Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves the processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.…

Educators today are challenged with the task of designing curricula and standards for students of varying abilities. While technology and innovation steadily improve classroom learning, teachers and administrators continue to struggle in developing the best methodologies and practices for students with disabilities. "Models for Effective…

This manual describes approaches to initiating conflict resolution programs for kindergarten through 12th grade, details working models, and provides extensive resource information. The guide contains 13 sections. Section 1 discusses why it is important to have a conflict resolution program in the schools. Section 2 presents an overview of…

Peer helping is a system of delivering service to young people who do not seek it from traditional sources. The peer helping program teaches young people to help fellow students solve personal problems, to demonstrate positive social skills, and to serve as role models in social situations. Training, which initially uses discussion and group…

A five-step model is presented for conducting groups that enhance students' knowledge, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills. Differences between educational growth group model and other forms of group work are outlined. Goals and potential benefits for counselors are listed, along with examples of counselors' applications of the model. (Author)

A pair of 9-year-old boys with socioemotional and interpersonal difficulties was observed unobtrusively in 35 weekly hour-long therapy sessions over the course of 2 school years. A transcript/narrative analysis technique was used to identify all interpersonal negotiation strategies each child used within each session. Strategies were classified…

Fifteen papers address issues in therapeutic recreation for disabled persons from the perspectives of practitioners, educators, and students. The following papers are presented. "Therapeutic Recreation Service: The Past and Challenging Present" (H. Sessoms); "Therapeutic Recreatiion in an Era of Limits: A Crisis...A Challenge... An Opportunity"…

There is no need for a special unit to be developed about courtesy. Everyday activities and situations offer ample opportunity for its practice, for children will imitate the good manners they see adults using. (Author/SJL)

The Oralingua Interaction Skills Curriculum is a comprehensive model for a direct training program in social competence designed to teaching social skills to hearing impaired children. (SB)

Some schools do a poor job of preparing youth for responsible adulthood. The root problems seem to be failure to perceive adequately the urgency of the socialization problem and the tendency to oversimplify the measures needed to correct the situation. (Author/MLF)

This article offers suggestions on enhancing emotional vocabulary in early childhood education settings. A schematic of children's emotional literacy is followed by ways to build emotional vocabulary by teaching directly, teaching incidentally, or utilizing special activities. Suggestions also address teaching children to recognize feelings in…

An itinerant special education teacher talks about her changing role in the development of social skills in young children with disabilities. A continuum of social skills interventions is explained and the importance of matching types of interventions to children and settings is stressed. The special challenges of the itinerant teacher role are…

This paper reports on a statewide project in New South Wales, Australia, in which 241 teachers of students with moderate or severe disabilities responded to a survey concerning their needs and concerns in the area of communication interventions. A large number of teachers expressed a need for support in assessment, programming, and instructional…

A conceptual framework of social competence is presented to formulate actions that will enhance the social competence of learners with mental disabilities. This chapter discusses the individual's culturally determined inputs; the processes of social affects, social skills, and social thinking; and the desired social outcomes. The history of social…

The paper examines research on social skills instruction for learning disabled young adults. It is suggested that learning disabled young adults must develop methods of analyzing their social inadequacies. Such analyses may come from the young adults, when they are able to apply metacognition skills to social situations. Parents, teachers, and/or…