What are some reinforcing consequences you can deliver either immediately following the desired behavior or following a practice session– things that this particular student enjoys, wants, seeks out, etc.?
For example, if a student is designing a visual organizer of his network and enjoys sharing his completed tasks, provide him the opportunity to present his network to you and his peers. This same consequence would not be appropriate for a student who wishes to keep his work to himself or is embarrassed about having a “smaller network” than the student who is “showing off” his connections.
Are you using labeling and social praise to make the contingency between desired behavior and reinforcing consequence clear to the student?
As the student identifies people in his network, crafts parts of an email, or performs phone-based or face-to-face role-plays, be sure to clearly identify what the student does appropriately. This may be through verbal praise (e.g. “Great job, she is a friend of your mom’s and this is a good contact to include”) or through a more structured checklist or organizer. A checklist in this case may include a list of the expected social communication behaviors that you hope to observe in role-plays. As you observe the student’s performance, check off items and then present those to the student upon completion of performance.
What reinforcing consequences can you arrange that are more naturally or intrinsically connected to this targeted behavior?