Descriptive assessment of conversational skills: Towards benchmarks for young adults with social deficits
Use equal talk-time, on-topic replies, and gaze-while-listening as clear, socially valid goals for adult clients with social deficits.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hood and team watched 30 neurotypical college students talk in pairs.
They timed how long each person spoke.
They counted on-topic comments and tracked eye contact.
What they found
Each student spoke about half the time.
They stayed on topic and looked at their partner more while listening than while talking.
These three patterns give us clear, normal targets to aim for.
How this fits with other research
Smith et al. (1997) did the same thing 24 years earlier with preschoolers.
They also used typical kids to set goals for kids with autism.
Hood et al. (2021) updates that idea for young adults and adds eye-gaze data.
Grob et al. (2019) later used these adult benchmarks to teach job social skills to adults with autism.
The new study gives Grob’s team exact numbers to shoot for.
Why it matters
Next time you write a social goal for an adult client, use these numbers.
Aim for 50-50 talk time, 90 % on-topic replies, and more eye contact while listening.
You can measure these in a five-minute chat and know right away if the goal is met.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Descriptive assessments are necessary to identify social norms and establish a foundation for experimental analysis. Much of the social skills intervention literature involves goals that have been selected through interviews and direct observation of behavior without a reference to desired outcomes. The purpose of the current study was to extend research on descriptive assessments of conversations by including additional measures and examining conversational behavior across contexts. We conducted a descriptive assessment of social skills exhibited by 16 neurotypical young adults. Participants had 10-min conversations in groups and 1-on-1 with friends and novel individuals. We then assessed variability within and across participants on a wide array of relevant measures. Throughout the conversations, participants shared the conversation time equally, spent most of the conversation time making on-topic comments, and gazed at their conversation partner more frequently while listening than while speaking. These descriptive data extend current research, inform future experimental analyses, and may guide clinical decisions.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2021 · doi:10.1002/jaba.831