Exploring the Effectiveness of Combining Social Skills Training and Two Parent Programs in Improving the Social Competence of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

TL;DR

This study found that combining social skills training with a Parent Workshop improved social competence in children with ADHD more effectively than a Parenting School.

Contribution

The study introduces a comparison of two parent programs to enhance social skills training for children with ADHD.

Findings

Children showed significant improvements in identifying social cues and generating appropriate responses.

The Parent Workshop program led to better improvements in social cue detection and conversation memory than the Parenting School program.

More than half of the children in the Parent Workshop program showed reliable changes across all variables.

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The objective of the present study was to examine the extent of effectiveness of two parent programs to complement an intervention in social skills for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: Fifteen children with ADHD participated in a program to develop social skills, while their parents were randomly assigned to two parent training programs that had different formats: a Parenting School (N = 8) or a Parent Workshop (N = 7). There were no significant differences between parents of both groups in knowledge about ADHD, obedience to commands, or strategies for addressing desirable and undesirable behaviors. The pre- and post-intervention social cognition and social interaction of ADHD children were assessed using a SSRS-C questionnaire (Social Skills Rating System—Child Form) and a controlled chat room, which allowed for observing how children interact in a virtual environment. Results: Children showed significant improvements in social competencies, such as identifying social cues, generating appropriate responses, and reducing hostile responses, with large effect sizes, following the social skills intervention. Comparing the two parent training programs, the Parent Workshop program demonstrated significant improvements in social cue detection and conversation memory, with more children achieving reliable changes in these variables than in the Parenting School program. Conclusions: Finally, the reliable change indices for children showed that the Parent Workshop demonstrated improvements in more than half of the subjects across all analyzed variables. Study limitations, implications for research and practice are discussed.

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