There is a large body of literature suggesting that students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) lack appropriate social skills, including deficits in building and maintaining interpersonal relationships, prosocial behaviors (e.g., sharing, helping, cooperation), and self-management strategies. While the literature shows small to modest…

The project described in this report explored the effectiveness of a collaborative effort of parents and school personnel in the training and generalization of social skills for socially deficient children. Five students (aged 8-11), classified as behaviorally handicapped or learning disabled, served as subjects and were grouped with…

This study demonstrated that 4 students (ages 6-12) with mental retardation or behavior disorders learned to treat abrasions, as indicated by pretest-posttest generalization probes conducted using nontrained injuries on the participants and another person. Skill acquisition data were roughly equivalent across two training programs (social modeling…

A brief training manual was developed to teach child-care workers to contingency contract with delinquent youths living in residential care facilities. Results from analogue training simulations and generalization tests indicated that workers became more proficient in contract negotiation and writing behaviors and were able to apply the skills.…

Teaching social skills to students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) has become an accepted practice. Literally hundreds of social skills training (SST) efficacy studies for students with EBD appear in the literature. As a result, many authors have published both narrative and meta-analytic reviews of the literature. Reviews have…

Twenty-one articles employing peer-mediated interventions to promote social skills of children and adolescents with behavioral disorders were analyzed on their experimental, procedural, and generalization components. The review found that peer-mediated approaches produce immediate positive treatment effects and have contributed to the…

Reviews past and present conceptualizations and summarized narrative and meta-analytic reviews of social skills training (SST) outcome studies. Overall, modest effect sizes are reported in the meta-analytic literature, suggesting that SST is a relatively weak intervention strategy. Recommendations for rebuilding SST are provided. (Author/CR)

Traces the evolution of the social competence concept from the 1970s to the present, and addresses matching social skills training to social skills deficits, understanding contextual issues in social skills training, generalization of social skills training, and developing and using meaningful outcome measures in social skills training. (Author/CR)

The effects of social skill training on social behavior was assessed, using a structured learning model with 3 children with behavioral disorders, ages 7-14. Results showed an increase in frequency for most skill areas, an inverse relationship across negative behaviors, maintenance over time, and moderate levels of generalization to nontreatment…

This study summarized two treatment research studies and included recidivism data for two years post discharge for group therapy. The study compared Mode deactivation Therapy (MDT), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), and Social Skills training (SST), results of the MDT series of studies and the two year post-study recidivism data. The data from the…

A study of 15 eighth graders with behavioral disorders in Quebec evaluated the effectiveness of a social and school-related skills training program in which goals were decided by the students, their teachers, and their parents. A first year pilot study assessed the effect of parent and teacher participation in the selection of skills to be learned…

This manual presents Iowa standards for special programs for students with behavioral disorders, describes interventions which appear appropriate for such students, and notes shortcomings with current practices that accentuate the need for these standards. Chapter titles and authors include: "Overview of Project" (Carl Smith and Dennis Dykstra);…