Social Skills Activities for Special Children (J-B Teacher) [Paperback]

Darlene Mannix (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470259353 | ISBN-13: 978-0470259351 | Publication Date: December 15, 2008 | Edition: 2

A flexible, ready-to-use program to help special students in grades K-5 learn appropriate ways to behave among others

The revised and updated second edition of this bestselling resource book provides ready-to-use lessons--complete with reproducible worksheets--to help children become aware of acceptable social behavior and develop proficiency in acquiring basic social skills. The book is organized around three core areas crucial to social development in the primary grades: Accepting Rules and Authority at School, Relating to Peers, and Developing Positive Social Skills. Each lesson places a specific skill within the context of real-life situations, giving teachers a means to guide students to think about why the social skill is important. The hands-on activity that accompanies each lesson helps students to work through, think about, discuss, and practice the skill in or outside of the classroom.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Social Skills Activities for Special Children

Second Edition

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the groundbreaking Social Skills Activities for Special Children offers teachers 164 ready-to-use lessons—complete with reproducible worksheets—that help children become aware of acceptable social behavior and acquire basic social skills.

Each of the book's lessons highlights a specific skill framed in real-life situations. This gives teachers a meaningful way to guide students to think about why a particular social skill is important. The practical hands-on activities that accompany each lesson help students work through, think about, discuss, and practice the skill in or outside of the classroom.

Social Skills Activities for Special Children puts the emphasis on three areas crucial to social development in the primary grades:

Accepting Rules and Authority at School: Understanding the Teacher's Role; Classroom Rules and Responsibilities; When You Have Problems

Relating to Peers: Learning and Working with Others; Making Friends; Keeping Friends

Developing Positive Social Skills: Understanding Social Situations; Getting Along with Others at Home; Everyday Etiquette

Praise forSocial Skills activities for Special Children

"This second edition has been eagerly awaited and Darlene Mannix does not disappoint! Each activity provides a clear objective and rationale, hands-on activities, and a reproducible independent activity for students to complete and take home, helping parents to reinforce and generalize skills in the home environment."
—Kaye Otten, Ph.D., behavior and autism specialist, Lee's Summit, Missouri

"Offers elementary teachers a comprehensive social-emotional skills curriculum . . . This book belongs on every teacher's bookshelf!"
—Nick Elksnin, Ph.D., NCSP, Learning and Evaluation Resources and Linda K. Elksnin, Ph.D., professor emerita, The Citadel; authors of Teaching Social-Emotional Skills at School and Home

"A terrific resource for all teachers, especially new teachers and their mentors. The comprehensive selection of topics addresses real, complex social interactions encountered in schools and communities today."
—Chris Schnieders, Ph.D., director of teacher training, Frostig Center

About the Author

Darlene Mannix has taught both general education and special education. She has worked with students ranging from learning disabled and mentally challenged to language disordered and severely emotionally disturbed. Mannix is the best-selling author of numerous books for special educators including Life Skills Activities for Special Children, Writing Skills Activities for Special Children, and Character Building Activities for Kids, all from Jossey-Bass.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 2 edition (December 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470259353
• ISBN-13: 978-0470259351
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,849 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Darlene Mannix, M.A., has 26 years of experience as a classroom teacher and has taught both general education and special education. She is the best-selling author of numerous books for special educators including Social Skills Activities for Special Children, Life Skills Activities for Secondary Students with Special Needs, and Writing Skills Activities for Special Children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful tool for elementary age kids, October 30, 2001

By 

Mark Twain "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" (zoon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Skills Activities for Special Children (Paperback)

Does your child come home from grade school complaining about other children? Is he or she having a tough time at recess? Do you get notes home from the teacher saying your child is daydreaming during instructions, or not behaving appropriately in the cafeteria-- even though your child has no special behavioral or cognitive problems? This might be the book for you.

This book is useful for almost any elementary aged child, and especially for the many that need to heighten their social skills. Depending on the child, some lessons will be more beneficial than others. For example, both my children enjoyed the unit on relating to peers. All kids grapple with "sharing friends", being a fair friend, listening to others, etc. Other units deal with respect for authority, procrastination, listening to instructions, etc. The subjects of this book are not commonly "taught" at school, and are also often overlooked at home, because everyone is so busy trying to play soccer and the violin and chess and do homework and gymnastics. Yet mastering the skills taught in this book will determine much of the success your child experiences throughout school, and probably life. Although we like to think our kids will learn the lessons in this book by following our good examples, or perhaps just by osmosis, fact is, most 2nd-4th graders could use a little review on the niceties of human interaction.

The book is really a workbook with instructions for the teacher, followed by a workpage for the child. I presume it was designed for school social workers to use with kids of various abilities. My children, who seem perfectly normal, like doing the worksheets, and especially enjoy the funny illustrations of children exhibiting inappropriate behavior. A little humor never hurt when delivering a message to an eight year old, eh?

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for higher functioning special folks., November 4, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Social Skills Activities for Special Children (Paperback)

I found this book to be extremely helpful for my highly-functioning autistic child. It covers a vast range of situations and involves the student in thinking about solutions and coming up with their own answers. I like it so much that I'm buying one for one of his teachers as well. It is geared to higher functioning students -- others could use this as a framework and simplify things a bit, or try Carol Gray's book "The New Social Story Book" which is written much more simply and directly. It's also an excellent book, but was too simple for my needs.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Expected, October 24, 2002

By 

"longlocksf" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social Skills Activities for Special Children (Paperback)

This book is tailored for older children and even then it's not well written for them. The written details are too numerous to keep the young child's attention. There are not enough picture illustrations and the situations described herein are not general enough to fit society as a whole. There is too much of a focus on the "wrong" things to do in school verses the right things. Many of the suggestions and story's of how children did things the wrong way can backfire on parents and actually give children ideas of the wrong things to try. Much of the book could not be used for our home and school life situations. Few children will stay captivated by this book. My eldest child who is gifted thought it was boring and many of the issues she couldn't even relate to. My youngest was in over his head and I had to skip reading the long drawn out situations and paraphrase things to keep his attention.