Don’t We Really Just Want Students to “Stop &
Think”? [Part III of III]
Dear Colleagues,
Introduction
We have known for
decades that students’ social, emotional, and behavioral competency and
self-management in school is essential to their academic and interpersonal
success.
We have similarly
known that a cognitive-behavioral approach that uses instruction
grounded in social learning theory (Teach, Model, Role-play, Provide
Feedback, and Apply the Training to Real-life) is the best social,
emotional, and behavioral approach when (a) teaching students interpersonal
and interactional skills, and (b) addressing the serious, extreme, and
complex needs of emotionally disturbed and behaviorally disruptive students.
And yet, despite this longstanding research and well-established and
effective cognitive-behavioral approaches, districts and schools across the
country continue to jump on the Mindfulness bandwagon—in their
(unsuccessful) search to attain these “21st Century” interpersonal and
interactional outcomes.
_ _ _ _ _
The primary goal of
this three-part Series is to discuss these points in detail—identifying the
flaws and weaknesses in mindfulness strategies and programs, while then
discussing the science-to-practice cognitive-behavioral principles that make
social, emotional, and behavioral skill instruction successful.
And throughout
this Series, the primary theme is:
If the primary goal (for educators) in using
a Mindfulness program is to help students to be more aware and in control of
their emotions, thoughts, and behavior, why would they use unproven approaches
. . . when research-based cognitive-behavioral approaches—with over 30 years of
research documentation—are available instead?
_ _ _ _ _
Summarizing Parts
I and II of this Series: Mindfulness
vs. Self-Management
To “set the stage”
for Part III of this Series (still below), let’s briefly recap Parts I and
II:
In Part I of
this Series, we discussed the past and current research, efficacy, and
realities of Mindfulness programs in schools across the country, and the $1.1
billion industry-fed “bandwagon” that many districts have “jumped on” over the
past few years.
Overall, the
research cited in Part I made the following points:
* Most of the
Mindfulness program research has either not been methodologically sound, or
it has not produced objective and demonstrable success.
* The few studies
that have shown “good evidence” have focused on adults with clinically-significant
mental health issues (anxiety, depression, and pain), not on school-aged
students.
* Rather than use
the few studies that have shown “good evidence” to rationalize the use of
Mindfulness in schools (or worse, someone’s subjective, personal
pronouncements), educators need to read the substantial body of research
that should eliminate the use of Mindfulness programs in schools.
* Sound research
has not definitively demonstrated that Mindfulness programs are successful at
the preventative (e.g., Tier 1) level in schools. In fact, the Behavior Research and Therapy
study cited in Part I indicates the opposite.
* There are a
significant number of large school districts and other schools (covered by the
popular press) that are wasting precious professional development and classroom
time and money on this fad.
* Students who need
evidence-based approaches to address their social, emotional, and behavioral
needs—but are receiving Mindfulness training instead—are potentially being
harmed because more effective services are being delayed.
* Students would be
far better served if their districts and schools were providing multi-tiered social
skills training and cognitive-behavioral therapy approaches—given their long
histories of demonstrated efficacy in hundreds of studies with school-aged
students.
_ _ _ _ _ _
In Part II of
this Series, we used the evidence-based Stop & Think Social Skills
Program as an exemplar of how to teach students social, emotional, and
behavioral self-management through a social skills instructional curriculum.
Initially, we defined
Self-Management as a child or adolescent’s ability:
* To be socially,
emotionally, and behaviorally aware of themselves and others;
* To effectively control their emotions, as
well as their thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and attributions; and
* To behaviorally demonstrate
successful interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict prevention and
resolution, and emotional coping skills.
We then noted
that:
On a social level, children
and adolescents need to progressively learn the self-management skills that
contribute to effective: (a) listening, engagement, and responding; (b)
communication and collaboration; (c) social problem-solving and group interactions;
and (d) (once again) conflict prevention and resolution.
On an emotional
level, they need to learn the self-management skills that result in: (a) the
awareness of their own and others’ feelings; (b) the ability to manage or
control their feelings and emotions; (c) the ability to cope with the emotional
effects of current situations; and (d) the ability to demonstrate appropriate
behavior even under conditions of emotionality.
Finally, on a
behavioral level, children and adolescents need to learn the self-management
skills that help them to be actively engaged in and responsible for their own
learning (individually, and in small and large groups), and to demonstrate
appropriate behavior in the classroom and across the common areas of the
school.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Summarizing Parts
I and II of this Series: The
Scientific Foundations of a Sound Social Skills Program
Later in Part II,
we detailed half (Principles 1 through 4) of the scientific foundations of a
sound social skills program—using examples from the Stop & Think Social
Skills Program to demonstrate how to apply science into practice.
The following
Principles were discussed:
Principle 1.
Social skills programs teach sensible and pragmatic classroom-centered
skills needed by today's students in the interpersonal, social problem-solving,
conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional control and coping areas.
Principle 2. Social
skills programs teach sensible and pragmatic classroom and common school area
routines needed by today’s students to “navigate” successfully within these
settings.
Principle 3.
Social skills programs teach their skills in an organized and
progressive, yet flexible, “scope and sequence” using research-based
instructional approaches.
Principle 4.
Social skills programs teach specific social skills using a universal
language and specific skill scripts that guide step-by-step
implementation. The instructional
process facilitates the conditioning, reconditioning, and motivation of students
so that they actually demonstrate prosocial choices and behaviors.
_ _ _ _ _
The Stop &
Think Social Skills Program: A
Brief Re-Introduction
The Stop &
Think Social Skills Program consists of a series of separate, but linked,
manuals written at the preschool to Grade 1, Grades 2 to 3, Grades 4 to 5, and
Grades 6 to 8 levels, respectively. The
manuals are sequenced to ensure that the Program and its skills are taught
in age-appropriate and developmentally-sensitive ways. The manuals are also written explicitly for
classroom teachers and classroom implementation, as students learn these
skills best when they are embedded in a classroom’s behavior management system,
and when they are taught, used, and reinforced—over time, situations, and
circumstances—primarily by students’ classroom teachers.
The Stop &
Think Social Skills Program was designated an evidence-based and national
model prevention program by SAMHSA in 2000, and it was listed at that time on
the NREPP registry. It was also
identified as a “Promising Program” by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in 2003. Finally, among other accolades, it was
designated a “Select” program by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and
Emotional Learning (CASEL) in 2002. The Stop
& Think Program is now an embedded component of Project ACHIEVE, which
continues to be listed on the updated NREPP website by SAMHSA.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Today’s Discussion
of the Final Scientific Principles:
How Social Skills Training
Facilitates Student Self-Management
As discussed in
Part II, there are eight interdependent Principles that establish the
foundation of social skills instruction, mastery, and implementation. These Principles represent the most effective
and efficient path to teaching students the essential social skills that they
need, and to maximizes their independent use in all settings—but, especially,
in the classroom and across the school.
Many “published”
(e.g., by an author on his/her own website) social skills curricula do not
embed all of these Principles in their programs. This is because most social skills
programs are not well-researched, have not been nationally field-tested, and
have not been independently evaluated by other experts such that they have
earned the designation “Evidence-based.”
While social skills
programs and instruction may “look” different from skill to skill, teacher to
teacher, and setting to setting, it is the responsibility of the
professional, school, and/or district to evaluate the program—BEFORE
implementation—to determine that the eight scientific Principles are explicitly
embedded so that all students will learn, master, and independently apply the
social skills taught.
If the eight
Principles are not embedded in the social skills program, the school still
could use the selected program but wrap the missing Principles around the
program to make it work.
Below are
Principles 5 through 8.
_ _ _ _ _
Principle 5. As
previously discussed (see Principle 3), an effective social skills program
results in students demonstrating specific behavioral skills—for
example, how to Listen, Follow Directions, Ask for Help, Ignore Distractions,
Respond to Teasing, etc. . . . as well as how to control their emotions.
To demonstrate these
skills, students must learn, master, and be able to independently and automatically
apply: (a) the “internal” step-by-step scripts or thoughts that guide (b) the
“overt” behavior that physically, non-verbally, and/or verbally represents the
skill.
To accomplish this,
a social skills program’s instruction must utilize the following
well-established social learning theory-based components:
* Teaching
the specific task-analyzed script that represent the behavioral steps of the
desired or targeted social skill
* Having a teacher
(for example) Model (or demonstrate) the script and corresponding
behavioral steps in a “play-acted” classroom- or school-relevant scenario
* Having students Role-play
(or practice) the script and behavioral steps in a “play-acted” classroom- or
school-relevant scenario—while being supervised
* Having the
teacher (supervisor) provide Performance Feedback to the role-playing students
as the scene is unfolding (if needed), and immediately after it is over—to
debrief how the students did relative to the accurate demonstration of the verbalized
skill script and its corresponding behaviors
* Applying (or
Transferring the Training of) the skill and its steps over time so that
students can competently use the skill in different settings, with different
people, and in different situations
_ _ _ _ _
Application and
Commentary: To expand on these
components within the context of the Stop & Think Social Skills Program:
When Teaching
a new social skill, students discuss and/or are taught (a) any new vocabulary
that might appear in the social skill scripts; (b) why and how the skill is
used; (c) why it is important to “Make a Good Choice” to use the skill;
and (d) what the specific skill script and corresponding behaviors are.
When teaching the steps
of a desired social skill, teachers use the Stop & Think Program’s
universal language, and integrate the specific skill script (or steps) into the
What are your Choices or Steps? step.
For example, when
teaching the Dealing with Teasing skill at the Fourth-grade level and
above, the social skill script is:
* I need to Stop
and Think, Make a Good Choice, and Take my Deep Breaths.
* I need to think
about my good choices. I can: (a) Ignore
the teasing; (b) Ask the person to stop in a nice way; (c) Walk away with an
Explanation of why I am leaving; or (d) Find an adult for help.
* I need Choose and
Act Out my best choice. Here I go. . .
I’m going to “Just do It.” [Students demonstrates/follows the behaviors here.]
* I did it! I did a “Good Job!”
_ _ _ _ _
When Modeling
a social skill during instruction, teachers verbalize the steps to the social
skill they are teaching, while showing students how to perform the corresponding
behavior. Typically, this is done by
having teachers re-create an actual classroom or school situation where the targeted
social skill is needed . . . but where the teacher takes on the role of a
student who needs to demonstrate the social skill behavior.
For example, in
modeling the Dealing with Teasing skill, a teacher might have a student
play-act “teasing” the teacher (who is play-acting a student) in front of the
class. The teacher then would “talk
through” the script above out loud, while performing the appropriate behaviors.
Thus, during the Teaching
phase of the social skill lesson, teachers provide a context for and
instruction in performing social skill script and behaviors. When Modeling, teachers demonstrate
how to perform the skill, verbally and behaviorally, in a simulated situation.
_ _ _ _ _
After a teacher
models a specific social skill, students are given opportunities to Roleplay
or practice (under supervision) the social skill being taught. This is done (once again) by choosing and
acting out (over time) different simulated situations that both are relevant to
the classroom, and that require the use of the specific social skill. Roleplays may be done in front of the class, as
a whole group, or in small or controlled group settings.
Similar to
directing a scene from a school play, the teacher prepares and then focuses
students, during every roleplay, on accurately verbalizing the social skill
script that has been taught, while performing the corresponding behavior(s). Typically, students are chosen and assigned
(by the teacher) to different roles in the roleplay, and the scenario and its
outcomes are discussed before the scene actually begins.
_ _ _ _ _
When students are practicing
the social skill scene, teachers stay near the actors, monitor the script and
behavior, and are prepared to provide Performance Feedback as needed.
There are two types
of Performance Feedback.
Performance
Feedback may be provided, first, during the scene—if the student
practicing a targeted social skill either gets “off script,” or performs the
wrong corresponding behavior(s). Here,
the teacher “freezes” the actors mid-scene, provides corrective feedback to
bring the targeted student back “on script,” and resumes the scene.
This is done to ensure
that the social skill is practiced using only the correct script and the
appropriate behavior.
Performance
Feedback is also provided to debrief the scene after it is over. This feedback reviews and positively
reinforces students for correctly (a) verbalizing the social skills steps, (b)
demonstrating the appropriate choices and corresponding behaviors, (c) accurately
critiquing their performance after the roleplay or practice session is over,
and (d) identifying other possible good choices that might have occurred.
_ _ _ _ _
The Stop &
Think Program consciously facilitates the Transfer of Training or
Application of the social skills taught by:
* Having students’
general education teachers doing the primary social skills instruction;
* Having students
role-play a wide variety of scenarios and situations for each social skill
taught;
* Having teachers
simulate “real-life” situations where students need to demonstrate specific
social skills as if the situations were real; and
* Providing
students opportunities to review and re-practice different social skills at
different times during the school year.
The Transfer of
Training step is THE most essential step that “transfers the social skills
training” from simulations to real-life use.
For example, while
students can define a vocabulary word in isolation, their true, functional,
demonstrated “understanding” of the word comes when they are able to use the
word in the context of a sentence, paragraph, or passage.
Expanding briefly,
the reason why general education teachers are the primary social skill
instructors is because they (a) know the students and the situations that occur
in the classroom better than anyone else; (b) have more opportunities to prompt
and practice specific social skills during the entire school day and year; and
(c) can embed the social skills training, practice, and use into their
classroom management and student self-management system (see Principle 7
below).
Relative to
implementing the “transfer of training/applied simulations,” this occurs as
teachers set up situations in the classroom that require students to apply,
under controlled and supervised conditions, their new social skills. It also occurs as teachers prompt the use of
different social skills as much as possible from day-to-day, hour-to-hour, and
minute-to-minute in the classroom. Over
time, all of this teaching, practice, application, and infusion helps students
to understand the importance of using specific social skills, and to master and
use their prosocial skills more quickly and independently.
_ _ _ _ _
In summary:
When
Teaching and Modeling: Teachers need
to make sure that students:
* Have the
prerequisite skills to be successful
* Are taught using
language that they can understand
* Are taught in
simple steps that ensure success
* Hear the social
skills script as the social skills behavior is demonstrated
When
Practicing or Roleplaying: Teachers
need to make sure that students:
* Verbalize (or
repeat or hear) the steps to a particular social skill as they demonstrate its appropriate
behavior
* Practice only the
positive or appropriate social skill behavior
* Receive ongoing
and consistent practice opportunities
* Use relevant
practice situations that simulate the “emotional” intensity of the real
situations so that they can fully master the social skill and be able to
demonstrate it under conditions of emotionality
* Practice the
skills at a developmental level that they can handle
When Giving
Performance Feedback: Teachers need
to make sure that the feedback is:
* Specific and
descriptive
* Focused on
reinforcing students’ successful use of the social skill, or on correcting an
inaccurate or incomplete social skills demonstration
* Positive—emphasizing
what was done well and what can be done better the next time
When
Transferring or Applying Social Skills after Instruction: Teachers need to make sure that they
reinforce students’ prosocial skill scripts and behaviors when students
actually use (or need to use) them in classroom or common school area
situations. This is done after students:
* Have successfully
demonstrated an appropriate social skill
* Have made a “bad”
choice, demonstrating an inappropriate social skill
* Are faced with a
problem or situation but have not committed to, nor demonstrated, a prosocial
skill
* Must use the
skill in situations that are somewhat different from those discussed or
practiced when the skill was originally taught
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Principle 6.
Social skills programs teach their specific social skills using
sound, scientifically-based pedagogical practices.
Relative to these
practices, three are most essential:
* The use of the
social learning theory-based components
* The use of a
Teach-Apply-Infuse paradigm
* The inclusion of
Massed versus Distributed Practice
_ _ _ _ _
Application and
Commentary. While we have already
discussed (largely in Principle 5), the component parts of social learning theory-based
instruction, understand that embedded in this process is (can be) the corollary
process of “I do, We do, You do.”
Relative to the Teach-Apply-Infuse
paradigm, the Stop & Think Social Skills Program organizes its
“instructional calendar” such that every social skill is taught in a “Two-Week
Rotation” of Teach (Monday through Wednesday), Apply (Thursday
through the next Tuesday), and Infuse (Wednesday through Friday).
Thus, students
engage in a 20 to 30-minute social skill lesson of this first three days of the
Rotation. . . where they learn the skill, and practice the skill in as many
roleplays as possible. During the
Application days, the teacher sets up one supervised opportunity—during the
classroom day—where students are engaged in an academic activity, but must
practice the targeted social skill in a “closer to real-life” simulation. Finally, during the Infusion days, the
teacher is prompting and using the targeted social skill during “teachable
moments.”
The Massed
versus Distributed Practice provision is handled as Stop & Think
Social Skills are taught across the entire school year through grade-level
“Social Skill Calendars.” In this
context, the Massed Practice occurs when skills are taught within the Two-Week
Rotation.
Distributed Practice occurs as specific weeks
are written into and “distributed across” the year-long Social Skills Calendar
where two to three previously-taught skills are reviewed, reinforced, or
extended beyond their original instruction . . . during a different, later time
in the school year.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Principle 7.
Social skills programs teach their specific skills using approaches and
practices that are sensitive to students’ gender and sexual identity,
socio-economic status, geographic variations, and multi-national/multi-cultural
differences.
Relative to this
gender, demographic, and cultural sensitivity, it is essential that social
skill programs and their instructional processes are flexible and adaptive
relative to their language, skills scripts, behavioral expectations, roleplays,
and outcome evaluations.
_ _ _ _ _
Application and
Commentary. The Stop & Think
Social Skills Program has been successfully implemented in rural, urban,
and suburban schools... at the elementary through high school levels. . . in
every state across the country (and internationally) over the past 25+ years. It has been implemented in schools with
diverse, multi-cultural and multi-national groups of students; in a range of
communities with students from severe levels of poverty to high levels of
affluence; and in schools with significant numbers of students who do not have
English as their primary language.
In addition, the
Program has been used in over one dozen Native American communities (e.g.,
Navajo, Shoshoni, Arapaho, Chippewa, Apache, Alaskan/Kenaitze native); and in
schools with students with different country-of-origin African-American,
African, Asian, and Hispanic backgrounds.
Relative to our
Native American adaptations, for example, the Stop & Think universal
steps have been translated bilingually into the Native American language of the
community (they are already available in Spanish for our Hispanic
communities). Moreover, each Native
American community’s culture, beliefs, customs, and behavioral expectations are
explicitly integrated into how different social skills are contextualized and
taught, what roleplays and application activities are used, and how the skill
instruction is evaluated relative to outcomes and success.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Principle 8.
Social skills training, by itself, will not result in needed (or
desired) school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management
outcomes. Social skills training must be
connected to four related components that work, systemically and interdependently,
to attain these school, setting, and student outcomes.
We have discussed
many facets of this Principle in previous Blog messages. For an overview of these past messages, go to
the following two Blogs that provide additional titles and links:
July 15, 2017.
Students’ Mental
Health and Wellness, and School Discipline and Disproportionality: Building Strong Schools to Strengthen
Student Outcomes—A Summer Review of Previous Blogs (Part III of IV)
_ _ _ _ _
July 29, 2017.
School Climate
and Safety, and School Discipline and Classroom Management: Building Strong Schools to Strengthen
Student Outcomes—A Summer Review of Previous Blogs (Part IV of IV)
_ _ _ _ _
Critically, two
“bottom lines” are important to note here:
First, just
like mindfulness programs, most Character Education programs are not
well-researched, scientifically-based, or effective in establishing or changing
actual student behavior.
See my previous
Blog on this topic [CLICK
HERE]:
November 27, 2016: When Character
Education Programs Do Not Work: Creating “Awareness” Does NOT CHANGE
“Behavior” . . . TEACHING Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills
Requires Behavioral Instruction
_ _ _ _ _
Second, the
five interdependent and scientifically-based components of school discipline,
classroom management, and student self-management are: (a) Positive Relationship and
School/Classroom Climate; (b) Positive Behavioral Expectations and Skill
Instruction; (c) Student Motivation and Accountability; (d) Consistency; and
(e) Implementation and Application across All Settings and Peer Groups (see
Figure below).
See my previous
Blog on this topic [CLICK
HERE]:
June 4, 2017.
“Effective School-wide Discipline Approaches: Avoiding Educational
Bandwagons that Promise the Moon, Frustrate Staff, and Potentially Harm
Students: Implementation Science and Systematic Practice
versus Pseudoscience, Menu-Driven Frameworks, and ‘Convenience Store’
Implementation”
From: Knoff, H.M. (2014).
School Discipline, Classroom
Management,
and Student
Self-Management: A Positive Behavioral
Support
Implementation Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
CLICK HERE for more
information.
_ _ _ _ _
Application and
Commentary. The Stop & Think
Social Skills Program is the anchor of Project ACHIEVE’s comprehensive
School-wide Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS). This PBSS system is one of Project ACHIEVE’s seven
school improvement components (see www.projectachieve.net
for more information), and it has been established as an evidence-based model
that focuses on the multi-tiered system, school, staff, and student services,
supports, strategies, and interventions that result in (once again) effective
school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management outcomes.
More specifically,
the comprehensive outcomes from Project ACHIEVE and its PBSS model include:
* Creating safe
school environments and positive school climates;
* Increasing and
sustaining effective classroom instruction;
* Maximizing
students’ academic engagement and achievement;
* Maximizing
students’ social, emotional, and behavioral success;
* Increasing and sustaining strong parent
involvement;
* Developing and
implementing effective strategic plans and professional development to build
staff skills and school capacity;
* Organizing effective
building committees and professional learning communities;
* Building
effective teaching and problem-solving teams that speed successful
interventions to academically struggling and behaviorally challenging students;
and
* Developing
effective data management/dashboard systems for successful formative and
summative outcome evaluations.
Because, as they
say, a “picture is worth a thousand words,” below is a brief 10-minute video
reviewing (a) the five interdependent and scientifically-based components of
school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management; and (b)
Project ACHIEVE’s success in implementing the PBSS model state-wide as part of
a multi-year Arkansas Department of Education initiative:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Summary
This three-part
Blog Series began by presenting the research that calls many of the Mindfulness
approaches into question—later contrasting that research with the many studies
that support social, emotional, and behavioral skill instruction for all
students in all classrooms.
The critical
conclusion was:
If the primary goal
of a Mindfulness program is to help students to be more aware and in control of
their emotions, thoughts, and behavior, why would we not focus on the same
goals—but use a research-based approach that has a 30-year track record of
success?
_ _ _ _ _
In the second and this
third part of the Series, we have presented eight essential Principles that
reflect the research-to-practice elements of sound and effective social skills
instruction. When discussing each of
these Principles, we have used examples from the evidence-based Stop &
Think Social Skills Program to demonstrate some prototypical ways of
successfully teaching students social, emotional, and behavioral
self-management.
_ _ _ _ _
I hope that this
Blog Series has helped you to evaluate your current (or missing) approaches in
this important area, and to see more clearly the components and decisions that
are most-relevant to your school discipline, classroom management, and student
self-management approaches.
I also hope that
you had a great Thanksgiving, and that you will “pace” yourself as we enter the
“Holiday rush.”
Meanwhile, I always
look forward to your comments. . . whether on-line or via e-mail.
If I can help you
in any of the student support and intervention areas discussed in this message,
I am always happy to provide a free one-hour consultation conference call
to help you clarify your needs and directions on behalf of your students.
Best,
Howie
