Social Skills Training for Children: Innovations and Consumer Guidelines

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Abstract
The present paper applies Joseph Scandura's structural learning model to the problem of teaching children social skills. Using the model as a framework to discuss the variables which are necessary in developing an intervention program, the relevant research in developmental and social psychology is reviewed. In addition to specifying the social tasks children must perform and the specific behaviors they need to learn, it was concluded that an effective program must also specify the underlying “rules” or strategies for using the behaviors and must take the processing characteristics of the learner into account. Recent innovations were reviewed in the social skills training literature such as more sophisticated assessment devices and an increased emphasis on cognitive as well as behavioral skills. Implications of the research literature on the development of social competence for the selection and implementation of a specific social skills training intervention were cited and several packages with demonstrated effectiveness were referenced.