Effects of a Social Skills Curriculum on Middle School Students with Cognitive Disabilities

Abstract

This study explored the effects of a social skills curriculum on middle school adolescents with cognitive disabilities, including the maintenance of skills over a 7 week period. Utilization of an ABA (i.e. baseline, intervention, and baseline), repeated, single subject design was used across a classroom group of eight students, five males and three females. The researcher introduced three social skills with the intention of increasing the desired behaviors as well as allowing for opportunities for the maintenance of desired behaviors through the use of a variety of classroom and community settings. Social stories and case programming were utilized to teach and review each targeted behavior. A reward system was implemented to encourage positive change in each of the three behaviors. Maintenance of the targeted skills: personal space, appropriately interrupting, and appropriate greetings were evaluated. The results of this study were gathered through frequency recording and recorded in graph and discussion form which indicate this social skills curriculum is an effective strategy to teach desired behaviors. The results will be used to add to an area of social skills research which continues to need attention to enable individuals with disabilities to function to their fullest potential.