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Comprehensive Social Skills Services for Adults
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Communication
Social Skills
Adult social skills, or “social-communication” encompasses four interconnected domains: social interaction, social cognition, pragmatics, and language processing.
The primary goal of social communication services is to initiate, maintain and manage social relationships (i.e., conflict resolution with people at school/work; making new friends; dating successfully; getting along with family).
Adult social skills* include four linked domains: social interaction, social cognition, pragmatics, and conversation processing. We use responsive practice that respects individual differences. The aim is effective communication that serves your goals and fits your daily contexts.
Social interaction covers the rules for starting conversations, sharing turns, and ending exchanges gracefully. Social cognition covers perspective-taking and understanding what others know or feel. Pragmatics covers how you match your verbal and nonverbal signals to the situation and your purpose. Conversation processing covers understanding what you hear and expressing your thoughts clearly in the moment.
We focus on function, not labels. We target smoother meetings, clearer updates, and easier group participation. Strategies are aligned to your specific settings and identity.
*In professional literature, this area is often called “social communication.” We use “social skills” because it better captures what we actually work on—the practical abilities you use every day to connect with others.
There is no single prevalence number because needs appear across many different groups and situations. Some people never fully developed certain social patterns. Others find that life changes—such as new work environments, remote work transitions, or increased social demands—reveal gaps that weren’t obvious before.
We track impact rather than labels. We look at misunderstandings per week, energy cost per meeting, and confidence when joining or leaving groups. Strengths matter too—many people have excellent one-on-one conversational skills or strong analytical abilities even when groups feel overwhelming.
Signs vary by person, but common patterns include trouble adapting your tone to different contexts and missing indirect hints. Small talk may feel pointless or anxiety-provoking. Your answers may come out very brief or run much longer than the situation calls for. Groups can be hard to enter. Sharing airtime can feel awkward. Interruptions can make you lose your train of thought completely.
Sarcasm and teasing can be hard to read accurately. Your stories may be engaging but run too long for the setting. Eye contact, gestures, and tone of voice may not match what you’re trying to say, leaving others confused about your intent.
Effects show up at work and at home. Updates drift off topic. Feedback lands poorly or gets misinterpreted. Bids for connection get missed entirely. Many people then start avoiding noisy restaurants, networking events, or any unstructured social situation.
The good news: these are trainable micro-skills. We start with high-value moves that make an immediate difference—entry and exit lines for conversations, headline-first updates, concise summaries, and kind repair phrases when signals cross.
There is no single cause. Social skills sit at the crossroads of neurobiology, learning history, and environment. Sometimes patterns simply weren’t established through typical development. Other times, increased demands reveal skills that were always borderline. Busy workplaces reduce time to plan what you’ll say. Different social groups create different expectations for personal space, vocal tone, and eye contact.
We remove barriers where possible. Sometimes the fix is environmental rather than individual. Clear meeting agendas help everyone track the topic. Agreed signals in meetings reduce confusion. Written follow-ups protect against memory gaps. The goal is less friction and more clarity, using whatever combination of personal skill-building and environmental adjustment works best.
Social skills are how people connect and cooperate with others through both verbal and nonverbal signals. Assessment uses norms that fit a person’s actual environments, not a single rigid standard. The goal is communication that supports your values and meets your daily demands. The four domains below summarize the framework and guide training.
Definition: Communication between at least two people. Rules differ by setting and social context.
Common variations with examples:
Speech style and context change constantly. You use a casual tone with peers but give a concise brief in a stand-up meeting. Different groups have different norms—one team expects direct feedback; another relies on indirect hints. Gender patterns differ, with some groups using overlapping speech as engagement and others seeing it as interruption. Power relationships matter—you defer to a supervisor but mentor a junior colleague. Linguistic politeness has rules, like using softeners such as “might we consider…” Nonverbal patterns include proximity, posture, and vocal tone.
Abilities that support interaction:
Attachment and attunement help you notice safety cues in a partner’s face. Emotion regulation lets you pause before answering under pressure. Code-switching means changing your communication register for different contexts—a client meeting versus lunch with friends. Social reasoning helps you choose when to ask versus tell. Peer social competence covers sharing airtime in groups without dominating or disappearing. Social tasks include joining ongoing conversations and cooperative planning. Conflict resolution means naming the issue clearly and proposing a next step.
Definition: Using knowledge about your own and others’ mental states to plan, guide, and flexibly respond in conversation.
Key abilities with examples:
Theory of mind is recognizing that a teammate may not share your context or background knowledge. Perspective-taking means adjusting detail level for a non-technical listener. Linking emotions to self and others helps you notice frustration in the room and slow your pace. Executive functions include planning what you’ll say, prioritizing points, monitoring how it’s landing, and shifting when needed. Memory systems support recall—many people use notes to track key points in meetings. Joint attention means pointing to a chart and checking for the nod that shows shared focus. Inference helps you read a pause as hesitation, then offer clarification. Presupposition involves providing background information the listener lacks.
Note: theory of mind is a complex construct. Full coverage is outside the scope of this page.
Definition: Goal-consistent verbal use in context.
Core elements with examples:
Speech acts include requests, promises, or clarifications. Communicative intentions guide how you ask a question—to genuinely invite input or to make a rhetorical point. Perlocutionary, illocutionary, and locutionary levels describe what you intend, how you phrase it, and how it actually lands with the listener. Prosody includes using a rising tone for a question and a calm pace when delivering bad news.
Grice’s maxims guide cooperative conversation:
• Quantity: give the right amount of detail—not too much, not too little
• Quality: base statements on what you actually know
• Relation: stay relevant to the task at hand
• Manner: be clear, orderly, and reasonably brief
Discourse skills cover topic shifts, cohesion across sentences, and repair when misunderstandings happen. Deixis involves words like “here,” “there,” “this,” and “that” with shared reference. Adjacency and contingency mean answering the question that was asked and carrying the conversational thread forward. Co-construction happens when you build a shared memory of an event with another person.
Definition: Nonverbal signals that support or change meaning.
Elements with examples:
Body language includes open posture that signals availability versus crossed arms that suggest disengagement. Gesture helps you point to a chart or show size with your hands. Facial expression matters—softening your brow before disagreeing reduces defensiveness. Eye contact and gaze shifts signal turn-taking; looking up can invite others to speak. Proxemics means choosing interpersonal distance that fits the setting and relationship. Deictic gestures include pointing or reaching to anchor reference. Symbolic gestures include waving hello or nodding thanks. Behavior serves as communication—leaving a noisy room signals overload without needing words.
Definition: Understanding what you hear (receptive) and expressing your thoughts clearly in conversation (expressive).
Components with examples:
Word forms matter for clarity—understanding tense and number distinctions (walk/walked, cat/cats). Word order affects meaning—”The dog bit the man” means something different than “The man bit the dog.” Vocabulary selection means matching your word choice to your audience—technical terms with colleagues, plain terms with clients. Expression and comprehension work together in clear spoken updates and accurate understanding of what others say.
Training follows the same four domains and uses real contexts from your life.
Social interaction examples: practicing entry and exit lines, turn-taking drills, joining groups with a clear header sentence that orients listeners.
Social understanding examples: perspective-swapping exercises, clarifying what the other person knows versus assumes, using plan-monitor-adjust loops during conversations.
Pragmatics (verbal) examples: headline-proof-ask update structure, practicing different question forms, learning brief repair lines like “Let me restate that.”
Pragmatics (nonverbal) examples: practicing gaze shifts in meetings, using gesture to anchor key points, resetting posture to signal engagement.
Conversation processing examples: strategies for tracking key points in discussions, organizing thoughts before speaking, practicing concise spoken summaries.
Measures are simple and functional. We count how many times you need to repeat yourself per meeting. You rate ease on a 1–5 scale. We note time saved in updates or presentations. Progress is functional and specific to your goals.
We assess your strengths and needs in realistic scenarios. We explain why communication patterns happen, using plain terms instead of jargon. We model options you can try immediately. We practice together with feedback until skills feel natural. Communication partners or coworkers can join sessions when it’s useful. We track what actually matters to you—fewer misunderstandings, faster repair when things go sideways, better conversations, and meaningful connection.
Our role mixes teaching and coaching. We give you tools, not rigid rules. You choose what fits your goals and identity. We aim for skills that transfer to real life and survive the pressure of bad days.
We start by asking about your high-value contexts and the problems you currently face. You may complete questionnaires to help us understand patterns. However, after these initial discussions, assessment for social skills is different than in other areas—it looks like treatment.
We use a method called Informal Dynamic Assessment, which blends observation with real-time teaching to see how you learn and adapt. Rather than just scoring what you can do right now, we watch what happens when we model a new strategy, give you feedback, or adjust the context.
This approach reveals your learning potential, not just your current performance. We might observe you struggle to enter a group conversation, then immediately teach an entry phrase and watch you try it. How quickly do you pick it up? Can you adapt it to a different group? What kind of feedback helps most?
We’re looking for modifiability—how responsive you are to coaching in the moment. This tells us far more about what will work in treatment than any static test score. We learn what scaffolding you need, what clicks quickly, and where practice will pay off fastest.
The result is an assessment that’s already therapeutic. You leave with strategies you’ve actually tried, not just a list of deficits. And we leave knowing exactly how to structure your sessions for maximum progress.
We don’t just tell you what to do. We don’t want you to be a social robot. Instead, we try strategies and discuss frameworks together, adjust in real time based on what’s working, and continuously measure how you’re doing.
If something feels awkward, we modify it on the spot. If a strategy clicks immediately, we build on it right away. Treatment becomes a series of collaborative, tiny experiments where your feedback shapes every session.
The ILAUGH Model
The ILAUGH model provides one framework for organizing our work across six key areas. Each letter represents a domain where social skills challenges commonly appear:
I — Initiation of Communication
This covers starting interactions appropriately for the context. We practice context-specific opening lines. A greeting that works at a networking event differs from one that works in a team meeting. We work on reading social availability cues—is this person open to conversation right now? We develop your repertoire of openers so you have options, not scripts you repeat robotically. Informal Dynamic Assessment means we practice an opener, you try it in a real situation, then we debrief what happened and adjust.
L — Listening with Eyes and Brain
This addresses taking in nonverbal information and making inferences. What does that crossed-arm posture mean? Is that pause confusion or disagreement? We break down observable cues and teach systematic scanning—where to look and what to track. Rather than vague advice like “pay attention,” we identify specific signals relevant to your contexts. We practice observing, then immediately checking your interpretation. Did you read that correctly? What else could it mean? Dynamic assessment reveals which cues you pick up naturally and which need explicit teaching.
A — Abstract and Inferential Communication
Social communication is full of implied meaning. “We should grab coffee sometime” might be genuine interest or polite dismissal. “That’s an interesting choice” could be sincere or critical. We teach concrete strategies for handling ambiguity—clarifying questions you can ask, contextual factors to consider, ways to test your interpretation before acting. We use real examples from your life. You bring in a confusing interaction, we analyze it together, identify the inferential demand, and build a strategy for similar situations. Dynamic assessment shows us how quickly you can apply inference strategies to new examples.
U — Understanding Perspective
This is theory of mind work made practical. Does your listener know what you’re referring to? Do they share your background knowledge? Are they following your logic? We build habits of perspective-checking. Before launching into an explanation, pause and assess: what does this person already know? We practice adjusting detail level on the fly based on listener cues. We use role reversal—you play the confused listener so you can feel what it’s like to miss context. Dynamic assessment means trying a perspective check in session, seeing what happens, and refining your approach immediately.
G — Gestalt Processing (Getting the Big Picture)
Some people get lost in details and miss the main point. Others grasp big ideas but can’t track the steps. We work on both directions—zooming out to see the gist and zooming in to catch important specifics. In meetings, can you summarize the core decision in one sentence? When giving updates, can you lead with your headline before diving into details? We practice chunking information, identifying what matters most, and organizing thoughts before speaking. Dynamic assessment reveals your natural processing style and shows us which direction needs more support.
H — Humor and Human Relatedness
Humor is high-level social communication. It requires timing, shared context, reading the room, and understanding what’s appropriate for the relationship. We don’t teach joke-telling—we teach the mechanics underneath. When is teasing okay? How do you signal you’re joking? What does it mean when others laugh at something that doesn’t seem funny to you? We also address broader relatedness—how to show interest in others, how to reciprocate personal sharing, how to maintain connection over time. Dynamic assessment means trying a strategy for building rapport, seeing how it lands, and adjusting your approach in real time.
How Dynamic Assessment Shapes Each Session
Every session includes a cycle: try something new, get immediate feedback, adjust, try again. You’re not practicing in isolation and hoping it transfers. We simulate your actual environments, test strategies under realistic conditions, and problem-solve obstacles as they arise.
If you’re working on meeting participation, we don’t just talk about it—we role-play your actual meetings. You practice your entry line, I respond as a colleague would, and we pause to analyze. Did that feel natural? Did it achieve your goal? What would you change? Then you try the modified version immediately.
This approach reveals learning patterns we couldn’t see otherwise. Maybe you grasp strategies quickly but struggle to adapt them to new contexts—that tells us we need more varied practice. Maybe you need strategies repeated several times before they stick—that tells us to build in more repetition and review. Maybe you learn best by seeing failure first—that tells us to show what not to do before showing what works.
Progress happens faster because we’re not guessing what might work. We’re testing, measuring, and adjusting continuously based on your actual performance and your feedback about what feels sustainable.
1-on-1 Personalized support
Therapy, Coaching, or Training
Therapist, Coach, Trainer? It doesn’t matter what you call us. We’re here to support you in improving your communication skills.
At WELL SAID, we understand that the journey to effective communication is unique for everyone. Whether you refer to our services as therapy, coaching, or training, what truly counts is the personalized support we offer. Our aim is to help you improve in communication and other areas—adapting our approach to suit your specific needs and goals.
Commonly Treated Goals
Our clients work on practical, measurable goals that reduce daily friction and build confidence. These aren’t theoretical exercises—they’re the specific skills that make meetings less exhausting, conversations more natural, and social situations less draining. We identify what’s costing you the most energy right now and start there.
Grice’s Maxims
Learn to structure updates using the four cooperative principles: give the right amount of detail (quantity), base statements on what you know (quality), stay relevant to the task (relation), and be clear and orderly (manner). This framework prevents rambling and reduces repetition.
In Power Relationships
Practice adjusting your communication style based on hierarchy and relationship dynamics. Learn when to defer versus when to assert, how to navigate feedback with supervisors, and how to mentor junior colleagues effectively. Develop flexibility to shift between different power contexts.
Gender Communication Differences
Build awareness of different conversational styles and expectations across gender groups. Practice recognizing when overlapping speech signals engagement versus interruption. Learn to navigate mixed communication norms without losing your authentic voice.
Code-switching
Develop the ability to shift your communication register across different contexts—formal presentations, team meetings, client interactions, and social gatherings. Build a flexible repertoire rather than one-size-fits-all approaches. Practice reading contexts to match expectations without losing yourself.
Elevate Your Communication
Discover our tailored coaching/therapy services designed to enhance your social skills (also called social communication).
Learn the Frameworks
Understand how you are communicating now, and how it could be improved using evidence-based concepts and frameworks
Practice with Feedback
Practice a new way of doing it with professional guidance, 1-on-1, tailored to your learning style, context and needs.
Optimize and Refine
Achieve your goal through step-by-step generalization and supported accountability in a safe space.
Our Distinctive Approach to Social Skills
At Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, we have the experience and dedication to help you achieve measurable results and improved social communication that you can use in your real life. Using an evidenced-based and adult-centric approach, we will work with you, using the latest research to achieve your social interaction goals.
Our services are covered by most workplace and education insurance plans. Try our “Is Social Communication Work for Me?” self-reflection tool below to discover how you might benefit.
Experienced Guidance
Our skilled therapists provide tailored programs to address your unique speech and communication needs, ensuring effective and meaningful progress.
Holistic Techniques
We integrate a variety of techniques for a comprehensive approach, focusing not only on speech but also on building confidence and reducing anxiety.
Empowered Clients
We believe in empowering our clients through knowledge and skills, fostering independence in their communication journey.
Is Social Skills work for me?
Are you unsure if voice work is right for you? Try our new self-assessment tool by clicking on the box below. A redirect will open to a page with a series of questions. Complete the questions and get a PDF report organizing and visualizing your needs. This report is perfect for clarifying what you need and what your goals are.