Assessing and Supporting Social-Skill Needs for Students With High-Incidence Disabilities

Increasingly, special education teachers are charged, either directly or indirectly, with assessing and supporting students’ social skill needs both in the classroom and across educational settings. While some students may have behavioral goals outlined in their Individualized Education Program, other students may not have such goals despite lacking social competence in one or more areas. Social skills instruction is one way to address social skill needs for students with disabilities, and more specifically, for students with high incidence disabilities. The intent of this article is to provide special educators with tools to assess, teach, generalize, and maintain social skill competency for students with high incidence disabilities.