— — Social Skills Training for Adolescents with Developmental ...

Problem Statement
Social Skills Training for Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities
Results of an Intervention Promoting Conversational Interactions
on the Job and in the Community
Research Completed and Reported on by
Dr. Marilyn Banks
2008
Young adults with mild and moderate developmental disabilities do not initiate conversations and
frequently exhibit inappropriate behaviors that make them lonely on the job and in the community.
Problem Description
In this writer’s setting, it was noticed that young adults did not initiate conversations and frequently
exhibited inappropriate behaviors that presented them from being fully integrated on the job.
Problem Documentation
Graduates of the Community Based Skills Training program were observed in a follow-up study, and
it was found that the graduates were working fine, had kept their jobs, but at e lunch and took breaks alone
(Banks, 1998; Chadsey-Rusch, Destanfo, O’Reilly, Gonzalez, & Collett-Klingenberg, 1992a).
When a pilot study was conducted, it was found that he student workers viewed themselves as
lonely on the job and that their parents and others viewed the student workers as largely incapable of social
communication and integration (Banks, 1999). When Students were videotaped in mock break-time situations,
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it was found that most of the students remained passive during conversations and did not initiate greetings,
comments or questions. Structured observations of students during work periods showed
that students initiated conversations regarding needs for more materials and help in performing tasks, but little
non-task-related conversation was observed.
When parents were interviewed, some expressed that they thought that these students were incapable of learning
skills that would improve social competence. The student workers did not initiate greetings to their supervisors
and others and only responded when others greeted them. It was observed that others often talked for them and
did not expect them to initiate conversations.
The pilot study revealed that workers with disabilities did not have a repertoire of appropriate initiations
and behaviors, but that they needed to be taught greetings, introductions, probing get-acquainted questions,
compliments, and comments (Banks, 1999).
Although inclusion is now being practiced in school settings, many students with disabilities still eat lunch
with similar students. Their social contacts are teachers, paraprofessionals, and peers with disabilities. This
limits their chances to build a foundation for social integration in the work world. Although all workers with
disabilities have unique needs, conversational interactions for job-related needs and social needs seem to be
universal. The intervention strategy was specifically designed to:
(a) Give the student workers with disabilities a repertoire of acceptable
subjects with which to initiate conversations rather than being passive observers.
(b) Extinguish behaviors that interfere with successful social integration.
(c) Provide opportunities for social integration and use of skills learned.
(d) Provide opportunities for workers with disabilities to build friendships on the job.
The question to be answered was: If workers with disabilities were given opportunities to integrate on
the job, would they initiate more conversations and would they express that they had more friends after
the intervention?
Settings and Participants
There were seven participants in the pilot study who were mildly or moderately disabled high school
students ages 20-22 years. The students were in their last year of job skills training and were being
prepared to enter the world of work. All of the students were participating in the Students in Educational
Transition for Supported Employment (S.E.T.S.) and met in a classroom setting each morning before
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going out for five-hour unpaid work sessions in the community. Students were trained daily by certified
special education teachers as well as co-workers at the various businesses. The businesses were well-
known retail, food service and factory situations.
Measurements Employed
The Worker Loneliness Questionnaire was administered to find out how students viewed
themselves at work and how they described their leisure pursuits. This questionnaire consists of six
questions on Aloneness factors, seven questions on Social Dissatisfaction, and seven questions on
Interest and Leisure Pursuits.
The Checklist of Adaptive Living Skills was filled out by parents, job partners, and job trainers
before and after the intervention. All students were videotaped in a mock-break time situation with co-workers
who did not have disabilities. The videotaping took place before students had lessons in conversational
initiations and they
were not told the purpose of the video. Co-workers were told not to prompt the students but to have get-
acquainted-type conversations. The co-workers were not told that the facilitator was looking for initiations
on the part of the student workers. The co-workers who were chosen for the first taping were not friends of
the students and were not necessarily the same co-workers chosen for the final taping five months later. The
criterion for mastery of initiations was five unsolicited initiations or comments on the part of the student in a
five-minute period.
Methods
The facilitator developed self-managed check sheets that were designed to cover conversational subjects.
These sheets were used to guide weekly lessons and contained picture cues and simple words telling the
students what to do in order to start a conversation. Students engaged in role-playing with one another and
the teachers in order to have guided practice for each lesson. Students were instructed to carry the sheets with
them to work and to circle a number on the sheet each time that they successfully started a conversation on a
designated subject. The skill sheets covered such subjects as such as finding out the names of co-workers, being
the first to say hello, talking about the weather, talking about pets, and other subjects that were found to be
talked about at work (Chadsey-Rusch & Gonzalez, 1988).
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Results
The post-test filming showed the range of initiations from 1 to 19.3 and the median score was 7.3.
Although subjects did very little initiating at the baseline, they had no trouble replying to questions asked
of them. The results suggest that these student workers with disabilities had less trouble responding to
conversations than initiating conversations. During the post-test interviews, co-workers were directed to
allow the students to “talk as much as possible and to refrain from prompting them or asking them too many
questions.” The decrease in mean replies after intervention (27.87 to 12.32 on two trials) suggests that this
technique was effective. This also agrees with the research that shows that others often talk for people with
disabilities and that co-workers need to be informed of the kind of support needed by peoples with disabilities
(Mank et al., 1999). Frea et al. (1997) suggested that people with disabilities should not be allowed to escape
social demands. This escape often takes place through passive involvement in conversations.
The results on the Co-Worker Involvement Index showed a mean pretest score of 7.00 (SD = 1.04) and
the mean on the post-test score was 11.08 (SD = 2.8). One student stayed the same and one student lost a point.
All other students gained between one and eight points.
The Checklist of Adaptive Living Skills yields levels of Sensitivity, Insight, and Communication. The
Communication portion was of particular interest in this study because that is the portion that measures the
action the individual takes as a result of applying the first two skills of Sensitivity and Insight. The mean score
on the pretest for Communication was 18.5 (SD = 6.52) and the mean score on the post-test was
23.9 (SD = 8.34). All students met the expected outcome for this measure. The parent post-test indicated that
all parents of the participants viewed their young adults as having made gains in the social awareness area as a
result of the intervention.
Discussion
When the results of all of the measures used in this research are considered, it shows an overlap of
interactions needed to teach non-work-related conversation to people with disabilities. It shows that it is best
for training to take place in “real time” and in “real places” in order for cognitive approaches to be effective.
A support network was formed between the parents, the teacher, and the co-workers that created the right
atmosphere for social success (O’Conner, 1983). This ecological approach is consistent with Greenspan’s model
that shows correlation between personal competencies and community adjustment outcomes (Black et al., 1997).
These personal affect the quality-of-life for special students after graduation and help them form stable social
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elationships that are not necessarily dependent on cognitive competence alone. I.Q. is not a predictor of the
number of friendships a person might develop (O’Conner, 1983).
Recommendations
The recommendations are that specific conversational interaction training be included as a part of
instruction in special education career preparation classes beginning in middle school. It is apparent from this
research that people with developmental disabilities can benefit from a repertoire of conversations that will help
them successfully
integrate on the job and in the community. This solution could be furthered by educating parents as to the need
for fostering conversational skills at an early age and the need to have high expectations for their children.
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NOTE: This short paper was written as a synopsis of the extensive research that took place over
a three-year period for an applied dissertation at Nova Southeastern University. This 117-page
dissertation titled, The Eagle Project: Increasing Conversational Interaction Skills for Student
Workers With Developmental Disabilities (Banks 2001) can be ordered in its entirety directly
from the author:
Dr. Marilyn Banks
2304 Reubens Run
Marietta, GA 30064
A fee of $75.00 includes shipping and handling.
This short paper is reproduced and distributed with the author’s permission by The Attainment
Company, Inc.
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