Abstract:
The purpose of this pre-experimental study was to determine the impact of targeted social
skills instruction for 30 secondary students with Emotional/Behavior Disorders. Students
participated in six weeks of social skills instruction, four days per week for 40-45 minutes per
session. The Social Skills Improvement System rating scale was used pre and posttest to
determine student outcomes in the Social Skills subdomain areas of Communication,
Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-Control. In addition the study also
looked at the Problem Behavior subdomain areas of Externalizing, Bullying,
Hyperactivity/Inattention, and Internalizing. Results across the group did not show significant
levels of improvement in any of the subdomain areas. However, there were significant results
when the groups were broken down into various smaller subgroups. Limitations, implications for
practice, and implications for future research are also offered.
