Social Worker Toolbox

While doing some research I came across this website that I thought had some good resources.  There are different resources, activities and education material for students and their family.  Topics include alcohol use,  bullying, mental health (depression, suicide, anxiety) self harm, domestic violence, parenting, social emotional skills and so much more.  Curriculums, planning and intervention handouts and assessments are also provided to use. Website also includes books suggestions on various topics such as grief and loss, bullying and adoption.  The website provides resources for so many topics that I suggest you check it out!


http://www.socialworkerstoolbox.com/

Matt and Molly Social Skills

Matt and Molly Social Skills Curriculum

The Matt and Molly Social Skills Curriculum teaches young children different social skills through the use of a 4 sentence story. The curriculum was created to be used to teach children on the Autism Spectrum, different social skills. Each story contains four different cards with a picture on each. Each picture has one sentence that goes along with it. As the facilitator shows the students the picture, he/she also reads the sentence that goes along with that picture. The students are then given a variety of questions related to the story. Depending on the skills of the students you are working with, you can use either the yes/no questions or the wh/how questions that are provided. The social worker at my placement and I, use the curriculum for two special education early childhood classes. One of the classes is lower functioning, therefore we ask them the yes/no questions after each story. The second group of students that we work with are more advanced, therefore we use the wh/how questions with them. The questions allow the students to discuss what they learned throughout the story and recognize the social skill that was taught.  

After each story, we have the students participate in an activity related to the story. After this particular story, we had the students practice the skills of turn taking and playing together, by building a tower out of blocks together. This curriculum is one that is very easy to facilitate and really engages the students. I believe that this curriculum can also be used for general education preschool and kindergarten students.

Title: Matt and Molly Play with Blocks

Skills Learned: Turn Taking & Playing with Peers

Social.Skills.Autism

Social Skills with Students that have Autism

            For the past month I have been observing and participating in a social skills group with students that have autism.  The school social worker conducts the group with the entire class.  The teacher and the two teacher aids also assist the school social worker to run the group.  The purpose of this group is to help students with Autism build social skills.

A few weeks ago I participated in a social skills activity that appeared to engage the students.  The activity came from the electronic book Building Social Skills (2006) written by Danny Pettry.  What I liked about the activity is it helps people with Autism to make a connection between words that are related to social interaction.  Since students with autism struggle with understanding sensory information this activity helps them to understand the meaning of the words they hear from others.  What was also fascinating to observe was once the students understood what social skill the group leaders wanted them to demonstrate they could then complete the task. 

When referencing the National School Social Work Practice Model, this activity falls under the practice feature of implementing evidence based education, behavior and mental health services.  Though I have been in the group for only a few weeks, the school social worker has debriefed with me regarding student progress.  Specifically, when discussing outcomes, she identified two students that were non-verbal last year.  Both of these students can now respond to questions from teachers which is a measurable outcome.  Though those two student’s progress cannot be directly connected to the social skills group, as previously stated, the students could demonstrate the social skill the group leader was asking them to complete once they understood what task they were being asked to accomplish.          

References

Pettry, Danny. (2006). Building Social Skills through Activities. Retrieved from 

http://www.dannypettry.com/ebook_social_skills.pdf