Amy D Diamond

Advanced Methods & Assessment: Learning Strategy and Content Mastery for Struggling Learners & Students with
High-Incidence Disabilities
Social Skills Assessment and Intervention

Reflection

Assignment Purpose

The Social Skills Assessment and Intervention assignment was a two part project that

analyzed a variety of documentation in order to determine social skills that the given student

needed to improve and interventions for improving those skills. This assignment is designed for

educators to develop their skills in recognizing and providing social skills intervention and

instruction. It also provides instructors with a variety of instruments to use and analyze when

determining areas for instruction. By utilizing these instruments and interpretive methods, it is

easier to determine if a student has a performance deficit with regard to the targeted skill or if

they have a skills deficit and require explicit instruction to improve their performance in the

targeted skill. This helps educators devise effective interventions that are more likely to increase

the students abilities in the area of social skills.

Assignment Requirements

The Social Skills Assessment and Intervention began by providing an overview of a

student that included documentation such as his IEP, teacher interview notes, progress reports

and present levels of performance. In addition to the information provided by the

documentation, the student was observed in social interactions with peers. A discrepancy

analysis was performed and interpreted to select a specific social skill that the student needed to

improve. A variety of factors were selected to address during interventions that I suggested. The

intervention plan proposed needed to include explicit instructional methods, social skill

prompting and coaching methods, social understanding and social problem solving methods and

peer mediated strategies. The intervention plan also included an evaluation to assess the

effectiveness of the plan.

Amy D Diamond
Advanced Methods & Assessment: Learning Strategy and Content Mastery for Struggling Learners & Students with
High-Incidence Disabilities
Social Skills Assessment and Intervention

When analyzing the information provided on Bobby (a case study student), I suggested

that he was experiencing a performance deficit in the area of conversation skills with peers.

Bobby had difficulty with perspective taking and speaking on topics that were not of interest to

himself. He also became verbally aggressive and defensive when receiving feedback or a

negative response. My intervention plan for Bobby included beginning with an interest

inventory of himself and then performing an interest inventory of a peer to compare their

interests and identify students who shared common interests with Bobby. Bobby would also

conduct some of the interest inventories of his peers as an interview. In addition, my

intervention plan included video modeling and video prompting regarding successful

conversational skills, including initiating and entering conversations. I proposed using clips

from movies that Bobby enjoyed initially for models. Later, I proposed using movie clips to

prompt appropriate responses by Bobby and also assess his awareness of body language and

nonverbal cues. I also proposed later creating video models incorporating Bobbys peers and

himself and a consequence map regarding his reactions in conversations. My intervention plan

for Bobby also included a scripted story to address entering a conversation. I also proposed peer

tutoring to help boost Bobbys confidence in peer interactions.

Revisions and Applications

This assignment helped me better apply strategies that I was already familiar with as an

educator. The case study was an excellent opportunity to apply strategies in a structured

scenario. I found this assignment helpful in analyzing the ways social skills can be analyzed and

improved. The assignment provided opportunities to utilize assessment instruments that I was

not familiar with and interpret my findings. I did not make any revisions to this assignment

based on instructor feedback, however, while reflecting I found myself concerned with the
Amy D Diamond
Advanced Methods & Assessment: Learning Strategy and Content Mastery for Struggling Learners & Students with
High-Incidence Disabilities
Social Skills Assessment and Intervention

logistics of implementing such an involved intervention. It made me question the resources

available. When I composed my plan, I assumed I would be the special education teacher either

co teaching or pushing into Bobbys general education classrooms. While I do not doubt the

effectiveness of the interventions I proposed, I do wonder about the ability to implement the plan

with fidelity.