The effect of social skills training on social isolation and achievement in children

A number of studies have examined the link between social isolation and underachievement in children. In the present study, after a preliminary check had consolidated the link between the two variables, three main groups were formed from children who scored in the lowest one-third in their class, on a Social Acceptance Sociometric Scale. Thirty-six poorly accepted children were assigned to Social Skills Training Group A, Placebo Attention Group B, and a Waiting List Control Group C. A number of variables such as class, grade, sex, reading achievement and social acceptance. were balanced when forming the groups. Each child was individually tested, pre-and post-treatment; in Reading Accuracy and Reading Comprehension, and all thirty-six children were post-tested on the same sociometric scale. It was hypothesised that Treatment Group A would significantly improve in their Social Acceptance by peers, in Reading Accuracy and Comprehension, when compared to the two control groups. Eight ninety-minute Social Skills Training/Attention Placebo sessions were conducted over a four-week period, for Groups A and B . respectively. Post-tests took place two weeks later. Using Planned Comparisons the mean Gain Scores of all groups were analysed. Results indicated that Group A improved significantly when compared to Group C on the Social Acceptance variable, but just failed to reach significance when compared to Group B. It should be noted that the pre-test mean of Social Acceptance scores for Group A was considerably higher than for other groups as this variable was the least well matched among the groups. Therefore there must be some degree of caution in interpreting the results. In Reading Accuracy, Group A improved significantly when compared to both Groups B and C, although Group B showed improvement. In Reading Comprehension Group A improved significantly when compared to the top Group C but did not differ markedly from the results of Group B. This unclear result is discussed. It is suggested that Social Skills Training for primary school social isolates can lead to an improvement in both peer acceptance and achievement. Educational implications are discussed. Finally further research directions are proposed.