Improving Social Skills in Children and Adolescents
Adina Soclof, MS, CCC-SLP; Leo Christie, PhD
$49.00
Course Abstract
Improving Social Skills in Children and Adolescents is a 4-hour online continuing education (CE) course that provides healthcare professionals with practical tools to guide children in gaining social competence.
Highlighting the benefits and advantages to having well-developed social skills and demonstrating the difficulties and challenges that arise from a lack of these crucial skills, this course will provide practical tools that teachers and therapists can employ to guide children to overcome their difficulties in the social realm and gain social competence.
While there are hundreds of important social skills for students to learn, we can organize them into skill areas to make it easier to identify and determine appropriate interventions. This course is divided into six sections, each detailing various aspects of social skills that children, teens, and adults must master to have normative, healthy relationships with the people they encounter every day. This course provides tools and suggestions that, with practice and support, can assist them in managing their social skills deficits to function in society and nurture relationships with the peers and adults in their lives.
Outline
- Introduction
- Section 1: Social Skills
- Section 2: The Communication – Social Skills Connection
- Section 3: What are Executive Functions?
- Section 4: Social Communication and Conversational Skills
- Section 5: Teaching Essential Communication Skills
- Section 6: Interventions for Increasing Social Skills
- Conclusion
Course #40-57 | 2026 | 25 posttest questions
Learning Objectives
- Outline three ways in which social skills deficits impact a child
- Explain five factors that impede communication and social skill development
- Summarize the five core executive function skills
- Describe three key components of conversational proficiency and the interventions that support children to learn those skills
- Illustrate strategies for teaching children about personal space, the use of gestures and body language, interpreting meaning from speech, and self-regulating behavior when communicating
- Discuss interventions for teaching each of the seven key social skills as outlined in this course
Course Directions
This course is text-based (reading), and the CE test is open-book (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course materials). Successful completion of this course involves passing an online test (80% required, three chances to take) and we ask that you also complete a brief course evaluation. Contact us with any questions – we are here to help!
About the Author(s)
Adina Soclof, MS, CCC-SLP : Find out More
Adina Soclof, MS, CCC-SLP, is a Parent Educator, Professional Development Instructor and Speech-Language Pathologist working with children in a school setting. She received her B.A. in history from Queens College and her M.S. in communication sciences from Hunter College. Adina is the founder of ParentingSimply.com. She delivers parenting classes as well as professional development workshops for Speech-Language Pathologists, teachers and other health professionals. Adina is available for speaking engagements and can be reached at [email protected].
Disclosure
Financial: Ms. Soclof receives royalty payments from Professional Development Resources on sales of her courses.
Nonfinancial: No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.
Leo Christie, PhD : Find out More
Leo Christie, PhD, was a Florida-licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy from Florida State University. Past President of the Florida Council on Family Relations, Dr. Christie has more than 20 years’ experience in private practice with a specialty in child behavior disorders and as an instructor for over 500 live continuing education seminars for healthcare professionals. He is the founder of Professional Development Resources; a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to deliver continuing education credit courses to healthcare professionals throughout the United States.
Disclosure
Financial: Receives author compensation from Professional Development Resources, Inc.
Nonfinancial: No relevant nonfinancial relationships exist.
CE Information
Counseling
Professional Development Resources (PDR) has been approved by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 5590. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. PDR is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners; the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling; the Georgia Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and MFTs; the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board for Professional Counselors; the Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors; the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135 - Note: New York counselors will receive 4 continuing education credits for completing this self-study course); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Family Therapist Board; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage & Family Therapists (#193); the Tennessee Board for Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marital and Family Therapists, and Licensed Clinical Pastoral Therapists; the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors; the West Virginia Board of Examiners in Counseling; and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635 – completions are reported within 24 hours).
Marriage and Family Therapy
Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046, ACE Program); the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners; the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling; the Georgia Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and MFTs; the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board for Marriage & Family Therapy; the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice; the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists (#MFT-0100 - Note: New York MFTs will receive 4 continuing education credit(s) for completing this self-study course); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Family Therapist Board; the South Carolina Board of Examiners for Licensure of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors, and Psycho-Educational Specialists (#193); the Tennessee Board for Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marital and Family Therapists, and Licensed Clinical Pastoral Therapists; the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists (#114); and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635 – completions are reported within 24 hours).
Psychology
Professional Development Resources, Inc. is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Arizona Board of Psychologist Examiners; the Florida Board of Psychology; the Georgia State Board of Examiners of Psychologists; the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board for Psychology; the Michigan Board of Psychology; the New Hampshire Board of Psychologists; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of self-study continuing education for licensed psychologists (#PSY-0145); the North Carolina Psychology Board; the North Dakota State Board of Psychologist Examiners; the South Carolina Board of Examiners in Psychology; the Tennessee Board of Examiners of Psychology; the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists; the Wyoming Board of Psychology; and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635 – completions are reported within 24 hours).
School Psychology
Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Arizona Board of Psychologist Examiners; the Florida Board of Psychology and Office of School Psychology; the Georgia State Board of Examiners of Psychologists; the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board for Psychology; the Michigan Board of Psychology; the New Hampshire Board of Psychologists; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of self-study continuing education for licensed psychologists (#PSY-0145); the North Carolina Psychology Board; the North Dakota State Board of Psychologist Examiners; the South Carolina Board of Examiners in Psychology; the Tennessee Board of Examiners of Psychology; the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists; the Wyoming Board of Psychology; and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635 – completions are reported within 24 hours).
Social Work
Professional Development Resources, #1046, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 6/12/2025 - 6/12/2028. Social workers completing this course receive 4 clinical continuing education credits. ACE format: Reading-based asynchronous distance learning.
Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners; the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling; the Georgia Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and MFTs; the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board for Social Workers; the Michigan Board of Social Work; the New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice; the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (#SW-0664 - Note: New York social workers will receive 4 continuing education credit(s) for completing this self-study course); the North Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Family Therapist Board; the South Carolina Board of Social Work Examiners; the Tennessee Board of Social Workers; the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); the West Virginia Board of Social Work; and is CE Broker compliant (#50-1635 – completions are reported within 24 hours).
Teaching
Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for all programs and content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046, ACE Program); the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA #AAUM); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA #3159); and the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Prior Approval Program).
Customer Testimonials
I will use this material to refer back to. It was well organized for clinicians.
Great information! Easy to follow and understand!
I have worked with children with social skill deficits for many years. I learned more from this course than any other seminar or workshop I have attended on the subject. Of particular use was the concept of language learning disability and its impact on social language and skills.
Very organized and relevant material.
Great course. I don't have child clients, but this will help me with my own teens and gives me some ideas about treating adults as well.
More Testimonials
I actually took this course to assist a family member who has a child who suffers greatly from social skill deficit. I look forward to implementing the strategies on a personal level and am looking forward to sharing the strategies with these people.
Great resources I will be able to share with parents! :)
Everything was clear and concise and just well put together.
Very interesting and great tips for teaching social skills.
The course is excellent and very useful for working with children and adolescents. It is clear and easy to read. Thank you for an amazing course.
I enjoyed this course and learned information that I feel can be used with some of my students.
Excellent course. Well organized and very interesting and informative. Thank you.
Excellent presentation and excellent overview of so many important factors and interventions. I was already familiar with most of it, but this is outstanding reference literature.
I liked the variety of resources from which information was shared and the practical strategies and examples for how to implement specifically teaching social skills.
This course is very useful and relevant to the public school setting.
I learned a lot of helpful information. It gave me insight into the "why" of a lot of disruptive behaviors at school.
It's a lot of information and it is helpful to re-read it several times. This was a relevant effective course for me.
A great amount of information that I am thankful for. I printed out the material to reread before taking the test. I will now use it as a reference. Thank you
This was a terrific review of information. The information was presented in an organized way and I appreciated the examples, scenarios and references. It was nice to have all this information organized in this way.
A wealth of information on conceptualizing and teaching social skills to children.
The practical suggestions and examples are extremely useful.
Love how this course gave clear, applicable examples and smoothly built on previous knowledge.
The relevancy of this material cannot be understated. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I thought this was a very good course. As a clinical child psychologist who works in a school setting, I knew a lot of this, but it helped me to translate even more of my knowledge into practice. Moreover, the course helped me to realize how necessary executive skills are for social skills.
The course was presented in a clear and concise manner. It was very beneficial.
I have learned about many concepts mentioned previously, however, I like the way the course put together all of the concepts under one umbrella. All teachers-to-be should be required to take a course such as this one.
This course is quite comprehensive and offers a nice framework from which to create goals, objectives, and a general direction for therapy.
This was an excellent course and very relevant to my practice. I especially found the content specific to social skills and learning disabilities helpful.
Great course. Easy navigation. Well organized with great information.
What I really enjoy about these modules is that you get all the satisfaction of learning and being able to print and keep the educational materials including strategies, without the pressure of test-taking "under the gun". It is so much better to learn that way. Being able to have strategies also assists me in working with my students in the future after the module is completed. I love how user-friendly the modules are and the information is also very clearly explained.
I really enjoyed this course work. The material was current and presented in a reader friendly way. I will definitely use sections from the reading material to share with colleagues. The material was relevant to the students within my work-setting and will find great use for what I learned in this course work. Thank you!
There is so much information to digest around social skills. It's not an isolated skill. It has been on of the most challenging language areas I have ever tried to teach. Maybe teach is the wrong word. To try to improve social skills to me is breaking it down to microsteps. It is very hard because so much of it is unspoken. This was a great unit. Thanks.
Excellent course! Reinforced much of my knowledge and experience working with children that lack social skills, as well as offered new information to me.
Thank you very much! It was really interesting to get deeper in social communication skills in children and this can be applied to teens and adults as well. Thank you!
This course was so comprehensive and provided many different ways to social interaction. I also learned more about executive functioning and will be taking that course if you still have it. Thank you.
This course was helpful in breaking down the components of social skills and providing verbage to address deficits in a non-threatening way.
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