Sometimes explaining a skill is not enough. Students may need to actually see what the skill looks like. That is one reason videos to teach social skills can be such a useful tool for educators, especially when working with students who benefit from clear examples, repetition, and visual supports.
Think about everything we ask students to understand.
What does respecting personal space actually look like? How does someone respond when a friend says no? What does an appropriate conversation sound like? How do you know when your voice is too loud? What steps are involved in washing your hair or brushing your teeth?
We can explain these skills. We can talk about them. We can use visuals and role plays.
However, video gives us something else.
It gives students an opportunity to watch the skill happen.
As schools across the country begin another year, educators are once again building routines and gathering resources. This is a great time to think about not only what we want students to learn, but also how we can help them see, practice, and remember those skills.
Videos to Teach Social Skills Are a Starting Point
Video can make an idea more concrete.
Instead of telling a student what to do, we can show someone doing it. Students can see the environment, watch the interaction, hear the words being used, and notice what happens next.
Research supports the use of video modeling as an evidence-based practice for children and youth with autism. Video modeling involves watching a model demonstrate a target behavior or skill before the learner practices that behavior. Research has supported its use across areas that include social, communication, adaptive, vocational, and other skills.
That distinction is important. Simply turning on any video does not make something an evidence-based instructional practice. Educators still need to think carefully about what students are watching, what skill is being modeled, and how the video connects to instruction and practice.
When used intentionally, though, video can become one part of a much larger teaching process.
Pause It. Replay It. Talk About It.
One of the best things about video is that the learner does not have to understand everything the first time.
Pause.
“What did you notice?”
Go back.
“Watch what happens when she asks for help.”
Replay the interaction.
“Did you see how far apart they were standing?”
Stop before the next step.
“What do you think he should do now?”
Then watch again.
That flexibility is difficult to recreate during a real-life interaction. Once a moment happens, it is gone. With video, we can return to the exact moment we want students to notice.
Educators can also adjust how they use the same video based on the learner. One student may watch the entire video before discussing it. Another may need the video divided into smaller sections. Someone else may benefit from watching a short section several times before practicing the skill.
The video stays the same, but our instruction remains individualized.
Videos Create Consistent Repetition
There is another reason videos to teach social skills can work particularly well for some learners: consistency.
We have talked before about the difference between repetition and consistent repetition.
When a teacher demonstrates a skill on Monday and demonstrates it again on Tuesday, small things may change. The words may be slightly different. The example may change. Another adult may explain the skill in a completely different way.
Those differences may seem minor to us. For a student who has difficulty generalizing skills, however, they may matter.
A video does not change.
Press play today, and the person uses the same words.
Press play tomorrow, and the interaction happens in the same order.
Watch it next week, and the model demonstrates the same skill in the same way.
That predictability can give students another opportunity to focus on the skill itself.
Of course, we eventually want students to use skills with different people and in different settings. Real life will never look exactly like a video. However, a consistent starting point can help students build understanding before we ask them to apply the skill in new situations.
Using Videos to Teach Social Skills with Real People
There are many ways to create educational videos. Animation and cartoons can certainly be useful instructional tools.
However, there are also times when students benefit from seeing real people demonstrate a skill.
Social interactions contain details that can be difficult to explain with words alone. Facial expressions change. People move closer or farther apart. Tone of voice changes. Someone turns away. Another person pauses before answering.
Those details can matter.
If we are teaching students about relationships, communication, boundaries, personal space, rejection, or other social situations, watching real people can provide a model that looks more like an interaction students may encounter themselves.
The same is true for life skills.
Watching someone complete part of a hygiene routine can make a sequence easier to understand. Students can see what the person does first, what comes next, and what completing the skill looks like.
Then educators can connect what students watched to direct instruction, visuals, demonstrations, role plays, and practice.
Video isn’t the entire lesson.
It is one more way into the lesson.
Age Appropriate Videos Matter Too
Anyone who has searched online for instructional videos knows the challenge.
You find a video that teaches exactly the skill you need.
Then you press play.
The characters are young children. The language sounds like it was written for elementary school. The setting looks nothing like the world of your middle school, high school, transition-age, or adult learner.
The skill may be appropriate.
The presentation isn’t.
We should not assume that a student needs childlike materials simply because they need additional support learning a skill.
A 17-year-old learning about friendships is still 17.
Someone who is 20 and learning personal hygiene is still 20.
Older students learning about boundaries, consent, dating, privacy, or rejection deserve instructional materials that respect their age.
That is why we believe age appropriate models are an important part of videos to teach social skills and life skills. Students should have opportunities to see people and situations that feel relevant to the stage of life they are entering.
Video Should Lead to Practice
Watching something is not the final goal.
Using the skill is.
After students watch a video, educators can create opportunities to practice what they saw. That might happen through a role play, demonstration, discussion, community experience, or naturally occurring situation during the school day.
Research on social skills training supports this larger approach. Evidence-based social skills instruction can include strategies such as modeling, video modeling, role play, prompting, reinforcement, and opportunities to practice skills across settings.
That combination is important.
Watch it.
Talk about it.
Practice it.
Use it.
Then reinforce it when the student demonstrates the skill in real life.
Those everyday successes matter. We should not save all of our teaching for the moments when something goes wrong.
If a student recognizes the correct voice volume, acknowledge it.
If they ask for help appropriately, reinforce it.
When they identify a public or private place correctly, take a few seconds to recognize that success.
Video can introduce and reinforce a skill, but real-world practice helps students begin to make that skill their own.
More Than 250 Videos to Teach Social Skills and Life Skills
This is one of the reasons video has been an important part of Healthy Relationships from the beginning.
Healthy Relationships includes more than 250 instructional videos that support lessons across social skills, relationships, safety, personal hygiene, daily living, and other areas.
Our videos use real people, including older teenagers and young adults. We also continue to review and update the video library so educators have current materials that can support their instruction.
Explore what’s included in Healthy Relationships
Having a video library available also solves a very practical classroom problem.
Educators are busy.
When a student needs support with a skill, teachers should not have to spend an evening searching the internet for something appropriate. They should not have to watch ten videos designed for young children before finding one that might work for a high school student.
The resource should already be there.
That means when a teachable moment occurs, educators can spend their time teaching instead of searching.
Let Students See the Skill for Themselves
One of the things we hear often from educators using Healthy Relationships is how engaged students are with the videos.
That matters.
Healthy Relationships is now being used across 43 states and has reached approximately 250,000 individuals. As the curriculum has grown, the video library has remained one of the resources educators consistently value.
But you don’t have to take our word for it.
If you are looking for videos to teach social skills, life skills, safety skills, relationships, or personal hygiene, take a look for yourself.
Watch sample Healthy Relationships videos
See the people.
Watch how the skills are modeled.
Think about whether the videos would be appropriate for the students you teach.
Better yet, start a free trial of Healthy Relationships and explore the video library along with the lessons, visuals, role plays, and other instructional resources.
If you are trying to address a specific need in your classroom, schedule a free meeting with our team. Tell us about your students, the skills you’re trying to teach, and the challenges you’re experiencing. We can talk through your needs and help you determine whether Healthy Relationships may be a good fit.
Videos to Teach Social Skills Are a Starting Point
A video cannot replace a teacher.
It cannot replace practice, feedback, relationships, or real-life experiences.
What it can do is give students another way to understand.
Students can see a skill instead of only hearing about it. They can watch it again when they need another opportunity. Educators can pause the action and draw attention to details. The same example can be used by teachers, counselors, related professionals, and families to create greater consistency.
Most importantly, video can help turn an idea that feels abstract into something students can actually see.
As the new school year begins, think about the skills your students will need in the months ahead.
Then ask one more question:
Would it help them to see what that skill looks like?
Sometimes, pressing play is a pretty good place to start.
Author: Rob Anderson, MSW — School Counselor