Use of a group counseling game to enhance social skills of children with leafning disabiiities

This article describes the implementation and supports the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral group counseling game in enhancing social skills of children with learning disabilities. SUMMARY The literature has strongly suggested that children with learning disabilities tend to be different from their peers, not only in academic performance but also in group social performance (Bryan, Wheeler, Felcan, & Henek, 1976; Feigin & Meisgeier, 1987). Although not all children with learning disabilities have group social problems, an estimated 40% do (Baum, Duffelmeyer, & Geelan, 1988). This warrants counselors' consideration of the use of group processes to assist children with learning disabilities who need help socially. What is not clear in the literature is whether a cognitive-behavioral group play therapy intervention, such as The Social Skills Game, would be useful with this population. The current findings indicate that the group process involved in The Social Skills Game is beneficial in improving social skills of children with learning disabilities. This conclusion is drawn specifically from the result that the treatment participants were rated higher (posttest and delayed posttest ratings combined) than the control participants on all subscales and the Total Score of the Walker-McConnell Scale. The current research goes beyond previous separate studies on the use of cognitive-behavioral, group counseling, or play therapy for improving social skills by offering a combined approach that also had positive results. Further research is suggested to explore whether the combination of approaches in The Social Skills Game is more effective than the approaches applied singly. The results of this study should be interpreted with some caution for several reasons. First, inter rater reliability was one of the lowest forms of reliability found for the Walker-McConnell Scale. Therefore, it is possible another rater may have rated the participants differently. Second, teachers' schedules, room size. and room availability prevented totally random group assignment. Third, results can only be generalized to children with learning disabilities in Grades 3 through 6 who attended the special private school from which the sample was drawn. Nevertheless, results were positive enough to warrant consideration of the use of the treatment with children in other schools. Future research is needed to determine whether more widely applicable results can be found by varying treatment length, participants, type of school, or assessment techniques.