The Prepare Curriculum: Teaching Prosocial Competencies

I am a school psychologist. I used this book for small group counseling with students that needed direct instruction with learning social skills, some special ed and some regular ed students. Each skill is clearly laid out, easy to teach and practice. The students I taught learned the skills. I love this book and will continue to use it.

Goldstein presents a structured, lesson-by-lesson curriculum designed for group therapy in schools. The lessons are cognitive-behavioral in orientation, and include educating the group members about the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behavior; self-monitoring and self-reinforcing; homework between sessions using structured worksheets; and social problem-solving training. Lessons take the form of didactic instruction, group discussions, and role-play. For those interested, he also provides ample references to lots of supporting research. I have used it successfully with groups of kids in grades 7-12. Good stuff for professionals working in schools and for training future professionals.

The theoretical and research background presented in this book is excellent. A clear and concise discussion of all of the relelvant research supporting Goldstein's various interventions is given. The book does all this while staying focused on the cognitive-social-skills training of youth which is its subject.I wish I had found this book prior to doing my own research in aggression and anger management. It would certainly have made the lit. review a lot easier.

My supervisor lent me this book and it has been a great help! It has practical ideas that require little or no preparation (both for individual and group work). It has been helpful with elementary through high school students. Well worth the money!