Common Social Skill Deficits
By Wendy Anderson-Brachfeld, MA
Helping children with LD develop good social skills is as important to their long-term success as developing their academic skills. In fact, the two are often linked. For example, social skills are fundamental to the following activities, which fill a student’s day:
- Working effectively with others
- Following rules
- Listening to directions
- Complying with teachers’ requests
- Initiating conversations
- Inviting the opinions of others
- Asserting alternative opinions
Children with social-skill difficulties tend to have problems in one or more of the following areas: skill acquisition, performance or fluency. Assessing a child for the type of deficit is important as the intervention will be different for each.
Social Skills Deficits
An acquisition deficit indicates that the child does not have or understand the skill. For instance, a child who does not look at faces or listen to voice tone might have a difficult time assessing when someone is getting frustrated or angry. That child must be taught to attend to these cues.
A child with a performance deficit already understands particular social norms, but does not implement the skill effectively and will need modeling and coaching in a social setting.
Finally, a child with a fluency deficit can perform the skill, but needs continued coaching in order to develop smooth or fluent use.
Social Skills Training
Many parents and most school systems are well aware of the importance of helping students develop appropriate social skills, yet few schools have heeded the call successfully.
Social skills training (SST) research suggests that the most effective SST strategies combine modeling, coaching and reinforcement. Acquiring these skills can be addressed using direct instruction, but performance and fluency deficits need to be addressed on an ongoing basis in the social settings in which a child operates throughout the school day. It is therefore important for all staff members who work with students to be well versed in social skills instruction techniques.