SOCIAL SKILLS INTERVENTIONS FOR CHILDREN

Children who exhibit social skills deficits experience short-term, and often long-term, negative consequences. Reasons for such deficits, wh ich have treatment utility, are reviewed and a number of procedures fo r treating children's social skills deficits are examined. In this art icle, these procedures are categorized into one of three broad and som ewhat overlapping treatment approaches: operant conditioning, social l earning, or cognitive-behavioral procedures. Descriptions of specific treatment procedures are provided, along with an examination of the ef fectiveness data, to support the various approaches to enhancing child ren's social behavior. The research literature provides strong support for the use of operant and social learning techniques, particularly w ith preschool and elementary school children.