This scholarly yet highly readable and practical text systematically covers the importance, development, assessment, and treatment of social skills of children and adolescents. Combining scientific rigor with a highly approachable and readable style of writing to create a practical and unique book, this volume provides a comprehensive overview of the increasingly important topic of child and adolescent social skills. A wide variety of tables, figures, and practical step-by-step guides enhance the material presented, making it particularly useful for practitioners while offering an extensive array of recent research and models of interest to researchers. The authors present a solid foundation of scientific knowledge written in a manner accessible to nonscientists and having ample practical implications and examples for educational and clinical practice. The book is divided into two parts--the first features a foundation for conceptualizing and assessing child and adolescent social skills, whereas the second focuses on the arena of intervention. An up-to-date and unique addition to the literature, this volume will be of interest to professionals who work with or study children across several disciplines including school and clinical child psychology, special education, counseling, and social work. Although many books and other professional materials on the social competence of children and adolescents are presently available, the knowledge regarding these social skills is expanding rapidly, and there is a tremendous need to keep it current. This book helps meet this need by not only synthesizing a great deal of recent work in the field, but also by providing new information and evidence that has not yet been published. It also bridges an important gap that sometimes exists between research and practice. For instance, some books on child and adolescent social skills are clearly written for the academician or researcher, and may have little apparent application for the clinician or practitioner. Other materials are written as practical assessment or intervention guides for the clinician/practitioner, yet sometimes lack supporting evidence and rationale. This book is aimed at both arenas.

This scholarly yet highly readable and practical text systematically covers the importance, development, assessment, and treatment of social skills of children and adolescents. Combining scientific rigor with a highly approachable and readable style of writing to create a practical and unique book, this volume provides a comprehensive overview of the increasingly important topic of child and adolescent social skills. A wide variety of tables, figures, and practical step-by-step guides enhance the material presented, making it particularly useful for practitioners while offering an extensive array of recent research and models of interest to researchers. The authors present a solid foundation of scientific knowledge written in a manner accessible to nonscientists and having ample practical implications and examples for educational and clinical practice. The book is divided into two parts--the first features a foundation for conceptualizing and assessing child and adolescent social skills, whereas the second focuses on the arena of intervention. An up-to-date and unique addition to the literature, this volume will be of interest to professionals who work with or study children across several disciplines including school and clinical child psychology, special education, counseling, and social work. Although many books and other professional materials on the social competence of children and adolescents are presently available, the knowledge regarding these social skills is expanding rapidly, and there is a tremendous need to keep it current. This book helps meet this need by not only synthesizing a great deal of recent work in the field, but also by providing new information and evidence that has not yet been published. It also bridges an important gap that sometimes exists between research and practice. For instance, some books on child and adolescent social skills are clearly written for the academician or researcher, and may have little apparent application for the clinician or practitioner. Other materials are written as practical assessment or intervention guides for the clinician/practitioner, yet sometimes lack supporting evidence and rationale. This book is aimed at both arenas.

Building Social Relationships addresses the need for social skills programming for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and other social difficulties by providing a comprehensive model that incorporates the following five steps: assess social functioning, distinguish between skill acquisition and performance deficits, select intervention strategies, implement intervention, and evaluate and monitor progress. The model describes how to organize and make sense of the myriad social skills strategies and resources available to parents and professionals. It is not meant to replace other resources or strategies, but to synthesize them into one comprehensive program.

Finally a social skills program that covers all the bases! Whether it's learning how long one can look at somebody without being accused of staring; how to shift topics, despite one's desire to stick with that all-consuming special interest; how to say no to peer pressure; or dealing with a sensitive topic - it's all here... and more. In this comprehensive and user friendly book, the author translates years of experience working with students wiht Asperger Syndrome and social-communication difficulties. After brief introductory chapters on skills to target, instructional strategies, behavior management, promoting generalization, etc., as well as a special chapter by Brenda Smith Myles on relevant characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, the reader is presented with the essence of this must-have resource: 70 of the skills that most commonly cause difficulty for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and social-communications problems. The presentation of each skill consists of a reproducible skill handout, as well as activity sheets listing ways teachers and parents can demonstrate, practice, and reinforce the skill in the classroom and at home. A concluding chapter on promoting peer acceptance offers sensitivity training programs for both students of various age groups and school staff, making this a complete social skills training package for students of all ages.

Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Assessment of Children and Adolescents, Second Edition was written to provide a comprehensive foundation for conducting clinical assessment of child and adolescent social-emotional behavior in a practical, scientific, and culturally appropriate manner. It is divided into two major sections. Part I includes eight chapters that provide a general foundation for assessment practice. These chapters include coverage of basic professional and ethical issues, classification and diagnostic problems, and six primary assessment methods, which are presented in detail. Part II includes six chapters on applications for assessing specific social-emotional behavior domains, including internalizing and externalizing problems, social skills and peer relations, young children, and diverse cultural groups. Together, these two sections provide a framework for a model of assessment that is practical, flexible, sensitive to specific needs, and empirically sound. Changes in the second edition of this book include: increased coverage of the practice of functional behavior assessment; updated test reviews; reviews of new assessment instruments; updated information on legal and ethical issues; updated information on assessment and cultural diversity; and a handy appendix with contact information for all publishers of instruments discussed in the book, including Web site addresses. To the greatest extent possible, this book weaves together the most recent research evidence and common application issues. It is specifically relevant to practitioners and researchers in the fields of school psychology and child clinical psychology, but will also be of interest to those in related disciplines, such as counseling, social work, child psychiatry, and special education.

In this guide are the tools needed to develop appropriate social skills interventions for young children through adolescents and crossing a broad spectrum of backgrounds and abilities. This work is unique in its emphasis on building ne w adaptive, prosocial behaviors. The editors have combined an overview of the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of social skills instruction with a broad range of practical applications, examples, strategies, and suggestions for intervention. Includes extensive, up to date coverage of early childhood, aggressive, severely disabled, adolescent, and culturally diverse populations. Explains how social skills instruction can be used to prevent problems as well as help children overcome existing ones. Shows how to assess the characteristics of learners and their environment in order to tailor instruction to their needs. Provides a wide range of strategies, examples, and practical suggestions -- including behavioral, cogni tive, and affective approaches. School Psychologists, Special Education Teachers, and Clinical Psychologists. A Longwood Professional Book Also available in casebound: ISBN: 0-205-16073-5 Title Code: H60734. The previous edition ISBN is: 0-205-14299-0.

One of the most complete sources of information on the development of social skills training with youth, this useful volume integrates current research and practice. Practitioners interested in establishing or revising current social service delivery programs for children and adolescents will discover valuable conceptual and programmatic ideas.