Students Should Be Taught To Be Prosocial

Posted by teacher on November 30, 2011

Strategies teachers can use to teach parents to teach their children to be prosocial are described. These strategies include teaching incidentally, performing social skills autopsies, coaching emotions, and assigning homework. Issues to be considered when working with parents and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are addressed. We propose that by having parents as partners in the instructional process, students will better generalize prosocial skills across situations, settings, and individuals.

The importance of social competence cannot be overestimated as it is associated with peer acceptance, academic achievement, and employment success, 1995). Lack of prosocial behavior during early childhood is the single best predictor of mental health problems during adulthood. Even more alarming is that problems with social skills become more debilitating over time, underscoring the critical need for early social skills intervention.

Teach students social skills in settings where the skills will be used. If teaching social skills in the natural setting is not possible, we can use role playing to reflect a variety of settings or teach children to self-monitor their use of skills across settings. We can also recruit teachers and parents to prompt, teach, and reinforce use of appropriate social skills.

Teach social skills that are valued in the natural setting. Selecting skills valued by peers, teachers, and parents increases the odds skill use will be reinforced. “Real life” reinforcement is essential if our training efforts are to endure over time.

Teach social skills “loosely.” Effective teachers often tightly control the instructional presentation to help students acquire new skills. These teachers adopt standardized presentation procedures, present information in a prescribed order, and require mastery before moving on to the next skill. Although these methods promote skill acquisition, they may work against skill generalization. We can encourage students to generalize by teaching several social skills several times a day, employing a variety of models and role-playing actors, using natural language, and reinforcing skills across settings and situations.