Social Success

Here are 2 great resources to teach children to be more successful socially. The First Steps book and CD includes: Know Myself First; Initiate with Others; Learn Conversation Skills; and Read Social Clues. The Next Steps helps them develop social problem solving skills: Building Friendships; Managing Friendships; Handling Friendship Problems; and Social Skills in the Classroom. We use Second Step and MindUp as our Tier 1 evidence-based curriculum so I will use these in Tier 2 small groups for children who need more support to interact successfully with peers. The First Steps book has 25 lessons and Next Steps has 30 lessons. For counselors who get forced into the specials rotation these books are MUST HAVES! I especially like the CD that has an interactive summary, handouts, and graphic cue cards for each lesson. I think the graphic cue card which is a visual summary of the lesson is such a great learning aide. It can be used at the beginning and end of the lesson or session to review what was covered and sent home so parents know what happened in classroom or group. They could also be used for a quick review the next lesson or session and at the end for cumulative review. I strongly urge elementary counselors to consider this valuable resource by Diane S. Senn and published by https://youthlight.com