Social Skills Assessment and Intervention with Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Children who persistently exhibit social skills deficits experience both short and long-term negative consequences, and these negative consequences may often be precursors of more severe problems later in life. If untreated, researchers have indicated that social skills deficits in early childhood are relatively stable over time, related to poor academic performance and may be predictive of social adjustment problems and serious psychopathology in adolescence. Procedures for linking assessment and classification of social skills problems to treatments are briefly reviewed. A number of procedures have been identified as effective methods for treating social skills deficits. The myriad of procedures can be classified into three categories: (1) operant conditioning, (2) social learning, and (3) cognitive-behavioral procedures. In practice, behavioral rehearsal is often incorporated into treatments and most of the effective social skills interventions are combined procedures rather than a single technique. Guidelines for implementing major treatment components are discussed and an overall implementation plan is presented.

A contextual approach to the assessment of social skills: Identifying meaningful behaviors for social competence

“…Teacher nominations and rankings comprise an additional evaluative assessment of a child's social skills (Elliott & Busse, 1991;Foster, Inderbitzen, & Nangle, 1993;Sheridan & Walker, 1999). Using this technique, teachers are asked to provide a list of students who demonstrate a specifi c behavioral characteristic to the greatest or least extent in comparison to classmates (e.g., "is the most cooperative" or "is the most disruptive").…”

“…Self-report provides information about a child's subjective perceptions of his or her own social competence (Elliott & Busse, 1991;Foster et al, 1993;Merrell & Gimpel, 1998;Sheridan & Walker, 1999). This technique requires that a child report thoughts and opinions about his or her social behaviors and relationships.…”

“…Direct behavioral observation is another method of assessing a child's social skills (Elliott & Busse, 1991;Foster et al, 1993;Merrell & Gimpel, 1998;Sheridan & Walker, 1999). Using an observational coding system that defi nes specifi c categories of behavior, observers can record the behavior of a child over a period of time.…”

“…Although many practitioners and researchers advocate for a multimodal approach to social skills assessment (i.e., the incorporation of various methods, sources, and settings into the assessment process; Carey & Stoner, 1994;Elliott & Busse, 1991;Gresham, 1995;Maag, 1989;Sheridan & Walker, 1999;Walker, Irvin, Noell, & Singer, 1992), this assessment approach is rarely used (Maag, 1989;. In keeping with a contextual framework for understanding social skills, not only must the behaviors and perspectives of an individual child be examined, but the social responses and expectations of the environments in which that child interacts also must be accounted for (Haring, 1992;Sheridan & Walker, 1999).…”

Efektivitas Pembelajaran Kooperatif (Cooperative Learning) Untuk Meningkatkan Keterampilan Sosial Pada Siswa Taman Kanak-Kanak

“…Keterampilan sosial merupakan proses pembelajaran perilaku sosial yang memungkinkan seseorang untuk berinteraksi dengan orang lain dengan cara memberikan respon positif dan menghindari respon negatif (Elliot & Busse, 1991). Keterampilan ini dibutuhkan setiap orang untuk dapat diterima oleh lingkungannya.…”