Schools and other group settings are important contexts in which children and adolescents acquire good interpersonal skills. In three separate paragraphs, describe three different things that teachers or other adults might do to help youngsters acquire interpersonal skills. For each strategy, give a concrete example of what an adult might do

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Following are possible strategies for fostering social skills either directly or indirectly (e.g., by enhancing theory of mind). The response should include at least three of them, or reasonable alternatives, with concrete examples of how each one might be implemented.

- Explicitly teach specific social skills and social problem-solving strategies.
- Ask youngsters to brainstorm possible responses to social dilemmas.
- Encourage youngsters to think carefully before acting in social situations.
- Encourage youngsters to think about the negative consequences of certain actions.
- Give concrete feedback about effective and ineffective interpersonal behaviors.
- Praise youngsters for prosocial behaviors.
- Expose youngsters to numerous models of prosocial behavior.
- Help youngsters form and maintain friendships.
- Conduct and closely monitor cooperative activities.
- Encourage youngsters to look at situations from other people's points of view.
- Help youngsters tune in to other people's body language.
- Have youngsters speculate about the thoughts and feelings of historical features or fictional characters.
- Engage youngsters in community service activities.
- Develop a peer mediation program.
- Have a zero-tolerance policy for physical and psychological aggression; consistently impose appropriate consequences for aggressive actions.
- Seek intensive intervention for youngsters who show an ongoing pattern of aggression.