Module 11

Social Skills Instruction for Students with High-Incidence Disabilities:

A School-Based Intervention to Address Acquisition Deficits

I chose this article because it was well written and the authors provided a substantial amount of research along with a case study. The main focus of, Social Skills Instruction for Students with High-Incidence Disabilities: A School-Based Intervention to Address Acquisition Deficits by Matthew J. Miller, Kathleen Lynne Lane, and Joseph Wehby was to examine the results of a classroom based social skills intervention program for several students receiving services in a self-contained, special education classroom setting. The study took place during the regular school day. The study was conducted by a paraprofessional and a student teacher. The study examined inappropriate classroom behavior and academic engaged class time.

According to the research students with high-incidence disabilities can display maladaptive behavior which negatively influences their relationships with peers and adults. Often, the failure in such social relationships produces poor interpersonal development, academic failure, and usually peer and adult rejection further leading to greater behavioral problems. Such at risk students can be challenged with mental health issues, juvenile delinquency and future employment difficulties.

The intervention focused on four instructional components to teach social skills. These components were: social skills instruction that is based on acquisition deficits of each student, social skills instruction that incorporated coaching and modeling of desired social behavior, a generalization component embedded in instruction, and a social skills training program that was integrated within the normal classroom environment. Results in the study showed decreases with inappropriate behaviors and some increases in academic engaged time for most of the students. Teacher and student perceptions of outcomes were mixed.

In conclusion, the article was informative. It highlighted social skills instruction and how with proper teaching of such skills a potential decrease in inappropriate behaviors and more focused classroom work environment could be present. If more schools adopted this practice then maybe educators could see positive behavioral changes within their classrooms. Unfortunately, for many that is not the case.



References

Miller, M. J., Lane, K. L., & Wehby, J. (2005). Social skills instruction for students with high-incidence disabilities: a school-based intervention to address acquisition deficits. Preventing school failure, 49(2), 27-39.