Assessment of Social Skills

1
Assessment of Social Skills
2
Assessment Tools

• Two types of assessment tools for social skills
• Curriculum-Based Developmental Assessment
• Play Assessment

3
Assessment Tools

• Curriculum-Based Developmental Assessment
• Criterion-referenced and curriculum-based
• Address full range of developmental domains
• Assess early childhood development
• Examples
• Brigance Inventory of Early Development
• Transdiciplinary Play-Based Assessment
• The Carolina Curriculum for Preschoolers with
  Special Needs

4
Assessment Tools

• Play Assessments
• Examine the developmental elements of play
• Examples
• The Symbolic Play Test
• A Scale for Assessing Development of Childrens
  Play

5
Social Development
6
Social Skills

• Social development in early childhood is
  characterized by three general skill areas
• More elaborate and creative solitary play
• Interactions with peers
• The acquisition of prosocial behaviors

7
Social Skills

• More Elaborate and Creative Solitary Play
• Transition from functional toys to symbolic play.
• Dramatize various roles from personal experience
  or from favorite books and TV shows.
• Assign roles to inanimate objects.

8
Social Skills

• Interaction with Peers
• Often considered the primary measure of social
  competence.
• Children initially show interest in peers through
  watching and smiling while engaged in parallel
  play.
• Reciprocal peer interactions expand.

9
Social Skills

• Acquiring Prosocial Behaviors
• Prosocial behaviors are random acts of kindness
  that characterize the socioemotional development
  of young children.
• Examples
• Giving positive attention
• Providing assistance
• Noting approval through words or emotions

10
Purpose for Assessing Social Skills

• Obtain a general profile of a childs social and
  communicative behavior.
• Gather a detailed profile of a childs specific
  social and communicative skills
• Determine how a child functions in his natural
  environment
• Organize treatment goals and objectives
• Monitor a childs progress

Quill page 47
11
The assessment tool gathers detailed information
on

• Ritualistic social behaviors
• Ritualistic communication behaviors
• Exploratory behaviors
• Nonverbal social interaction skills
• Imitation skills
• Organizational skills
• Solitary play skills
• Social play skills
• Group skills
• Community social skills
• Basic communicative functions
• Socio-emotional skills
• Basic conversational skills

Quill page 47
12
The Assessment of Social and Communication Skills

• Section I The Inventory of Social and
  Communication Behavior
• Part A The social behavior questionnaire
• -The childs play skills
• -The condition under which the child
  plays with others
• -The presence of any social rituals or other
  social-behavior challenges.
• Part B The communication questionnaire
• Part C The exploratory behavior questionnaire
• -How the child explores his surroundings
• -The presence of any strong interests or fears
• -The conditions under which the child is most
  focused and
• calm

Quill page 47
note everything in yellow is social assessment
13
The Assessment of Social and Communication Skills

• Section II The core skills checklist
• Section III The Social Skills Checklist
• Part A Play skills
• 1. Childs Solitary play,
• 2. Parallel play, 3. Cooperative
  play abilities
• Part B Group Skills
• 1. Attend
• 2. Wait
• 3. Take turns
• 4. Follow group directions
• Part C Social Skills in the Community
• 1. Home
• 2. School
• 3. Community

Quill page 48
14
The Assessment of Social and Communication Skills

• Section IV The Communications Skills Checklist
• Section V The Assessment Summary Sheet

Quill page 48
15
Advantages of Assessment of Social Skills

• The assessment focuses on the childs functional
  social and communication skills in his natural
  environment.
• The assessment is comprehensive and scope.
• The assessment is structured so that information
  can be obtained directly and indirectly.
• Family members can be involved, via interviews,
  in the assessment process.
• The assessment can obtain information on any
  child, regardless of challenging behaviors.

Quill page 51
16
Advantages cont

• The assessment promotes recording the childs
  best skills by gathering information for multiple
  informants, activities, and settings.
• The assessment is conducive to determining the
  conditions under which the child is most
  interactive.
• The assessment results can be linked directly to
  instructional goals and objectives.
• The assessment examined a wide range of specific
  social and communication skills, the most
  critical aspects of development in children with
  autism.

Quill page 51
17
Disadvantages

• This tool can supplement standardized assessment
  measures but cannot be used document service
  needs if the child state or school district
  mandate standardized assessments for this
  purpose.
• The assessment does not incorporate normative
  data.
• The profile of a childs skills obtained via this
  tool depends on the reliability of the
  informants.
• The assessment is limited by the observation
  skills of the person conducting the evaluation.

Quill page 51
18
I. Inventory of Social and Communication Behavior
A. Social Behavior Yes/No
Comments
Does the child play
Y N
1. Alone
Y N
2. With adults
3. With peers
Y N
Does the child play
Y N
1. Social interactive games
Y N
2. Creatively with toys
Does the child play best when others are
Y N
1. Active
Y N
2. Quiet
19
Example A. Social Behavior
A. Social Behavior Yes/No
Comments
20
I. Inventory of Social and Communication Behavior
Continued
C. Exploratory Behavior Yes/No
Comments
D. Motivators
21
III. Social Skills Checklist
22
III. Social Skills Checklist Continued
With each category, the questions are asked
Whether or not the student has the skills and Is
the skill considered challenging? Once these
questions have been answered, it is to be
determined if the skill will be used as Targeted
Objective.