Coaching children in social skills for friendship making.

ODEN, SHERRI, and ASHER, STEVEN R. Coaching Children in Social Skills for Friendship Making. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 495-506. Thirdand fourth-grade socially isolated children were coached in social skills. The coaching condition included (1) instructions from an adult in social skills relevant to friendship making, (2) playing games with peers to practice social skills, and (3) a postplay review session with the coach. In a second condition (peer pairing), isolated children played the same games with the same peers but did not receive verbal instruction or review. In a third condition (control), isolated children were taken out of the classroom with the same peers but played solitary games and did not interact or receive verbal instruction or review. Pretest-posttest sociometric assessment of the 4-week training indicated that the coaching group increased on a play sociometric rating significantly more than the peer-pairing and control groups. The coaching children also received a greater but nonsignificant gain in friendship nominations. No significant findings were obtained on the work sociometric rating or on behavioral measures. A follow-up assessment 1 year later indicated continued progress on the play sociometric rating for the children who had received coaching.