ABSTRACT
Many adults lack the skills that are important for success in social interactions, and in particular people with learning disabilities often experience difficulties in this area, leading sometimes to isolation, frustration and prejudice. Social skills can therefore be seen as the ability to communicate appropriately and effectively. Adults with a learning disability may be at a disadvantage when considering the acquisition of social skills. They may have had an upbringing where they learned to be ‘helpless’ or ‘incompetent’, or where there were inadequate models. The most important part of the initial assessment is to ascertain whether the person with the learning disability is able to succeed in a social skills group. Social skills training evolved to ‘meet the needs of those who lacked adequate models and learning opportunities to function more appropriately within society’. Social skills training is an important area of the speech and language clinician’s work with adults with a learning disability.
