I was working with a small, unmotivated group, and scheduled to teach social skills. First, we read through and discussed the list of social skills with each person picking several out and reflecting on personal examples, then searched for the same list of specific words in the word search puzzle. Now better familiar with the skills (and in my group's case, more excited to participate and at a deeper level), we sang several songs and searched for examples of the skills in the lyrics. This activity was completed over two different sessions. The PDF available below begins with a suggested guide to songs for lyric analysis with some of the social skills in each song, followed by the two pages you will print out for each of the participating individuals.
File:Social Skills Word Search and LA.pdf
Variations[]
This sort of intervention was very helpful to work on academic skills, as well. Individuals will read, communicate in words, remember lists, think about abstract concepts in the song lyrics, and perhaps even write notes on the lyric analysis. Further, you can modify the intervention to address needs. An individual with MR loved to write rap lyrics, and he used three of the skills as part of the song.
Contributors[]
James E. Riley, MM, MT-BC