Social skills assessment and intervention for children and youth

Children and youth with deficits in social competence present substantial challenges for schools, teachers, parents and peers. These challenges cut across disciplinary, instructional and interpersonal domains and they frequently create chaotic home, school and classroom environments. Schools are charged with teaching an increasingly diverse student population in terms of prevailing attitudes, beliefs, behavioural styles, and racial/ethnic and language backgrounds. This article reviews the evidence-based literature on social skills assessment and intervention strategies for children and youth. The article begins with a discussion of the conceptualisation of social competence in which is described how social skills can function as academic enablers and how problem behaviours can function as academic disablers. It then describes various methodological and conceptual issues in social skills interventions and details specific social skills assessment strategies. This discussion is followed by a description of social skills intervention strategies and a discussion of multi-tiered social skills intervention programmes is provided. The article concludes with a discussion of the literature’s implications for teaching social skills in the schools.