What Does Social Skills Training Include?
Social competence is examined in a three-dimensional structure: social adaptation, social performance, and social skills.
Social competence encompasses all social skills that vary according to the environment and age. These skills are related to increasing behavioral consistency depending on parameters such as self-confidence, eye contact, appropriate speaking duration, and social emphasis.
Social competence also includes skills directly related to individuals’ interaction and adaptation to their environment. Limitations in these skills may lead to difficulties in developing peer relationships, not achieving academic success at the same level as peers, and living dependently on others in later life.
Since humans are social beings, they tend to live together. However, for some individuals, this “living together” can be achieved easily and successfully, while for others, it is difficult. Those individuals are often labeled as “clumsy,” “boring,” “shy,” “reserved,” “timid,” “introverted,” or “socially phobic.”
Who Is Social Skills Training Applied To?
- Individuals affected in at least one of their physical, mental, cognitive, or psychological functions
- Children who have communication, play, or adaptation problems with their peers
- Children who have difficulty adapting to social norms and roles
- Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Individuals with Down Syndrome
- Individuals with Cerebral Palsy
- Children with developmental delays
- Individuals experiencing emotional/behavioral disorders (anger management, aggression, withdrawal)
- Individuals with psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc.)
What Does Social Skills Training Include?
It includes social interest (caring about others), the feeling of social self-sufficiency, empathy skills, observable social behavior performances, communication skills, group play, problem-solving, anger control skills, participation in group activities, performance in daily living activities, inference ability, willpower-motivation support, and supporting personality traits that emerge in cognitive, emotional, and/or behavioral functioning patterns.
In social skills training, occupational therapists take into account the individual and social characteristics of the person.