It is widely believed that children's social-emotional growth and academic learning are inextricably connected. Pressured by high-stakes assessments, however, school professionals find it difficult to devote adequate time to children's social/behavioral development. As a response, we developed and piloted Social-Emotional Learning Foundations…

Eight first-grade students with either internalizing or externalizing behavioral risk factors participated in a supplemental reading intervention for 30 min per day. The intervention package consisted of three main components: instruction in word recognition, fluency, and appropriate behavior. A multiple-baseline design was employed to assess…

A social skills training package including modeling, behavior rehearsal, feedback, and contingent reinforcement on the interpersonal responses of three depressed youth produced changes in specific responses associated with the introduction of treatment in those areas. Natural environment assessments revealed that performance gains generalized to…

Didactic instruction and role play training appeared to produce generalized increases in vocationally oriented social skills for four emotionally disturbed adolescents in a residential program. (CL)

Selected procedures of instruction from Social Skills in the Classroom were applied to class related social behaviors of four elementary and intermediate level behavior disordered students. Improvement occurred in all targeted behaviors. Functional relationships between teaching strategies and changes in the targeted behavior were established in…

The article reviews the literature on three major social learning constructs advanced to explain the etiology of reactive depression in children and adolescents: learned helplessness, social skill deficits, and coercive reinforcement patterns. Implications for classroom management are noted. (CL)

The article presents a historical overview of social interaction research focusing on handicapped children which was conducted at George Peabody College (Vanderbilt University). Topics discussed include defining reciprocal interaction, refining the definition of social interaction, research on generalization, and social integration with…

The article discusses Developmental Therapy--an approach to working with emotionally disturbed and autistic young children that is based upon developmental constructs--and presents the results of several studies testing its effectiveness. (Author/DLS)

In two studies, 18 middle school boys with serious emotional disturbances (SED) were taught to use a social skills curriculum to teach more positive peer interactions to peers with SED. Results indicate the desired effects of the peer-based social skills instruction, with some evidence of behavior maintenance and transfer. (Contains references.)…

With two autistic boys as subjects, a teacher prompt and praise procedure was applied sequentially across dyads composed of a subject and a nonhandicapped peer (n=8, aged 11-12). Following social interaction training with several nonhandicapped peers, one subject showed across-peer and across-setting generalization, while the second subject did…

In the context of a response to other articles contained in a special issue on social interaction skills of handicapped students, trends in developing social interaction skills of behavior disordered students are discussed, including current training issues and procedures as well as suggestions for future research and program development. (JW)

A study involving elementary students with (n=336) and without (n=548) emotional disturbance (ED) found students with ED exceeded controls on the five ED characteristics stated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which are inability to learn, relationship problems, inappropriate behavior, unhappiness or depression, and physical…

Four preschool children who exhibited aggressive methods for resolving social interaction conflicts were taught a problem-solving strategy. Results found that acquisition of the problem-solving strategy influenced the types of alternative solutions the children provided to social interaction conflicts. Students produced more prosocial resolutions…

The concept of entrapment, viewed as a conceptual framework for social interaction skills training, is a behavioral process whereby newly acquired social responses come under the control of naturally occurring reinforcers, usually the social behavior of peers. Selection of target behaviors and intervention procedures to promote entrapment are…

In this discussion of quantitative research synthesis, past criticisms of meta-analysis are reviewed along with the ways they have been addressed. Objections to single-subject synthesis methods are discussed, along with the advantages of using the percentage-of- nonoverlapping-data metric. The article concludes by questioning the veracity of…