Group Social Skills Training on the Improvement of Social Skills in Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suffer from significant deficiencies in the acquisition and application of social skills. Weak social skills negatively affect their self–esteem and individual cognition, academic and social performance, and interpersonal relationships. Social Skills Training is an effective treatment for solving social problems among children. Therefore, the present research was conducted to examine the effectiveness of group social skills training on the improvement of social skills and its components in students with ADHD.

The study procedure was of quasi–experimental pretest–posttest design and follow–up was done with a control group. The statistical population consisted of 8–12 year–old male students with ADHD from Tehran in 2013–2014. Thirty–two of these students who had attended the Atiye Psychology Clinic were selected through convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (16 in each). The measures used were the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach/1978) and the Social Skills Rating System–Parent form (Gresham and Elliot/1990). The experimental group underwent Social Skills Training in ten sessions (one hour each). However, no intervention was performed for the control group until the post–test was completed. Then, both groups responded to the Social Skills Rating System after the training sessions and again one month later. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and standard deviation) and repeated measures analysis of variance (RMANOVA) using SPSS software at a significance level of 0.01.

Upon comparing the mean (±SD) pretest (19.68±3.73) and the mean (±SD) posttest (38.25±3.35) social skills scores in the experimental group, the results of the RMANOVA showed that the Total Social Skills Score and its components (cooperation, decisiveness and self–control –except for the responsibility component) had significantly increased in students with ADHD in comparison to the control group (p<0.001). This effect was still present one month after the intervention (p<0.001).

It was concluded that teaching social skills to students with ADHD can enhance their social skills and its components. Therefore, the development of social skills training programs and including these programs in the form of supplementary training can prove useful to these children.