Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.S.
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.)
Degree Granting Department
Child and Family Studies
Major Professor
Raymond Miltenberger, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Brianna Laureano, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Kimberly Crosland, Ph.D.
Keywords
applied behavior analysis, behavioral skills training, social skills
Abstract
Social skills are important for individuals to be successful, therefore programs that seek to improve social skills of individuals with autism and other disabilities are important (e.g., Agran et al., 2016; Miltenberger et al., 2017). The context of playing games has been used to teach children specific skills and may be a valuable way to promote generalization of social skills (e.g., Amadi et al., 2022; Radley et al., 2014). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral skills training (BST) for teaching social skills to children and adolescents using a game format and assess whether these results generalize to game play outside of training sessions and with other game partners. This study included 3 adolescents and recorded their game-related social skill performance during in situ assessments in baseline, BST, in situ training (IST), generalization, and maintenance probes. BST was moderately effective with mixed responding in increasing game-related social skills. IST was effective in increasing game-related social skills to criterion. The effects of both BST and IST generalized to no training game play and to a new game partner for two participants.
Scholar Commons Citation
Erdem, Sumeyye, "Using Behavioral Skills Training and In Situ Training to Teach Game-Related Social Skills" (2025). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/11031
