Effective Social Skills Intervention for Children with Learning Disabilities

Method

Introductions:
Social skills and social competencies are crucial for a child’s development of relationships with their peers. Many times, those who fail to develop appropriate social skills are at risk for negative outcomes including peer rejection, loneliness, criminality and poor academic performance (Gresham, Mai, & Cook, 2006). Developing appropriate social skills are often diffi cult for children with intellectual disability and specifi c learning disabilities.

Children with Learning Disabilities (LD) tend to have average levels of cognitive ability but do not achieve in reading, writing, and math at a level that would be expected for their age or cognitive ability (Milligan, Phillips, & Morgan, 2016). Oneof the many signifi cant challenges that children with LD experience, apart from academics, is severe defi cits in the areas of social skills and peer relations. This can make participating in school activities and inclusive classrooms diffi cult for children with LD. In a meta-analysis of social skills research, Forness and Kavale (1996) found that 75% of children with Learning Disabilities have lower levels of social competence than typically developing peers.

 

Social competence calls upon a complex set of skills and competencies, including age-appropriate social skills, regulation of behaviors and emotions, perspective-taking abilities, and an understanding of the social environment (Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco, & Twenge, 2005). The ability to possess these complex skills in a school setting is crucial for children with learning disabilities to be successful and maintain positive relationships with their peers. 

 

There are a variety of researched interventions that successfully teach appropriate social skills to children with disabilities. One of the most researched strategies n recent years is the use of the Social Story. Social stories are short stories prepared in a systematic format and written according to certain rules. The stories objectively defi ne a skill, event, or situation in order to explain a social situation, teach social skills, and enable children to appropriately respond in social situations that they may face (Gl, 2017). Some of the many skills taught with implementation of social stories include greetings, conversation skills, appropriate interactions among peers, understanding emotions, and social and play skills.

Method
Participant

The participant in this study was a 13-year-old boy who attended a middle school in the Pacifi c Northwest. The participant had been enrolled in this particular middle school for six weeks prior to the start of the study. He previously had attended another middle school in the Pacifi c Northwest where he was diagnosed with Learning Disability and Health Impairment making him eligible for special education services. He had severe speech delays as well as an extremely low IQ. The areas of defi cit included math, reading, written language, communication, behavior and adaptive skills.

Participant

 

The participant attended school fi ve days a week from 8:10am until 2:30pm. He was placed in an extended resource classroom for primary subjects and was included in general education classes for Physical Education, Drama and Lunch. Throughout the study, the researcher worked with the participant on decreasing inappropriate peer interactions across various settings in his school. This participant was chosen to participate in the study due to being new to the school and a need for an intervention involving social skills.

Setting
There were multiple settings in which the study took place. These settings included three class periods in which the participant was included in general education. These class periods were P.E., Drama, and Lunch. The fi rst setting, P.E., took place in a gymnasium with 20 to 25 other middle-school children and two male teachers. This class lasted for 50 minutes and consisted of a warm-up activity, usually   Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal 16(1), 75-86, 2018 78 laps around the gymnasium and a structured group activity. The participant’s paraeducator and the researcher both were present in this setting.

Materials
The materials used for this study included social stories, a token board, and various reinforcers. The reinforcers included sporting cards, coins for the participant’s classroom store, and candy. The token board was a 5x7 laminated piece of paper, with the words “I am working for” and a blank space next to it, at the top. Below the phrase “I am working for” were fi ve spaces with velcro for the tokens to be placed.
On the back of the board the three pictures of the reinforcers (sporting cards, coins, candy) were placed along with the fi ve tokens.

 

Dependent Variable
The behavior intended for change in this study was inappropriate peer interactions during general education classes. Inappropriate peer interactions were defi ned as physical touching of a peer with hands or feet without being asked to do so.
This did not include high fi ves, taps on the shoulder, or other appropriate interactions. The defi nition also included “pretend fi ghting”, which was defi ned as movement of arms of legs in the direction of peer with intent to punch, kick or slap. The dependent variable remained the same during all settings.

Measurement
During baseline and intervention, the researcher used a frequency count to measure the occurrences of the target behavior. Each time an occurrence of the target behavior was exhibited by the participant, the researcher put a tally mark under the column on the data sheet titled “Target Behavior” next to the appropriate date and setting.

Setting

 

Interobserver Agreement
Interobserver agreement (IOA) checks were conducted for fi fteen out of fi fteen sessions, or 100% of the sessions. IOA data was collected in vivo and in the same manner that intervention data was collected by the researcher. IOA checks were conducted simultaneously but independently and recorded on identical data sheets used by the researcher. Criteria for agreement were both the researcher and paraeducator having the same number of inappropriate peer interactions tallied at the end of each session. Disagreement criteria did not have any difference in the total number of inappropriate peer interactions at the end of each session. The formula used to calculate IOA was the number of agreements divided by the number of agreements plus the number of disagreements, multiplied by 100. The total percentage of IOA reliability was 100%.

Experimental Design
The experimental design used in this study was a single-subject, multiple baseline across settings design (Kazdin, 2010). The study consisted of a baseline phase and treatment phase for each setting. All three settings were in baseline at the same time until the fi rst setting (P.E.) showed stable baseline numbers and then intervention was put into place. During the process of intervention during P.E., Drama and Lunch were kept in baseline until there was a steady and noticeable decrease in the target behavior. Once a decrease in target behavior was established, a probe was done in the next setting to make sure baseline data was consistent. If baseline data was consistent, then intervention would be implemented. The same process was in effect for the third setting as well.

Procedures
Baseline. During baseline, typical classroom procedures were in place in each setting. The participant was reinforced for expected behavior by his para-educator but not for the specifi c target behavior. The para-educator occasionally prompted the participant to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior, but his inappropriate behavior was usually consequated by withholding of reinforcement (e.g., tally marks that could be turned in for pennies for the school store). The researcher observed and recorded the frequency of inappropriate peer interactions under these circumstances in each setting.

 

Social Stories. During intervention sessions, two social stories were presented to the participant, prior to each of the three class periods. The fi rst social story was presented to the participant in the form of photos displaying inappropriate peer interactions and appropriate peer interactions. The participant was presented with a photo and the question of: “Is this appropriate or inappropriate behavior?” The participant would then give his answer and comments. The researcher would present the question: “Why?” The participant would then answer in some form: “It’s appropriate because they are giving each other high fi ves!” The next social story was in story  Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal 16(1), 75-86, 2018 81 format and was read to the participant. This process usually lasted between fi ve and seven minutes. Upon completion of the social stories the participant was prompted on how to earn tokens. He was told: “We earn tokens by interacting appropriately
with our peers, by giving high fi ves, pats on the back, or telling them ‘No thank you’ or ‘I need some space’ when needed. We do not earn tokens when we kick, pinch, or slap our peers or when we pretend to do those things.” The participant was then signaled to choose a reinforcer to work for and place on his token board.

 

Token economy. After the participant had chosen the reinforcement he wished to work for and placed the reinforcer on the token board, he went to class as directed. The token economy was implemented immediately after the participant was in his designated setting. The researcher sat towards the middle of the gymnasium for P.E. and the classroom for Drama. The para-educator usually sat within a close distance to the participant during lunch .