Recommended Resources and Materials:
Teaching Social Skills to Youth: A Step-by-Step Guide to 182 Basic to Complex Skills Plus
Helpful Teaching Techniques, 2nd Edition.
This guide features step-by-step component behaviors for 182 social skills – from basic
to complex. Each skill has been task analyzed into its essential behavioral elements.
Most of the steps in these skills will require additional discussion led by the teacher.
Dowd, T., & Tierney, J. (2005). Teaching social skills to youth: A step-by-step guide to 182 basic
to complex skills plus helpful teaching techniques, (2nd Edition). Boys Town, Nebraska:

Boys Town Press.
Top Ten Tips for Work Readiness
This resource for teaching soft, employability skills provides 210, 10-15 minute, easy-toread lessons that cover attributes and skills identified by employers as essential for
career success. The content is organized into five categories of work readiness: Work
Habits, Workplace Effectiveness, Business Skills, Communicating Effectively and The
Job Search. Both the online version and CD version contain an assessment and activity
after every lesson. The online version contains two videos and motivational trophies for
students, plus The Teacher’s Desktop that enables the teacher to set required and
optional lessons, establish a minimum score that is reported to students and teachers
via the class roster, and create a pre- and post-test from provided questions. The online
version is updated with new features annually.
Career Solutions Publishing (2014) Job Ready Career Skills (4th edition online, 2nd edition CD).
Berwyn, PA: Career Solutions Publishing.

Life Skills Health – Pearson/AGS Globe
This textbook addresses the health issues and related decisions encountered by
teenagers. Short, concise lessons hold students’ interest. This resource allows students
who read below grade level access to grade-level information by providing simple
sentence structure and assistance with difficult vocabulary.
Pearson Education, (2007). Life skills health, (Chapter 6). Shoreview, MN: Pearson Education,
Inc. publishing as Pearson AGS Globe.

Job-Related Social Skills
The purpose of this curriculum is to teach social skills that will increase the opportunity
for job success by providing instruction for 18 job-related social skills. The skill sequence
is ordered from simple to complex, and the resource provides systematic instruction and
repeated practice and feedback to the learner. Job Related Social Skills contains
scripted lessons for the facilitation of group or individual lessons.
Lund, K. A. and Montague, M. (2009). Job-related social skills: a curriculum for adolescents with
special needs. Reston, VA: Exceptional Innovations, Inc.

The Transitions Curriculum
This curriculum is written in three volumes: Personal Management, Career Management,
and Life Management. It was created for at risk students, and contains approximately
300 lessons with topics that will motivate students. The resource also has a number of
hands-on activities. Each volume comes with a CD that contains a complete set of
student handouts.
Fulton, L. and Silva, R. (2013). The transitions curriculum, (3rd Edition). Santa Barbara, CA:
James Stanfield Co.

Social Skills Lessons and Activities for Grades 7-12
This curriculum is designed to teach crucial social skills by presenting them in a
structured format and reinforcing them through role-play (rehearsal), practice, and
independent use. Fifty-one lessons are included, addressing a variety of social skills,
based on the belief that learning should be sequential and linked to community goals.
Began, R. W. (Ed.) (1996). Social skills & activities for grades 7-12: A ready-to-use curriculum
based on real-life situations to help you build children’s self-esteem, self-control, respect
for the rights of others, and a sense of responsibility for one’s own actions. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
"Texas Reality Check." Texas Reality Check | Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2017.
"The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine®." The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine®.
N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2017.

Recommended Course Activities:
Activities – Sample lesson topics for each of the following skills:
1. General employability prerequisite skills
• Appropriate hygiene and grooming
• Appropriate clothing selection for the job
2. Social interaction skills
• With peers
• With adults
3. Skills for personal success
• Personal management skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Conflict resolution and negotiation
• Effective communication
• Stress management
• Setting goals and objectives
4. Employability skills
• Self-reliance
• Flexibility
• Honesty
• Dependability
• Punctuality
• Attendance
• Safety
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Continued learning
• Task completion

Sample activities:
1. Organizational skills and practices
2. Choosing appropriate clothing for work and interviews
Suggested methods for evaluating student outcomes:
• Teacher observations and data collection to determine knowledge and skills
acquisition through summative and formative evaluations, such as classroom
discussions, presentations, quizzes, and exams
• Lesson evaluations - student demonstrates and practices:
o appropriate social interaction skills;
o work-related social skills;
o personal skills for success in the workplace; and
o employability skills in a variety of job settings.
Teacher qualifications:
An assignment for General Employability Skills, Grades 9-12, is allowed with any vocational or
career and technical education (CTE) classroom teaching certificate or one of the following
certificates:
• Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments, Grades EC-12
• Special Education, Grades EC-12.