Social-Emotional Learning: Modifications to a Social Skills Training Program for Adolescents with Moderate to Severe Communication Disorders
For social success, a student must not only demonstrate social competence, but have the ability tointegrate emotional intelligence (EI) and executive functioning (EF) as well (January, Casey, & Paulson, 2011). Communicative effectiveness is often hindered in students with deficits in these areas. To address these challenges, it is not uncommon for this population to participate in a myriad of interventions collectively referred to as social skills training (SST). These types of interventions are frequently provided within the context of a one-on-one setting or a small group referred to as a “social skills group” (SSG)(Moore & Montgomery, 2007). To date, SST provided through a SSG service delivery format has been conceptually viewed as a modelfor younger students and/or students with proficient language skills and limited interfering behaviors (Cook et al., 2008). The purpose of the current study was to determine if modifications to an SST curriculum teaching emotional learning through self-regulation and selfawareness as well as the development of EF skills provided in SSG service delivery format could be effective for students with moderate to severe communication deficits.
