something does not go his
way, or if another child does something that he does not like, he
starts screaming. He stops where he stands and just screams,
not towards anyone in particular. This lasts until either an adult
comes to see what is wrong, or the other children, not sure what
to make of it, walk away or ask what is wrong. The other
children are starting to avoid him due to this behavior.
 Take turns practices one of the 3 strategies for building social
skills:
 Modeling
 Coaching
 Behavior Rehearsal
When to Seek Outside Help
Tiered Approach to Intervention
 For those 1-5% of students who do not respond to
core interventions and targeted interventions, more
individualized intervention and support is likely
needed.
Used by permission of School Specialty Inc., (800) 225-5750, http://eps.schoolspecialty.com.
Seeking Outside Help
Make contact with school psychologist or counselor.
 Contact via email or other designated avenue (e.g.:
observation/consultation form)
 Ask for an observation to be made of the student
 Make appointment to meet to talk about your concerns for
the student
At-Risk Populations
Special populations at risk for significant deficits in
social competency:
 Children with diagnosable disorders:

Internalizing Disorders

Externalizing Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders
 Children with disabilities (physical, learning, etc.)
 Children with a lack of resiliency
Externalizing Disorders
Externalizing Disorders include:
 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
 Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD)
 Conduct Disorder (CD)
Each of these disorders is:
 Marked by acting-out (externalizing) behaviors
 Set apart from typical development by the intensity,
duration and frequency of such behaviors
Externalizing Disorders: ADHD
Children with ADHD can experience social difficulties
due to excessive:
• Distractibility
• Hyperactivity
• Impulsivity
 These behaviors affect a child’s ability to observe,
understand, and respond to the social environment.
 Children with ADHD are often isolated and rejected from
their peers
Externalizing Disorders: CD & ODD
It is very rare for young children to be diagnosed with
Conduct Disorder, but Oppositional Defiance Disorder is
frequently diagnosed in Pre-school & Kindergarten.
ODD impacts social functioning due to:
 Excessive aggression and hostility
 The use of inappropriate social problem-solving
strategies (e.g., aggressive actions) due misreading
social situations
 Peers reject these children frequently due to their
aggression and defiant, rule-breaking behavior
Internalizing Disorders
Internalizing Disorders include:
 Depression
 Anxiety
Each of these disorders is:
 Marked by patterns of less observable (internalized)
symptoms
 It is normal to experience depression & anxiety in smaller
doses, diagnosable disorders are set apart by their
intensity, duration and frequency
Internalizing Disorders: Depression
In young children, depression “looks” different
Instead of a “depressed” mood, pervasive irritability
 Somatic complaints are common
 Withdrawal from social situations
 Significant changes in eating or sleeping habits
 Chronic fatigue

 Many of these symptoms can directly impact a child’s
social functioning
Internalizing Disorders: Anxiety
Common Anxiety Disorders seen in Early Childhood




Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Separation Anxiety
Specific phobias (for example: school or social situations)
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
 Each of the above involve severe reactions of worry and fear
caused by situations or events that are typically perceived
as harmless.
 These worries and fears can become so consuming that
these students may avoid social situations and are unable to
build or maintain friendships.
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)
Autism Spectrum Disorders include:
 Autism
 Asperger’s Syndrome
 Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise
Specified (PDD-NOS)
Each of these disorders is:
 Characterized by deficits in communication and social
functioning and patterns of stereotyped/ritualistic
behaviors
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)
Social deficits among children with ASDs can include
difficulties with:
 Initiating and maintaining interactions with peers and
adults
 Understanding social rules such as taking turns and
sharing
 Understanding and reading the emotions of others
 Taking the perspective of other people
A note on diagnosable disorders…
Keep in mind that Internalizing, Externalizing and
Autistic Spectrum Disorders all range in severity and
often look quite different in different children.
Understanding the severity of a individual’s disorder
may help determine what level of social support or
intervention may be most appropriate.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that most children, even those with
diagnosable disorders, who are struggling socially can
respond to core (school or classroom-wide) interventions
and targeted interventions…
Bottom Line:
These types of interventions should
always be tried first. YOU have the skills
and knowledge to use these interventions
and make a positive impact!
Questions/ Comments?
[INSERT PRESENTER NAME, TITLE AND
CONTACT INFORMATION]
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