Sarup R. Mathur

A Meta-Analysis of Social Skill Interventions for Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Many programs designed for children and youth with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) include a social skill training component. Using quantitative methods of meta-analysis, the findings from 35 studies investigating the effects of social skill interventions for students with EBD were synthesized. The pooled mean effect size (ES) was 0.199, from which the average student with EBD would be expected to gain a modest eight percentile ranks on outcome measures after participating in a social skill training program. Studies were further grouped and analyzed according to different variables (e.g., similarities of the intervention, participants, and assessment procedures). Slightly greater ESs were found for interventions that focused on teaching and measuring specific social skills (e.g., cooperating, or social problem solving) compared to more global interventions. Several pertinent issues for reviewing the results of this research synthesis are addressed.

Social Skills Interventions with Students with Emotional and Behavioral Problems: A Quantitative Synthesis of Single-Subject Research:

Sixty-four single-subject studies examining the effectiveness of social skills interventions with students with emotional or behavioral problems were included in this synthesis. The results of quantitative synthesis procedures using percentage of nonoverlapping data suggest that social skills interventions have limited empirical support for their overall effectiveness. Implications for future social skills research and quantitative analysis methodology are discussed.

Has public policy exceeded our knowledge base? A review of the functional behavioral assessment literature

The 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandate that schools evaluate, through the process of a functional behavioral assessment, students with disabilities who are exhibiting significant behavior problems that lead to suspension and expulsion. We examined the literature on functional behavioral assessment according to external validity and assessment with regard to its cost-benefits (i.e., its effectiveness relative to other approaches, time, and effort). The results indicate that although functional behavioral assessment has shown promise for youth and adults with low-incidence disabilities in clinical settings, evidence regarding its effectiveness when applied to youth with both low- and high-incidence disabilities in school settings is limited. There appears to be no research that has examined the cost-benefits of functional behavioral assessment. Future research needs are discussed.

Is Social Skills Training Effective for Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders? Research Issues and Needs.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the factors that may influence the long-term effectiveness of social skills training. Potential impediments to the success of social skills training include: lack of a sound conceptual framework, questionable social validity of target skills, controversies surrounding the nature of social skills deficits, imprecision in assessment procedures, vagueness in description of interventions, inattention to contextual factors, and failure to achieve generalization.

Transition of Incarcerated Youth With Disabilities Across Systems and Into Adulthood.

Identifying factors that contribute to delinquency and recidivism is critical in predicting the success of incarcerated youth transitioning back to the community. The task of identifying these salient factors becomes increasingly complex when compounded by the disproportionate representation of youth with disabilities in juvenile corrections. These youth are also far less likely to make a successful transition to the community. Research in this area has examined the impact of individual, environmental, and situational factors on the likelihood for success, but a synthesis of this research has yet to be compiled. The purpose of this article is to examine the contextual factors that influence the transition success or failure of youth with disabilities in the juvenile justice system. Specifically, 10 research studies conducted by graduate students and faculty in the special education program at Arizona State University are reviewed. This research has been conducted over the past 12 years and has focused on identifying factors associated with successful and unsuccessful transition of youth from incarceration to school, work, and the community. Implications for designing and implementing appropriate programming and transition planning to address the needs of youth exiting the correctional system are also highlighted. The specific research topics related to transition include preplacement planning, locus of control, engagement, peer influence, quality of transition programming, gender specific programming, and adult mentoring and support.

Meeting the Needs of At-Risk and Adjudicated Youth with Behavioral Challenges: The Promise of Juvenile Justice

The current status of at-risk and adjudicated youth with behavioral challenges provides a context for addressing needed future directions for research and practice in fields that impact this population. This context includes the myriad characteristics and complex needs of these youth, the programs and services currently available in communities and secure settings, and youth outcomes following incarceration. Recent and emerging national, state, and local initiatives and the benefits that have been realized or are anticipated from their application are presented. The challenges to achieving and sustaining these systems changes are then discussed. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research and practice, based on the issues raised in this special issue and elsewhere.

The Impact of Positive Mood on Learning

The primary intent of this study was to examine the effects of a brief positive mood induction on a learning task that stimulates beginning reading acquisition. A secondary intent was to examine the durability of this effect across a period of two weeks. Sixty students, half average-achieving and half with learning disabilities, were randomly assigned to either a positive or a neutral mood induction condition. In an effort to control for the effects of prior knowledge, all students received instruction in elementary Hindi language on a series of five tasks. After two weeks, the instruction and tasks were readministered. The results of a MANCOVA indicated that both groups of students in the positive mood condition performed better than those in the neutral condition, although not statistically so. However, gain scores indicated that across a two-week period, students with learning disabilities in the positive condition performed significantly better than students with learning disabilities in the neutral condition.

Right Reason in the Integration of Group and Single-Subject Research in Behavioral Disorders.

In this discussion of quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis), past criticisms of meta-analysis are reviewed along with the ways in which they have been addressed. The problems associated with synthesizing single-subject research are discussed, particularly the difficulties in obtaining a metric equivalent to the effect size calculated for group-design research. After analyzing recommended approaches, the authors endorse the percentage-of-nonoverlapping-data metric. Their earlier single-subject synthesis showing limited efficacy for social skills instruction is then reviewed. The findings are discussed in relation to the nature of single-subject research, the proper role of research integration, and the influence of subjectivity in interpreting research findings. Finally, possible reasons for disappointing findings regarding the effectiveness of social skills instruction are explored. The authors conclude that, until expressed concerns are remedied, it is neither incorrect nor illogical to question the efficacy of social skills instruction.

The Influence of Affect on Social-Information Processing

This study examined the impact of four affect induction conditions (self-induced positive affect, music-induced positive affect, music-induced negative affect, and neutral affect) on the social-information-processing skills of 96 seventh-grade students with and without learning disabilities using the Dodge (1983) model of social skills. Following a 1-minute affect induction, students were presented with a social problem and asked a series of questions that tested their social skills. Although the results did not find significant differences between school-identified students with and without learning disabilities, there were significant main effects for language skills and affect induction. Students above the median on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills language test generated more solutions and fewer negative responses than students below the median. Students in the self-induced positive affect condition generated more solutions, whereas students in the music-induced positive affect condition generated more embellishments and perceived less interpretation (negative/positive), than students in the neutral and negative affect conditions. The implications of these results for research and practice are discussed.

Teaching Conversational Social Skills to Delinquent Youth.

The present study examined the effectiveness of a Positive Talk curriculum in promoting specific conversational social skills of nine female juvenile delinquents. The verbal skills included calling others by name, using manners, making positive statements about self and others, and making positive statements about the present and future. Positive Talk social skills training incorporated the components of explanation of target skills, practice of positive talk vocabulary, modeling, role playing, performance feedback, and transfer of training. Sequential application of a multiple baseline across groups design demonstrated that the training was successful in promoting the participants’ target social skills. Systematic programming of generalization facilitated the transfer of skills from the training classroom to a natural social context in the lunchroom.