Strategies for enhancing social skills of individuals with intellectual disability: A systematic review

Abstract

Individuals with intellectual disability who suffer from comorbid mental health problems are likely to experience difficulties in socialising. Deficits in social skills are also associated with challenging behaviours and self-injury. This paper presents global evidence from a systematic review of literature on such issues as ‘interventions’; ‘social skills development’, and ‘individuals with intellectual disability’. A thorough search of various bibliographic databases identified 1 124 academic papers. Ten papers met the inclusion criteria for in-depth analysis concerning the use of interventions to develop social skills among individuals with intellectual disability. The study revealed that the social skills of individuals with intellectual disability had been fostered using different strategies, such as classroom-based intervention, emotional intelligence training, use of a peer network intervention, computer games of emotion regulation, and puppet play therapy. Furthermore, the findings suggest that various aspects like communication, bridging the gap in social skills deficits, emotional recognition and regulation, and adaptive behaviour were fostered using the identified intervention strategy. This review revealed that social skills interventions appeared modestly effective but may not be generalisable to school settings or self-reported social behaviour for individuals with intellectual disability. It is also necessary to increase the sample size in future studies to draw generalisable conclusions.

Changes in the Social Characteristics of General Classroom Communities Including Children with Mild Intellectual Disability in Three Years

“…The social acceptance of students with SEN is lower than that of their typically developing peers; however, they show more negative and less positive social interactions (Schwab et al, 2014). For these reasons, it would be important to teach social skills to children with SEN (Jacob et al, 2022;Kavale & Forness, 1996), which https://doi.org/10.52291/ijse. 2023.38.32 Changes in the Social Characteristics of General Classroom Communities ... might help develop and maintain their relationships.…”

A Systematic Literature Review of Social Media Usage among People with Intellectual Disability

“…These factors were considered to inhibit the effective adoption of social media by people with ID. Internet use can be complex for people with ID since they may have deficits in cognitive, social, and adaptive functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013;Jacob et al, 2022a;Tassé et al, 2016). A person's cognitive ability affects their ability to process words, which is an essential digital competency when using the Internet (Wu et al, 2014).…”

The inquiry of association between intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities

“…Frontiers Sports Act Living questioned whether physical activities may or may not affect people with intellectual disabilities; however, the primary outcome may change as the study progresses, as the sample size of the study was exiguous, as the authors also acknowledged [9]. A study conducted by the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research confirmed that adults with intellectual disabilities have low physical fitness levels.…”