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Preschoolers’ Social Skills: Advances in Assessment for Intervention Using Social Behavior Ratings

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Abstract

Social skills play an important role in young children’s successes in and outside of school. For two decades, educators have used the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990) as a tool for describing children’s social behaviors and for planning interventions to improve social skills. Although widely used, some researchers have criticized certain aspects of the preschool version of the SSRS. In 2008, a revision of the instrument, the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (SSiS-RS; Gresham & Elliott), was published. In this article, we examine the development of the preschool versions of SSRS and SSiS-RS and provide a comparison of the two rating systems, focusing on the content, structure, psychometric properties, and intended use of the instruments. We then describe the SSiS-RS within an assessment for intervention model. We conclude that the SSiS-RS is an improved assessment instrument over the preschool SSRS and provide recommendations for future studies that will contribute to the evolving validity evidence for the resulting scores and decisions made from them.

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Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The second and third authors are the authors of the Social Skills Rating System and the Social Skills Improvement System, both published by Pearson Assessments. As authors of these social behavior rating scales, the authors earn a royalty from sales; thus, the potential for a conflict of interest exists when publishing research or descriptive comparisons of these instruments. The authors strive for objectivity in their research and reports concerning the SSRS and SSiS and use the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, & NCME, 1999) as a strong guide in describing and characterizing validity and consequential evidence concerning these assessment instruments. Readers, however, are encouraged to read this article with an awareness of the authors’ role in the development and continued validation of these assessments and to be the final judges of the utility of this information for their own research and practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vanderbilt University, Peabody Box #228, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Jennifer R. Frey

  2. Learning Sciences Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Stephen N. Elliott

  3. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Frank M. Gresham

Authors
  1. Jennifer R. Frey
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  2. Stephen N. Elliott
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  3. Frank M. Gresham
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Correspondence to Jennifer R. Frey.

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Frey, J.R., Elliott, S.N. & Gresham, F.M. Preschoolers’ Social Skills: Advances in Assessment for Intervention Using Social Behavior Ratings. School Mental Health 3, 179–190 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-011-9060-y

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