Teach social problem-solving
teaching practiceFor student year
Early years
Helps students to
Helps teachers to
Summary
Social problem-solving is another skill that develops during the early years of school. It is the process and strategies used to…
- analyse
- understand
- respond to
…everyday problems, decision making, and conflicts.
Social problem-solving is often fostered intuitively through interactions with others. Some students, including those on the autism spectrum, may benefit from systematic instruction in helpful strategies for social problem solving.
Instruction helps students to understand:
- what a social problem is
- the process to follow when a social problem occurs
- the strategies they could use to solve a social problem.
Teach social problem-solving is the abbreviated name of the practice entitled Teachers build student ability to solve social problems by systematically teaching the problem-solving process and encouraging its use when solving a social issue.
How the practice works
Watch this video to learn more about this practice.
Duration: 03:49
Preparing to teach
Throughout all stages, you may need to seek advice from specialist colleagues or support staff such as guidance officers, school psychologists, speech language pathologists and occupational therapists.
Be proactive.
- Identify strategies to support learning and social demands and put these strategies in place to reduce the likelihood of problems occurring in the first place.
- Use observations to develop a clear and comprehensive understanding of the problem(s) that the student is experiencing.
- When necessary, seek external specialist assessment and opinion. You can then:
- understand possible triggers
- be alert to any potentially challenging situations throughout the day.
- Identify the specific strategy to teach students how to find a solution.
- Plan to explicitly and systematically teach the social problem-solving process to students:
- as a whole class
- in small groups
- individually
- a mix of above.
Use supports
- Identify and develop the visual supports required to explicitly and systematically teach a social problem solving process and keep these handy.
- Identify appropriate storybooks and visual supports that you can incorporate in your explicit teaching to enhance student understanding.
- Incorporate engaging and motivating:
- role-play/rehearsal
- puppet play (check the students aren’t frightened of puppets)
- social stories
- visual prompts.
Consider
How will you:
- embed problem solving scenarios
- model the problem solving process
- positively encourage, support, and reinforce students to use the process to solve real-life social problems
- share the social problem solving process with families.
Consider any supports you may need from specialist colleagues or support staff such as guidance officers, school psychologists, speech language pathologists and occupational therapists.
Communicate
Communicating with families will encourage generalisation of the associated strategy at home.
The turtle technique
When you have a clear and understanding of the problem the student is experiencing, you can then identify and use a specific intervention process to teach the student how to find a solution. One such process is the turtle technique. This which involves teaching students the steps of how to control feelings and calm down (i.e., think like a turtle).
You will find further templates in the resource section of this practice.
It works better if:
- the social problem solving strategy has a small number of set steps
- teachers model these steps
- students are encouraged to use to the strategy to solve their social problems whenever they occur
- visual supports are used to enhance student understanding of the strategy
It doesn’t work if:
- the student is expected to solve a social problem when distressed or overloaded
- the student hasn’t understood the problem solving strategy (so it will need re-teaching)
- the problem solving strategy has too many steps
In the classroom
Step 1. Teach social problem-solving
Explicitly and systematically teach a social problem-solving strategy using visual supports. These are available in the resources section.
Step2. Practice relaxation
Ensure that class practises relaxation skills.
Step 3. Embed and respond
Be alert to any situations throughout the day that may result in social difficulties.
Model using the strategy to solve social problems.
Support student use of the strategy in relation to their encountered social problems:
- Remain calm – personally model the skills involved.
- Reduce ‘talk’ and use visual cues.
- Deal with social difficulties in a consistent manner.
Acknowledge and positively reinforce all attempts by student to use problem-solving skills.
Step 4. Review
Wait till student is calm and receptive before providing feedback.
Step 5. Record
Record student outcomes in order to track progress.
Note program outcomes.
Practice toolkit
Practice implementation planner template
We know that in the busyness of teaching it is not always easy to keep track of what is working and what is not. So, we have created this template for you to record and reflect on what you are doing to help you create a more inclusive classroom. The implementation planner contains:
- Guidance around goal setting
- Reflection section (What worked, didn’t work and what to change and next steps.)
- Prompting questions
Implementation planner template
Download
Implementation planner with examples
Set your professional learning goal for:
Teach social problem-solving
You can set and save your goal for inclusive practices using inclusionED. Saved goals will appear in your profile. Here you can access, refine and review your goal easily.
Benefits of goal setting
Setting, working towards, and reflecting on goals helps you grow professionally and improve your practice. You can access AITSL learning resources for teachers to learn more about:How to set goals
The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership recommends using the SMART matrix to frame your goal setting.SMART goals refers to goals that are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-phased
Resources
Teach social problem solving - Practice brief
Download
Turtle Technique – 4 Steps problem-solving process
Example visual support: Who is first?
Example visual support: Whose way?
Example visual support: How to choose
Example visual support: Majority rules
Example visual support: Turn taking by multiple children
Example visual support: Your turn, My Turn
Example visual support: You go, I go
Example visual support: Take turns
Example visual support: Playing together
Example visual support: Playing 'round the world
Example visual support: Playing handball
Further reading
Materials informing practice
Autism Live: Teaching Problem Solving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLu5iSTtREU
Maryland Family Network: Tucker the Turtle: Anger Management for the Preschool Set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti8QD1WjCWM
Pam Dyson: Tucker the Turtle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb4xSg_I4Kw
Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention: Turtle Technique. http://bit.ly/2tHaATR (get the downloadable version from this site)
Related Practices
Model positive interactions
TEACHING PRACTICE
For student years
Early years
Helps students to
Learning Cycle
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