Social skills training with mentally handicapped people: A review

Abstract

Four questions are asked about the use of social skills training procedures with mentally handicapped people. The first is, 'What are social skills in the context of mental handicap?', and it is suggested that they involve a complex array of perceptual, cognitive, motor and motivational processes, all of which can be disrupted due to various problems common among mentally handicapped people. The second question, 'What changes do social skills training programmes aim to achieve?', leads to the conclusion that most programmes have concentrated on motor, and to some extent on motivational processes, at the expense of perceptuo-cognitive ones. In asking, 'Have the programmes been successful in achieving these changes?', the answer is a guarded 'yes', given the limited aims of most investigators. Generalization to the natural environment has only occasionally been established, though it is often not measured. The fourth question is, 'What is the clinical significance of the changes obtained by such programmes and how can future ones be made more clinically relevant?'. The answer to the first part of the question is that, in general, their clinical utility has not been established. Future programmes could be made more clinically relevant if they were integrated with strategies for producing more benign and stimulating environments for mentally handicapped people.

Friendship formation in adults with learning disabilities: peer‐mediated approaches to social skills development

“…Robertson et al. 's (1984) review of studies applying social skills training criticized many of the studies for working solely at the ‘performance’ level of social skills training, i.e.…”

“…Although the studies were successful in changing target behaviours, few studies investigated generalization of these skills to the natural environment. Robertson et al. (1984) questioned the wider benefits of such changes indicating that there is a lack of conclusive evidence linking skills such as eyecontact to successful living.…”

Treatment of intellectually disabled individuals who have committed sexual offences: A review of the literature

“…Therapeutic work with intellectually disabled individuals began to emphasize the development of broader social/sexual skills and knowledge (Champagne & Walker-Hirsch, 1982;Coleman & Murphy, 1980;Craft & Craft, 1983;Edmonson, McCombs & Wish, 1979;Matson, Kazdin, & Esveldt-Dawson, 1980). Robertson, Richardson, and Youngson's (1984) Social Skill Training Programme for mentally handicapped people represented a good early example of a social learning, cognitive-behaviourally based approach.…”

Micro-computers in Interactive Health Education

“…in helping mentally handicapped young people acquire basic health knowledge4 or develop social skill. 5 Quizboards have been found useful in generating interest and allowing people to check their knowledge on a variety of health topics.6 A range of models has been developed in Glasgow and used widely, at health fairs, exhibitions and in group learning situations such as workshops. Details and specifications have been given elsewhere6.…”