ABSTRACT
Despite the consensus among workers in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, special education, and rehabilitation that many visually handicapped children evidence problems in social adaptation, little attention has been directed toward amelioration of these difficulties. This chapter describes the Social Skills Training Program (SSTP), one of the first comprehensive efforts specifically designed to enhance interpersonal effectiveness in visually handicapped children and youth. In SSTP, an assessment battery is first administered to identify areas of social dysfunction. Measurement instruments include role play tests, standardized interviews, self-report questionnaires, and parent and teacher ratings. Assessment data are utilized for intervention in such areas as conversational skills, and positive and negative assertion skills. Within each of these categories, a social skills training package (direct instructions, performance feedback, modeling, behavior rehearsal, manual guidance) is employed to train participants on a number of verbal, nonverbal, and paralinguistic behavioral components. Instruction in social perception skill also is offered in SSTP. The program consists of four stages: skills assessment, skills training, booster sessions, and follow-up. Booster sessions are incorporated to consolidate initial gains and to remediate any posttraining response decrements. Instructions are provided for implementing each aspect of SSTP. Frequently encountered problems are described, and solutions are presented.
