Social Skills Group Counseling & Camps | Quick Tips to Teach Social Skills to Shy Students

By Published On: June 28th, 20163.1 min read

Orlando Social Skills Group Counseling and Camp Counselor offers tips for teaching social skills to shy children and teens.

First, we teach the importance of Eye Contact as that communicates confidence, and makes the student less of a target for bullies.

Second, we walk thru the process of approaching someone with eye contact and a firm handshake.
Third, we discuss how we are not trying to make extroverts out of introverts, but need to give them the skills to assert themselves. Assertion helps them in the future to generate leads in their business, or work their way up the corporate ladder as promotions and success in the business world is often what you know and who you know.
Fourth, people love to hear their name and we try to encourage the below format for them to find out their name and to use their name in the next sentence for 2 reasons. First, if they say their name people love to hear their name; Second, if they say their name they have a better chance of remembering their name in the future.
Fifth, if they forget their name we role play the following: “My names Spencer, I’m sorry, but what was your name again?”

Role Play:
  1. Role play how to Greet and compliment someone

    • “Hi, my name is Spencer, what’s your name.”
    • “John”
    • “Nice to Meet you John”
    • “Nice to Meet you too Spencer”
    • “That’s a Cool Shirt
  2. Role play how to “Start Conversations”

    • “Where do you go to School?”
    • “What grade are you in?”
    • “What do you do for fun?”
  3. Role play how to “Continue Conversations”

    • “Did you have fun at your birthday party?”
    • “How was your Summer?”
    • “How was your Soccer Tournament?”
  4. Identify strengths in their peers and draw attention to it

    • “Great job or Great Catch.” “I wish I your talent.”
    • “You are a great friend.”
    • “I enjoy hanging out with you . . . You are so much fun”
    • “Where did you learn how to do that?” “Can you show me?”


Affirmation: We encourage parents to draw 2 columns on a paper and on the left side write the name of a few kids they enjoy or would like to befriend. On the right column we suggest they write positive qualities or affirmations about the student on the right side: “creative, smart, intelligent, athletic, artistic, great at sports, good friend, kind, caring, sensitive, radical, tubular, etc.”

Social Skills curriculum power point workbook audio for studentsReward: Parents are instructed to reward them for connecting with one or two peers on their list using the affirmations.

Social skills groups can be powerful especially with hands on team building games, popcorn, drinks, anything to bring kids together quickly and build trust with each other. Trust is the glue in relationships so students need to learn how to build and rebuild trust (if broken) to cement the relationship.

Ropes courses often offer opportunities to build trust, communication and teamwork. Often extroverted students want to lead and they overpower introverts so a good program will teach the extroverts to be servant leaders. They can help introverts learn assertion and leadership by extrovert’s silence. We silence the extroverts and put the introverts in a leadership position to help reach a goal or objective. Afterwards the team affirms the team and the team leader building confidence in the introvert.

StressLess with Social Skills for Children and Teen Resources

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Author & Social Skills Expert – Jim West, MA, LMHC, NCC – Orlando Social Skills Summer, Winter, and Day Camps & Social Skills Groups

author avatar
Jim West
Adolescent Expert, Jim West offers expert advice to Local and National TV News & Schools Internationally and provides phone or face-to-face counseling in the Orlando area. Jim is an Author, Communicator, School Consultant, Nationally Certified and State Licensed Counselor and specializes in counseling for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADD/ADHD) and Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD). Jim has been interviewed for multiple TV, Radio, magazine and newspaper articles. He is president of Total Life Counseling Center and his Total Life approach accelerates the therapeutic & healing process by relating to children, adolescents and adults and incorporating wellness. Jim’s clients travel from all over Florida, England, Georgia, Cayman Islands and the Bahamas as he has been able to treat clients with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, Depression and more with FDA approved supplements and Dietary Modifications. 85% of his clients have not needed medication or used less medication than when they first came to Total Life Counseling Center.

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Total Life Counseling Center consists of Licensed Counselors, masters level therapists, Español counselors, Licensed Mental Health Counselors, business coaches, and image enhancement coaches who provide counseling for emotional, mental, physical and spiritual care including marriage, individual, family, substance abuse and more. TLC’s family, trauma and marriage experts have been interviewed on National and Local TV/Radio over 200 times for their expert advice on Fox News, OWN, WETV, ABC’s Medical Minute and more. Our skilled counselors are relational, approachable and specialists providing therapy services in the Central Florida area including: OrlandoWinter ParkMetroWest, Windermere, Dr. Phillips, East OrlandoLake Mary, and Clermont, Boca Raton Florida, and Dallas, TX.

About the Author: Jim West

Adolescent Expert, Jim West offers expert advice to Local and National TV News & Schools Internationally and provides phone or face-to-face counseling in the Orlando area. Jim is an Author, Communicator, School Consultant, Nationally Certified and State Licensed Counselor and specializes in counseling for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADD/ADHD) and Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD). Jim has been interviewed for multiple TV, Radio, magazine and newspaper articles. He is president of Total Life Counseling Center and his Total Life approach accelerates the therapeutic & healing process by relating to children, adolescents and adults and incorporating wellness. Jim’s clients travel from all over Florida, England, Georgia, Cayman Islands and the Bahamas as he has been able to treat clients with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, Depression and more with FDA approved supplements and Dietary Modifications. 85% of his clients have not needed medication or used less medication than when they first came to Total Life Counseling Center.

2 Comments

  1. Kris at Social Village July 15, 2016 at 6:01 pm

    Role playing is definitely a great way to teach social skills. Continuing conversations are a stumbling block for many kids in our groups.

  2. Bobby Saint November 30, 2017 at 11:39 pm

    I like that there are social skills groups that offer to counsel and teach shy children and teens to be able to socialize better with their peers. You stated that having social skills groups can even be very effective when conducted in team buildings where the environment is supposed to be fun and light. This would surely promote better participation and teamwork among members. Plus, it is one good way of developing trust in each other. If I were to participate in social skills groups, I would make sure to take this into account. Thanks.

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author avatar
Jim West
Adolescent Expert, Jim West offers expert advice to Local and National TV News & Schools Internationally and provides phone or face-to-face counseling in the Orlando area. Jim is an Author, Communicator, School Consultant, Nationally Certified and State Licensed Counselor and specializes in counseling for Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADD/ADHD) and Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD). Jim has been interviewed for multiple TV, Radio, magazine and newspaper articles. He is president of Total Life Counseling Center and his Total Life approach accelerates the therapeutic & healing process by relating to children, adolescents and adults and incorporating wellness. Jim’s clients travel from all over Florida, England, Georgia, Cayman Islands and the Bahamas as he has been able to treat clients with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, Depression and more with FDA approved supplements and Dietary Modifications. 85% of his clients have not needed medication or used less medication than when they first came to Total Life Counseling Center.