Dating-skills groups for the developmentally disabled. Social skills and problem-solving versus relaxation training.
Structured problem-solving groups beat relaxation when you want adults with developmental disabilities to start dating.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers ran a small RCT with adults who have developmental disabilities. Three groups met weekly: one learned step-by-step dating problem solving, one got flexible problem solving, and one practiced relaxation.
Staff taught skills like starting a conversation, reading body language, and handling rejection. After sessions ended, they counted how often each adult talked with peers of the opposite sex.
What they found
The step-by-step problem-solving group left more sessions with real dates and spoke more often to opposite-sex peers. Relaxation training helped people feel calm but did not boost dating behavior.
Flexible problem solving landed in the middle—better than relaxation, worse than the fixed script.
How this fits with other research
O'Reilly et al. (2004) later compared the same two ideas—problem-solving BST versus a control—with adults with mild ID. Both packages produced only tiny gains, a null result that clashes with the 1987 win. The difference: F et al. used shorter lessons and no scripted role-play, showing the method breaks down without tight structure.
Ortega (1978) flips the story again. That study gave relaxation to adults with spastic cerebral palsy and saw faster pegboard times. Relaxation can work, but for motor skills, not social ones. The 1987 paper and Ortega (1978) together tell us to match the tool to the goal.
Attwood et al. (1988) extended the group-BST idea to multihandicapped children in classrooms. Social bids rose, yet kids still rarely talked to non-disabled peers—echoing the 1987 finding that generalization takes extra planning.
Why it matters
If you run social-skills groups for adults with DD, use a clear, stepwise problem-solving script and plenty of rehearsal. Skip relaxation as the main teaching tool; save it for anxiety or motor goals. Build in practice with typically developing peers if you want the skills to travel outside the training room.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open your next social-skills session with a scripted role-play: model, rehearse, give feedback, and repeat until each learner hits the criterion.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Efficacy of three different group treatment strategies for teaching dating skills to the developmentally disabled was examined for 41 outpatient adults. Clients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: traditional problem-solving training (TPS), flexible problem-solving training (FPS), and relaxation training (RT). Role-play assessments were conducted at pretreatment, posttreatment, and at a one-month follow-up. Ratings of social skills based on the role plays favored the TPS and FPS groups over the RT and dropout groups. Clients in the TPS group, but not the other groups, significantly increased in physical attractiveness. Changes in physical attractiveness were correlated primarily with changes in pleasantness of facial expression. Clients in the TPS group also maintained a higher rate of social interactions with opposite-sex peers during midsession breaks than did clients in the FPS and RT groups. Implications for teaching dating skills to the developmentally disabled, the merits of traditional over flexible problem-solving procedures for teaching social skills, and the impact of social skills on physical attractiveness are discussed.
Behavior modification, 1987 · doi:10.1177/01454455870112005