Promoting Generalization of Social Skills to Inclusive Play Settings for Children With Autism and Their Peers

Summary During the past two decades, a convincing body of evidence has indicated that unless children achieve minimal social competence by about the age of 6, they have a high probability of being at risk social behavior problems later in their life. Recent research suggests that a child`s long-term social and emotional adaptation, academic and cognitive development, and citizenship are enhanced by opportunities to strengthen social competence during early childhood. Social competence refers to child's adaptation to social environment. Social competence is related to school achievement, social skills and peer relations. Developing social competences is a result of the interactions between child and environment. As a term, social skill is often used with reference to social competence, although social skill and social competence have different meanings. Social competence refers to the social, emotional, and cognitive skills and behaviors that children need for successful social adaptation. Social skills is a term used to describe the child`s knowledge of and ability to use a variety of social behaviors that are appropriate to a given interpersonal situation and that are pleasing to others in each situation. Acquisition deficits refer to absence of particular social skills from an individual's behavioral repertoire. This implies that the individual does not have the requisite knowledge to perform the social skill in question. On the other hand, when an individual has a social skills performance deficit, the individual can perform the social skill in question but does not perform the skill in the particular situation with acceptable frequency. Gresham and Elliot (1990) expanded this description into a four way classification scheme. This scheme incorporates two dimension of behavior: social skills and interfering behavior problems. Thus, children may have either acquisition or performance deficits with or without interfering problem behaviors. Interfering behaviors can be internalizing (e.g. anxiety, depression) or externalizing (e.g. aggression, impulsivity). These interfering behaviors are assumed to interfere with the acquisition and performance of social skills or both. This conception is important because it provides a framework to conceptualize social skills concerns and can also lead to effective strategies to improve one's social skills deficits. Across the age span from early childhood to adolescence, two major categories of problem behaviors have been identified in children. Those characterized by under control and those characterized by over control. Behaviors characterized by under control are typically high in annoyance value or the potential to hurt/harm others. These behaviors have been termed externalizing because they are expressed outward against others or have an impact on the child's environment. Examples include over activity, tantrums, fighting, destructive behavior and disobedience. Behaviors reflecting over control also tend to cluster together. They have been termed as internalized, because they are reflected in social withdrawn, fear, unhappiness and anxiety and represent self-focused expressions of distress. Although, many factors have been defined for explaining problem behavior, family factors are considered important among these factors. Demographic variables also have been associated with preschool and kindergarten behavior problems. Family demographic factors may include gender, family size, socioeconomic status, parental employment, parental education status, number of sibling, birth order etc. The purpose of this study is to determine the significant differences in social problem behaviors of six years old children by family related demographic factors. Method The sample of this study was 110 six years old children from elementary schools' preschool classes in Mus province of Turkey. This is a descriptive study using survey method to collect data. Data were collected by Social Skills Rating System (SSRS/PB) Behavior Problem Teacher Form scale. This scale's validity and reliability study for adaptation to Turkish was performed by researcher. One way ANOVA and t-test were used to examine effects of family related demographic factors on social problem behaviors of six years old children. Social Skills Rating System Problem Behavior Teacher Form was developed by Gresham and Elliott (1990). The Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) provides a multi-raterassessment of child's social behaviors that influence the developmentof social competence and adaptive functioning. Problem Behaviors Scale, measures behaviors that can interfere with the development of positive social skills. It assesses behavior in three subscales: 1. Externalizing Problems, such as aggressive acts and poor temper control. 2. Internalizing Problems, such as sadness and anxiety. 3. Hyperactivity, such as fidgeting and impulsive acts. The social skills rating system was standardized on a national sample of 4.170 children. Internal consistency is .86 for Social skills rating system Elementary problem behaviors scale teacher version. In addition, for subscales internal consistencies computed as .86 and .82. SSRS/PB teacher form is adapted to Turkish in this research. 200 Students from primary school's preschool classes participated for adapting the scale. To provide content and understandability, the scale was examined by seven experts and English to Turkish and Turkish to English translation convenience of scale by two experts in English. The factor structure of scale was examined with EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis). The variance of two factors were computed as % 52,1. For reliability of the scale, Cronbach Alpha coefficient (.87) and Spearman Brown split-half correlation (.92) were computed. Lower and upper % 27 groups' score differences were supplied by calculating t-test. Results and Discussions Results of this study support previous research findings indicating an association between social problem behaviors and family related factors.Statistically significant differences were found in problem behaviors by gender, parents' employment, socioeconomic status and number of siblings. No significant differences were found in problem behaviors by family size, parents' education and birth order. For subscales of the SSRS/PB, significant differences were observed in internalized problem behaviors by parents' employment and number of siblings. Significant differences were also found in externalized problem behaviors by gender and number of siblings. These findings show that children display internalized behavior problems such as withdrawn, fear, unhappiness, anxiety and distress more than externalized problem behaviors such as destructive, fight, anger and disobedience. This study supported the hypothesis that boys display more problem behaviors then girls. This finding may be interpreted as social environment's role expectations from boys may lead to more problem behaviors for boys. Although there were significant differences in social problem behaviors by number of siblings, no significant differences were observed by family type. It was expected that children in large families would show more problem behaviors, but this was not supported by research findings. Significant differences were observed in both externalized and internalized problem behaviors by number of siblings. Problem behaviors increased as the number of siblings increased. Employed mothers' children have less problem behavior than unemployed mothers' children. This finding may be associated with more preschool opportunities for employed mothers' children. Significant differences in problem behaviors were also observed by socioeconomic status of parents. These two findings should be interpreted together, as employment status is also related with socio-economic status. Results of the study provide evidence to guide educators and parents struggling to reduce problem behaviors in early childhood.

Social Communication: A Framework for Assessment and Intervention

It’s Elementary: Social Skills Boost Academics

IntroductionDuring the 1980s, the Chinese government adopted the one-child policy in order to curb population growth. Many studies of the one-child policy have indicated that children have suffered impaired communication skills since its introduction (Mao, 2002; Hou, 2003; Kikuchi, 2007). Moreover, with the development of information technology, the wide availability of the Internet, and widespread use of cell-phones, indirect communication has increased. The present problem of Chinese students' gradual loss of social and communication skills has been previously studied, as has the use of university physical education (PE) as an intervention (Wang, 2011). Most attention has been given to the development of original scales of social and communication skills (Ronald, 1986). The lack of communication skills prevents college students from successfully navigating college social environments (Pitan, 2012). Enrico (2003) showed that social skills inversely correlated with emotional expressivity. Furthermore, social skills inversely correlated with psychological distress (Uchiyama, 2011). Thus, social skills may significantly influence mental health.In recent years, there have been many studies on social skills, not only in China, but also in Japan, where social skills also appear to be declining. Many studies have shown that lack of communication is associated with interpersonal tension, having to repeat a year, and dropping out of school, which can lead students to experience considerable distress (Hashimoto, 2003; Sasaki, 2004 & Sugiyama, 2008). Previous research has also looked at the role of education for university students. Two of the most important goals in undergraduate education are character development and preparation for the working world (Simamoto, 2006). Social skills will prevent social maladjustment and make college life more meaningful (Nishida, 2009). Esra (2011) showed that attachment style was significantly correlated with social skills. In addition, degree of physical exercise has been shown to be significantly correlated with the ability to adapt socially (Xiao, 2007). Life skills can help people communicate with others (Danish & Wallace, 2002). Moreover, adolescents gain sportsmanship skills through sports participation (Danish & Wallace, 2002). PE lessons, due to their content and social circumstance, are experienced differently than are other subjects. Students who adjusted better in PE lessons had a better grasp of social skills (Sasaki, 2004). Particularly, direct engagement in exercise during PE lessons is expected. PE lessons provide the opportunity to teach students nonverbal social skills (Sugiyama, 2008). Team sports provide a natural social skills rehearsal space and chance to make contact with others regularly. Sports experience has been shown to be useful in character and personality development (Ueno, 1998).PE lessons, such as class exercise programs and, dance, can help develop social skills (Simamoto, 2009). College students who participated in athletic clubs had better social skills than did non-athlete students (Nishida, 2009). Furthermore, PE programs specifically designed to enhance social skills are thought to be effective (Osman, 2010). It is important that PE teachers are available and able to model effective communication between students (Norlena, 2010). Nishida (2009) showed that the specific processes of PE lessons, intend to improve social skills can indeed facilitate students' social skill development.However, in China, PE lessons emphasize learning motor skills and improving strength. While the effects of sports and exercise on social skill development have not been extensively explored, there have been a few such studies conducted in China. Wen (2007) created a social adaptation ability evaluation index system, but the application of this system towards social skills development was not discussed. Few studies have examined college students' social adaptation ability in China, and no original social skills scale for the Chinese has been developed. …

Introduction by the column editors: Social skills training as a mode of treatment and rehabilitation of persons who have mental disabilities has been well documented for its efficacy in controlled clinical trials in the United States and in other countries (1). However, only a few attempts have been made to apply social skills training in the context of vocational rehabilitation (2–4). In a recent column, Wallace and colleagues (5) focused on one such effort—a module on workplace fundamentals— and presented data in support of the module’s utility in facilitating the job adjustment of persons who have serious mental illness (5). In this month’s column, Tsang describes a similar program in Hong Kong that is based on the principles of social skills training and that focuses on job search and job tenure for persons with schizophrenia who have a high level of functioning. This program, derived from the “job club” approach of Jacobs and colleagues

Come Play With Me

Gender differences have an impact on the behavior displayed. Understanding these differences will provide a real understanding of differences in children's behavior based on gender, including children's social and emotional behavior. The research aims to see how children's social and emotional skills are based on the child's gender. The method used is a comparative study that looks at differences in social skills and emotional skills of early childhood based on gender. Data collection used instruments to measure children's social and emotional skills to 45 boys and 32 girls in seven early childhood education units in North Sumatra. Data were analyzed through t-test. The results showed that the average social skills of boys were 28.36 and 29.88 for girls' social skills, and the average emotional skills of boys were 22.18 and 23.56 for girls' emotional skills. This means that descriptively the emotional skills of girls are higher than the emotional skills of boys. The results of the study are clear that girls have higher social skills and emotional skills than boys. This is because girls have emotional expressions that are more neutral, calm and peaceful.

California State University, FullertonFollowing recent developments in the measurement of individual differences in nonverbal socialskills, we proposed a conceptual framework for defining and assessing basic social skills. Preliminarytesting resulted in the development of a 105-item, pencil-and-paper measure of seven basic dimen-sions of social skills, called the Social Skills Inventory (SSI). In a series of validation studies usingundergraduate students, the SSI demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity in relation toother measures of nonverbal social skill and traditional personality scales. Scores on the SSI alsopredicted some social group memberships, typical social behaviors, and the depth of social networks.This evidence suggests that the SSI could prove to be a valuable tool for research in personality andsocial psychology and for work in applied settings.In recent years there has been increased attention to denningand assessing individual differences in social abilities and inter-personal skills. Work in this area is progressing on severalfronts. Psychologists have become increasingly concerned withthe assessment and development of social skills for assistingclinical populations (see Curran & Monti, 1982; Trower, Bry-ant, & Argyle, 1978; Wine & Smye, 1981). Personality and so-cial psychologists have developed standardized instruments thatassess dimensions related to interpersonal skill and social effec-tiveness, for example, measures of constructs such as empathy(Hogan, 1969; Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972), shyness, sociabil-ity, (Cheek & Buss, 1981), and self-monitoring (Snyder, 1974,1979). Communication researchers have concerned themselveswith the assessment of communicative competence (Diez,1984;Wiemann, 1977;WiemannB E. L. Thorndike, 1920;R. L. Thorndike, 1936; R. L. Thorndike & Stein, 1937). How-ever, difficulties in assessing social intelligence, particularly theinability to discriminate social intelligence from general intelli-gence, led to the demise of this line of research. It was manyyears later that research on the measurement of social abilitieswas revived with the work of Ouilford and his colleagues onbehavioral intelligence (Guilford, 1967) and the development ofscales to assess empathy (Dymond, 1949; Hogan, 1969). MoreThis research was supported by intramural grants from CaliforniaState University, Fullerton (CSUF) and from a CSUF President's Sum-mer Research Grant.Special thanks go to Barbara Throckmorton, Kathy Lang, and BruceSmith for their tremendous assistance in data collection and to MariaHale, Patti Hopkinson, Larisa Lamb, Mary Lybeck, Kevin McNulty,Mitch Okada, and Debbie White for their help. Chris Cozby, RichardLippa, Keith Widaman, Stan Woll, and Judy Zimmerman made manyhelpful comments and suggestions.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ron-ald E. Riggio, Department of Psychology, California State University,Fullerton, California 92634.recent are the attempts to measure individual differences innonverbal communication skill (Rosenthal, 1979; see alsoO'Sullivan, 1983, for a historical overview).Although the present research is most closely aligned withthis latest orientation, it is impossible to define social skillswithout incorporating the work of a vast array of social scienceresearchers. There is perhaps no adequate single definition ofsocial skills. The variety and assortment of dimensions labeledas social skills is enormous. Yet there are certain consistenciesin the varying theoretical perspectives. Many social skill re-searchers agree that the basic sending and receiving of informa-tion represent key social skills. Indeed, Hall (1979) divided so-cial communication skills into two broad classes of sending andreceiving. Additional social skills involve cognitive abilitiessuch as interpersonal problem-solving skills and role-playingabilities (Meichenbaum, Butler, & Gruson, 1981).Many existing measures of social skills focus on a single, spe-cific type of skill, skill deficit, or skill-related construct such asassertiveness (Rathus, 1973), nonverbal sensitivity (Rosenthal,Hall, DiMatteo, Rogers, & Archer, 1979), fear of negative evalu-ation (Watson & Friend, 1969), or communication apprehen-sion (McCroskey, 1977). Some instruments that purport tomeasure singular dimensions of social skill may, in fact, be as-sessing constructs that are truly multidimensional; that is, com-prised of more basic independent social skills. Such appears tobe the case with Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale (SMS, Snyder,1974), which may be composed of three more basic social skills(Briggs , Cheek & Buss 1980 ; Riggio Friedman 1982 seealso Lennox & Wolfe, 1984). Similar multidimensionality mayunderly the constructs of empathy (Davis, 1983) and assertive-ness (Galassi, Galassi, & Vedder, 1981).The presen t study is an attemp to develop general frame-work for several basic dimensions of social skill and to reporton the construction of a self-report assessment tool to measurethese basic skill dimensions. This framework is derived frommultidisciplinary research on social and interpersonal skills,but it springs most directly from the attempts of social personal-ity psychologists to measure individual differences in nonverbalcommunication skills. Most notable of these attempts are thework of Rosenthal and his colleagues (Rosenthal et al., 1979)and Buck (1984) on measuring nonverbal sensitivity, Friedman

Ms. McKinnon and Ms. Krempa have worked together to create a social skills manual that is appropriate for a wide variety of children on the autism spectrum. Further, they sought to make a manual that could be used by the parents, teachers, or mental health professionals who work with children on the autism spectrum. To target such a wide array of readers is no easy task, but the authors do an excellent job of reaching out to readers at all levels. The text of the book is filled with explanations for why social skills strategies are necessary, both based on the authors’ clinical experiences and drawn from research. Although the language is primarily easy to read, some professional terminology is used in the book. To ensure all readers can follow along, the authors provide a glossary at the end of the book which contains nearly 100 entries, ranging from data-focused terms (e.g., baseline, frequency) to intervention-focused terms (e.g., errorless teaching, positive behavioral support). The strategies within the book are based on the broad ABA approach, pulling from a variety of techniques under that umbrella. Strategies incorporate visual supports, video modeling, social stories, scripts, verbal behavior, and many other methodologies that fall within the realm of ABA. The authors focus on the importance of using data driven strategies. They take the reader from initial assessment through goal-setting and implementation of strategies to ongoing assessment. The authors outline a sequential list of social skills that build upon one another and have created a social skills checklist that can be used to assess each child within that list of skills. Once assessment has been completed, the authors focus on utilizing a variety of social skills strategies. At this point, the book focuses on providing a long list of many strategies that may be appropriate for children working on the skills noted on the checklist. The appendices of the book provide some visual supports for implementing some of the strategies noted, but the number of strategies suggested is too great to provide examples for all of them. Additionally, some of the strategies are vague in terms of details on how to implement the strategy. While many professionals would have the necessary background for implementation, parents may find themselves needing a bit more support or information before utilizing some of the strategies outlined. Nonetheless, so many strategies are suggested, nearly anyone reading this book would find some helpful suggestions for the child with autism in their life. The information about strategies presented within Social Skills Solutions is often scattered throughout the book. For example, information about video modeling is presented early in the manual as a possible strategy, but the rationale and specific details for video modeling are presented later in the book. The reason for using specific strategies is presented early in the book, but samples of those strategies are presented in the appendices. Given the way in which the book is designed, it would be most helpful for readers to read through the entire book before selecting some of the suggested strategies for use with children. This approach would ensure that the reader had all necessary information for appropriately implementing the selected strategies. It is important to note that this book does not appear to be designed as a ‘‘use as you go’’ type of reference, but rather as an information-packed manual that should be read in its entirety first. S. L. Pozdol (&) Riley Hospital for Children and IU School of Medicine, Christian Sarkine Autism Treatment Center, 702 Barnhill Drive, Suite #4300, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA e-mail: spozdol@iupui.edu

Social and behavioral problems can interfere with a child's acquisition of age-appropriate skills, which may lead to antisocial behavior in adolescence and adulthood. Thus, determining how best to support positive skills during early childhood is critical. Using data from the first three phases of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, I investigated whether participation in preschool, first, or third grade classrooms that were more emotionally supportive or academically focused resulted in better social skills and fewer problem behaviors at key transition points (i.e., preschool and third grade) than did participation in classrooms that were less supportive or less academically focused. Three findings are noteworthy. First, more emotionally supportive classrooms resulted in better social skills and fewer problem behaviors in preschool and third grade, even after correcting for observed family, child, and neighborhood selection factors; this effect did not exist for classrooms that were more academically focused. Second, immersion in classrooms that were more emotionally supportive at preschool, first, and third grade led to better social skills and fewer problem behaviors in preschool and third grade than did immersion in classrooms of average or below average emotional support across this period. Third, observed child factors, as opposed to family or neighborhood factors, seem to drive the pattern of findings. Effect sizes were small to modest. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

The relationship of different learning environments (traditional versus constructivist/collaborative) to students’ psychological sense of community in the classroom was examined in this study. In addition to students’ sense of community, students’ social skills and social behavior were also examined. Measures of students’ psychological sense of community in the classroom, social problem-solving skills, one’s own social behavior, and social behavior of the class were collected. Results from this study suggest that constructivist/collaborative learning environments support students’ psychological sense of community in the classroom and social problemsolving skills better than traditional learning environments, and that psychological sense of community in the classroom is an important factor in students’ social skills and social behavior in the classroom setting.

Intellectual disability has been addressed by different disciplines up to the present and has been defined differently depending on the views of different disciplines. Preliminary definitions of intellectual disability underline biological and medical criteria whereas educational definitions stand out when teachers and psychologists are more interested in the subject (Heward, 2003). Among these definitions, the one provided by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disability (AAIDD) is the most widely accepted. Apart from this one, in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) by the American Psychological Association (APA) and in the system of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) of the World Health Organization (WHO), definitions have also been provided (Sucuoglu, 2010).AAIDD (2002) defines intellectual disability as a disability characterized by significant limitations in intellectual functioning; conceptual, social and practical skills; and adaptive behavior which originate before the age of 18 (Eripek, 2009; Hourcade, 2002). Different from AAIDD, the DSM-5 manual (2013) uses adaptive functioning instead of adaptive behavior in its definition and indicates that adaptive functioning includes three domains (conceptual, social and practical) which determine how well an individual copes with everyday tasks (APA, 2013). On the other hand, the definition provided by ICD-10 (1993) underlines the incomplete development of the mind and disorders in cognitive, linguistic, motor, and social abilities that play a role in determining level of intelligence (Eripek, 2009; Sucuoglu, 2010). It is worth noting that all of these definitions refer to disabilities in terms of conceptual, social, and practical skills that enable individuals to carry out everyday tasks apart from disabilities in mental functions. This is an indicator of the fact that social skills deficits are one of the criteria taken into account when determining intellectual disabilities.The literature has emphasized that social skills deficits, which are defined as the inability to learn various social skills or the inability to use previously acquired social skills in appropriate situations and settings, are common among individuals with intellectual disabilities (McCoy & Hermansen, 2007; Vuran 2012). The reasons why individuals with intellectual disabilities exhibit social deficits more may include the manifestation of behavioral and cognitive disabilities in addition to having limited random learning skills and interactions with peers with typical development (Huang & Cuvo, 1997; Sargent, 1991), experiencing of rejection from their peers with typical development, and being rejected by circles due to a negative perception (Sazak, 2003). These reasons negatively affect the decisions of individuals with intellectual disabilities in terms of how they should act in society, creating behavioral problems and negatively affecting the acquisition of social skills through environmental observation and modeling (Ciftci & Sucuoglu, 2004; Sargent, 1991).Overcoming social skills deficits for individuals with intellectual or other developmental disabilities can be possible by providing social skills which are taught systematically (Begun, 1996; Sugai & Lewis, 1996). In this respect, direct teaching, social reinforcement, feedback, giving clues, incidental teaching, shaping, being a model, behavioral rehearsal, cooperative learning, peer learning, video modeling, Social Stories, and pivotal response teaching are commonly used strategies for teaching social skills to individuals with intellectual disabilities (Baker, 2004; Colak, 2007; Olcay-Gul, 2012; Sargent, 1991). Video modeling and Social Stories have been the most prominent strategies in recent years.Video modeling was developed on the assumptions of observational learning theory. It is an intervention which uses video modeling instead of live modeling for teaching a new behavior or changing an existing one; it is implemented by getting learners to watch all the steps of a target behavior from a video before being taught (Bellini, Akullian, & Hopf, 2007; Charlop-Christy, Le, & Freeman, 2000; Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2006; Sansosti & Powell-Smith, 2008). …

<p>本研究旨在透過桌上遊戲融入社會技巧教學，以改善國小視障學童與明眼同儕相處時不適當之行為並增進其互動。採用行動研究方式，以一名國小四年級就讀特教班視障學童與六名明眼同儕透過三款桌上遊戲進行互動，進行兩次循環共八週16堂課的桌上遊戲融入社會技巧教學。教學活動後，研究者進入視障學童進行融合課程之普通班級觀察兩週，了解教學實施後人際互動的應用成效。資料蒐集包含：「國民中小學社交技巧行為與特徵檢核表」分數、觀察記錄表、教學省思日誌以及訪談資料等。研究結論顯示，（一）社交技巧直接教學並搭配桌上遊戲實際互動，透過循環調整教學目標之課程方案為可行之教學方式；（二）視障學童在「提升挫折容忍力」、「不誤解他人意思」、「不隨意碰觸他人物品」等社會技巧能力有所改善，並增進了在普通班的人際互動；（三）行動研究有助於提升研究者在應用桌上遊戲融入課程規劃與教學成長、教學溝通與協調等教師專業知能。最後，根據本研究的發現與結論，提出相關建議供未來教學與研究參考。</p> <p> </p><p>Purpose</p> <p>In Taiwan, special education is committed to promoting inclusive education. Therefore, students in centralized special education classes in many schools are assigned part of the time to ordinary classes, so that students in special education classes have the opportunity to interact and communicate with teachers and students in ordinary classes. However, it was found that special students lack social skills, and there are still many difficulties in interacting with ordinary class students. In order to solve the problems observed by researchers in the teaching field, the purpose of this study is as follows. (1) To develop the teaching of social skills of board games for the student with visual impairment. (2) To explore whether the teaching of board game integration and social skills to the student with visual impairment can improve inappropriate behaviors in interpersonal interaction, and whether it can enhance interpersonal interaction with sighted peers. (3) To understand the researcher’s teaching growth and reflection in the process of teaching research. Literature review: Social skills of visually impaired students: Many studies had pointed out that in addition to systematic curriculum planning, the curriculum design of providing social skills for visually impaired students pays more attention to providing opportunities to interact with sighted peers during the curriculum, so as to increase the experience of practical interpersonal interaction. In Taiwan, relevant research on the intervention of social skills teaching for visually impaired students mainly focuses on improving social skills of visually impaired students through direct teaching or group training to cope with their interpersonal challenges. However, the research design of interacting with discerning peers had not been introduced into the curriculum. Application of board games in special education and considerations for visually impaired students: In recent years, board games have been paid more and more attention to and widely used in the teaching of special students. In terms of the objects of empirical research, most of them focused on teaching interventions to improve the interpersonal interaction of students with autism, intellectual disability, ADHD, etc. At the same time, in recent years, we have also begun to see the design and research of board games targeting the visually impaired. However, they were still lack of relevant empirical research on how to improve the interpersonal interaction of visually impaired students by teaching courses through board games. Therefore, this study intends to develop and revise the teaching plan of integrating board games into social skills. At the same time, evaluate the implementation effect of board games integrating social skills teaching on the interpersonal interaction between the student of visual impairment and discerning students. And analyze the impact of the implementation process on teachers’ professionalism Intellectual growth and reflection.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Action research: This study adopted the action research method to explore the practice and effect of integrating board games into the teaching of social skills for the student of visual impairment. Participants: A fourth-grade visually impaired student in a centralized special education class in an ordinary school, and six discerning board game interactive students. These six students had no disability qualifications, were recommended by teachers to be emotionally stable, and had no interaction experience with the visually impaired student in this study. In addition, this study also included other relevant participants, including researchers, teacher assistants, teachers in integrated classes, students in integrated classes, etc. Curriculum design: This study designed 8 weeks and 16 lessons for teaching intervention, the first four weeks as the first round, and the last four weeks as the second round. Each lesson lasts forty minutes, and there were two classes a week. The first class of the week was teaching social skills through direct teaching; the second class was board game activities, inviting students with discerning eyes to participate in the board game together, if the student of visual impairment had inappropriate behavior during the process, teacher paused the game immediately and taught the appropriate method at the same time. The table games in this study were: “Arabian Pot” for hearing, “UNO” for vision, and “Star Trek” for touch. At the same time, when interacting with the table games, adjust the playing methods and rules of the board games in a timely manner according to the characteristics of the visually impaired students and the relevant precautions in the teaching of the student of visual impairment. Research tools: The research tools in this study included: Social Skills Behavior and Characteristics Checklist for Primary and Secondary Schools, Board Game Social Skills Record Form, Integration Class Behavior Observation Record Form, Interview Record, Teaching Reflection Log. Research process: The research processes were divided into three stages. The first stage was the preparatory stage. The second stage was the teaching practice stage. This implementation plan was not a one-way straight line. If new problems or teaching difficulties were discovered during the research process, the solution would be rethought and new action strategies would be implemented. The third stage was the data processing and analysis stage after teaching. Data processing and analysis: This research used different sources to collect data, including teaching reflections, text files translated from teaching videos, standardized assessment tests, board game social skills record sheets, fusion class behavior observation record sheets, and interview data of different subjects. At the same time, triangular cross-validation was carried out to check the consistency and reliability of the data. Research ethics: In this study, informed consent was obtained from the research subjects and relevant participants.</p> <p>Results </p> <p>The results showed that, (1) The developed curriculum plan was a feasible teaching method; (2) The student with visual impairment had improved social skills such as “improving frustration tolerance”, “not misinterpreting other people’s meaning”, “not touching other people’s objects casually”, and he enhanced the interpersonal interaction in ordinary classes; (3) The action research helped to increase teacher’s professional knowledge.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The teaching suggestion is to establish opportunities for ordinary students and special students to study together, and for special education teachers to take the initiative. Suggestions for future research include increasing the duration of social skills lessons and using board games to train other social skills.</p> <p> </p>

Social skills are important building blocks for attaining the social competence necessary for school and vocational adjustment. Comprehensive expectations in the classroom are similar to those in the workplace where social behaviors and skill performance are continuously being reviewed. Educators of emotionally disturbed students must deal with social problems that isolate students (Byrnes, 1990; Davis, 1989). Knapczyk (1988) pinpointed these problems as per taining to students' inabilities to conform to school codes. Since lack of conformity is viewed negatively, such behaviors can result in exclusion, ridicule, or isolation (Fox & McNeil, 1987) and place students with behavioral problems at risk for other mental health problems such as rejection, which Kerr and Nelson (1983) and Rubin and Clark (1983) reported as a signifi cant cause of delinquent behavior and academic failure. After confirming the importance of social skills training for community employment of stu dents with mild handicaps, Foss, Auty, and Irvin (1989) suggested that social skills instruc tion should have a high priority in curriculum planning. In any setting, the current focus is upon an effective curriculum which includes preventive and remedial approaches to social problems (Argyle, 1986; Kramer, 1988; Young & Kerr, 1979). McConnell (1987) suggested that the curriculum should include opportunities to partici pate in interpersonal communication in an environment where verbal interactions are ac cepted and students are guided to refine the effectiveness of their communication. Strain and Fox (1981) demonstrated that effective communication also enhances friendship build ing which is a major contributor to social and emotional health. When reminding us that peers of the emotionally disordered tend to remember negative behaviors and reacted with more negative behavior, Dodge (1983) reinforced the need for intervention strategies to in fluence interpersonal communication. Coaching techniques used in the Skillstreaming Curriculum (McGinnis & Goldstein, 1984) were designed to improve interpersonal communication in five groups of prosocial skills at the elementary level and six groups at the middle school level. The skills include classroom survival, friendship making, dealing with feelings, alternatives to aggression, dealing with stress, and planning. The present study was designed to examine effects of these coaching procedures on students' perceptions, of their social skills and teachers' perceptions concerning social be haviors of students staffed into classes for the behaviorally disordered. In addition, variables related to age, race, and socioeconomic status were examined.

An Initial Pilot Study Examining Child Social Skills, Caregiver Styles, and Family Functioning in the PEERS® for Preschoolers Program for Young Autistic Children and their Caregivers