Intellectual Disability and Social Skills

Abstract

In this chapter we provide background information on intellectual disability and review social skills assessments and interventions for children with intellectual disability. Assessing and improving the social behavior and social skills of children with intellectual disability represent a major treatment priority because impaired social functioning is common among such children. The chapter begins with an introduction to intellectual disability, including its definition, diagnosis, prevalence, and classification. This is followed by an overview of some of the more commonly used procedures for assessing social behavior and skills of children with intellectual disabilities. After this, we describe a number of intervention approaches that have been successfully used to address the social skills deficits and excess of children with intellectual disability. The results of this overview and description indicate the availability of a number of evidence-based procedures for assessing and teaching social skills to children with intellectual disability. By combining valid assessment data with evidence-based interventions, children with intellectual disability can learn a range of meaningful social skills that will enable them to more effectively interact with others and participate in society.