2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
School-based social skills training to improve social adjustment of children with learning disabilities
| Project/Area Number |
15530627
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Special needs education
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| Research Institution | University of Miyazaki |
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Principal Investigator |
SATO Yoko University of Miyazaki, Faculty of Education, Professor, 教育文化学部, 教授 (50196284)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | learning disabilities / children with LD / peer relationship / social adaptation / social skills / school-based / group training / contextual model |
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| Research Abstract |
In attempt to diffuse the knowledge about learning disabilities among school teachers and parents, special lectures were given at different areas in Miyazaki prefecture. After this, 2230 elementary school children were screened for learning disabilities by PRS. The children suspected to have learning disabilities were further inspected by WISC-III, K-ABC, DAM and some other neuropsychological tests, and 67 children were identified to have learning disability.
Then, these children were given some assessments for their social adaptation which included self-reported social skills, social competence, loneliness. The classroom teachers also rated the children's social skills. These measures indicated that children with learning disabilities had poorer social skills, higher loneliness, lower peer acceptance scores than normal children. They also showed more internalizing problem behaviors and externalizing problem behaviors than their counterparts.
Therefore, a school-based group social skills training was conducted for three weeks. The target skills were "skillful listening to peer", "verbal initiation to peer," and "entry into group activities." The training was based on the contextual model. After training, the scores of loneliness, internalizing problem, and externalizing problem declined for the normal children as well as the children with learning disabilities. In addition, both groups of children increased the scores of prosocial social skills.
One year after the training, the follow-up assessments were conducted to evaluate the maintenance effect of this training. The same measures as baseline assessment revealed that the training gain was relatively well maintained, which suggested the effectiveness of school-based group social skills training to improve social adaptation of children with learning disabilities.
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