The purpose of this book is to provide readers with sufficient knowledge
regard- ing social skills assessment and training with children so that
they can imple- ment and evaluate social skills programs on their own.
Increased interest in promoting children's social skills has stemmed in
part from advances in research that have shown the importance of
childhood social competency for adjustment in both childhood and
adulthood. There is a growing need for assessment and training methods
that can be utilized by diverse groups of professionals and
paraprofessionals. This book is intended for mental health workers,
teachers, educators, clinicians, and child-care personnel. The book
thoroughly reviews the literature to acquaint readers with relevant
findings on social skills and to pro- vide discussion regarding
contemporary issues and assessment techniques. Sub- sequently,
comprehensive procedures in the training of children's social skills are
presented. Readers are also provided with 16 detailed training modules,
each of which comprises a rationale, instructions, Scripts, and homework
assign- ments. These modules are designed to permit effective
implementation of social skills training programs. Moreover, they
provide a structured and program- matically designed format that builds
in clinical flexibility for their use with individual children or groups
of children. These modules are followed by a clinical-issues section
designed to address potential obstacles to effective training. Following
these major sections, two appendixes have been included in the book. The
first appendix is a step-by-step description of how to conduct an
assessment.
