Huntsville, AL 35801

Social Skills

Social skills focus on the appropriate comprehension and use of language, auditory cues, visual cues, and physical cues needed to communicate with a variety of social situations, environments, and conversation partners.

What are Social Skills for?

Social skills and social communication disorders go beyond feelings of discomfort while interacting with others, but it can include those feelings! A social communication disorder is an impairment in skills regarding interaction and communications with others. Pragmatic language issues are often part of social skill issues.

It can cause people to struggle with any of the following:

Appropriate responses to comments or questions
Struggles understanding nonverbal cues (facial expressions, body language, etc.)
Struggles initiating and maintaining conversion
Discussing appropriate topics with others
Transitioning between topics in conversation
Understanding nonliteral language (metaphors, puns, similes, etc.)
Understanding jokes or sarcasm
Adjusting communication depending on person, time, or place
Understanding others’ perspectives or interests
Difficulties with social routines
Self-monitoring and monitoring others’ emotions
Following “rules” of conversation (turn taking, using both questions and comments, etc.)

People with social communication disorders may also have difficulties expressing their thoughts, or may struggle with adjusting their communication depending on the situation: for example, not talking about certain topics at the lunch table when people are eating, or knowing that we speak differently to peers than teachers or bosses.

Social - or pragmatic - communication disorder impacts social situations and opportunities for important developing interpersonal connections. Those with social communication difficulties may miss opportunities to further develop connections with others, struggle with making friends, or have issues maintaining relationships. These difficulties may make social interactions uncomfortable, exhausting, or confusing for those with social communication issues.

With speech therapy support, speech-language pathologists can identify areas of weakness in regards to social skills and treat difficulties to reduce stress or discomfort, provide compensatory strategies, and increase confidence navigating social situations.

How does speech therapy support social skills?

Speech therapy for social communication difficulties is often holistic in the regard that it involves the client as well as their community.

Treatment often starts with assessing areas of difficulty for a client and identifying strengths and weaknesses in regards to social skills. This may involve standardized testing, as well as conversations with the client to identify what they want more support for. A client may want to focus on certain areas such as making friends, practicing interviewing, learning how to engage in group settings, and more.

The most productive way for a client to improve their social communication skills is by practicing! Speech therapy often focuses on teaching strategies for a variety of social situations, using appropriate skills in a variety of contexts, learning social routines and unspoken social rules, practicing skills in hypothetical scenarios with the clinician or familiar communication partners, and practicing in real-life situations outside of therapy. A speech-language pathologist may utilize therapy techniques such as role-play to practice skills within a more structured and supportive environment before they use these skills independently.

What about the "social" side of social skills?

It is beneficial for family, teachers, and friends of those with a social communication disorder to understand how their loved one or student communicates so they can provide support. Community help allows clients to succeed and connect with others. Family and friends are essential in this process for clients to learn new and better ways to communicate and share how they communicate with others. While therapy is recommended and beneficial for those with social skills issues, it is highly encouraged that friends, family members, teachers, bosses, and peers learn how and where to meet a client in the middle!

What’s the point of doing therapy for social skills?

While people are becoming more aware of issues like social communication disorders and the struggles that come with it, we still have social rules and expectations that affect our daily lives.

We are always interacting, working, and communicating with others. Whether it’s team sports, classroom projects, family dinners, or working alongside our coworkers, people have to learn how to work with a variety of perspectives, outlooks, and personalities. Learning and practicing social skills increases the likelihood of success and opportunities across the stages of life: performing well in school, making friends, attending college, securing and working at a job, and sustaining relationships.

Social skills therapy can build social communication skills and provide plans for building and improving social skills for interacting with others in every environment we participate in. Many people have some difficulty with an aspect of social skills, as they are not always intuitive. Those with social communication skills may feel nervous or uncomfortable navigating social situations without support.

How do I, or my loved one, get support for social communication difficulties?

Start with a social assessment! Speech-language pathologists often assess social skills in a variety of ways, which may include standardized assessments, a review of a client’s medical history and personal experiences, assessment of language abilities, current struggles, and daily social environment. Speech therapists may also conduct evaluations to assess skills regarding pragmatic language, such as vocabulary, grammar, and language concepts that are necessary for conversation. They may also directly assess pragmatic language skills, such as nonliteral language or abstract concepts, or social skills such as completing or following social routines, turn-taking in conversation, and balancing questions and comments in conversation.

If you’re interested in learning more about social skill therapy or getting support for difficulties within social environments, feel free to learn more with the links below, or reach out to us directly!