Social skills and adaptive behavior represent two subdomains of the superordinate construct of social competence. Adaptive behavior is viewed as the effectiveness and degree to which an individual meets social/cultural standards of personal independence and social responsibility. Social skills represent behaviors which, in specific situations, predict important social outcomes for children and youth. This article presents a conceptualization of social competence relevant for school settings. Relationships between adaptive behavior and social skills are documented and a classification system for social competence deficits is provided. Assessment procedures for classification and intervention purposes will be described with special reference to commonly used adaptive behavior measures.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, S., & Messick, S. (1974). Social competency in young children. Developmental Psychology, 10, 282–293.
2.
Asher, S. R., & Hymel, S. (1981). Children's social competence in peer relations: Sociometric and behavioral assessment. In J. D. Wine & M. D. Smye (Eds.), Social competence (pp. 125–157). New York: Guilford Press.
3.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
4.
Black, F. (1985). Social skills assessment for mainstreamed handicapped students: The discriminative efficiency of the Teacher Ratings of Social Skills. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
5.
Clark, L., Gresham, F. M., & Elliott, S. N. (1985). Development and validation of a social skills assessment measure: The TROSS-C. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 4, 347–356.
6.
Connolly, K. J., & Bruner, J. S. (Eds.). (1974). The growth of competence. New York: Academic Press.
7.
Dodge, K. A., & Murphy, R. R. (1984). The assessment of social competence in adolescents. In P. Karoly & J. J. Steffen (Eds.), Adolescent behavior disorders: Foundations and contemporary concerns. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
8.
Elliott, S. N. (1985). [Review of The AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale for Children-School Edition]. In J. V. Mitchell (Ed.), The ninth mental measurements yearbook (pp. 2–4). Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.
9.
Elliott, S. N., Gresham, F. M., & Heffer, R. W. (in press). Social skill interventions: Research findings and training techniques. In C. A. Maher & J. Zins (Eds.), Psychoeducational interventions in schools: Methods and procedures for enhancing student competence. New York: Pergamon Press.
10.
Foster, S. L., & Ritchey, W. L. (1979). Issues in the assessment of social competence in children. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 625–638.
11.
Greenspan, S. (1981). Social competence and handicapped individuals: Practical implications and a proposed model. Advances in Special Education, 3, 41–82.
12.
Gresham, F. M. (1981a). Assessment of children's social skills. Journal of School Psychology, 17, 120–133.
13.
Gresham, F. M. (1981b). Social skills training with handicapped children: A review. Review of Educational Research, 51, 139–176.
14.
Gresham, F. M. (1983a). Behavioral interviews in school psychology: Issues in psychometric adequacy and training. School Psychology Review, 12, 17–25.
15.
Gresham, F. M. (1985a). Conceptual issues in the assessment of social competence in children. In P. Strain, M. Guralnick, & H. Walker (Eds.), Children's social behavior: Development, assessment, and modification (pp. 143–179). New York: Academic Press.
16.
Gresham, F. M. (1985b). Utility of cognitive-behavioral procedures for social skills training with children: A review. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 13, 411–423.
17.
Gresham, F. M. (1986). Conceptual issues in the assessment of social competence in children. In P. Strain, M. Guralnick, & H. Walker (Eds.), Children's social behavior: Development, assessment, and modification (pp. 143–179). New York: Academic Press.
18.
Gresham, F. M., & Elliott, S. N. (1984). Assessment and classification of children's social skills: A review of methods and issues. School Psychology Review, 13, 292–301.
19.
Gresham, F. M., Elliott, S. N., & Black, F. (1985). Factor structure replication and bias investigation of the Teacher Rating of Social Skills. Journal of School Psychology, 25, 81–92.
20.
Gresham, F. M., & Reschly, D. J. (1986). Social skill deficits and low peer acceptance of mainstreamed disabled children. Learning Disability Quarterly, 9, 23–32.
21.
Gresham, F. M., & Reschly, D. J. (in press). Social competence in the mildly handicapped. In T. R. Kratochwill (Ed.), Advances in school psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
22.
Grossman, H. J. (Ed.). (1983). Classification in mental retardation. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Deficiency.
23.
Hops, H., & Greenwood, C. R. (1981). Social skills deficits. In E. J. Mash & L. G. Terdal (Eds.), Behavioral assessment of childhood disorders (pp. 347–394). New York: Guilford Press.
24.
Lambert, N., Windmiller, M., Tharinger, D., & Cole, L. (1981). AAMD adaptive behavior scale (school edition). Monterey, CA: Publishers Test Service.
25.
Leland, H. W. (1978). Theoretical considerations of adaptive behavior. In A. Coulier & H. Morrow (Eds.), Adaptive behavior: Concepts and measurements (pp. 21–44). New York: Grune & Stratton.
26.
Lemanek, K. L. (1985). Multimethod assessment of childhood depression: Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity across development levels. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
27.
MacMillan, D., Keogh, B., & Jones, R. (1986). Special education research on mildly handicapped learners. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 686–724). New York: Macmillan.
28.
Matson, J., Esveldt-Dawson, K., & Kazdin, A. E. (1983). Validation of methods for assessing social skills in children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 12, 174–180.
29.
McDowell, J. J. (1982). The importance of Herrnstein's mathematical statement of the Law of Effect for behavior therapy. American Psychologist, 37, 771–779.
30.
Reschly, D. J. (1982). Assessing mild mental retardation: The influence of adaptive behavior, sociocultural status, and prospects for nonbiased assessment. In C. R. Reynolds & T. B. Gutkin (Eds.), Handbook of school psychology (pp. 209–242). New York: Wiley Interscience.
31.
Reschly, D. J. (1985). Best practices: Adaptive behavior. In A. Thomas & J. Grimmes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology (pp. 353–368). Kent, OH: National Association of School Psychologists.
32.
Reschly, D. J., Gresham, F. M., & Graham-Clay, S. (1984). Multifactored nonbiased assessment: Convergent and discriminant validity of social and cognitive measures with black and white regular and special education students. Washington, DC: United States Department of Education, Grant No. G0081101156.
33.
Sparrow, S. S., Balla, D. A., & Cicchetti, D. V. (1985). Vineland adaptive behavior scales. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
34.
Stephens, T. M. (1978). Social skills in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Cedars Press.
35.
Stephens, T. (1980). Technical manual for the Social Behavior Assessment. Columbus, OH: Cedars Press.
36.
Stumme, V. A., Gresham, F. M., & Scott, N. A. (1982). Validity of Social Behavior Assessment in discriminating emotionally disabled from nonhandicapped students. Journal of Behavioral Assessment, 4, 327–342.
37.
Stumme, V. A., Gresham, F. M., & Scott, N. A. (1983). Dimensions of children's classroom social behavior: A factor analytic investigation. Journal of Behavioral Assessment, 5, 161–177.
38.
Thorndike, E. L. (1920). Intelligence and its uses. Harper's Magazine, 140, 227–235.
39.
Zigler, E., & Trickett, P. K. (1978). IQ, social competence, and evaluation of childhood intervention programs. American Psychologist, 33, 789–798.
