Social Skills Training for Adults with Mental Retardation in Job-Related Settings

Abstract

The authors discuss the rationale for social skills training for workers with mental retardation, definitions and behavioral standards of these skills, and differences in the interaction patterns between workers with and without mental retardation. Various intervention strategies were reviewed critically, and their strengths and limitations were examined. Based on these analyses, the following recommendations are made. First, trainees' environments of ultimate functioning should be considered and contextual variables assessed and used. Second, social validation should be conducted to identify the social behavior that needs to be trained. Third, some procedures that have been found effective in other areas might be used for social skills training for persons with mental retardation in job-related setfings. Fourth, active programming should be included in the intervention package for trainees to generalize and maintain the acquired social skills.