Parent Involvement in School Wide Social Skills Instruction: Perceptions of a Home Note Program.
Social skills' training has traditionally been considered important for children with behavior or learning disorders (Townsend, 1994) Today many agree that schools should be attending to the social needs of all children (Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, Walberg, 2007) school wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has begun to address these needs (Sugai, Horner, Gresham, 2002) However, social skills instruction has been challenged for its lack of generalization (Armstrong McPherson 1991; Gresham, 1998; Townsend) One way schools may be able to improve the generalization of social skills is to include parents in the processes of instruction and reinforcement (Armstrong McPherson; Budd Itzkowitz, 1990) School Wide Positive Behavior Support Positive school environments can be cultivated using preventative teaching strategies that are fundamental to positive behavior support (PBS) (Sugai et al. 2002) As a model of school reform that has experienced unprecedented growth (Muscott et al. 2008) school wide PBS seeks to employ evidence based practices to achieve socially important behavior goals as well as to improve academics (Sugai Horner, 1999) PBS incorporates a three tiered model to design interventions that meet the individual needs of students (Lane Beebe Frankenberger, 2004) Schoolwide PBS is based on research indicating that approximately 80% of students respond to universal or primary level interventions that explicitly teach and reinforce behavior expectations (such as social skills) to all students in a school (Horner Sugai, 2002; Sugai Horner) Recently more attention has centered on collaboration at the school wide level with a focus on involving parents and others in the community (Scott Eber, 2003) Epstein (1986) noted that teachers and parents share common goals for children, and both have roles in their socialization and education. Many teachers believe that they can be more effective in achieving learning goals when they have parental assistance (Epstein) This can be accomplished via learning activities in the home which can also promote desirable homeschool relationships. School wide PBS, which underscores the importance of a strong working relationship between parents and educators (Muscott et al. 2008) can be used as a framework for parent involvement in school programs (Hendley, 2007) Social Competence and Skills Social skills are essential for educational and social achievement (Lane, Menzies, Barton Arwood, Doukas, Munton, 2005) The significance of social competence and social skills must not be underestimated; they are powerful predictors of school adjustment, school success, and lifelong success (Meadan Monda Amaya, 2008; Siperstein Bak, 1988) McArthur (2002) explained that teaching social skills communicates society's behavioral expectations. Children who lack social skills may face psychological consequences (Gresham, 1998; Utay Utay, 2005) as well as poor relationships, academic and occupational failure, and despair (Merrell Gimpel, 1998) It has been widely acknowledged that children with high incidence disabilities have deficits in social skills (Gresham, Sugai, Horner, 2001) Involving these students in social skills instruction has become common practice in special education programs (Maag, 2006) However, many students in general education also have social deficits that disrupt their ability to be successful at school and in the community. Accordingly, social skills interventions are now being used school wide with children who do not have identified disabilities (Merrell Gimpel, 1998; Townsend, 1994) Unfortunately, many social skills programs have neglected to plan for generalization (Gresham, 1998) In their seminal article, Stokes and Baer (1977) found that many students have challenges generalizing skills which are taught in only one setting.