Exploring Social Skills Interventions- Effectiveness and Applications in Inclusive Special Education Settings

Exploring Social Skills Interventions- Effectiveness and Applications in Inclusive Special Education Settings

The absence of enough resources and proper direction is the primary cause of the difficulties that many educators face while attempting to address behavioral concerns that are present among students in inclusive classrooms (Puckett et al., 2017, p. 25). It is common for the majority of students who suffer from inadequacies in social and communication skills also to be the students who are most at risk for behavioral disorders. The inability of a student to participate in class is influenced by these behaviors, particularly in-class activities that need students to work together on projects and engage in interactions with other students, such as discussion groups. If a child continuously exhibits behavioral deficits, it might be difficult for them to form relationships with their peers and communicate with their peers. When applied in a variety of settings, the degree to which these practices hinder functioning varies.

Peer mentors are a social skill intervention that can help students with behaviors in a range of contexts. Peer mentoring is a relationship between two individuals who are at the same stage of their careers or are of the same age. In this relationship, one individual has more experience than the other in a specific field and can facilitate the transfer of information and skills in addition to providing support. Peer mentoring guides students toward accomplishing particular needs or goals by assisting in identifying them. Students can reflect on where they are in their college journey and where they would like to be by talking about specific objectives and problems with a peer mentor (Sanderson & Chen, 2023). Peer mentorship promotes personal development and self-awareness in pupils (Williams et al., 2024). Further, it develops self-management, leadership, and organizing abilities, enhances interpersonal and conversational abilities and increases the length of their professional CV and CCT transcript.

Moreover, peer mentors can help by modeling and facilitating conversations about acceptable communication and behavior in the classroom. A student with disabilities receives social and academic support from one or two peers without impairments. Numerous studies have been conducted on the advantages of integrating peers alongside training aimed at motivating and demonstrating social behavior skills in students with impairments. Peer mentorship, as described by Puckett et al. (2017, p. 26), involves utilizing peers who can provide real-life examples of desired skills. This approach not only helps students with behavioral challenges follow the steps involved in these skills but also facilitates the creation of tangible visual aids and enhances social interaction opportunities. Furthermore, peer mentorship extends its benefits beyond students with disabilities, positively impacting their peers in general education settings as well. The selected social skill, peer mentoring was used effectively because it explains how the social skill can be used to help students improve their performances, especially students with disabilities.

Peer-delivered services have long been acknowledged as a way to help people with mental health conditions who do not have intellectual or developmental disabilities manage their own mental health-related needs (Schwartz & Levin, 2022). Research also indicates that peer mentoring can help people with intellectual or developmental disabilities develop their skills (Schwartz & Levin, 2022, p. 2). Shared life experiences support effective peer-delivered services, enabling individuals to draw from their own experiences to offer support that sets them apart from specialists. Social modeling helps people acquire new skills and feel more confident in themselves. Concerns about co-occurring mental health illnesses may also be successfully addressed by a peer mentorship program that targets mental health issues for people with intellectual and developmental impairments.

Consistently, peer-mediated therapies have become more popular throughout time as a means of addressing mental health issues. The results of Schwartz and Levin’s study indicate that their peer mentoring intervention has shown to be a workable and respectable strategy for helping people with impairments. Their results on the intervention show potential promise for helping young adults recognize and manage their mental health symptoms by helping them identify and use coping mechanisms. Children living with adults with disabilities typically receive reminders with explicit teaching on when and how to apply their coping mechanisms as they navigate the school system and other support systems. Children get to experience greater independence when they have peer mentors. Peer mentors’ less directive approach to decision-making scaffolding gives participants the freedom to choose and apply coping mechanisms on their own terms. The findings did imply that youngsters could require further assistance beyond peer mentoring to be able to use the knowledge and abilities they have acquired.

Schwartz & Levin (2022) created, improved, and carried out a feasibility study of a novel peer mentoring intervention intended for young adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health conditions in partnership with young adults who have these conditions (p. 2). In this intervention, a young adult with co-occurring mental health conditions and intellectual and developmental disabilities mentors another young adult. This intervention technique supports the autonomous application of coping mechanisms to address mental health issues while also aiding in their identification. This method is unique when compared to other peer mentoring ideas because, in most cases, peer mentors for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are people of the same age who do not have impairments and cannot, therefore, connect to what it is like to have an impairment.

As people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) get older and graduate from high school, they frequently face obstacles that prevent them from fully participating in the community, which reduces their chances of interacting and making friends with those without disabilities. In addition to the loss of the structured social supports—such as peer support—that people with IDD frequently receive during their school years, Athamanahet al. (2020) claim that these barriers to community participation are also a result of societal barriers, such as the prejudices held by people without disabilities toward people with IDD (p. 271). People with IDD tend to participate less in the community and experience higher levels of social isolation and loneliness as a result. Additionally, there can be a higher incidence of recurrent mental health issues, such as depression.

Athamanah et al. (2020) emphasize that providing transition support and peer mentoring in higher academic settings facilitates the development of individual portfolios for college students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These activities enable students to improve their social skills, build self-confidence, foster a sense of belonging on campus, and engage in community life. Interacting with and being in the presence of our peers with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) on the integrated college university campus proves advantageous for college students without IDD in various ways. These will gain the information and skills required to comprehend and manage IDD, as well as the ability to empathize with and feel at ease around those who have the disorder, support the right of individuals with IDD to self-determination, and build interpersonal and self-awareness skills. The various influences encountered during the process of becoming a doctor yield numerous significant and positive experiences. A few of these encounters have even had an impact on the professional paths that peer mentors who do not have IDD will choose in the future. As stated by Athamanah et al. (2020), positive interactions between young adults with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) also serve as a model for inclusive behaviors (such as socializing and working together) for other members of the community, which has the potential to reduce the stigma and discrimination that society has against people with disabilities (p. 271).

References

Athamanah, L. S., Fisher, M. H., Sung, C., & Han, J. E. (2020). The experiences and perceptions of college peer mentors interacting with students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 45(4), 271-287.

Puckett, K., Mathur, S. R., & Zamora, R. (2017). Implementing an intervention in special education to promote social skills in an inclusive setting. Journal of International Special Needs Education, 20(1), 25-36.

Sanderson, N. C., & Chen, W. (2023, July). Peer-mentoring for students with disabilities–A preliminary study in Norwegian Higher Education. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 393-404). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.

Schwartz, A. E., & Levin, M. (2022). Feasibility of a peer mentoring program for young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and co‐occurring mental health conditions. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50(3), 433-445.

Williams, C. J., Chen, J., Quirion, A., & Hoeft, F. (2024) Peer mentoring for students with learning disabilities: The importance of shared experience on students’ social and emotional development. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 9, p. 1292717). Frontiers.

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For this assignment, choose 1 of the topics of interest to you from below. Write a 3-4-page paper in the current APA format that includes a title page and reference page (not included in the page count) and includes a minimum of 5 citations. Only summarizing and paraphrasing may be included.

 Topic: Social Skills

First, read the article located in the Learn section of the Jerry Falwell Library:

Puckett, K., Mathur, S., & Zamora, R. (2017). Implementing an intervention in special education to promote social skills in an inclusive setting. Journal of International Special Needs Education., 20(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.9782/2159-4341-20.1.25

Exploring Social Skills Interventions- Effectiveness and Applications in Inclusive Special Education Settings

After reading the article, choose one of the social skills noted in the article (peer mentoring, interactive social narratives, video modeling, or technology-aided instruction) to research further. Locate 2 additional peer-reviewed journal articles related to social skills and address the following questions:

How was the social skill you chose utilized in the Puckett, Mathur, and Zamora (2017) article?

Was it used effectively?

Elaborate on what current research (5 years or less) states about the social skill based on evidence using the journal article of your choice. Analyze and conclude the research.