5 Tips to Starting Successful Social Groups

Social groups. You either love them or hate them. We know they are important, even essential for our students with social needs, yet they can be a bit tricky to get up and running, and pulling them off successfully. Over the years I’ve had my share of fails with social groups so here are my 5 tips I’ve learned to making sure social groups for any age work and work WELL.

*Quick note: all images come from my Social Group Curriculum, which can be purchased for elementary or for middle school/high school. I include these as examples but feel free to create your own!

Communication is KEY

For many of our teachers and parents, social groups may be a foreign concept. Communication here is key, specifically, way before the social group begins, you’ll want to discuss a few things. Here’s what I do- at the beginning of the year, for any students who will be involved in my social groups, I send a letter to both the teacher and parent explaining a few things:

what a social group is
what skills will be targeted in the social group
a section to grant permission for their student to participate
for parents-why their child is participating in a social group (is it part of their IEP or intervention?) and for teachers, which of their students will be participating
when the social group will be held (day of the week and time)
how to contact me with any questions they may have

Remember, an ounce of prevention (or in this case communication) is worth a pound of cure.

2. Choose the RIGHT Peer Models

When I send the letter above to teachers, I also include a section about peer models. I specifically ask my teachers to choose a few students from their class for me to use in my group as models in the group. Here are some things about peer models that I found to work best:

Choose at least the number of peer models as you have for your target students in your group. For example, if you have 3 students who you are working on social skills with, you’ll need at least 3 peer models. I’m sure you could make it work with less if needed but I’ve found my social groups run smoother with at least the same number of peer models, if not more.
Specify to teachers you are looking for students who exhibit great social skills, who get along with others well, and (this is the big one) who are NOT shy. Too many times I have had teachers choose amazing students who are so very sweet and kind and get great grades but are way too quiet to have an impact in my group. Instead, I’m looking for the students who aren’t shy about saying something is unexpected, or strange and aren’t afraid to call others out. Ironically, these students are sometimes the ones who often blurt out answers in class, so teachers don’t mind having a bit of a break while these students go and participate in my group 🙂
When I send home a permission to participate for my peer models, I let parents know that their child is being chosen as a peer model and to help other students in the group. This prevents those frantic calls asking why their child needs social skills.
Before the first meeting, I discuss with my peer models their roles, what is required of them, how to help their fellow peers, and require confidentiality for their classmates (sort of a “what happens in social group stays in social group” to prevent gossip).

3. Create a plan up front

Before I begin my social groups, I plan out a topic schedule for the entire year. This may sound like a lot of work, but it’s really not, and actually helps save time over the long haul. I do this because:

It prevents skipping any topics I want to cover or accidentally covering a topic twice (yes, I have done that)
It helps me stay focused on what I want to cover so I’m not scrambling 5 minutes before social group wondering what to do (and yes, I have done this as well).

4. Set up the Expectations First

The goal of our first meeting is simply communicating the purpose and expectations of the groups. Encouraging talking, but not interrupting, the requirement for confidentiality in the group, ways we build each other up and how put-downs are not allowed, etc. I’ve learned the more clearly these are communicated, the more smoothly the group runs the rest of the year.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Change what Isn’t Working

There will be failed lessons and wrongly chosen peer models. There will be difficult teachers and misinformed parents. If something isn’t working or needs more communication, don’t be afraid to stop, re-evaluate, and change direction, even mid-year. Just because something was set up at the beginning of the year doesn’t mean it needs to continue it’s current path the entire year. Some of my most successful social groups happened when the lesson was revisited, when the topic took a different spin, or when members of the group changed. Remember-change can be a good thing. 🙂

Thanks for reading and I hope you gained some good information for running success social skills groups from my own personal fails! If you’d like more information on my Social Skills Curriculums, click the links below.

Social Skills Curriculum for Elementary Students

Social Skills Curriculum for Middle/High School Students

Social Skills Curriculum Bundle

Below are a few example lesson plans!

Determining Importance: