Skillstreaming is a prosocial learning program designed to help children and youth learn positive ways to have their needs met.
Skillstreaming the Adolescent employs a four-part training approach—modeling, role-playing, performance feedback, and generalization—to teach essential prosocial skills to adolescents.
What’s Included:
Program Book – This book provides a complete description of the Skillstreaming program, with instructions for teaching 50 prosocial skills.
Adaptable for a variety of situations, Skillstreaming is ideal for small group instruction for children who have common social needs. Often used by counselors and others, the Skillstreaming program is structured to be a targeted, social-emotional learning intervention. Specific Skillstreaming skills can also be taught in whole class sessions by counselors.
Skill Cards – Convenient 3×5″ cue cards designed for student use during group sessions and homework assignments. The cards list the behavioral steps for each of the 50 skills contained in the Skillstreaming the Adolescent program. Eight cards are provided for each skill, for a total of 400 cards.
Student Workbooks (packet of 10 workbooks and a Leader’s Guide) – The Student Workbook helps reinforce the 50 social-emotional skills learned in the Skillstreaming the Adolescentcurriculum. Students learn through discussion, exploration and practice of essential life skills. Thirty new activities help students learn to start conversations, ask for help, deal with their feelings, find alternatives to aggression, manage stress and develop planning skills.
The Student Workbooks and Leader’s Guide give educators, clinicians, and school counselors a step-by-step procedure for introducing and proceeding with the Skillstreaming program. The numerous activities provided in the Student Workbook assist students in not only learning the Skillstreaming process, but key social nuances that will help them be more successful in their skill use.
Student Manual (each) – clear, concise guide written for the student. This essential reference and organizer for the Skillstreaming the Adolescent program helps the student and parent or guardian better understand the goals of the Skillstreaming program. By providing an overview for the entire Skillstreaming experience the student can understand what’s involved in this training.
This manual reinforces the need to practice the skills learned in real life encounters with a variety of people. Recommendations on how to complete homework that explains why the assignments are helpful. Skills are listed alphabetically for easy reference.
Skill Posters (set of 50) – A set of 50 posters (18×12″) displaying the behavioral steps in each of the Skillstreaming the Adolescent skills. A great tool for reinforcing the skills they’re learning!
Shown below is episode two of Prosocially Yours, a podcast produced by Research Press. In this episode, host Elizabeth Hess interviews educator and author, Dr. Ellen McGinnis, about the widely acclaimed Skillstreaming program.
Praise for the Skillstreaming series
“The third edition of the Skillstreaming series is my first choice as the go-to resource for a research-based, user-friendly, and level social skills curriculum for professionals in all settings serving children and youth.”
Sheldon Braaten, PhD,
Founder and Executive Director,
Behavior Institute for Children and Adolescents
“There are a multitude of social skills programs on the market. . . . This program cuts out the gimmicks, and hammers home what is really needed: Identify the skill that is missing in the student, model it for the student, role-play it with the student, and provide opportunities for them to generalize it to real life situations.”
Nan Gordon, Communiqué
“McGinnis and Simpson led the way for social skill intervention for individuals on the autism spectrum with the innovative program book The Skillstreaming: Children and Youth with High-Functioning Autism: A Guide to Teaching Prosocial Skills.
Research Press has just released the Student Workbook and the Student Workbook Group Leaders’ Guide that accompanies the program. This is exciting for the field of autism—practitioners who work daily with children and youth and students who struggle with excesses or deficits in social skills. The detail of lesson plans, scenarios and activities which these two supplemental books were designed will enhance the program effectiveness and certainly support practitioners’ abilities to implement lessons with high fidelity! This translates to improving the skills of their students/clients to achieve social success and all the benefits of full inclusion in their social world and the community in which they live.
As I reviewed these books the first thought I had was how helpful they would have been during my teaching years. As a teaching professor I know how important they will be for every teacher and related service provider whom I teach and mentor. Thank you to Dr. McGinnis for continuing the vision that you and Dr. Simpson shared. Also, a special appreciation to our colleagues Jason Travers and Stephen Crutchfield for stepping up to continue this critical work!”
-Deborah E. Griswold, PhD, assistant professor for practice in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas
“Social skills are essential to navigating the complexities of everyday routines, accessing important reinforcers, and developing meaningful and lasting relationships. Unfortunately, some of us have difficulties acquiring extensive and flexible social skills repertoires, especially given recent events that have impacted the way we interact with each other daily. In this important resource, McGinnis and colleagues provide guidance on teaching social skills in ways that are relevant, person-centered, and dignifying to autistic learners. This powerful tool, though directed to those serving autistic students, is broadly applicable and should be on the shelf of every classroom teacher.”
-Robert Pennington, Lake & Edward J. Snyder, Jr. Distinguished Professor in Special Education, Department of Special Education and Child Development, University of North Carolina Charlotte
“The Skillstreaming Group Leader’s Guide and Student Workbook are the perfect companions to the Skillstreaming learning procedures. These materials bridge the science-based information from Skillstreaming instruction so that students, teachers, and families can access and apply this quality social skill instruction in meaningful and effective ways. The authors combine sound research-based strategies with their direct knowledge of teaching students with high-functioning autism. The result is a set of tools that are relevant, engaging, and promote generalization and maintenance of skills over time. Well done!”
-Leah Wood, PhD / BCBA-D, Associate Professor / Cal Poly School of Education, Co-Coordinator / Special Education Masters and Credential Program, Co-PI of TIER / Teaching for Inclusivity and Equity Residency, President / Division on Autism and Developmental Disabilities
“I have been a fan of the Skillstreaming series for years. When I was first starting out as a special education teacher, I found the series to be the best version of social skills programming for helping children understand the complex world of social development. After 20 years of using Skillstreaming with my students with autism and behavior disorders, I believed that I was an expert in my approach to using the curriculum. It became clear after reviewing the workbook and group leader’s guide that I was just scratching the surface. McGinnis, Travers, and Crutchfield created an incredibly powerful tool with this material. They showed me ways that I had never thought of using the curriculum and this has improved my ability to provide a richer and deeper understanding of social development for my students. This is an easy-to-use guide and a leap forward in enhancing the Skillstreaming curriculum. For anyone looking for a powerful social skills program for children with high functioning autism, they should look no further!”
-Matt McNiff, Ph.D., Behavior Consultant and Director of Special Education for Educational Service Unit #5
