Effectiveness of the Parent-Child Social Skills Training Program for Children with Developmental Disorders: A quasi-experimental design

Purpose: This study explored the effectiveness of a new parent-child social skills training program addressing social skills and parenting stress among children with developmental disabilities and their parents. Methods: Participants were 15 children (14 boys, 1 girl; 7–9 years old) with diagnoses related to developmental disability and a Full Scale IQ ≥ 70 and 17 parents (2 fathers, 15 mothers; 34–51 years old). Each session of this program lasted 110 minutes and occurred every 1–3 weeks for about 2 months. Social skills were measured by self-evaluation (Social Skills Scale for Elementary School Children, Social Skills Self-Rating Scale for Adults: SS-A), information provider’s evaluation (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition, Japanese version: VABS-II), and practitioner’s evaluation (Role-Play Test for Children and Parents: RPT-CP), and parenting stress was measured with the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) before, immediately after, and at a 3-month follow-up after intervention. Results: VABS-II scores were significantly lower after the intervention (z = −2.58, p = .011, r = −.65). Children’s RPTCP scores also improved (z = 1.705, p = .08). The scores on SS-A, parents’ RPT-CP, and PSI improved significantly at follow-up (z = 2.832, p = .005, r = .71; z = 2.91, p = .004, r = .71; z = −2.34, p = .019, r = −.57), and parents’ RPT-CP scores were significantly higher at follow-up than post-intervention (z = 2.333, p = .02, r = .58). Conclusions: This program effectively improved parents’ social skills after the intervention, and parenting stress decreased at follow-up.