Social Skills Training and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD)

Interventions for a Range of Developmental Disorders

Skillstreaming (McGinnis & Goldstein, 1997) is a psychoeducational intervention aimed at teaching a variety of specific prosocial behaviors to children with various disorders affecting social skills functioning. The model uses four steps of instruction: modeling, role play, feedback, and transfer/generalization. Implicit within the model is the assumption that the individual is weak in or lacks a behavioral skill or skills. Professionals use this model for both the prevention and remediation of social skills deficits.

LEAP (Learning Experiences: An Alternative Program for Preschoolers and Parents) is an integrated school-based program for preschool-aged children. The key features of this program are that it is individualized for each child, is data driven, and focuses on the generalization of skills. In addition, the program aims to maximize instructional opportunities and include family members in the intervention. LEAP uses several classroom teaching methods, including introducing and describing the skill, modeling the skill, practicing the skill with an adult, practicing the skill with a peer, and providing rewards for skill completion. An outcome study of six previous LEAP participants demonstrated decreases in autistic symptomatology and improvements in social interaction skills (Strain & Hoyson, 2000).

Circle of Friends is a peer-based intervention for children with special education needs that is implemented within the school setting (Taylor, 1997, as cited in Frederickson & Turner, 2003). Typically developing children are recruited from the child's classroom to create a small social support group for the child. This group is facilitated by the classroom teacher in consultation with an educational psychologist. Strengths and weakness of the particular child are identified through a collaborative effort between the students and professionals involved, and appropriate goals are developed. During weekly meetings, these goals are targeted through modeling and role-playing of problem-solving strategies, and modifications to the goals and plans for upcoming weeks are discussed.

The UCLA Children's Social Skills Program (Frankel, Cantwell, & Myatt, 1996) is designed to teach socially acceptable behaviors to children with a variety of disorders. This model incorporates weekly homework assignments that involve a contract between the children and their parents. The children's group sessions [Page 1022]involve discussion of previously assigned homework, didactic presentation, behavior rehearsal, and coaching. The children's parents typically attend concurrent sessions, which function to facilitate the implementation of the homework assignments by reviewing progress on previous assignments and troubleshooting and discussing potential problems on upcoming assignments.

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