Social skills is one of the most difficult concepts to teach individuals because it requires a mechanism that many individuals with disabilities lack - reading other people's social cues. As a result, many individuals either do not generalize the skills they have been taught or they use them inappropriately. When this occurs, it is called a performance deficit - a person has the necessary social skills needed to perform socially appropriate behaviors, but does not use them or does not use them at socially appropriate levels.
I worked with a student a few years ago who was 5 years old at the time. He used to love Barney the dinosaur, so we taught him to ask students if they wanted to play with his figurines. He would ask "Wanna play Barney with me?" I was asked to work on a different case and did not see the child again until he was 8 years old. I was observing him in the classroom and saw him go up to a student and ask "wanna play Barney with me?" The teacher was thrilled at the fact that he had maintained his social skills throughout the years. What do you guys think about this situation? Does this student have a performance deficit or has he mastered his social skills?
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