RESOURCES FOR SOCIAL SKILLS | PRAGMATIC LANGUAGE ISSUES

Below is a 60-resource guide for children, teens, and adults with social-skills needs or social (pragmatic) communication disorder.  It includes professional information, curricula, therapy resources, peer groups, books, tools, organizations, and North Texas options.

Social communication involves using verbal and nonverbal communication appropriately for the situation—for example, initiating and maintaining conversations, taking turns, interpreting indirect or nonliteral language, repairing misunderstandings, adjusting communication for the listener, and recognizing social context.

Professional Information

1. ASHA Practice Portal: Social Communication Disorder — Comprehensive clinical resource on assessment, intervention, cultural considerations, school supports, and transition planning.
2. ASHA: Components of Social Communication — Overview of pragmatics and other key social-communication domains.
3. ASHA Practice Portal: Spoken Language Disorders — Guidance on conversational skills, topic maintenance, turn-taking, communication repair, narrative skills, and social-interaction intervention.
4. ASHA Find a Professional — National directory for locating certified speech-language pathologists, including clinicians with experience in social communication.
5. ASHA Topic Index — Searchable hub for speech, language, communication, literacy, autism, AAC, and social-pragmatic resources.
6. Social Communication Intervention Project (SCIP) — Research-based speech-language intervention program for school-age children with social communication disorder.
7. SCIP Intervention Framework — Targets social understanding and interpretation, pragmatics, and language processing.
8. SCIP Manual and Resource — Manual with more than 150 therapy activities for children ages 6–11 with pragmatic and social-communication needs.
9. Autism Navigator — Online courses and resources for families and professionals focused on social communication, developmental learning, and autism-related support.
10. Association for Positive Behavior Support — Resources related to positive, proactive supports across home, school, and community environments.
11. Center for Parent Information and Resources / Parent Center Hub — Family guidance on speech and language disorders, special education, therapy, advocacy, and school partnerships.
12. Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA) — State professional organization offering professional resources and connection to communication-disorder services.

Social-Learning Curricula

13. Social Thinking — Broad collection of curricula, books, games, visuals, and professional resources for social, academic, and executive-function learning.
14. Social Thinking Free Resources — Free teaching ideas, Thinksheets, videos, lessons, webinars, and downloadable materials.
15. We Thinkers!  Volume 1 — Preschool and early-elementary social-learning curriculum using stories and activities to support foundational social language.
16. Superflex — Social Thinking curriculum that uses characters and visual metaphors to build flexible thinking, self-awareness, and problem-solving.
17. Zones of Regulation — Framework for recognizing and managing emotions, self-regulation, and readiness to participate in social situations.
18. The Incredible 5-Point Scale — Visual self-regulation system for identifying emotional intensity and selecting coping strategies.
19. Social Detective — Social Thinking curriculum focused on noticing context clues, interpreting others’ actions, and making social inferences.
20. Think Social! — Curriculum for upper-elementary through adult learners addressing social observation, perspective taking, communication, and flexible behavior.
21. PEERS® Social Skills Program — Evidence-informed social-skills intervention program originally developed at UCLA for adolescents and young adults, with parent/caregiver involvement.
22. Skillstreaming — Social-skills curriculum that teaches specific interpersonal, communication, and self-management skills through modeling, practice, and feedback.
23. Stop Think Do — Social problem-solving curriculum that teaches students to slow down, consider options, and make more effective choices.
24. Social Stories™ — Carol Gray’s structured story-based approach for explaining social situations, expectations, perspectives, and possible responses.
25. Comic Strip Conversations — Visual conversation-mapping approach using drawings, symbols, and dialogue to clarify social situations and perspectives.
26. Power Cards — Brief visual strategy that uses a learner’s interests to explain social expectations and support problem solving.
27. Video Modeling — Evidence-supported strategy in which an individual watches a modeled target skill and then practices it in a real or simulated setting.

Books And Guides

28. Thinking About You, Thinking About Me by Michelle Garcia Winner — Resource for teaching perspective taking and social cognition.
29. You Are a Social Detective!  by Pamela Crooke and Michelle Garcia Winner — Child-friendly guide to observing social clues and making informed social guesses.
30. Superflex: A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum — Series of child-friendly materials targeting flexible thinking and self-regulation.
31. The New Social Story Book by Carol Gray — Collection of examples and guidance for creating individualized Social Stories.
32. The Social Skills Guidebook by Chris MacLeod, M.S.W. — Practical guide for teens and adults on conversation, confidence, friendships, and navigating common social situations.
33. Social Skills Activities for Special Children by Darlene Mannix — Ready-to-use activities addressing communication, everyday interactions, behavior, and friendship skills.
34. The Conversation Train by Joel Shaul — Visual and concrete resource for learning conversational reciprocity, topic maintenance, and repair strategies.
35. The Asperger Love Guide by Michael John Carley — Relationship and dating resource for autistic adults and people with social-communication differences.
36. The Science of Making Friends by Elizabeth Laugeson, Psy.D. — Parent guide based on PEERS® principles for supporting adolescents’ friendships and social competence.
37. Growing Friendships by Eileen Kennedy-Moore, Ph.D. — Family-friendly strategies to help children navigate friendship development and challenges.
38. What Does It Mean to Be Present? by Rana DiOrio — Child-friendly resource that can support attention to social interactions and awareness of the moment.

Therapy And Practical Tools

39. Individual speech-language therapy — A speech-language pathologist can assess and treat conversation, perspective taking, language interpretation, nonverbal communication, narrative, problem solving, and self-advocacy.
40. Small social-communication groups — Structured groups allow people to learn, practice, receive feedback, and generalize skills with peers; group interventions are included among social-communication approaches.
41. Peer-mediated intervention — Teaches peers to create supportive, meaningful opportunities for conversation, play, collaboration, and inclusion.
42. Role-play and rehearsal — Practice real-life scenarios such as joining a group, making a request, repairing a misunderstanding, declining an invitation, or asking for clarification.
43. Conversation maps — Visual tools showing how to start a topic, make a related comment or question, recognize a topic shift, and end a conversation respectfully.
44. Visual supports — Use visual schedules, “my turn/your turn” cues, emotion scales, written scripts, checklists, and topic-choice cards; visual cues can clarify expectations and conversational roles.
45. Video self-modeling — Record and review the individual successfully using a social or pragmatic target skill, then practice the skill in natural settings.
46. Social narratives — Short, individualized narratives that explain the setting, social expectations, choices, and possible responses without requiring masking or scripted “normal” behavior.
47. Comic-strip mapping — Draw or map a social situation to distinguish what was said, what may have been meant, emotions, choices, and likely outcomes.
48. Interest-based groups — Clubs, gaming groups, art classes, robotics teams, volunteering, theater, and sports can create more natural social connection because interaction centers on a shared interest.
49. Peer buddy or mentoring programs — A trained peer can provide welcoming, low-pressure opportunities to practice participation, collaboration, and repair strategies.
50. Self-advocacy scripts — Prepare brief phrases such as: “Could you say that more directly?” “I need a few seconds to think,” or “I missed the joke—can you explain it?” These improve access without requiring a person to hide their communication style.

Organizations And Community Supports

51. Autism Society of America — National network with affiliates that may offer social events, support groups, community activities, and resource navigation.
52. Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) — Autistic-led disability-rights organization with accessible resources and affiliate groups.
53. GRASP — Autistic-led organization offering resources, information/referral support, and virtual groups for autistic adults and communities.
54. The Arc — National network serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; local chapters may offer advocacy, peer activities, and family support.
55. National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) — Information for educators and families on special-education topics, including communication and social skills.
56. Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) — Professional resources, trainings, and special-education community connections for educators and families.
57. Parent Training and Information Centers — Every state has a federally funded Parent Center that can help families understand evaluations, IEPs, Section 504 plans, services, and dispute-resolution options.
58. Psychology Today Support Group Directory — Search by city for therapist-led social-skills groups, social-anxiety groups, neurodivergent groups, or caregiver support groups.
59. Local recreation and adaptive-inclusion programs — Municipal recreation departments, YMCAs, libraries, and community centers may offer structured clubs and inclusive programming that create lower-pressure social practice.
60. Public-library teen and adult programs — Book clubs, game nights, maker spaces, hobby groups, volunteering, and interest-based events can support authentic participation without making “social skills” the sole focus.

North Texas Options

61. UT Dallas Callier Center: Young Adult Social Communication Group — Weekly SLP-led group for ages 18–30 addressing conversation, problem-solving, nonverbal communication, indirect language, and success in college or work.  New participants complete an intake to determine fit; check current dates, costs, and availability directly with the program.
62. UT Dallas Callier Center: Social Workshop — Weekly young-adult group with peer partners that supports using previously learned social-communication skills in college, work, and home settings.
63. The Social Communication Connection — Dallas-area speech-language provider offering evaluation and therapy for young children with speech-language, social communication, social skills, and joint-play needs.
64. The Parish School Carruth Center Social Learning Groups — Structured, age- and skill-matched Social Thinking groups for children ages 4–19; confirm enrollment, eligibility, and current availability.
65. Dallas IDA and school/community workshops — Although primarily literacy-focused, local learning-difference organizations can be useful when pragmatic-language needs coexist with dyslexia, ADHD, or executive-function challenges.

Choosing Effective Support

Choose goals that improve access, connection, autonomy, and communication repair, rather than asking a person to imitate neurotypical social behavior or suppress natural communication differences.  Effective targets are concrete and relevant: asking a clarifying question, recognizing when a listener is confused, joining a shared-interest activity, explaining a need, managing a topic change, or recovering after a misunderstanding.  ASHA describes social-communication intervention as including story-based teaching, scripts, social groups, and other methods that promote peer interaction.

Use a strengths-based approach: identify the person’s preferred communication style, sensory needs, cultural and linguistic background, interests, and goals.  Practice in real contexts with willing peers, explicitly teach the “hidden rules” only when they are useful, and treat direct communication and self-advocacy as valid social skills.