Skills Training Program For Children Research Articles

FEASIBILITY STUDY OF COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY-BASED INTERVENTION FOR ENHANCING SOCIAL SKILLS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL CHILDREN IN PAKISTAN: A RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL

Social skills deficits interfere with academic, emotional and social functioning, and are frequent among adolescents with behavioral and emotional problems. The current study was carried out to assess the feasibility of cognitive behavioral therapy-based intervention that aims at improving social skills among secondary school children in Pakistan. For this purpose, Initial screening was carried out of N=651 students, age range 14-18 years, using BASC- Behavioral and Emotional Screening system 3. Students were selected from four different schools of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A randomized contrail was carried out and 28 students were randomized in intervention group and control group with randomization ratio 1:1. Intervention group was given cognitive behavior therapy based social skills training, that was comprised of weekly group sessions. The results were encouraging and showed a significant change in Personal Risk Index (PRI) due to treatment in timeline (F=40.48, p=.00, ηp 2=.67), group (F=16.36, p=.00, ηp 2=.45) and interaction of group*timeline (F=19.67, p=.00, ηp 2=.49). Moreover, a change is also noted in internalizing risk and an improvement in self-regulation. In addition to this, an overall decline in Behavioral and Emotional Risk index is also evident. These trials highlight the importance of implementation of social skills training programs for children and may further help in the capacity building of teachers to enhance social skills in students.

Sustainability of a Given Ten-Week Motor Skills Training Program for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder.

The aim of this research was to determine the sustainability of a given ten-week motor skills training program for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Children with DCD in four kindergartens in the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan were selected to take part in the study. Participants were 24 children between 4 and 6 years old (5.25 ± 0.13 years), assigned to an intervention group (IG: 17 children; 10 boys) and a control group (CG: 7 children; 4 boys). The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) was used to assess motor competence pre-intervention, post-intervention, and retention test measurement after 18 months. The retention test results for the IG indicated a decline in all three motor domains of MABC-2. Despite this, the results that were acquired during the retention test came out to be better than the results that were achieved during the pre-test. At the same time, children who were allocated to the CG maintained their performance. The findings suggest that a preschool-based motor skill training program has the potential to increase motor skills in children with DCD. However, the positive benefits produced by the intervention may decrease over the course of time if the intervention is not continued.

Adapting and pretesting the World Health Organization’s Caregiver Skills Training Program for children with autism and developmental disorders or delays in Hong Kong

The World Health Organization Caregiver Skills Training Program (WHO-CST) was developed to strengthen caregivers’ skills in supporting children with developmental delays and the caregivers’ well-being. The WHO-CST Hong Kong (HK) was adapted, and pre-pilot tested to support families with children suspected of having developmental delays and autism spectrum disorder and to empower the caregivers to foster their children’s learning, social communication, and adaptive behavior. A sequential mixed-methods research methodology was undertaken to examine the adaptation process and initial implementation experiences. The acceptability, feasibility, and perceived benefits of the WHO-CST were assessed using stakeholders’ and caregivers’ qualitative and caregivers’ quantitative pre- and post-intervention feedback. The data included materials generated from (1) three consultation meetings with stakeholders; (2) detailed reviews of the translated and adapted WHO-CST materials by master trainees (n = 10) trained by the WHO-CST representatives; (3) needs assessment focus group interviews with caregivers (n = 15) of children with autism spectrum disorder; and (4) pre- and post-CST program qualitative focus group interviews and quantitative evaluation. Consultation with stakeholders suggested that the program was acceptable for the local community, but the home visit and fidelity components were initially considered to be challenges towards the feasibility and sustainability of the program. Caregivers in the needs assessment focus groups gave widely diverse views about the program’s uniqueness, length, delivery mode, and the inclusion of videotaping in-home visits. Post-intervention comments by caregivers about the program were mainly positive, while the MTs were critical of the content and length of the training and fidelity process. As one of the first high-income locations to adopt the WHO-CST, the evaluation findings of the WHO-CST-HK indicate that it is feasible and acceptable to implement the program in a metropolitan area where families have busy work schedules and are very conscious of privacy issues. The study results suggest that the WHO-CST program in HK and other high-income countries require scaling up and further evaluation of its implementation in real community settings. This involves systemic and contextual changes to allow task-sharing between professionals and non-specialists at the macro level. Furthermore, technology should be used to support the supervision of non-specialists. In addition, easier access to the WHO-CST materials at the micro level is required to ensure equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion of diversified families of children with developmental delays.

Development and Application of a Metaverse-Based Social Skills Training Program for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder to Improve Social Interaction: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by abnormalities in social communication and limited and repetitive behavioral patterns. Children with ASD who lack social communication skills will eventually not interact with others and will lack peer relationships when compared to ordinary people. Thus, it is necessary to develop a program to improve social communication abilities using digital technology in people with ASD.ObjectiveWe intend to develop and apply a metaverse-based child social skills training program aimed at improving the social interaction abilities of children with ASD aged 7-12 years. We plan to compare and analyze the biometric information collected through wearable devices when applying the metaverse-based social skills training program to evaluate emotional changes in children with ASD in stressful situations.MethodsThis parallel randomized controlled study will be conducted on children aged 7-12 years diagnosed with ASD. A metaverse-based social skills training program using digital technology will be administered to children who voluntarily wish to participate in the research with consent from their legal guardians. The treatment group will participate in the metaverse-based social skills training program developed by this research team once a week for 60 minutes per session for 4 weeks. The control group will not intervene during the experiment. The treatment group will use wearable devices during the experiment to collect real-time biometric information.ResultsThe study is expected to recruit and enroll participants in March 2022. After registering the participants, the study will be conducted from March 2022 to May 2022. This research will be jointly conducted by Yonsei University and Dobrain Co Ltd. Children participating in the program will use the internet-based platform.ConclusionsThe metaverse-based Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) will be effective in improving the social skills of children with ASD, similar to the offline PEERS program. The metaverse-based PEERS program offers excellent accessibility and is inexpensive because it can be administered at home; thus, it is expected to be effective in many children with ASD. If a method can be applied to detect children's emotional changes early using biometric information collected through wearable devices, then emotional changes such as anxiety and anger can be alleviated in advance, thus reducing issues in children with ASD.Trial RegistrationClinical Research Information Service KCT0006859; https://tinyurl.com/4r3k7cmjInternational Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/35960

Long-Term Treatment Outcomes of PEERS® for Preschoolers: A Parent-Mediated Social Skills Training Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Although parent-assisted social skills interventions may reduce early social challenges in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), limited research has explored whether intervention gains maintain several years after treatment. This study examined the durability of PEERS® for Preschoolers, a parent-mediated social skills training program for preschool-aged children with ASD and other social challenges. Twenty-nine parents reported on child and family outcomes 1–5 years following treatment. Results demonstrated maintenance of treatment gains on measures of ASD-related social impairments including social communication, social responsiveness, social motivation, and peer engagement. Post-treatment improvements in problem behaviors and parenting stress were not maintained at long-term follow-up. Implications of these results are discussed.

Object Control Skills Training for Children With Intellectual Disability: An Implementation Case Study

Children with intellectual disability (ID) tend to have difficulty with mastering fundamental movement skills, associated with cognitive deficits that impair skill acquisition. In this case study, motor learning evidence was transformed into an object control skills training program for children with ID in a school context. An implementation framework was used for program design, pilot, and evaluation. Research evidence on error-reduced motor learning was combined with practitioners’ insights to inform the program design. Children with ID in the participant school were allocated to a training or control group for the pilot; object control skills proficiency was the measured outcome. The lead trainer was interviewed and their notes were reviewed for process evaluation. Significant improvements in participants’ object control skills proficiency were found following training. The process evaluation confirmed fidelity and identified implementation factors. The systematically designed application was found beneficial for children with ID. Implementation criteria were identified for future iterations of an error-reduced approach to training movement skills of children with ID.

Effectiveness of the Parent-Child Social Skills Training Program for Children with Developmental Disorders: A quasi-experimental design

Effectiveness of the Parent-Child Social Skills Training Program for Children with Developmental Disorders: A quasi-experimental design

A Design Thinking Model Based on Quantitative Electroencephalography in Social Emotional Learning for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ABSTRACTTo design a social and emotional learning (SEL) skills training program for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Quantitative electroencephalography was analyzed, focusing on the strengths and weaknesses in the brain mapping performance (BMP) of children. A total of 305 participants with and without ADHD were recruited. Theta relative power was analyzed using stepwise multiple regression. Twelve brain locations were further predicted using a design thinking model to develop a reasonable prototype via crossover methods. Both strengths and weaknesses were found at the T5 and F7 brain regions in the ADHD group. The Fz region was a well‐defined predictor in both groups. The co‐predictors of both groups were F3 and F4. No comparison was suggested to enhance positive performance in either group of children. The SEL program could be designed based on a good‐fit model of the BMP of these subcomponents of primary brain functions.

Effective Components of Social Skills Training Programs for Children and Adolescents in Nonclinical Samples: A Multilevel Meta-analysis.

Social skills training (SST) programs for nonclinical children and adolescents are known to have positive effects on social skills, but it remains unclear how distinct training components are related to program effects. This multilevel meta-analysis examines how psychoeducation (i.e., exercises aimed at the transfer of knowledge), psychophysical components (i.e., physical exercises aimed at improving self-confidence and trust in others), skill-building components (i.e., exercises aimed at improving interpersonal skills), and cognitive-emotional components (i.e., exercises aimed at changing emotions and cognitions) are independently related to SST program effects. We extracted data from 97 articles describing 839 effect sizes. Training content data were extracted from 60 corresponding SST programs. Our results showed that SST programs had a positive effect on the development of interpersonal skills and emotional skills in nonclinical samples: d = .369, 95% CI [.292, .447], p < .001. This effect was positively influenced by the inclusion of psychoeducation and skill-building components. The inclusion of psychophysical components and the number of cognitive-emotional components did not influence program effects. For psychoeducation and skill-building components, we observed a curvilinear relationship between intensity and effect size: programs including three to six psychoeducational exercises yielded larger effect sizes compared to programs with more or fewer psychoeducational exercises, and programs with 11 to 20 skill-building exercises outperformed programs with more or fewer skill-building exercises. These findings are an indication that psychoeducational components and skill-building components are related to larger SST program effects, granted that the dosage is right.

Evaluating Dosage Effects in a Social-Emotional Skills Training Program for Children: An Application of Generalized Propensity Scores

ABSTRACTIn a study of the Making Choices social-emotional skills training program for children, generalized propensity scores (GPS) were used to estimate treatment effects by dosage. Dosage analyses provide information regarding the optimal amount of exposure to interventions. In addition to applying dosage analysis to an evaluation of the Making Choices program, this article reviews issues encountered during dosage analyses. It introduces GPS methods, a relatively recent development within the family of propensity score methods. Based on data from 267 3rd graders who participated in a trial of Making Choices, intervention effects varied significantly by dosage, with greater social competence demonstrated by children who had higher intervention exposure.

Interprofessional clinical education for occupational therapy and psychology students: A social skills training program for children with autism spectrum disorders

An interprofessional clinical learning experience was developed for pre-licensure occupational therapy (OT) and psychology graduate students. Students worked in interprofessional teams to plan and implement a social skills training program for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The objectives were to provide a hands-on, student-led clinical experience; facilitate interprofessional collaborative learning through leadership partnerships and teach children with ASD to engage in appropriate social skill behaviors. Concurrently, faculty performed qualitative research to explore how the students worked together to provide intervention to the children. Data were collected via interview, direct observation of student planning sessions and student interprofessional interactions, and collection of posts from an online social network site used for session planning. There were six student participants and two faculty participants. Four themes emerged: learning who I am as a professional, learning to appreciate our professional differences, learning to communicate with each other and figuring it out, for the benefit of the kids. This interprofessional clinical learning experience and research helps ensure that students are adequately prepared to represent their profession as part of a diverse interprofessional health care team.

Yet Another Social Skills Training Program for Children: Why?

Yet Another Social Skills Training Program for Children: Why?

Avatar Assistant: Improving Social Skills in Students with an ASD Through a Computer-Based Intervention

This study assessed the efficacy of FaceSay, a computer-based social skills training program for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This randomized controlled study (N=49) indicates that providing children with low-functioning autism (LFA) and high functioning autism (HFA) opportunities to practice attending to eye gaze, discriminating facial expressions and recognizing faces and emotions in FaceSay's structured environment with interactive, realistic avatar assistants improved their social skills abilities. The children with LFA demonstrated improvements in two areas of the intervention: emotion recognition and social interactions. The children with HFA demonstrated improvements in all three areas: facial recognition, emotion recognition, and social interactions. These findings, particularly the measured improvements to social interactions in a natural environment, are encouraging.

Adapting Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Children: Towards a New Research Agenda for Paediatric Suicidal and Non-Suicidal Self-Injurious Behaviours

BACKGROUND: Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) has been used to treat adults and adolescents with suicidal and non-suicidal self-injury. This article describes initial progress in modifying DBT for affected pre-adolescent children. METHOD: Eleven children from regular education classes participated in a 6-week pilot DBT skills training program for children. Self-report measures of children's emotional and behavioural difficulties, social skills and coping strategies were administered at pre- and post-intervention, and indicated that the children had mild to moderate symptoms of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation at baseline. RESULTS: Subjects were able to understand and utilise DBT skills for children and believed that the skills were important and engaging. Parents also regarded skills as important, child friendly, comprehensible and beneficial. At post-treatment, children reported a significant increase in adaptive coping skills and significant decreases in depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and problematic internalising behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: These promising preliminary results suggest that continued development of DBT for children with more severe clinical impairment is warranted. Progress on adapting child individual DBT and developing a caregiver training component in behavioural modification and validation techniques is discussed.

Examining the Permanence of the Effect of a Social Skills Training Program for the Acquisition of Social Problem-Solving Skills

The aim of this study was to investigate the permanence of the effect of a social skills training program for children in increasing skills relating to solving social problems and understanding others' feelings during the preschool period (children aged 6 years). A total of 55 children took part in the research (35 in the experimental group and 20 in the control group). A social skills training program was taught to the children in the experimental group for 2 hours a week over 22 weeks and it was found that it significantly affected their social problem-solving skills and understanding of others' feelings. Results of posttest scores of the children and their scores after 1 year indicated that the Social Skills Training Program for Children maintains its effects.

Improving Children?s Coping With Everyday Stress: Transporting Treatment Interventions to the School Setting

Children are continuously confronted with everyday stressors in their daily routine, and their ability to deal with these stressors has been found to be significantly related to their psychological adjustment. In fact, numerous studies have indicated that having a repertoire of coping skills at a young age can be a "buffer" or moderator" of the effects of negative life stress on the development of psychological maladjustment. Because of the importance of developing adequate skills to navigate life's daily challenges, a number of school-based interventions have been designed with the goal of teaching children specific "problem-focused" skills that are presumed to enhance coping, yet fewer programs have taught children "emotion focused" skills such as cognitive restructuring or emotional regulation to deal with more uncontrollable stressors. This paper begins with a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on children's coping with everyday stress and then provides a description of several existing coping skills training programs for children, highlighting those that are school-based interventions. A description is provided of a brief, school based intervention that was recently implemented to determine the differential effects of teaching young children "problem-focused" skills and teaching "emotion-focused" skills on children's subsequent use of specific coping strategies. The study and its outcomes are reviewed. The final section of the paper focuses on issues related to conducting intervention research in the schools, and specific suggestions for researchers are delineated for every stage in the process of school based research, to best assure that the research program can be implemented in the schools efficiently and effectively.

Early Development and Pilot Testing of a Problem-Solving Skills-Training Program for Children

This pilot study examined the impact of a prototype problem-solving skills-training program, Making Choices, on proximal outcomes in 70 6th-grade students. Method: Students received three components of Making Choices and completed pretest and posttest measures of skills on each component. Paired-sample t tests were used to assess proximal effects. Baseline measures were used to identify four subgroups of children, and differences in skill acquisition across subgroups were assessed. Results: Students displayed significantly higher scores at posttest on measures of two of three proximal skills. Nonaggressive-accepted and aggressive-accepted students displayed stronger skills at posttest, and aggressive-rejected and nonaggressive-rejected students failed to show significant gains. Conclusions: Results provided preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of Making Choices and guided refinement of the prototype program.

STOP THINK DO: Treatment and prevention of social-behavioural problems

This paper outlines a cognitive-behavioural-motivational social skills training program for children and adolescents in a clinic or school setting, with a treatment or preventive focus. The approach is didactic and experiential, reflected in its core skill and process – the STOP THINK DO method of social problem solving and relating, following the traffic light cue. The program is broad based to include essential social supports, namely parents, teachers and peers to encourage transfer and maintenance of social skills and pro-social attitudes. Essentially, STOP THINK DO is a behaviour management method for adults and social skills training method for children. A future direction involves the implementation of a curriculum based program as a primary prevention strategy through the formal promotion of social competence in Australian school children. This application represents the confluence of theory, research and practice in social development, plus the interface between developmental, systems and community psychology.

A classroom-based social skills training program for children with social competence and school adjustment problems

The increasing emphasis on social development in the curriculum of schools today has necessitated that teachers acquire strategies for social skills training. In this study the effectiveness of a classroom-based social skills training program is evaluated. Derived from a cognitive-social learning and behavioural perspective the program emphasizes the direct verbal explanation and modelling of social skills along with guided practice, role playing and beedback as the mechanism for developing social competence in socially rejected or neglected primary age children. The program was found to be moderately successful in improving social competence and social acceptance as measured by peer and teacher ratings. Implications for further research are discusses.