Group training to increase social behaviors in young multihandicapped children.
Brief group social-skills lessons baked into class time doubled peer interaction for young multihandicapped students, but you will need extra tactics to make the talk spread to non-disabled peers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team ran short social-skills lessons right inside a self-contained classroom. They used group behavioral-skills training: model, practice, and feedback. Three multihandicapped children aged four to seven took part. The lessons fit into normal class routines like circle time and play centers.
What they found
Social initiations and responses doubled. Solo play and other isolate behaviors dropped. Skills stuck best with the same trained classmates. Gains with non-disabled peers were smaller and faded faster.
How this fits with other research
O'Reilly et al. (2004) seems to disagree. Their BST social-skills groups for adults with ID showed tiny, short-lived gains. The difference is age and severity. Kids in the 1988 study had more teacher support and simpler targets, so BST worked better.
Knapczyk (1989) builds on the same problem. That team added video modeling and rehearsal to push skills from the resource room to the regular class. Their method beat the 1988 generalization gap.
Slaton et al. (2025) goes further. They used a chained schedule with FCT and DR to cut stereotypy to near zero. The 1988 study only saw mild drops. The newer protocol gives stronger, clearer control when you need big change.
Why it matters
You can run quick group lessons during everyday class moments and see real social growth. Just expect the skills to stay inside the trained peer circle unless you add extra steps. Pair the lessons with video modeling or plan general-case practice if you want kids to talk with non-disabled classmates too.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The utility of a group social skills intervention for increasing social behaviors in blind, multihandicapped children was examined in a multiple-baseline analysis. Five multihandicapped elementary school-age boys attending a residential school for the blind were trained to initiate social interactions, respond to initiations by others, and maintain social interactions during social skills lessons that were incorporated into the ongoing classroom curriculum. Assessment of multihandicapped subjects in free-play settings consistently showed higher rates of social, and lower rates of isolate and inappropriate, behaviors with training. These levels more closely approximated levels displayed by nonhandicapped peers in similar situations. Evaluation of generalization to free-play situations with nonhandicapped children, however, revealed limited change in social interaction between handicapped and nonhandicapped participants. A six-month follow-up indicated greater skill maintenance in the presence of trained peers than with untrained multihandicapped children. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the need to develop more cost-efficient skills training procedures that incorporate strategies to promote social behavior change across settings and peer groups; (b) the heuristic value of including untrained handicapped and nonhandicapped peers in social skills assessment settings; and (c) the potential for positive collateral effects with skills training approaches.
Behavior modification, 1988 · doi:10.1177/01454455880124002