Comprehensive Social Skills Taxonomy: Development And Application

OBJECTIVE. We developed a comprehensive social skills taxonomy based on archived children's social skill goal sheets, and we applied the taxonomy to 6,897 goals of children in 6 diagnostic categories to explore patterns related to diagnosis.METHOD. We used a grounded theory approach to code and analyze social skill goals and develop the taxonomy. Multivariate analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc honestly significant difference test were used to analyze differences in social skill needs among diagnostic groups.RESULTS. We developed a taxonomy of 7 social skill constructs or categokts, descriptions, and behavioral indicators. The 7 social skill categories were reflected across 6 diagnostic groups, and differences in social skill needs among groups were identified.CONCLUSION. This comprehensive taxonomy of social skills can be useful in developing research-based individual, group, or institutional programming to improve social skills.