EXTENDING EVIDENCE-BASED SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL SKILL TRAINING TO YOUNG CHILDREN

NIMH
ID: R43MH077363-01A1
PI: MELISSA DEROSIER, PHD
TERM: 02/07 – 07/07

National survey data suggest the prevalence of problem behaviors in young children is between 10-25%. As children enter preschool and begin to navigate social situations outside the home, problem behaviors interfere with social development placing children at risk for problematic peer relations and delayed social skills. Without intervention, social and behavioral problems tend to persist and even escalate over time and, in turn, have a tremendous impact on the development of child psychopathology.

The goal of this Phase I project was to create and test an early childhood (EC) version of an existing evidence-based small group social skills training program in order to make it applicable for younger children. The complete S.S.GRIN-EC intervention program will address specific social skill sets, including impulse control, communication, cooperation, initiation, and perspective taking. For the Phase I prototype, the session scripts and needed materials for the first three sessions were developed as well as the Professional Manual and sample multi-media components (video, web-based game). Parent handouts were also developed describing supplemental activities to implement at home to accompany each session. An initial test of feasibility conducted with school- and community-based child mental health professionals indicated the program to be valuable, of high quality, and easy to understand. Similarly, a feasibility test with parents and their young children indicated that program materials were of high quality and likely to be effective.

Phase I findings provided the foundation for the development and testing of the complete S.S.GRIN-EC intervention program during Phase II. Funding was sought to finish development of the program and to conduct a randomized treatment-control experimental design examining changes in children’s social relations, behavior, and social skill level.

S.S.GRIN-EC is now available for purchase. To learn more or to purchase S.S.GRIN-EC, visit 3C Marketplace.

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DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Expertise

  • autism
  • early development
  • behavioral measurement
  • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

Education

  • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

Selected Publications

  • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
  • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
  • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
  • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.