Activities in conflict resolution should teach individuals how to be supportive of others and know when to back down. These activities allow the group to practice the skills of being a “good sport.” For such an activity, any game in which one team wins and another loses is suitable. The groups should play a competitive game and upon conclusion enter into a conversation in which both groups make supportive statements to the other.
One of the primary problems in individuals with social anxiety or other social communication barriers is a reluctance to become acquainted with unfamiliar people. Social skill groups should have activities that help members practice greeting new people. This activity is especially suitable for the first few sessions of a social skills group. Making formal or informal introductions is an example of a greeting activity.
Understanding others’ emotions and responding appropriately to them is essential in communication. Activities in this area should focus on observing different types of emotions, facial expressions and tones of voice in a conversation. These activities can be as simple as watching a video of a conversation and having the group analyze the emotions of those in the conversation. The instructor should also elicit answers from the students as to what are appropriate responses to such emotional displays.
Tone of voice is one of the more neglected forms of communication. For suffers of autism and Asperger’s, activities emphasizing tone of voice are essential. Students should learn through such an activity to correctly interpret the emotions associated with different tones of voice as well as produce appropriate tones of voice. The instructor can create an activity, for example, that requests students to say the same sentence with different tones of voice according to various emotions, such as sad, happy and angry.