Social and Interpersonal Skills Training

8/10/2019 Social and Interpersonal Skills Training

1/5

DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATEGY

Since the 1970s, social skills training has been widely used to assist children with impaired

social competence. This strategy focuses on teaching the interpersonal skills necessary for

successful social interactions and relationships. Social skills training is designed to improve

the verbal and nonverbal behaviors related to interpersonal effectiveness and peer acceptance,

as well as others !udgment or impression. The underlying assumption behind this approach is

that social skills are learned behaviors that can be taught to children using structured teaching

methods.

"umerous social skills programs are available for children and adolescents. The specifics of

these programs differ, based on the population for which the treatment was designed #e.g.,

socially an$ious, impulsive, or oppositional children%. The basic social skills intervention

components, however, are similar and include teaching skills such as initiating and

maintaining conversations, listening to others, inviting someone to get together, assertion,

aggression control, moral reasoning, and social perspective taking. Training also focuses onteaching nonverbal skills such as making eye contact, smiling, appearing rela$ed, and limiting

fidgeting. &ithin training sessions, these skills are taught to the child and repeatedly practiced

until a criterion for skill mastery is met.

There are five core components of social skills training' #1% assessment, #(% direct instruction,

#)% modeling, #*% conducting role plays and practice, and #+% corrective feedback and

additional practice. The assessment involves understanding the factors responsible for a

childs social difficulties. t may be helpful to observe peer interactions in a natural

environment or in a role play or simulated situation. -nother common method is to obtain

teacher and parent reports of social behavior with peers in school and at home. -t the

conclusion of training, social skills and interpersonal relatedness are reassessed throughbehavioral observation and vis/vis teacher, parent, and childratings to ensure that

treatment gains have generalied to the childs social environment.

Skills training begins with direct instruction by the therapist. The child is taught the rules2 of

social interaction, as well as the importance and rationale of the behavior. 3or e$ample, when

teaching a child to initiate conversations, the therapist might review the appropriate settings

for starting conversations #e.g., when sitting ne$t to someone, standing in line in the

cafeteria%, as well as different strategies for successful initiation #e.g., smiling, commenting on

something going on in the environment%. "e$t, the therapist models the skill. This techni4ue

involves the therapist demonstrating the appropriate behavior to the child. n many instances,

family members or peers can act as helpful models. The child then roleplays the modeledskill with others and receives constructive feedback to incorporate into future interactions.

5ractice on a skill should be continued until the child demonstrates mastery across a variety of

situations. -nother particularly effective way to practice skills is through coached play,

whereby the therapist observes a child interacting with a peer and provides immediate

feedback and coaching to the child about his or her behavior. 6omework is assigned between

sessions so that the child further practices the skills in the childs natural environments.

ontingency management can be helpful for enhancing motivation for practice, maintaining

new behaviors, and generaliing learned skills. t involves the use of conse4uences to reward

appropriate, adaptive behaviors and reduce undesirable ones. This might involve, for e$ample,

ignoring a child when the child interrupts as opposed to providing praise and attention when

the child speaks in turn. n addition, a reticent child may receive a sticker and praise after


2/5

approaching a peer. ontingency management techni4ues may also assist in improving a

childs performance on individual skills through, for e$ample, providing praise for speaking

louder or increasing eye contact.

Social skills training can also involve social problem solving, which focuses on training

broadbased thought processes that apply to a range of situations. This approach guideschildren in identifying difficult situations, generating a range of possible responses, predicting

probable outcomes of each response, and then selecting the response most likely to result in a

positive outcome. 3or e$ample, children who are fre4uently bullied might identify places

where they have an increased probability of being bullied #e.g., on the playground%, derive

several potential responses #e.g., stay near a teacher during recess, assert themselves%, predict

the bullies response #e.g., less likely to tease in presence of a teacher, get beat up if they assert

themselves%, and then behave accordingly. n essence, this approach aims at teaching children

coping skills that can be used to determine the most adaptive behavior in a variety of

situations.

The various social skill components can be used alone or in combination. n guiding onesdecision about the use of specific techni4ues, it has been suggested that different skill deficits

or problem areas may demand different techni4ues. 3or e$ample, modeling and coaching may

be most useful when a child is ac4uiring a particular skill, whereas contingency management

techni4ues may assist in enhancing a childs performance #e.g., speaking louder, increasing

eye contact, pro$imity to another person%, improving motivation, or eliminating an

undesirable behavior #e.g., biting or hitting another child, interrupting others during

conversation%. ertain approaches may also work better with particular age groups. 8ole

playing is often used with older children, given their greater cognitive abilities, whereas

coaching is a large component of training with elementary aged and less mature children.

RESEARCH BASIS

Studies have evaluated various social skills programs in a wide range of populations,

including children who are depressed, an$ious, developmentally delayed, and have disruptive

behavior problems. Since the populations for which these strategies are used can be very

impaired, skills training is often one component in a multifaceted treatment plan. verall,

social skill training interventions are viewed as effective shortterm interventions for

enhancing childrens social deficits. These interventions have demonstrated improvements on

laboratory measures relative to control conditions but have often failed to replicate such

positive effects in natural settings. n addition, few studies have documented longterm

changes in social competency as measured by teacher and peer report. 3inally, differenceshave been found in the effectiveness of this intervention as a function of child characteristics.

3or e$ample, social skills training tends to work better for preschoolers and adolescents as

compared to elementary children.

:ue to 4uestions regarding the clinical significance of research outcomes, clinical researchers

have suggested procedures to facilitate generaliation, namely generaliation facilitators.2

Some strategies include #a% training across stimuli common to the environment #e.g., at

school%, #b% rewards for engaging in the skill #e.g., stickers, movie or fastfood passes%, #c%

teaching behaviors that are likely to be maintained by naturally occurring conse4uences #e.g.,

participating in en!oyable interactions%, and #d% incorporating prosocial, popular, or outgoing

peers within the treatment approach to provide opportunities to practice ac4uired social skills

in a natural setting.


3/5


4/5

ssues within the clinical setting may also complicate treatment. t may be difficult to simulate

peer social interactions within an office setting, particularly when therapy consists of oneon

one interactions with an adult. Therapists also may not be knowledgeable about the social

norms of the childs age group. =iven this, some have suggested using schoolbased

interventions in a group format to enhance the generaliability of social skills interventions.

Such an approach also addresses the issue of not having peers of comparable age to the child,also likely to be a problem in clinicbased treatment.

CASE ILLUSTRATION

-ndrew2 was a 9yearold boy who was e$periencing significant peer re!ection. 6e

complained of having few friends, being teased fre4uently, and engaging in few social

activities. -ndrews teacher and parents corroborated this report and further noted that he had

difficulty relating socially to others. 3or e$ample, -ndrew had difficulty reading social cues

#e.g., interrupting others%, was awkward when approaching; interacting with other children,

and overly submissive #e.g., did not stand up for himself%.

=iven that the treatment goal was to improve -ndrews socialiation skills and peer

acceptance, it was important for the assessment to include multiple sources of information.

3irst, reports from -ndrews teacher suggested that he was fre4uently teased and e$hibited

more unskilled2 behaviors #e.g., interrupting others during conversation% than other same

aged children. Second, -ndrews parents rated him as having problems approaching and

socialiing with other children. Third, -ndrew reported that although he had several friends,

he was fre4uently left out of activities and rarely invited to other childrens homes. 3inally, the

therapist noted that -ndrew had difficulty reading social cues, often speaking out of turn,

making poor eye contact, and interrupting others.

Treatment initially involved coaching and practicing adaptive communication techni4ues such

as voice volume, smile, eye contact, and appropriate physical closeness. 5roficient use of

these skills was reinforced through therapist praise. The second session introduced good and

bad times and places to try to make friends. 3or e$ample, -ndrew was encouraged to

approach children on the playground but to avoid initiating conversations during class time.

3ollowing -ndrews repeated practice of these tasks within session, which involved

incorporating feedback from his therapist, a series of reallife practices was assigned. -ndrew

was instructed to approach a familiar peer and initiate a conversation. 3ollowing these

assignments, -ndrew discussed his performance with the therapist and what areas still needed

improvement.

The ne$t several sessions focused on teaching and practicing rules of eti4uette for initiating

conversations or attempting to !oin a group of children at play. 3or e$ample, -ndrew, who had

difficulty choosing an appropriate time to participate in a conversation, was instructed to wait

for a pause before commenting about the activity or environment. nitially, -ndrew was

somewhat hesitant to approach peers. To address this, a reinforcement schedule was

implemented in which his teachers provided him with a favorite candy for each attempt.

-s -ndrew became more skilled at interacting with friendly, nonaggressive peers, treatment

shifted to addressing the fre4uent teasing that he e$perienced. -lthough some children are

able to respond to teasing through humor or assertion, -ndrew generally possessed poor

conflict management skills that might motivate bullies to continue aggressing upon him. -s

such, -ndrew was taught to respond to teasing neutrally or through mild humor. To illustrate,


5/5

in response to being called a toothpick,2 -ndrew responded by saying So what>2 in a

neutral, unemotional tone of voice. Subse4uent sessions addressed methods of asserting

himself when appropriate, as well as a strategy for avoiding physical fights with bullies. Such

techni4ues include staying out of highrisk2 environments #e.g., engaging with bullies

without adult supervision%, staying near friends, and not antagoniing bullies.

Treatment was concluded with a graduation party and ceremony for -ndrew. 5ostassessment

using a combination of teacher, parent, and selfreport 4uestionnaires suggested that

-ndrews socialiation skills had improved significantly. 3or e$ample, his teacher noted that

he rarely blurted out responses during class and was engaging in other improved interpersonal

skills #e.g., playing with children%. 3urthermore, -ndrew and his teacher noted that -ndrew

was teased less fre4uently, and -ndrew stated that he had scheduled several play dates in the

immediate future. :espite these gains, however, -ndrews teacher reported that he was

relatively often e$cluded from peers games. 3ollowup assessment ) months later revealed

that although -ndrew was not universally accepted by his peers, there was no decline in

-ndrews social skills and that levels of teasing were not significantly greater than that

e$perienced by other children.

?@ric -. Storch and arrie Aasia&arner

3urther 8eading

Entry Citation:

Storch, @ric -., and arrie Aasia&arner. BSocial and nterpersonal Skills Training.B

Encyclopedia of Behavior Modification and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. (007. S-=@5ublications. 1+ -pr. (00C. Dhttp';;sageereference.com;cbt;-rticleEn(119.htmlF.
http://sage-ereference.com/cbt/FurtherReading_n2119.htmlhttp://sage-ereference.com/cbt/FurtherReading_n2119.htmlhttp://sage-ereference.com/cbt/FurtherReading_n2119.html

Documents

Social and Interpersonal Skills Training