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The Social Skills Transition to Secondary program provides students with information about changes to expect as they move to secondary school. Students have the opportunity to discuss their expectations, talk about concerns and practice social skills.
The program is designed for students with social skill difficulties and is particularly effective with students on the autism spectrum or who have language and learning difficulties.
Program Structure
The program has four themes, with several practice sessions within each theme. The sessions may be run once or twice per week as the school timetable allows. The program is designed to be used with a small group of students.
The program targets the following areas that are often challenging for students with poor social skills:
- Environment changes (classrooms, lockers, older students)
- Friendships (making friends, maintaining friends, types of friends, changing friendships)
- Teachers (teaching styles, asking for help, clarifying)
- Language (slang, joking vs. bullying, outside language vs. classroom language)
Each session includes the following:
- Introducing and explaining the theme
- Brainstorming feelings, ideas and situations
- Social scripts for role play
- Feedback and discussion
- Home / class practice activities
The manual includes:
- Detailed instructions to introduce each activity and facilitate discussion
- Social scripts for role play practice
Program Requirements
The associated course Implementing the Social Skills Transition to Secondary Program gives education staff the training and resources required to implement the program in their school.