Teaching Social Skills to Youth: An Easy-to-Follow Guide Teaching 196 Basic to Complex LifeSkills

Updated and revised, this definitive guide to social skills instruction now features thirteen new skills and their behavioural steps, fresh insights into providing culturally responsive treatment that respects individual identity, more inclusive language, and updated research on social-emotional learning and executive function.

The 196 social and life skills showcased in this fourth edition will empower young people to have greater success in school, at home, on the job, and in their relationships. Several of the new skills promote the values and principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Those skills include:

• Sticking Up for Yourself
• Sticking Up for Others
• Agreeing to Disagree
• Recognizing Your Own Personal Biases or Opinions

Other new skills focus on personal autonomy (Gaining Consent, Giving Consent, and Responding to Persons of Authority). Plus, there are new skills that teach young people how to interact with law enforcement (Being Prepared for an Interaction with Law Enforcement and Responding to Law Enforcement/Police Interactions).

The manual reflects and focuses on the importance of teaching social skills to youth of all ages, the elements of social behaviour (task and behaviour analysis), individual and group teaching techniques, generalisation of skills, the role of skill-based interventions for difficult youth problems, and the Boys Town Social Skills Curriculum itself.

For ease and convenience, there are four appendices that group skills by behaviour problem areas, common situations or circumstances, social and emotional learning competencies (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making), and skill type (social, emotional management, academic, moral/ethical, and independent living). Every skill is available for download and print through BoysTownPress.org.

Teaching Social Skills to Youth, Fourth Edition is ideal for classrooms, individual and group therapy, and job training programs. Educators and caregivers can use this guide to strengthen their cultural competence, increase the skill competency of children, help improve student behaviour in school, and develop individualised service plans for troubled or at-risk youth. It is an excellent companion to the highly acclaimed Mental Health from Diagnosis to Delivery and Building Resiliency in Youth, both available from Boys Town Press.

The authors have decades of experience working with children and families, and they are experts on issues related to youth aggression, antisocial behaviour, abuse, delinquency, and mental health.