Ages: 11-18, Grades: 6th-Adult Conversation partners require skills in both verbal and nonverbal interactive behaviors (Sillars, 1991). Most adolescent social interaction takes place via spontaneous conversations, affording conversation partners no advance planning. Conversation navigation requires skills in both nonverbal and verbal behaviors, so students with deficits in one or both of these areas are at risk in talking with peers, family, and others. The activities in this book will teach your students the key elements of conversation in various everyday contexts so they can engage in conversations appropriately. Outcomes * Detect and interpret others’ perspectives correctly
* Increase success in social communication and social interactions
* Boost self-esteem by learning how to control social interactions
* Learn to control behavior and participate in social interactions appropriately Conversations teachesthese important skills: * Define and identify the types of conversations
* Learn the vocabulary of conversations
* Learn to take turns in conversation
* Know how to listen well in conversation
* Know how to speak well in conversation
* Choose an interesting converstaion topic
* Start conversations
* Keep conversations going
* Keep a balance in a conversation
* Stay on topic
* Change topics smoothly
* Close a conversation
* Ask questions during a conversation to get information or show interest
* Ask open-ended questions during a conversation
* Have phone conversations
* Have chat room conversations
* Make small talk
* Role-play conversations
* Evaluate one person’s performance in a conversation Hats off! Applause, applause! Adolescents will “take a bow” as they master specific social skill areas by understanding different social perspectives. Personalized instruction targets social communication and behavior skills that help students apply what they learn to real-world situations. Instruction methods include explicit teaching, modeling, observation, discussion, role-playing, and guided practice. A pretest/posttest is included. Use each activity with individual students or small groups of students with similar skill deficits. 40 pages, reproducible activities, answer key, CD-ROM Note: The free CD is NOT software and is not interactive. Instead, the CD contains reproducible pages from the book in PDF Format, allowing you to open pages from the book, view them on screen, and print them from your own printer. You cannot modify or edit the text on the pages. | 
