Social and Interpersonal Skills Training

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' judgment 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.

Numerous 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 anxious, 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 on teaching nonverbal skills such as making eye contact, smiling, appearing relaxed, and limiting fidgeting. Within 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, (2) direct instruction, (3) modeling, (4) conducting role plays and practice, and (5) corrective feedback and additional practice. The assessment involves understanding the factors responsible for a child's social difficulties. It may be helpful to observe peer interactions in a natural environment or in a role play or simulated situation. Another common method is to obtain teacher and parent reports of social behavior with peers in school and at home. At the conclusion of training, social skills and interpersonal relatedness are reassessed through behavioral observation and vis-à-vis teacher-, parent-, and childratings to ensure that treatment gains have generalized to the child's social environment.

Skills training begins with direct instruction by the therapist. The child is taught the “rules” of social interaction, as well as the importance and rationale of the behavior. For example, when teaching a child to initiate conversations, the therapist might review the appropriate settings for starting conversations (e.g., when sitting next 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). Next, the therapist models the skill. This technique involves the therapist demonstrating the appropriate behavior to the child. In many instances, family members or peers can act as helpful models. The child then role-plays the modeled skill with others and receives constructive feedback to incorporate into future interactions. Practice on a skill should be continued until the child demonstrates mastery across a variety of situations. Another 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. Homework is assigned between sessions so that the child further practices the skills in the child's natural environments.

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