Social Skills Interventions

Running head: SOCIAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS 1
Social Skills Development Interventions to Build Positive Peer Relationships
Neely Vacura Winder
Concordia University
A Research Report Presented to
The Graduate Program in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of Masters in Education
Concordia University-Portland
2016

SOCIAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS 2
Social Skills Interventions and Their Effects on
Positive Peer Relationships Research
As children with special needs mature, they may fall further behind their peers in social
skills essential to build peer relationships. These skills involve the theory of mind and
understanding of intentionality. For children with special needs the acquisition of social skills
may not occur naturally. Without social skills learning opportunities and interventions that focus
directly on social and play skills within the context of the inclusive setting, these children may
continue to feel like they exist in isolation (Harper & Symon, 2008). In addition, research states
that social deficits contribute substantially to poor outcomes for adults with special needs. A
lack of social competence may result in difficulty with maintaining employment, poor school
achievement, depression, and anxiety. However, improvements in the social functioning of
children with special needs will lead to a reduction in the risk of mental health problems, an
enhancement of academic functioning, and more positive relationships with peers (Radley,
2014).
Literature Review
Didactic Instruction for Increased Peer Interaction
Children with disabilities are more commonly educated in inclusive settings; however,
play and social skills continue to need to be explicitly taught in order to provide opportunity for
positive social interactions. Harper and Symon (2008) incorporated Pivotal Response Training
(PRT) through peer-mediated practice to improve social interactions for children with autism
during recess activities. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to assess social
skills gains in two elementary school children. The results demonstrated an increase in the

important social skills of social initiations and turn taking during recess (Harper & Symon,
2008).
According to research, the use of peer mediated strategies, peer tutoring and adult
instruction in social games are all social skills interventions that help students build positive peer
relationships (Rogers, 2000). In the peer mediated approach, typical peers are taught to initiate
play organizers involving sharing, helping, giving affection, and praise. Peers role-play with
adults until they have learned the strategies successfully and then are cued by adults to interact
with the target children around typical play materials and activities. The peers are reinforced by
adults for their efforts, and the reinforcements are systemically and carefully reduced. This
strategy is powerful in increasing the social interactions of young children with special needs
(Garfinkle, 2002).
In the study by Radley (2014), the effects of the Superheroes Social Skills (SSS) program
on four elementary students with special needs were analyzed. The hypothesis of the study was
that as children gain social skills and social competence, these skills will lead to the building of
friendships and more effective interpersonal relationships.
SSS is a social skills curriculum composed of evidence based practices. The SSS
program uses typically developing peers in the training process. This strategy allows children
with special needs to have contact with typical peers who naturally have successful social skills.
Generalization of target social skills is also achieved by videos, role playing, and social stories
that expose children with special needs to multiple examples of appropriate social initiations and
responses (Radley, 2014).
The peer-mediated procedures appear to gain their effectiveness by using typical peers as
the interventionists. This eliminates the need to develop procedures to transfer learning from

adult partners to peer partners. This is ideal since studies have found that the use of adult
partners to increase interactions of children with special needs does not easily generalize to peer
partners (Owen-DeSchryver, 2008).
The SSS program was found to be effective in increasing social engagement of children
with special needs in an analog setting when led by trained and coached parents. Observations
of social interactions between the children during recess were completed using a modified
version of the Playground Observation of Peer Engagement (POPE). Results suggest the SSS
program may be effective in promoting generalization and maintenance of social interaction
skills (Radley, 2014).
The Friendship Survey was provided to participants and their classmates before and
immediately following conclusion of the social skills intervention to assess the effects of the SSS
program. The current study replicated results of previous research that found the SSS program to
produce immediate improvements in both training and generalized settings (Radley, 2014).
Adult instruction in social games involves using a student’s preferred interests as the
basis for invented games. This strategy is well suited for students with a severe social
deficit. An adult creates group games for the intervention based on each of the children with
special needs’ interests. These games are taught to the children and some typical peers during a
recess period at school. Results have included dramatic increases in peer interaction that were
maintained through the intervention and beyond. This includes generalization to other activities,
and increases in positive affect in both target children and peers during interactions (Radley,
2014).

In a quantitative educational research study, Baker, Koegel, and Koegel (1998)
completed a study of three high-functioning elementary students. An adult created group games
from each of the children’s special interests and then taught the game to the child and some
typical peers during a recess period at school. Results included increases in peer interaction that
were maintained through the follow-up period (Rogers, 2000).
To incorporate peer tutoring, typical peers are first carefully trained to deliver instruction
to the target child. Peer tutors are reinforced for their efforts. Adult prompts to the peer tutors
are systematically withdrawn. This strategy has demonstrated long term increases in reciprocal
social behavior and social initiations, in addition to increased peer acceptance. Also, typical
peers also tend to maintain greatly increased rates of social initiations to the children with special
needs across the fading of adult prompts (Rogers, 2000). A benefit of this intervention is that it
may be delivered in the child’s regular education setting with familiar peers, thus avoiding an
interruption to the child’s inclusive setting.
Owen-DeSchryver (2008) evaluated the impact of a peer training intervention on social
interactions among three children with special needs and their typical peers. For each child with
special needs, two to four typical peers participated in sessions that targeted increased social
interactions. Data collected during lunchtime and recess showed that the peer training
intervention generally resulted in increased initiations by trained peers as well as increased
initiations and responses by children with special needs. Unexpectedly, untrained peers also
showed increased initiations (Owen-DeSchryver, 2008).
Gray’s social story technique has been found to be an effective social skills intervention
for children with special needs (Gray & Garand, 1993). Written stories are created to teach
social rules and the reasons for them in a supportive, noncritical, and understanding way

(Rogers, 2000). Norris and Dattilo (1999) completed a study of a single subject examined the
use of social stories to increase social interactions of a child with special needs and peers. The
study used a multiple baseline approach to monitor changes in three social behaviors of an eight-
year-old girl with special needs. The behaviors studied were increasing appropriate social
behavior, decreasing inappropriate behavior, and decreasing isolation. Three different stories
were written per manual directions to increase social interactions in school at lunchtime. One of
the stories was read daily before lunch for thirteen days following baseline. There appeared to
be a treatment related change in only decreasing inappropriate behavior. The response was
variable. Therefore, according to research, this strategy did not prove to be as effective as the
adult created and taught game method (Rogers, 2000).
The use of peer mediated strategies, peer tutoring and adult instruction in social games
are all social skills development interventions that help children build positive peer relationships
(Rogers, 2000). All three strategies will help children begin to feel a sense of belonging and
involvement within the school. This will lead to self-confidence and friendship building.
Historical Methods of Social Skills Training
Researchers have been exploring the building of social skills for many years. Strain
(1979) used peer training strategies in play organizers with four lower functioning elementary
students. A typical peer was taught to elicit, prompt, and reinforce social behavior between two
pairs of children with special needs. It was noted that social behaviors increased dramatically
during the treatment phase, but returned to baseline when the specific interventions were
withdrawn and only general social interactions were used. Therefore, no evidence of
generalization was demonstrated. Later studies of this approach have shown the importance of

using typical peers in natural settings. Careful use and fading of reinforcers for the peers must be
used in order to achieve maintenance and generalization (Rogers, 2000).
In addition, historical models of social skills training continue to benefit students today.
Shafer, Egel, and Neef (1984) used a direct model and prompt training strategy to train peers
who had mild disabilities to elicit increased levels of interactive toy play for four children with
special needs. Peers quickly learned the interventions and children with special needs
demonstrated increased appropriate social interactions that were maintained over time. Finally,
when the trained peer and child with special needs were combined with two other untrained
peers for play sessions, the untrained peers increased their interactions with the children with
special needs as well, demonstrating generalization across peers. Improved social interactions of
both peers and children with special needs were maintained over time and generalized across
settings. However, both groups tended during generalization episodes to deliver the
interventions only to their previous training partners (Rogers, 2000).
Limitations of These Studies
The limitations in the previously discussed studies involve the rules of ethics. The two
overriding rules of ethics are that participants should not be harmed in any way; physically,
mentally or socially. In issues that are related to personal privacy and confidentiality, protecting
participants from embarrassment or ridicule is of utmost importance (Gay, 2009). In each of the
above studies, students may be exposed to embarrassment or ridicule. The studies did not
describe a method to prevent the exposure from happening.
In addition, researchers must obtain the participant’s informed consent. The studies did
not indicate that informed consent was obtained. Researchers obtain informed consent by
making sure that research participants enter the research of their own free will and with

understanding of the nature of the study and any possible dangers that may arise as a result of the
participation. Participants who are not of legal age or are not mentally capable cannot give
informed consent. In these cases, permission must be given by parents or legal guardians. Even
if permission is granted from a guardian, all participants still retain the right to decline to
participate (Gay, 2009).
In 1974, Congress enacted the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
(FERPA) to address these concerns regarding the confidentiality and accessibility of student
records. Researchers must adhere to FERPA in their practices. The Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act applies to all students who attend public schools that receive federal financial
assistance (Yell, 2012).
FERPA was designed to protect the privacy of students’ educational records. Data that
may identify a student may not be made available unless written permission is acquired from the
legal aged student or legal guardian. The previously discussed studies did not indicate the use of
a permission form. Researchers must create and provide a permission form that indicates what
data may be disclosed, for what purpose, and to whom (Gay, 2009).
Analysis
Results suggest that social engagement between peers can be significantly increased in
inclusive settings through social skills learning and training opportunities. The training may be
provided by an adult or typically developing peer. In the previously discussed studies, the
participants’ overall initiations and responses increased with either method of training. The
results are important, as research has found that children with special needs tend to have fewer
initiations and responses in social interactions when compared with their typically developing

peers. Finally, social response skills in children with special needs are predictive of future social
and communication abilities as they mature into adulthood.
Research states that social deficits contribute substantially to poor outcomes for adults
with special needs. A lack of social competence may result in difficulty with maintaining
employment, poor school achievement, depression, and anxiety. However, improvements in the
social functioning of children with special needs will lead to a reduction in the risk of mental
health problems, an enhancement of academic functioning, and more positive relationships with
peers (Radley, 2014).
Conclusions and Future Study
In conclusion, children with special needs may be diagnosed with primary deficits in
social interactions, while continuing to be responsive to a wide variety of interventions aimed at
increasing their social engagement to typical peers and adults. In addition to increasing social
engagement for children with special needs, it would be ideal to foster the capacity for long term
positive relationships with peers, family members and others in their community. Positive
relationships and social skills will help to ensure a more enriching adulthood.
Friendship is an important relationship to understand. Researching social skills
interventions to help build positive peer relationships throughout the school will benefit all
students. Children share the desire to make friends and build social connections with their peers.
A sense of belonging will allow students with special needs to achieve a more successful
academic experience and more positive outcomes as they mature. Unfortunately, there seem to
be better methods for assessing the presence of social interactions than for assessing qualities of
relationships.

Future research directions may involve the measurement of qualitative changes in social
relationships and opportunities in order to assist children in building positive peer relationships.
Research has shown that social engagement between peers can be significantly increased in
inclusive settings through social skills learning and training opportunities. The most effective
strategies and opportunities need to be determined for each unique setting, in order to provide the
most benefit for the children to build friendships.
Demographic Data for the Proposed Project
The research site of the proposed action research plan, to build positive peer
relationships, is a rural community in the Eastern Sierras of California. There will be 10 students
with special needs in grades K-8 involved, as well as 10 of their typically developing peers. Two
special education aides will assist in leading recess game activities amongst peers, at the start of
the project. Additional peers will be included in order to facilitate some group activities and
games. The elementary setting has a population of 72 students; 14 of which have been identified
as having special needs.
Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory (SDT) aligns with the purpose of the proposed
project. The SDT asserts that social interaction has a vital role in the cognitive development
process. Social skills development is very important, as children with special needs suffer direct
and indirect consequences related to social interaction deficits. The deficits contribute to
academic and occupational underachievement. In addition, they may cause mood and anxiety
problems later in life (White, 2007).
The target students demonstrate poor social and emotional skills on a daily basis. It is
difficult for them to understand a social situation and know what to do during that situation.
Classroom disruptions are frequent, especially following recess. Students come in crying,

saying, “No, one likes me. They won’t let me play. I didn’t get invited”, etc. Specific behaviors
will be targeted during the intervention. Example goals for the target behaviors are:
Goal: Student will exercise increased self‐control, increasing appropriate verbal and physical
behaviors with fading prompts/models.
Objective #1: Given a recess situation where student is engaging in inappropriate behavior, he
will indicate, with modeling and/or prompts, his feelings (frustration, discomfort, fear), and
display a more appropriate behavior with language or indicate to adult that he needs to regroup
and organize himself), 80% of the time, over 30 school days, by the end of the school year.
Objective #2: Given a recess situation, when student is stressed he will initiate appropriate
interactions, without modeling or prompts 60% of the time, over 30 school days, by the end of
the school year.
Goal 2: Student will exercise increased self‐control while at school, as evidenced by increasing
lengths of time on task, and remaining in the assigned area with fading prompts.
Objective #1: Given a small group activity at recess, student will demonstrate increased self
control and remain on task, 80% of the time, over 30 school days, by the end of the school year.
Proposed Action
The reoccurring themes throughout the proposed action plan will involve the level of
social skills the child currently possesses. If found to be at the novice level, didactic instruction
in social skills development will be provided. One example of this method is social
stories. Also, didactic instruction involves the teacher explaining the steps of a particular skill
often with the skill steps provided in a visual format (White, 2007). In addition, many people
use discrete trial instruction (DTI) as one of the components of this type of structured learning

approach since it can be effective in promoting cognitive, language and pragmatic skills (Harper
& Symon, 2008).
Modeling will also be a provided intervention to students found to be at the novice
level. Once the skill steps have been explained, it is important to model them for the students
before asking them to carry them out. The teacher will model a situation with some co-
actors. Before beginning, it is important to give the students who are observing very specific
instructions on what to look for in order to keep their attention focused on what is
happening. For instance, thumbs up if the actors got the skill right and thumbs down if the actors
got it wrong (Harper & Symon, 2008).
The intervention of role play will be provided to children found to be at the intermediate
level, or to possess a moderate social skills deficit. Students will observe role play of
participating in peer tutoring and peer mediated strategies for improved social interaction. The
strategy involves rehearsing steps and acting out scenarios in a structured environment to help
children practice newly acquired skills or previously learned skills that the child is having
difficulties performing (Harper &Symon, 2008).
The entire process of teaching a particular skill, which may involve modeling the steps,
role playing the skill and providing corrective feedback, should be repeated over and over again
until the student is able to demonstrate the skill without prompting. At that point, positive
reinforcement needs to be provided. If a child receives reinforcement for initiating an interaction
with another child, he is likely to initiate another interaction again in the future (Harper
&Symon, 2008). Research states that the most important attitude that can be formed is a desire
to learn. The more motivated a person is about a given subject, the more likely he will learn that
subject. Motivation is defined as wanting to partake of an object or activity (Radley, 2014). If a

child is found to be motivated and to possess only a mild social skills deficit, he will be trained to
provide peer tutoring and to lead recess time activities.
As a child becomes proficient with social skills, practice opportunities will be
provided. Practice at this stage means the child has acquired the required skill. He no longer
hesitates during the performance of the skill to remember the steps, so fluency increases
dramatically. However, practice is required to enhance performance and to help the student to
generalize the skill across other settings and people (Harper &Symon, 2008).
Data Collection and Analysis Methods
Triangulation Matrix
Issues to pay
attention to when
trying to answer
research question:
Data Source #1 Data Source #2 Data Source #3
What level of social
skills development
does the child
currently possess?
Observation
(POPE)
SRS teacher & parent
survey.
Friendship survey.
If a child is found to
be at a novice level,
and displays a
significant social
skills deficit, how do
I proceed?
Student interviews &
POPE Observation.
Results from didactic
instruction and
modeling. The use of
social stories would
be included.
survey. Friendship
survey.
be at a intermediate
level, and displays a
moderate social skills
deficit, how do I
proceed?
POPE observation
during recess.
Observation of peer
tutoring and peer
mediated strategies.
Friendship survey.
survey. Assessment
of student work
samples completed
during peer tutoring
activities.
be at an advanced
level, and displays a
mild social skills
deficit, how do I
proceed?
POPE observation
during recess.
Observation of peer
tutoring training and
training to lead peer
mediated strategies.
Friendship survey.
survey.

The Playground Observation of Peer Engagement (POPE) will be used to collect data on
social interaction (See Appendix A). POPE is an approach to coding and observing the way that
children interact with each other on the playground. Using this measure, an observer can track
how engaged the children are in activities, how engaged they are with each other, and if they
initiate and respond to others. This allows the observer to determine the efficacy of intervention
and areas where additional support is needed (Garfinkle, 2002).
The Friendship Survey will be provided to participants and their classmates before and
immediately following conclusion of the social skills intervention to assess the effects of the
intervention (See Appendix B). Also, the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) will be provided,
prior and following the intervention, to parents and teachers who have routinely observed the
child in their naturalistic social setting.
Ideas for Sharing Findings
The action research project could have many beneficial implications for the research site.
The researcher plans to share the resulting data in several ways. First, the researcher will share
the findings with the site’s administration. This would allow for exploration of the variety of
contexts that the research could be used to benefit children at the school site. In addition, the
research may be shared at the site within a potential staff development training, as a parent
presentation during a back to school night, and directly with parents whose children may be
involved in the intervention. Educators and families would benefit from learning how to foster
social skills development in children targeted in the intervention (Efron & Ravid, 2013).
Careful planning, progress monitoring and providing needed alterations could result in a plan
that benefits many children and their future friends.

References
Baker, M., Koegel, R., & Koegel, L. (1998). Increasing the social behavior of young children
with autism using their obsessive behaviors. Journal of the Association for Persons with
Severe Handicaps, 23(4), 300-308.
Cunningham, A. (2012). Measuring change on social interaction skills of young children with
autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42: 593-605.
Efron, S. E., & Ravid, R. (2013). Action research in education: A practical guide. New
York, NY: Guilford Press
Feldman, E. & Maltos, R. (2012). Training paraprofessionals to facilitate social interactions
between children with autism and their typically developing peers. Journal of Positive
Behavior Interventions, 15(3), 169-179.
Garfinkle, A. (2002). Peer imitation: Increasing social interactions in children with autism and
other developmental disabilities in inclusive preschool classrooms. Topics in Early
Childhood Special Education, 22(1), 26-38.
Gay, M. (2009). Introduction to educational research. Retrieved from
https://cupo.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-267995-dt-content-rid-
3337248_1/courses/20162021592-
cup/resources/week1/w1_ethics_Gay,%20Mills%20&%20Airasian%20(2009).pdf
Gray, C. & Garand, J. (1993). Social stories: Improving responses of students with autism with
accurate social information. Focus on Autistic Behavior, 8, 1-10.
Gulsrud, A. & Kasari, C. (2012). Making the connection: Randomized controlled trial of social
skills at school for children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Psychology
and Psychiatry, 53:4, 431-439.

Harper, C. & Symon, J. (2008). Recess is time in: Using peers to improve social skills of
children with autism. The Journal of Autism Developmental Disorder 38:815-826.
Kasari, C. & Rotheram-Fuller, J. (2005). The development of the playground observation of
peer engagement (POPE) measure. Retrieved from
http://airbnetwork.org/tools_guidelines.asp.
Norris, C. & Dattilo, J. (1999). Evaluating effects of a social story intervention on a young girl
with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 13 (3), 180-186.
Owen-DeSchryver, J. (2008). Promoting social interactions between students with autism
spectrum disorders and their peer in inclusive school settings. Focus on Autism and
Other Developmental Disabilities. Vol. 23(1) 15-28.
Radley, K. (2014). The effects of a social skills training package on social engagement of
children with autism spectrum disorders in a generalized recess setting. Focus on
Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. Vol. 29(4) 216-229.
Rogers, S. (2000). Interventions that facilitate socialization in children with autism. Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 30, No. 5, 399-409.
Shafer, M., Egel, A., & Neef, N. (1984). Training mildly disabled peers to facilitate change in
the social interaction skills of autistic children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
17, 461-476.
Strain, P. (1979). Effects of peer mediated social initiations and prompting/ reinforcement
procedures on the social behavior of autistic children. Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, 9, 41-54.
White, S. (2007). Social skills development in children with autism spectrum disorders: A

review of the intervention research. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
37(10) 1858-1868.
Yell, M. L. (2012). The law and special education (3rd ed.). [VitalSource Bookshelf
version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9780131376106

Appendix A

Appendix B
Friendship Survey
1. What qualities do you look for in a friend?
2. Are friends more important to you now than they were at high school? Why?
3. How can you be a good friend? Give an example.
4. What's the difference between a friend and an acquaintance?
5. A true friend is somebody who knows everything about you and still likes you. What do you
think that means?
6. Why do friends drift apart?
7. What is a "best friend?"
8. Is there a difference between popularity and friendship? What?
10. What do you do if you want a person you have just met to become a part of your group, but
the others don't want to have anything to do with this new person?
11. What are the benefits of having friends who are different from us?
12. Why might friendships break up?

Social Skills Interventions

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (16)

Similar to Social Skills Interventions

Similar to Social Skills Interventions (20)

Social Skills Interventions