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Advances in Social Skills Interventions for Individuals with Disabilities |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 |
12:00 PM–1:20 PM |
Madeleine AB |
Area: AUT/EDC; Domain: Applied Research |
Chair: Jeffrey Michael Chan (University of Texas, Austin) |
Discussant: Chaturi Edrisinha (St. Cloud State University) |
Abstract: In this symposium, 3 presentations will be given on advances in interventions used to teach social skills to individuals with disabilities. The first presentation will present data from a video-modeling intervention study with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Target behaviors included cooperative social behaviors, conversation skills and nonverbal social skills. Participants viewed videos of other adults modeling desired behaviors immediately prior to engaging in a leisure activity. Four participants showed increases in targeted social skills. The second presentation is a Social Stories™ intervention study for students with autism who attended inclusive Kindergarten classrooms. Intervention was implemented for 2 participants across 3 behaviors each. Results show increases in appropriate behaviors and decreases in inappropriate behaviors. The final presentation is a research synthesis of school-based interventions used with students who are at-risk for emotional or behavioral disorders. Studies in the synthesis were chosen based on the types of social skills targeted, intervention characteristics, student outcomes, and stimulus and response generalization. |
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An Evaluation of Video-Modeling to Teach Activity Specific Social Skills to Adults with Intellectual Disabilities. |
WENDY A. MACHALICEK (University of Texas, Austin), Chaturi Edrisinha (St. Cloud State University) |
Abstract: We evaluated the use of video-modeling to teach activity-specific social skills to four adults with intellectual disabilities. Targeted social skills included cooperative social behaviors, conversation skills and nonverbal social skills. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effects of the video-modeling. The video-modeling intervention consisted of participants watching a short film of two adults demonstrating the appropriate social skills immediately prior to the specific leisure activity. During intervention, if the participants did not correctly perform the targeted social skills, they were shown the same sequence of video clips again. Generalization to two additional social settings was assessed. The video-modeling intervention was removed for follow-up assessment. The success of the intervention differed across the participants, but all four participants experienced varying increases in the targeted social behaviors. The findings suggest that video-modeling appears to be an effective way to teach context specific social skills to adults with intellectual disabilities. |
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Teaching Social Skills to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders through the Use of Social Stories™. |
JEFFREY MICHAEL CHAN (University of Texas, Austin), Mark O'Reilly (University of Texas, Austin) |
Abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of Social Stories™ in teaching social skills to kindergarten-age children with autism who attended inclusive settings fulltime. Social Stories™ intervention sessions consisted of reading social stories, answering questions about the Social Stories™, and engaging in a role play of the target behaviors. A multiple-probe design was implemented for 2 participants across 3 behaviors each. Target behaviors included social interaction behaviors, hand raising, and inappropriate vocalizations. Positive reinforcement was delivered for correct performance and prompts were used as aids for performance of target behaviors if participants evidenced difficulty. Increases in appropriate social behaviors and decreases in inappropriate social behaviors occurred during intervention phases. Maintenance, treatment integrity, and social validity data were collected. Results support the use of an intervention centered on the use of Social Stories™ with students with autism who attend general education classrooms. This type of intervention is useful in inclusive classroom environments because it does not require intensive supervision of the child’s behavior and can be implemented in a very short amount of time per day. |
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Early Childhood Social Skills Interventions for Students at Risk for Behavioral Disorders. |
MANDY J. RISPOLI (University of Texas, Austin) |
Abstract: Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) are at risk for poor school outcomes, substance abuse, and violence. Students with E/BD have deficits in academics and social relationships, and high rates of challenging behaviors. Promising interventions have been presented in the literature for elementary through secondary aged students with E/BD. However, the focus and success of early intervention for students with disabilities is pushing the field of E/BD to consider interventions for young children at risk for behavioral disorders. This synthesis extends the literature of early intervention for social and behavioral skills to young students at risk for behavioral disorders. The synthesis examined characteristics of behavioral interventions designed to decrease challenging behaviors and to teach appropriate social skills to this population of young children. Specifically, interventions were examined for types of social skills targeted, intervention characteristics, student outcomes, and stimulus and response generalization. Implications for practice and future research are presented. |
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