Topics > Social Skills Problems

Treatment Options

How do you treat a lack of social skills? Just like you treat any other skill deficit – teach them!  Just as you teach a child to use the toilet - recognizing the urge, undressing, sitting on toilet, etc. – you can teach them empathy – listening, asking questions, identifying feelings, and responding appropriately.  Through the techniques of Applied Behavior Analysis, one can come to understand the behavior, measure it, and determine an effective intervention strategy.  Analysts will use ongoing data collection to determine that the training is in fact effective, i.e. seeing an increase in the desired behavior.  

Numerous different methods can be used to teach appropriate social behavior.  Modeling, self-management, and task analysis are just a few of the many teaching tactics used in ABA.  However, these methods are only successful when they take into account the child’s learning history and personal preferences.  Thus, a behavioral assessment is necessary starting point in order to identify the child’s unique needs.