In what contexts does the student need to appropriately enter conversations, now and in the future?
This skill is imperative in all situations starting in the school setting and extending into the future. It impacts the quality of interactions with peers, co-workers, teachers, job coaches and other adults on vocational job sites at the school. It impacts first impressions made during the application and interview process, and across many post-secondary, employment, extracurricular, social and recreational, and community-based contexts.
What are all of the steps that comprise this skill?
This skill is more complex than it may first appear. It not only involves using the appropriate verbal and non-verbal behaviors to actually join a conversation, but it also involves making decisions about whether to join a conversation or not.
Before the student approaches, he should stop and look. He should evaluate the ongoing conversation in order to determine if he should approach:
Who is in the conversation? Does the student know them? Are they close friends, versus acquaintances, versus supervisor/fellow employees, versus strangers?
Look for signs that might indicate that the conversation is personal (e.g. people huddling together, whispering, backs turned). These signs might indicate that it is not appropriate to enter the conversation.
Look for signs that might indicate that the conversation is informal and open to new people joining in (e.g. people speaking at a volume that allows others to hear their conversation, an open formation versus huddled, close formation). These signs might indicate that it is appropriate to enter the conversation.
Once the student has determined that it is appropriate to join the conversation, here is what might happen.
Physically approach the group, but maintain appropriate distance.
Face towards the speaker, establish a relaxed physical stance, maintain a pleasant expression (smiling, looking), and nod to show initial interest in what they are saying.
In some cases where the student knows the people in the group, it would be appropriate to quickly greet them, and then continue to listen to the ongoing conversation.
Wait for a pause in a conversation before offering comments or questions about the topic.
Depending on the situation, the student might need to introduce himself first.
In most cases, it would be appropriate to start by making a comment or asking a question that is relevant to the ongoing topic of conversation.
How can you break this skill down into segments (i.e. task analyze the skill) with which the student can show success quickly in independent performance? What sub-skill should you target first for the student to initiate?
This will be dependent on the abilities of the individual student. For some students it may start with priming them to understand the importance of interactions with other people and why they may need to enter a conversation at all.
For some it may have to start with rote, foundational conversational skills such as physically approaching the person, facing the person or persons, waiting for a pause, asking to join the group, making a comment and waiting for a response, etc.
For some students at a more advanced level, instruction may start with teaching the student to read the nonverbal cues of the group, and to evaluate the circumstance in total, in order to determine if and how to join. This instruction might begin with familiar people or friends and then extend out to acquaintances or coworkers, and then strangers.