National Institute for the Empowerment of Persons
with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID)
Manovikas Nagar, Secunderabad-500009
Empowering Parents: Social Skills Training
for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
Department of Rehabilitation
Psychology
What are Social Skills?
Social skills are set of verbal and nonverbal skills
used to interact and communicate with one
another such as-
• greeting others,
• sharing,
• taking turns,
• asking for help,
• using gestures to communicate and
• making friends.
Social skills are necessary to form and maintain
positive relationships with others and adjust well
in the environment.
These skills may be acquired through gradual
learning and are largely influenced by parents,
family members, teachers, friends and community.
Why Social Skills are Important?
• Appropriate social behaviours are necessary for
any person to be an acceptable member of the
society.
• Well-developed social skills can help children with
Intellectual disabilities acquire –
– strong and positive peer relationships,
– succeed in school, and
– begin to successfully explore adult roles such as
employee, co-worker, family and community
member.
Adult with Intellectual Disability as an Employee
Social skills should be taught
systematically.
The training should be started very
early in life.
Social Skills and Children with Intellectual
Disabilities
Generally, children without disabilities learn
social skills as they grow, but children with
Intellectual disability learn slowly.
The reasons for social skills deficits in
children with Intellectual disabilities are-
Deficits in cognitive skills, lack of
opportunities and training.
Parents, family members and teacher’s need to
provide guidance and exposure for children with
Intellectual disabilities to practice social skills.
This will enhance their social participation and
interaction which makes him/her well adjusted
individual of the society.
What are the various Social Skills?
• Obeying commands
• Sharing
• Initiating and sustaining conversation
• Cooperating
• Using ‘Please’ ‘Thank you’ and sorry
appropriately
• Saying ‘No’
What are the various Social Skills?
• Asking help
• Taking turns
• Observation skills
• Behaving appropriately with opposite gender
• Making friends
• Participating in social situations
• Developing hobbies and Interests
Guidelines for Parents in Teaching Social Skills
to Children with Intellectual Disabilities
Parents are the role models for their children.
Parents need to practice the appropriate social
behaviours at home for their children with
Intellectual Disabilities to imitate.
Start Early- Social skills training should
begin at early age.
–For example: teaching smiling in
response, reaching familiar people,
playing with other children,
expressing feelings, and performing
for others.
Expressing Feelings: Mother is training
child to clap his hands when he feels
happy
Treat your child with respect and insist that other
family members also do the same.
If your child is treated with respect, he will show
respect for others which is essential for building social
relationships.
Parents need to develop a strong social network
and try to expose the child to as many people as
possible.
The more people your child meets, it is more likely
that he/she will learn the interaction skills and
overcome shyness.
Provide opportunities for the child to practice the
learnt social skills like-
• greeting,
• asking for help,
• sharing
• taking turn in group activities,
• smiling when meeting a friend,
• paying attention to the person who is speaking and
• asking other children to play a game.
Parents need to encourage the efforts of
the child and praise instead of pointing
at the mistakes done by the child.
How to teach various Social Skills?
Obeys Commands
• Give simple and specific instructions when asking a
child to do something.
• Initially select simple commands which the child
likes to do.
• For example:
– telling the child to call someone,
– to play with a toy,
– to bring something which he likes.
Gradually, start giving commands related to
proper social behaviours like reminding him to
ask permission before using other’s things,
sharing his things and following rules.
Appreciate him/her immediately when he/she
obeys.
Father appreciating the child for obeying
commands .
Waits for his/her Turn
• Parents need to train the child to wait for his/her
turn.
• For example, when parents take their child to the
park and if another child is already in swing, they
need to explain the child to wait until the other
child completes his turn.
• Show the child, others who are waiting for their
turn.
In this picture, child is waiting for the other
child to complete his turn.
• At meal time parent need to explain the child to
wait when food is being served to others.
At the shopping centre parents can ask the child
to wait till the shop-keeper settles the accounts
with a customer before him.
Child with Disability waiting in a queue.
Praise him when he/she takes turns.
Making Friends
• Provide opportunities for child to play where
several children are present.
• Let him play with child he chooses. Initially
parents can guide the child through modeling how
to initiate conversation with a friend.
• Parents need to encourage the child with
Intellectual disability to talk about his friends.
• Occasionally let child take an extra chocolate or
biscuit to school to give to a friend.
• Do not force the child to play with children whom
they do not know.
Parent teaching child how to Interact with Friends
For example:
• Teaching introducing oneself:
– Hello, my name is Julie, What is your name?
– Shall we play Sea-saw?
Initiating and Sustaining Conversation
• Parents need to train the child with Intellectual
disability to initiate a conversation, initially mother
or father can initiate conversation by asking the
child about his day at school or play time.
• Many children with Intellectual disabilities
through the school system are used to
question/answer type conversations such as:
– "How are you?" - "Fine."
– "And what did you do?" - "Colouring."
– What you ate? – Rice/dal.
– Do you like it? - Yes/no
• In this type of conversation, the questions are
direct. Sometimes this is because the child with
intellectual disability may not be interested in
interacting.
• Parents need to train the child to narrate his
experience or his/her likes and dislikes by talking
about their own experiences and activities first and
expecting the child to listen and respond.
• For Example: Every day whenever possible, mother
or father can explain what they did during the day
at home or office and encourage the child to
narrate about his own.
Child is Initiating the Conversation
Behaves Appropriately with Opposite
Gender
• As the child grows, it is important to train him to
behave appropriately with the opposite gender.
• Train him/her for proper behaviours with
brothers and sisters at home.
• When friends/ relatives visits your home, if the
child with intellectual disability is a boy train him
to receive and wish a girl and vice versa.
• Instead of keeping him/her away from the persons
in the opposite gender, expose him to such
situations under supervision so that he develops
acceptable manners.
• Explain the child and demonstrate that physical
distance is maintained when one interacts with
persons of other gender.
Encourage Observation Skills.
Being able to accurately observe the environment
is important to understand nonverbal signals, and
children with intellectual disability can have
trouble with observation.
Ways of encouraging observation include:
• Draw the child’s attention to particular
object/person/ activity when he appears to be
inattentive.
• e.g., "Look at that tree!"
• "Can you hear the birds?"
Encourage the child to respond to the
environment.
• e.g., "Do you like this flower?
• Which flower do you like best?"
Asking your child what he saw.
• e.g., “What did you notice when you walked to
school today?"
At a later stage, parents can train the child to observe
pictures of people and actions depicting different
emotions.
Child needs to identify the nonverbal behaviors like body
posture, hand movements, facial expressions to analyze
the situation.
Encouraging Hobbies and Interests
• Children with Intellectual disabilities need hobbies
and interests so they have something to talk about
and hobbies also improves the social interaction
skills.
• For ex: Drawing and painting, art/craft,
music/dance and collecting toys/ pictures. Parents
need to help their children to identify their interest
and pursue them.
Parents need to identify the Interests of the child and encourage
him/her to pursue their hobbies.
Teaching Appropriate Behavior in Social
Situations
• Parents are required to explain the child with
intellectual disability ways to respond in different
social situations.
• Parents can model the expected social behaviour
through modelling, role play, rehearsal and
feedback. for ex: receiving guests,
Role Play:
• Child with intellectual disability can be encouraged to engage in
role play.
• Role play is a method where the child is given a chance to “act
out" and practice real life situations.
• Role playing allows students to take on roles, provide feedback
to one another, and practice new skills. It helps the child to gain
confidence to handle the same situations in real life.
• For example: reacting to strangers, asking for help and ways to
interact with opposite gender.
Parents can act as stranger and child with Intellectual
disability can be helped to learn appropriate ways of responding.
Social Stories:
Social stories are pictorial stories that depict life
situations.
Social stories model appropriate social interaction
by describing a situation with relevant social cues,
other's perspectives, and a suggested appropriate
response.
The stories an be used to teach various social skills
like, making friends, asking for help, reacting to
strangers .
• Social stories can be prepared by parents and
teachers with pictures along with the description.
• The stories should be in simple, short and in easily
understandable language.
• Parents can ask the child with intellectual disability
to read out the story related to particular skill or
parent can read out the story for the child.
Social story about how to react when the child is frustrated
Incomplete stories involving social judgment can
be read to the child. Ask the child to complete the
story and encourage him when he makes efforts.
Provide opportunities for the child to discuss
consequences of certain behaviours such as –
-Interruptions while someone is speaking,
• Child hitting another child while playing a game,
or making a face when asked to do something.
• This gives the child practice in considering cause-
effect relationships in social interactions
Practicing in Real Life Situations
• Social skills training in real life situations is the most
effective as people with intellectual difficulties may
struggle with generalization.
• The child can be taken to a real life situation, like the
shopping mall, or the post office where he is asked to
do a task like buy food items from shopping mall or
buy stamps .
• The parent can go with the child and prompt him
whenever required. After a couple of times, the child
may be confident to do the task without support.
Parent helping the child to buy Ice cream from a
parlour
Encourage your Child to Join Group
Conversations.
Parents need to involve the child in group
conversations. If the child sits quietly, ask his
opinion and encourage him to say something.
For example: while planning to decorate the house
for family functions and festivals ask what the
child likes to do.
Parents need to encourage the child to participate in family festivals
Parent engaging the child in family conversation
• With the attempts of parents and
teachers Children with Intellectual
Disabilities can learn and practice social
skills.
• Finally, social skills training will reduce
maladaptive behaviors in children with
intellectual disabilities and in turn
improves their quality of life.
These are only guidelines ,please consult a professional
psychologist for further programming
