Social Skills Instruction

Description of the Strategy

Since the 1970s, social skills instruction (SSI; also called social skills training or structured learning) has gained wide acceptance as a viable strategy for addressing the needs of individuals with maladaptive behaviors. This approach, used with both children and adults in a variety of therapeutic and school settings, views the student or client in educational terms rather than as a person in need of therapy. Students are viewed as deficient or, at best, weak in the skills necessary for effective and satisfying daily living. The task of the skills trainer, therapist, or teacher is the active and deliberate teaching of desirable prosocial skills.

SSI is based on social learning theory, which emphasizes modeling, behavioral rehearsal, and social reinforcement processes to enable students to learn a variety of desirable and prosocial behaviors, from academic competencies to sports, daily living, and vocational skills. To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of SSI, the student is an active participant in the selection of the skills being taught and in the shaping of the curriculum. Teaching skills that provide students with positive alternatives for dealing with their immediate needs increases social competence and the motivation to learn other skills. When students perceive a need to learn a new behavior and have the opportunity to use that newly acquired skill in situations that will gain reinforcement or benefits, they are more likely to learn the effective and durable use of that skill.

Four research-based learning principles form the foundation for a social learning approach to SSI: (a) modeling, (b) role-playing or behavioral rehearsal, (c) performance feedback, and (d) transfer (generalization and maintenance).

Modeling. Modeling is defined as learning by imitation. Research has consistently suggested that imitation is effective and reliable for learning new behaviors and strengthening or weakening previously learned behaviors. In planning and conducting modeling displays, teachers should select situations relevant to the learner's real-life circumstances, depict all the behavioral steps of the skill in the correct sequence, and display only one skill at a time, without extraneous or distracting content. In addition, the model (the person enacting the behavioral steps of the skill) should be someone who is reasonably similar to students learning the skill; for example, by age, socioeconomic background, verbal ability, interests, or in other ways. Perhaps most important is that the model should receive positive reinforcement for displaying the skill in the presence of students.

Role-Playing. The use of modeling alone is likely to be insufficient because learning gains often are short lived. Learning appears to be improved when the learner has the opportunity and is encouraged to practice, rehearse, or role-play the behaviors and is rewarded for doing so. In other words, seeing the modeling display teaches students what to do, but repeated practice in a variety of contexts is needed to increase skill fluency.

Through role-playing, or behavioral rehearsal, students are asked to take roles or to behave in ways that are not typical or automatic. Strong research findings demonstrate the value of role-playing for behavior and attitude change, especially if certain conditions are considered: (a) student's degree of choice in participating; (b) student's understanding or commitment to the need to learn a specific skill; (c) student's comfort in public versus private role plays; (d) level of improvisation required; and (e) strength or value of rewards, approvals, or reinforcement for enacting the behaviors.

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