Terry L. Shepherd, Indiana University South Bend

Children with emotional and behavior disorders often have difficulties understanding social cues, responding appropriately in social situations, and initiating age-appropriate interactions with peers and adults. A real-life social activity that is often neglected in social skills training is dining. Dining involves dining etiquette, personal hygiene, mathematics, and social skills. Dining skills can be taught using a direct model approach that include introduction and instruction of the skill, modeling, peer involvement, role-playing, feedback, and reinforcement of desired social behaviors. Providing social skills training and real-life dining experiences for students with emotional and behavior disorders can provide many opportunities for students to learn appropriate interaction with peers and authority figures, recognize social cues, and learn social competence.

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