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Although social skills training procedures are in their infancy, relatively speaking, a considerable and growing body of research has supported its use ... Gresham (1981) has provided an exhaustive review of it as it relates to handicapped children, and the reader is encouraged to pursue it.

At least three impressions evolve from the literature in regard to empirical demonstrations of social skills training. First, the research clearly indicates that the future vocational and personality adjustment of troubled and handicapped youths is associated with personal and social adjustment. For example, mildly retarded adults often fail in employment situations not because of characteristics related primarily to cognitive limitations per se but due rather to social skills deficits (Greenspan and Schoultz 1981). Further, evidence supports the observation that the personality development of children manifesting social skills deficits is compromised, with an increase in the probability of mental health problems as adults (Rolf et al. 1972). These data strongly support the belief that troubled children and youths require social skills training as a necessary advance toward successful adjustment as adults.

Second, research evidence as reported in many studies (Gresham 1981) indicates that while social skills can be taught, generalization and maintenance of these newly learned skills cannot be assumed. Whether the problem lies in the manner in which these skills are defined and objectified or in the adequacy of existing technology to produce generalization, is not clear. Regardless, the literature suggests that practitioners take care to invest energies in broadening the range of environments in which the newly learned social skill is displayed equal to those invested in producing the skill in the first place. The criterion of success should be whether these skills work in the real world, not whether they work in treatment settings.

The third and perhaps most far-reaching impression from the literature concerns whether persons in the natural environments of these troubled adolescents have the necessary social skills to reinforce the improved social skills of treated youngsters. Data from studies of mainstreaming programs indicate that mere exposure or introduction to mainstream settings of handicapped children who have received social skills instruction is not sufficient to effect successful social exchanges and relationships (Gresham 1982); similar findings have been reached by post discharge research on children who have returned to their families after successful adjustments in residential treatment centers with varied technologies. Treatment plans for the reintroduction of treated youngsters into families and schools must first change to some degree the social skills repertoires and tolerances of these receiving environments.

RICHARD FOX
Fox, R.G. (1990) Social Skills Training: Teaching troubled youths to be socially competent, in Krueger, M. and Powell, N. (eds.) Choices in Caring: Contemporary approaches to child and youth care work. Washington DC: Child Welfare League of America, pp. 39–64