A Behavioral-Analytic Model for Assessing Social Skills in Blind Adolescents

A behavioral-analytic assessment approach was conducted to identify social skill deficits in visually-handicapped adolescents. The investigation was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, a role-play test of social skill relevant to visually-handicapped persons was derived empirically using separate samples of professional and paraprofessional staff. Also, situation-specific criteria for evaluating levels of social skill were established. The second phase involved validation of the role-play test by determining the extent to which it discriminated visually-handicapped from nonhandicapped participants. Further, the first empirical data concerning the specific nature of interpersonal skill deficits in the blind were obtained in this part of the study. Results indicated that blind S s showed deficiencies in selected verbal and nonverbal social skill components. However, their performance was not uniformly deficient. Indeed, visually-handicapped clients received higher ratings on a global skill measure. Overall, these findings support the notion that many blind individuals experience problems in social adaptation and underscore the need for further research in this area.