{"id":103,"date":"2024-06-05T08:55:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T08:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/tass\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:04:53","slug":"the-talkabout-hierarchy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/the-talkabout-hierarchy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Talkabout hierarchy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-base-element-background-color has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-left is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-54d22900 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"><nav style=\"--separator: &quot;\/&quot;\" class=\"wp-block-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumbs\"><ol><li><a href=\"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/\">Home<\/a><\/li><li><span aria-current=\"page\">The Talkabout hierarchy<\/span><\/li><\/ol><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n<h1 class=\"has-text-align-left alignwide wp-block-post-title has-large-font-size\">The Talkabout hierarchy<\/h1>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns alignwide is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-7387b849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:60%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talkabout was first developed in the early 1990s when Alex Kelly was working as a speech and language therapist in London, UK. &nbsp;Over a period of four years, she assessed the effectiveness of her social skills interventions and discovered that success of intervention increased if self-awareness was taught first, and then nonverbal behaviours were taught prior to verbal behaviours, and assertiveness was taught last (Kelly, 1996).&nbsp; This original hierarchy then formed the basis of the first Talkabout book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the following years, she became interested in the impact that self-esteem has on social skills and then also the relationship between social skills and friendship skills, and the hierarchy was updated in 2000 to include these two additional areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:40%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#c8f6ec;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading alignwide\"><em>The hierarchy of social skills&nbsp; <\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Original (1996) and updated in 2000 to include self-esteem and friendship skills<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Talkabout hierarchy therefore has been developed and extended over the years to reflect increasing knowledge and understanding of the link between self-awareness, self-esteem and social skills, as well as the introduction of friendship skills into the hierarchy. Self-esteem, in particular, is linked to social skills. Firstly, social skills difficulties or differences can be caused by many factors, such as a diagnosis, or social background, but can also be caused by \u2018heightened emotions, other people\u2019s behaviour, not knowing the rules, previous experience, a lack of information, illness\u2026 and a lack of self-confidence or <em>low self-esteem<\/em>\u2019 (Kelly, 2019). If a person has low self-esteem, then it is likely that their social skills will be impacted at some level; and increasing self-esteem can therefore have a positive impact on social communication. Secondly, self-esteem can have a direct impact on our ability to have successful and meaningful relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>&nbsp;\u2018I feel very lucky to work in a school where our pupils get the opportunity to utilise Talkabout resources and to see the benefit that this has made to them and their peers. You are making a difference!\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<cite><em>\u2013 Nicole Thomas, Teacher, 2017<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Talkabout was first developed in the early 1990s when Alex Kelly was working as a speech and language therapist in London, UK. &nbsp;Over a period of four years, she assessed the effectiveness of her social skills interventions and discovered that success of intervention increased if self-awareness was taught first, and then nonverbal behaviours were taught [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"no-title","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-103","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":762,"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/103\/revisions\/762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/routledgelearning.com\/tass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}