Teaching Social Skills and Assertiveness to Students with Disabilities

This article discusses teaching social skills and assertiveness to students with disabilities. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) content standards for physical education emphasize teaching responsible personal and social behaviors to students of all abilities, to help them develop an understanding of and respect for differences among people (NASPE, 2004). Social skills and assertiveness are also frequently emphasized in individualized education plans (IEP) and individual transition plans (ITP) for students with disabilities. Thus, teachers need to understand social skills and assertiveness, why these life skills are important, how to teach such life skills, and how to evaluate the development of these skills. Thus, teachers should explicitly focus on teaching appropriate social and assertiveness skills. In this article, the authors state that physical education teachers must establish a safe and successful learning environment for learning life skills. (Contains 2 tables.)