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SKILLSTREAMING.
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Examines theory & techniques of program teaching social skills to preschool & kindergarten children.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Examines theory & techniques of program teaching social skills to preschool & kindergarten children.

Paper Introduction:
SKILLSTREAMING FOR PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS Background The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss McGinnis and Goldstein's (1990) program Skillstreaming in early childhood: Teaching prosocial skills to the preschool and kindergarten child. In this regard, skillstreaming can be defined as a set of instructional methods and strategies designed to promote social behaviors. The skillstreaming program was developed by the authors based on the assumption that it is important for educators to provide students with instruction in problem-reducing and problem-avoiding prosocial and affective skills. While skillstreaming programs are available for students of diverse ages, McGinnis and Goldstein (1990) state that beginning

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According to McGinnis and Goldstein (199 ), the prosocial skillsbeing taught to preschool and kindergarten students are also equallydiverse. SKILLSTREAMING FOR PRESCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS Background The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss McGinnis andGoldstein's (199 ) program Skillstreaming in early childhood: Teachingprosocial skills to the preschool and kindergarten child. At the preschool and kindergartenlevel---as well as other levels--these include curriculum for students withlearning disabilities (McGinnis, 1985); students with behavior disorders(Miller, 1992); and physically handicapped students (McGinnis, 1985). McGinnis, E. There were 4 males and 24females in the sample. Subjects in Moya's (1994) study consisted of 64 mildly learningdisabled students, ages nine to 14 years. Student role playing games are often used;these involve having the children review, rehearse, and behaviorallyperform the various skills being taught. The Skillstreaming program was designed notonly to increase students' social skills and self-esteem but also to helpthem enhance their reading performance. References Barban, S.M. Findings showed that the students in theexperimental group enhanced not only their social skills and self-esteembut also showed improvement in reading performance. My hunch is that theskillstreaming manual does provide some research on preschoolers and/orkindergartners but I did not have access to it.----------------------- 1 Subjects consisted of six fourth grade classes, six fifth grade classes,and two self-contained emotionally disturbed units (grades 4 and 5). Teaching Self-Control, 28(4), 5-12. Four measures were used as the pretest and posttest. (Doctoral Dissertation, TheUniversity of Texas at Austin) Dissertation Abstracts International, 5 (1-A), p. All subjects were assigned by class groups to either the experimentalor control group. That is, coping skills (as measured by the GettingAlong test and the Teacher Skill Checklist) were significantly higher inthe experimental group than in the control group; however, the Test ofCoping Style and the Student Skill Checklist did not reveal significantdifferences between the coping behaviors of the experimental group and thecoping behaviors of the control group. However, more research should be conductedusing samples of children of these ages before strong confidence is placedin this conclusion. 112. Documentation of the students' progress in mastering social skills isaccomplished by the teacher through the completion of a social skillschecklist (pre- and posttraining). Coping behavior was assessed (pretest and posttest) bythe Test of Coping Style, the Getting Along test, and the teacher andstudent social skills checklists developed for Skillstreaming theElementary School Child (McGinnis & Goldstein, 1984). Pre-and posttest comparisons were said to indicatevery small differences in student perceptions and only slightly largerdifferences in teachers' perceptions. (199 ). As to the effectiveness of the program for preschool andkindergarten children, the likelihood is strong that the program is alsobeneficial for this age group. The experimental group (N = 12 ) received social skills instructionfor a ten week period. Also, Miller (1992) assessed teachers' perceptions concerning socialbehaviors in classes. While skillstreaming programs are available for students of diverseages, McGinnis and Goldstein (199 ) state that beginning the program at thepreschool and/or kindergarten level is especially important in that thisearly learning of prosocial behavioral alternatives enhances the child'spersonal development and helps prevent more serious difficulties in laterchildhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. At the end of the ten week period of social skills instruction, boththe experimental and control groups were administered the posttests. (1988). Journal of Drug Education, 19(3), 271-283. In one such study, Barban (1988) evaluated the effects of askillstreaming program designed to teach children stress management skills. This training consisted of ten structured lessonsfrom the skillstreaming curriculum and included friendship-making skills,skills for dealing with feelings, skill alternatives to aggression, andskills for dealing with stress. Refusal skills: Learning to be positivelynegative. McGinnis, E. Procedures The Skillstreaming program utilizes a wide variety of strategies andprocedures to teach preschool and kindergarten children prosocial behavior(McGinnis & Goldstein, 199 ). (1989). (Microfilm Order No. Miller, M.G. (1985). Skillstreaming in earlychildhood: Teaching prosocial skills to the preschool and kindergartenchild. Research The research on skillstreaming training supports the notion that thisapproach to prosocial learning is beneficial in terms of increasingstudents prosocial skills as well as a number of other behaviors.Unfortunately, the existing research on skillstreaming has not been focusedon preschool/kindergarten level students but rather on elementary oradolescent level students. In this regard,skillstreaming can be defined as a set of instructional methods andstrategies designed to promote social behaviors. (1992). Skill-Streaming: Teaching social skills tochildren with behavioral disorders. Dataanalysis revealed that overall there was a significant effect on theexperimental group's coping behaviors; however, findings appeared to besomewhat test-specific. (1984). However, researchconducted on young children close to this age, namely elementary schoolchildren, indicates that the program is regularly, although not always,successful in teaching children prosocial behavior. Moya, L.L. Behavioral Disorders, 17(4),291-295. For example, Miller (1992)evaluated for the effects of a skillstreaming curriculum on elementaryschool students (N = 7 ) perceptions of their social skills; all studentsin the study had behavior disorders. & Goldstein, A.P. The skillstreaming programwas developed by the authors based on the assumption that it is importantfor educators to provide students with instruction in problem-reducing andproblem-avoiding prosocial and affective skills. Through the means of a self-report, thestudent provides additional progress documentation (McGinnis, 1984). Goldstein, A.P. Of course not all empirical research has shown strong positiveresults for the skillstreaming curriculum. (1994). Mexican American children with learningdisabilities: Evaluation of a social skills training program. In a more current study, Moya (1994) examined for the effects of aSkillstreaming curriculum using a sample of Mexican-American children withmild learning disabilities. Anger control training was also taught asa parallel affect-oriented effort in an attempt to teach students thecauses of anger and anger reduction techniques. In summary then, the research on skillstreaming has not utilizedsamples of preschoolers or kindergarten children. All subjects were randomly assigned to either anexperimental (n = 33) group or a control group (n = 31). They include such prosocial behaviors as: interpersonalinteraction for the purposes of refusal (how to say no); classroom survivaltechniques, friendship-making, dealing with feelings, alternatives toaggression, and stress management and coping skills; as well as conflict-resolution and anger management skills. Students are also provided with transfer training in which they arecalled upon to develop assignments for using the prosocial skills in real-life situations. (DoctoralDissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago) Dissertation AbstractsInternational, 55(5-A), p. Teachers completed the social skills component of the SocialSkills Rating System. 1383. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to suggest here that the researchusing samples of elementary school students is most likely generalizable topreschool and/or kindergarten level students. (Microfilm Order No. Considerations Based on the material covered in this paper, it seems reasonable tosuggest that, in general, the skillstreaming curriculum tends to beeffective for increasing the prosocial skills of a wide variety ofstudents. AAD94-26653) NOTE TO CLIENT I conducted searches of several educational databases including ERIC. Teaching social skills to behaviorallydisordered elementary students. However, the only skillstreaming research I could find used samples ofelementary school children or adolescents. And, of course, one of the primary instructionalstrategies utilized for kindergarten and preschool students is teachermodeling in which the teacher demonstrates each of the behavioral stepsthat make up the specific skills being taught (McGinnis & Goldstein, 199 ). Thus,subjects represented normal students and students identified as handicappeddue to emotional disturbance or learning disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 17(3),16 -167. Champaign, IL: Research Press. AAD89- 1269). Therefore, a small samplingof this research can be reviewed here. Subjects wereadministered the social skills component of the Social Skills RatingSystem, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories, and the Gates-MacGinitieReading Tests. Skillstreaming programs are not only used with students of diverseages, skillstreaming curriculum has also been developed and implemented forvarious types of student populations. McGinnis, E. The effects of social skills training on copingbehaviors of elementary aged children. Also, students discuss the roleplaying games with one another, providing feedback on performance. Student and teacher perceptions related tobehavior change after skillstreaming training.

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