Abstract
The purpose of this project was to illustrate the necessity of having appropriate social skills and develop a curriculum for teaching social skills to clients with dual diagnoses of a developmental disorder and a chronic psychiatric disorder. There are many programs offered to the dual diagnosed, but most do not have structured curricula geared toward teaching or remediating social skills. A customized nine-lesson curriculum was created with lessons focusing on the most problematic social skills and behaviors demonstrated by dual diagnosed clients of TSS. The social skills included in the curriculum are handling criticism, negotiating, differing with others, conforming to social norms, conflict management, responding on topic, maintaining personal appearance and good hygiene, and expressing discontent.