[acb-hsp] Social Skills

[Dornetta]

Re: [acb-hsp] Social SkillsHello Claude: 
Is there any way that you could forward that newsletter to me also at dornetta at gmail.com. I would like to share this article with several of my classes-Special Education Teaching Methods, Counseling Techniques for Special Needs and Special population, and quite a few of my human services classes-personal and professional development and disabilities and disorders. Thanks, :-) 
Dornetta 
"Just because you are blind, does not mean you lack vision"-Stevie Wonder
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Claude Everett 
  To: 'Discussion list for ACB human service professionals' 
  Sent: Friday, December 03, 2010 3:24 PM
  Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] Social Skills


  Jessi     
  did you get the Perkins School news letter which I forwarded?
  Regards,
  Claude Everett
  Everyone has a disability, some are more aware of it than others.
  "All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. "
  Thomas Jefferson
  American President, 1743-1826







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  From: acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of Jessi Rayl
  Sent: Friday, December 03, 2010 10:49 AM
  To: 'Discussion list for ACB human service professionals'
  Subject: Re: [acb-hsp] Social Skills


  Peter, This is a great article.  Do you have the citation information for
  it?  You could be a real lifesaver for me if you do.


  -----Original Message-----
  From: acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-hsp-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
  peter altschul
  Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 3:52 PM
  To: Acbhsp
  Subject: [acb-hsp] Social Skills

  Social Skills

  Imagine walking into a crowded lunchroom and looking for a seat. 
  You notice a group of people about your age and similarly
  dressed.  One of them is wearing a baseball cap with the name of
  your favorite team.  You watch them leaning in towards each other
  talking and smiling.  Their body language appears welcoming and
  approachable.  You sit down and strike up a conversation.

  Now imagine walking into the same situation with your eyes
  closed.  You are led to the first available seat.  You don't know
  the gender or age of the person sitting beside you and you can't
  rely on visual cues to find common ground.

  When it comes to developing social skills, people with vision
  have the advantage of incidental learning as they naturally
  observe their surroundings and the interactions of other people. 
  But for students who are visually impaired, social skills must be
  explicitly taught in the curriculum.

  Every day people with vision get flooded with a torrent of images
  that are constantly reinforced.  They watch family members
  interacting.  They observe postures, body language, and how
  closely people stand next to each other.  They watch people eat
  and learn to keep their mouths closed when they chew.  They
  notice how people dress in different types of weather and indoors
  versus outdoors.  Through all of these visual observations they
  learn and imitate socially acceptable behaviors.

   Socializing during break in the student storeddJeff Migliozzi
  teaches social skills and sex education to students in Perkins
  Secondary Program.  Migliozzi, who grew up blind himself,
  understands the unique social challenges faced by adolescents who
  are visually impaired.  When his eighth grade teacher told him
  that people who are sighted make eye contact during conversation,
  Migliozzi asked, "Well, where do I look?" The teacher told him he
  was looking just below the mouth.

  "It was a 50/50 shot," Migliozzi explained.  "I was looking
  towards the sound and I could either look above it or below it. 
  After he told me that I changed what I was doing."

  As Migliozzi can attest from his own experience, the social
  skills students who are blind need for daily life in school, at
  home, and in the community, must be strategically taught and
  integrated into all aspects of their education.

  Migliozzi said it is common for people who are blind to engage in
  self stimulating behaviors like rocking back and forth in a
  chair.  It feels good and unless they are told differently,
  students who are blind might not realize that people around them
  aren't doing the same thing and that others may find the behavior
  as off putting.

  Just as he doesn't want students to alienate themselves in social
  situations, Migliozzi said it is important for students who are
  blind to understand they need to reciprocate during social
  interactions.  Sometimes, he said, students become used to people
  bringing things to them, anticipating their needs, and initiating
  conversation.

  "What does that teach you? It teaches you the world comes to me
  and nobody expects anything from me," Migliozzi said.

  At the end of a class, one of Migliozzi's students stayed behind. 
  When someone new entered the room the student immediately turned
  toward the doorway and said: "Hello, who is that?" For each
  question answered another was asked: "Are you sighted or blind?
  What do you do here? Do you live on campus?" The student was
  using conversation starters and gathering information about this
  new person without the use of visual clues and assumptions.

  Migliozzi teaches his students to use safety precautions when
  interacting in the community and on the Internet -- where
  teenagers today are spending more and more time socializing.  If
  a student gets lost in the community Migliozzi advises them to go
  into a business and talk to the person behind the counter who
  likely has ties to the community rather than approaching someone
  on the street.

  "Everybody's blind on the Internet," Migliozzi tells his
  students.  Just as all teenagers must be careful because they
  never know who is really on the other end of an online chat room,
  students who are blind are even more vulnerable if a potential
  predator finds out they have a disability.

  Migliozzi said making students aware of dangers and giving them
  the tools to advocate for themselves is an important piece of
  both the social skills curriculum as well as sex education.  When
  it comes to sex education, it's about creating an equal playing
  field between students who are blind and their sighted peers. 
  Appropriate greetings, kissing, and where it is and is not
  acceptable to touch someone else all have to be explained because
  the students cannot rely on learning these details by watching
  others.

   Adults can help facilitate social interaction between toddlers
  who are visually impaired.  "We forget how much of our social
  interaction is visual," said Tom Miller, Director of Perkins
  Educational Partnerships Program, which offers early intervention
  and school age services from birth to 22 years old.

  Miller said instilling social skills begins with the familystch
  relationship.  There's a natural progression from solitary play,
  to playing beside someone, to playing with someone and
  interacting.  In the beginning, adults must facilitate
  socialization and create opportunities for interaction.  When you
  observe how toddlers naturally interact they tend to hand each
  other toys and run around.  The child who is blind needs to be
  directly addressed and included in the activity.  The experiences
  sighted children take in visually must be interpreted in a way
  the child who is blind can understand and in a way that empowers
  him/her to participate in what is happening.

  Parents should understand, Miller said, that progress comes at a
  different pace for children who are blind due to the loss of
  incidental learning.  When the child enters school, Miller said,
  parents and educators can help them find a common social language
  with their peers by getting involved in clubs and keeping up with
  popular books or music.

  "It takes a lot of effort on the part of the parent, the child,
  and the school to make sure not just the academics but the whole
  life of the school is accessible to the student who is visually
  impaired," Miller said.

  Brian Heneghan, a teacher in Perkins Deafblind Program, also
  believes in the value of shared experiences.  Once a week,
  Heneghan takes his students off campus for community experiences
  which can include everything from pumpkin picking to going to the
  movies.

   Deafblind Program teacher Brian Heneghan works on communication
  skills with a student.  Heneghan stressed the importance of
  students with disabilities having the same experiences and
  milestones as other kids their age.  Last year he accompanied
  students on a senior trip to the Bahamas.  He talked about all of
  the social skills practiced when students go to the Perkins Prom;
  shopping for a tux, going out for dinner, learning how to
  appropriately get someone's attention and request a dance.

  "Our students want to engage and we have to give them
  opportunities to do that," Heneghan said.

  To give students the tools they need for successful social
  interactions, Heneghan works with a group of students using a
  script and modeling to teach them socially acceptable behavior. 
  To deter students from yelling to get someone's attention staff
  members talked to the group about more appropriate options. 
  First you should look at the person and wait for a response and
  if that doesn't work, the next step could be tapping on a desk
  and waiting.  Finally, the student might try lightly tapping on
  the person's shoulder.

  Teachers model the behavior and eventually Heneghan has the
  students practice with each other.  In all of the environments
  where this situation might naturally arise -- classrooms,
  cottages, and the workroom -- there are charts outlining the
  script.  If a student yells for attention, staff can remind the
  student to use the steps on the chart.

  "Eventually the students begin to internalize the behaviors and
  do them on their own," Heneghan explained.

  Lunchtime is another opportunity for students to practice social
  skills in a natural environment.  Students with multiple
  impairments, Heneghan said, live in a "communication bubble" and
  must be told directly how others are behaving and what is
  socially acceptable.  For example, his students might not know
  they are making a loud noise slurping soup noodles or that other
  people aren't doing that.

  When students come to weekend and vacation programs at Perkins
  Outreach Services, Kelly Cote said she and the rest of the staff
  make students aware of how their behavior might be perceived by
  other people.

  "We're honest with them," said Cote, adding that posture is a big
  issue with students tending to scrunch up or slouch over in
  chairs.  "We'll let them know everyone else is sitting up
  straight with their heads up.  We explain, 'We can't hear what
  you say when you sit like that and what you have to say is
  important.'"

   Public school students made friends during an Outreach camping
  weekend.  Outreach programs offer fun activities while teaching
  essential life skills and giving students who are visually
  impaired an opportunity to socialize and share experiences with
  peers.  This can be especially important for those who may be the
  only student with a visual impairment in their school.

  Beth Caruso, Director of Outreach Services, said parents often
  come to Outreach worried their child doesn't have friends at
  school.  When they try to get their child involved with
  activities in the community, the people running them may not know
  how to make adaptations to include a child who is blind.  The
  staff members who run Outreach programs are experienced in
  working with students who are visually impaired and promoting
  social skills.

  To initiate socializing, staff might sit with a table of students
  and invite another student over to sit down and tell them what
  everyone is talking about.  The staff get students started on a
  topic and help them identify what they have in common.  Soon the
  students are interacting on their own, forming friendships, and
  building confidence.

  Sometimes students are used to socializing with mostly adults and
  may not know what other kids their age are interested in.  Caruso
  said it can be helpful to give students a topic and conversation
  starter question to keep in their back pocket, such as, "What
  kind of music do you like?"

  Throughout the programs, students learn communication skills such
  as showing someone you're paying attention to them with your body
  language.  They also go into the community, eating in
  restaurants, using public transportation, grocery shopping, and
  going to the YMCA.

  "We're out there in realistic situations and we want them to know
  what's socially acceptable," Caruso said.

  With the holiday season approaching, Cote and Caruso said it's
  important to include children who are visually impaired in what's
  going on around them.  Instead of watching television or playing
  a game alone, they can be helping to set the table.  Caruso said
  giving children information beforehand can help them make the
  most of the social experience.  Parents can talk about what
  they'll be doing for the holidays, who is coming over, and what
  toys or games other children might like to play.

  Because we live in a social culture, people who can't interact
  with others become isolated and miss out on opportunities that
  arise from connecting with other people.

  "Our ultimate goal is to help students become well rounded
  individuals with a good arsenal of skills and experiences to
  bring with them wherever they go -- to employment, to college, to
  life in general," Caruso said.
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