This research is motivated by the importance of social skills for elementary school students. Social skills are abilities that must be possessed by every individual to function well in their social environment. Social skills must be instilled through the stages of learning and habituation. One of the approaches to instill social skills is through…

Milwaukee's gay-friendly Alliance High School was conceived to be a welcoming and confirming school for kids who have been teased and bullied and had their interests marginalized in traditional schools. The result is a group of teens who feel they have found a safe place as they explore who they will be and how they will live the rest of their…

Peer relations during middle childhood and adolescence are an important part of children's social and emotional development. Children and adolescents pick up essential social and communication skills from their peers as they move into late adolescence and early adulthood. Peer conflict is not necessarily a bad thing; disagreement and conflict are…

Research Findings: The study evaluated the "safe kindergarten" program designed to promote kindergartners' communication and social skills based on principles of Imago marital and family counseling (H. Hendrix, 1990). Participants were 92 kindergartners from 4 kindergartens (intervention = 46; comparison = 46). Teachers in intervention…

Focuses on the low-level aggression of verbal abuse demonstrated by children and adolescents. Describes the teasing, cursing, gossip, and ostracism associated with verbal abuse. Provides strategies for working with youth who are verbally aggressive including, how to reduce verbal maltreatment, how to engage in constructive communication, and ways…

Concerned with increasing numbers of student fights, a Maryland middle school initiated a peer-mediation program to help students deal effectively with conflict. Peer mediators received training emphasizing confidentiality, rephrasing, and cooperation. After one year, the number of suspensions and student arguments decreased, school climate…

This elementary school training manual is based on the School Mediation Program developed originally by Good Shepherd Neighborhood House to train students in grades 6 through 12 in conflict resolution and violence prevention through peer mediation. Extending the program to the younger grades gives an earlier opportunity to use peer mediation to…

Thanks to the Winning against Violent Environments (WAVE) mediation program, many of Cleveland, Ohio's public high school students have the right and responsibility to resolve most of their own conflicts, nonviolently, with peer assistance instead of adult punishment. WAVE allows adults to work on educational tasks and students to develop…

The Kids in Dispute Settlement mediation program for grades 3 through 12 recognizes that conflicts are a part of everyone's life and that students can responsibly and constructively solve their own conflicts. Mediation uses the help of a third party to facilitate the conflict resolution process by working out differences non-judgementally. Student…

This teaching guide presents a rationale for proactive social skills training for persons with mental retardation as well as over 100 examples of such instruction across the K-12 continuum. Chapter 1 provides a conceptual framework of social competence with principles of what, when, and how to teach social skills. Chapter 2 discusses the direct…

The purpose of this paper is to report on the development and validation of the Social Problem Situation Analysis Measure (SPSAM), a measure of the ways in which children understand and attempt to resolve problematic social situations. The SPSAM is an assessment procedure in which children are shown cards depicting sequences of unfolding action in…

This digest discusses factors associated with the acceptance and rejection of preschool children by their peers and offers a number of strategies that teachers and other adults can use in their attempts to help children achieve social acceptance. Behaviors and characteristics associated with peer rejection include aggression and misinterpretation…

This study used conflict resolution role play vignettes and self-report surveys of 450 New York City 6th graders to examine associations between adolescents' conflict resolution efficacy and social skills. Vignettes covered 3 social contexts, conflict with a peer (disagreement over activities), with a parent (raise in allowance), and with a…

The "Dynamics of Relationships" program was originally designed as a preventive approach to the many social ills affecting young people and families today. This teacher's manual for the program provides objectives and activities for helping students develop and maintain a strong and secure self-image, effective communication and coping…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) 2016, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 30 of April to 2 of May, 2016. Psychology, nowadays, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and…