Examining the Effects of a Peer-Mediated Social Skills Intervention on the Prosocial Behaviors of Elementary Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders represent part of the population of students who receive special education services, and the social skill deficits that they present makes it so that they are less likely to pass their classes and more likely to drop out of school than their typical peers. The social skill deficits of these students often lead to a variety of negative factors including poor relationships and academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a peer-mediated social skills intervention on fourth and fifth grade students in a public-school setting. The current study explicitly taught students the target social skills of sharing, compliment giving, and sportsmanship using modeling, role-play, and discussion with feedback. Results of the study indicated participants increased target skills in intervention phases with the skill of sharing showing strong results for all three participants and sportsmanship skills showing strong results for one participant. Target skills declined somewhat in maintenance phases for all participants but remained above baseline levels. Two participants generalized the skill of sharing to the recess setting with untrained peers, while the third participant generalized sportsmanship skills to the recess setting