Field tests on an interpersonal skills instructional program, the Heartsmart Adventures, were conducted for the formative and summative evaluation in 14 classrooms in 7 schools of 394 students in grade 4 classes. The results indicate that the Heartsmart program is likely to provide an appealing, educationally relevant and worthwhile experience to…

Over the past 15 years a number of studies and official statements have considered characteristics and competencies of effective middle/junior high school teachers. Thirty-eight items found to be present in several studies were used to form a questionnaire, sent to 500 members of the National Middle School Association, about the importance of…

Definitions of social skills and conceptualizations of social skill deficiencies are presented, along with an overview of social skills assessment, articles on the assessment of social skills with handicapped and nonhandicapped children, and a variety of social skills assessment instruments. Discussed are the following five methods of assessing…

The guide describes a summer inservice program designed to help professionals involved with autistic or autistic-like students. The first section describes the training approach, and the Special Study Institute, which included a camp experience for children with autism. (Sample agendas for the 2 week sessions are included.) Planning and…

Two modes of assessment (an interview and a drawing task) were applied to investigate first, third, and fifth graders' understanding of their own feelings and their understanding of the feelings of others, specifically those of their parents. In the interview session, each subject was asked first a set of questions about happy feelings and then…

Although the importance of social skill to interactions with others has long been recognized for clinical individuals, such skills are also of benefit to non-clinical populations. To investigate the potential relationships between social skill and interpersonal conflict resolution tactics, 287 college students (140 males and 147 females) completed…

It has become increasingly evident that juveniles are the perpetrators of a substantial nunber of sexual assaults. Programs designed to treat these adolescent perpetrators usually have similar goals. They attempt to reduce the youth's risk of recidivism by helping him to recognize his problem, take responsibility for his actions, learn how to…

The concept of school discipline, based on controlling inevitable student misbehavior, has been replaced with "classroom management," which stresses methods of facilitating positive student behavior and achievement. This book attempts to provide teachers, counselors, administrators, and special educators with a comprehensive, practical description…

Increasing numbers of capable learning disabled students are attempting to make the difficult transition from high school to postsecondary programming. A comprehensive approach to better serve the college-bound learning disabled high school student includes early transition planning, instructional programming, social skills intervention, and…

Data from studies of social entry and social rejection among preschool children were used in this discussion of the systematic use of videotaped records to answer questions about preschool children and the appropriate kind of analysis to employ with the social exchanges recorded. Collected materials were organized in a text-oriented relational…

Friendships of early adolescence are generally accepted as having special significance for psychological development. This study was conducted to examine the sources of conflict between friends during early adolescence; to assess the social-cognitive developmental level of early adolescents; and to explore the relationships among sources of…

Research has clearly shown a persistent and significant relationship between self-concept and academic achievement. A child's self-concept affects not only academic achievement and school performance, but personal and social adjustment and career development as well. Parent attitudes in the family environment, teacher attitudes in the school…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the private speech of 40 kindergarten children involved in a problem-solving task differed according to gender, socioeconomic status, sociability, and academic ability. The introductory chapter provides a brief summary of the theoretical views of Piaget and Vygotsky concerning private speech.…

To determine teachers' reasons for implementing cooperative learning, a study involving classroom observation, teacher interviews, and the use of the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SCQ) was undertaken. Subjects included eight elementary school teachers and seven secondary school teachers. Each teacher's class contained about 30 students. The…

Over an 8-month period, a preschool teacher's aide designed and implemented a practicum study intended to improve the social skills of preschoolers in a private day care center. Lesson plans for teaching seven social skills through problem solving were created. Skills were related to entering and exiting activities without disrupting them;…