Heather Muller

First Annotations

Bittel, K. & Hernandez, D. (2006). Kinesthetic Writing, of Sorts. Science Scope, 29(7) 37-39.
This research article was based off a middle school science classroom, promoting the idea of
flipbooks to increase the meaningfulness of writing during scientific experiments. The flipbook
included six different “flaps” designed to help students reach a quality written conclusion. The
findings of using this scientific flipbook showed 1-2 rubric points increases in special education
and English Language Learners as measured by a six-traits of writing rubric. Due to the multiple
sentence starters provided by this flipbook, students were able to communicate their scientific
understandings more thoroughly.
Bittel and Hernandez are 8th grade science teachers at a middle school in Arizona. Knowing this,
their articles credibility is lacking due to the intervention targeting such a small population of
8th grade students. However, the teachers did include their personal email addresses as well as
the schools full name. doing this would allow for researchers to follow up with any pressing
questions that may impact the validity of this research. Bias could be seen throughout the
article due to sampling such a small group of students within a single middle school.
Due to this article showing positive attributions and outcomes, I personally think that it would
be worth trying out with my students. It is a simple enough intervention that can be easily
adapted towards any subject area. My special education students have always struggled to
formulate well written and thought through sentences in all subject areas. Making a flipbook
whenever a writing assignment is required may allow them to construct more meaningful work
and therefore, display to their teachers exactly what knowledge they are gathering from each
lesson. This activity would also hit the popular accommodation of supporting special education
students with graphic organizers to assist in writing requirements. Consequently, due to a final
realization of topic, this particular study will not aid me with my research.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Brooks, B. A., Floyd, F., Robins, D. L., & Chan, W. Y. (2015). Extracurricular activies and the
development of social skills in children with intellectual and specific learning disabilities.
Journal of Intellectual Disbaility Research, 59(7), 678-687.
This article gathered information over the development of social skills in children with specific
learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities. These children were 8 to 11 years old in age, 40
of which with intellectual disabilities, 53 with learning disabilities, and 24 in the control group of
typically developing peers. The study focused on students participating in unstructured, out of
school activities. A questionnaire was used and reported by parents to indicate the amount of
outside of school activities their child participated in within the past six months. To gage social
competence, parents used the PSTRS scale to rate their child’s success in different social
categories. The conclusion indicates that there needs to be future research conducted to see if
unstructured activities effect the social development of students with specific learning and
intellectual disabilities. No significance was reached in this study.
This article was published in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. Two of the authors
studied psychology while one attended Drexel Autism Institution. The authors compiled an
abundance of outside resources to complete this research study. Bias was seen within the study
due to the measures being performed by the participants parental guardians. Procedures were
reviewed by the University Institutional Review Board, showing the credibility of the research.
I thought this article had a relatable hypothesis stating that students who participated in
extracurricular activities would benefit in the areas of social skills. To my surprise, the range of
data collected was not enough to correlate extracurriculars with advantages in social skills. I
think that finding more research over this topic would allow for further insight on how social
skills should be taught to children with disabilities. I also thought that the authors could have
used more relevant instruments, opposed to just parent questionnaires, to support their
hypothesis. Lastly, I think that more organized means of “extracurricular activities” should have
been considered rather than just leaving it up to the parents to get their child involved.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Cartledge, G. (2005). Learning Disabilities and Social Skills: Reflections. Learning Disability
Quarterly, 28, 179-181.
Cartledge recalls having a conversation with a mother, regarding her son's education progress, in which
the mother claimed the school failed in teaching her son appropriate social skills criteria. This resonated
with Cartledge so much that she continued to do research over this topic to see what the school had
missed. The article focused around tips on how to successfully put a social skills intervention into place.
A key finding was that these interventions should be taught within the general education classroom.
Doing this will allow for more "real life" scenarios to be practice. Another key finding indicated that
teachers need to be more prepared to teach social skills and given the opportunity to teach them more
often. These skills should be taught throughout the grades as a comprehensive and ongoing curriculum.
Beginning these interventions is crucial during the primary grades due to students being the most
receptive to behavior change.

Cartledge has earned a Ph.D. from Ohio State University and teaches there as a special education
professor. From examining her reference page, she has not only published this article but four or more
others that also revolve around social skills interventions. No additional information was given about
Cartledge within this article.

The main take away point that I noticed from this article was that Cartledge made strong points as to
why social skills should be taught within student’s general classroom. Doing this allows for more
relatable, real life interactions between all the students. It is like a roll play mechanism but instead of
thinking of "fake scenarios" you can use real ones within the school day, so students can practice the
taught skills. Another key point that I took from this article was the idea of teaching social skills as a
whole group lesson, rather than small group. I know that at the Middle School level it is difficult to
incorporate and therefore, a lot of social skills is done within smaller groups. That is one thing I would
like to be able to enforce within my middle school classroom one to two times a week. I think that it
would help to deteriorate problematic behaviors and boost peer interactions, especially for special
education students.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Fletcher-Watson, S, Petrou, A., Schott-Barrett J., Dicks, P., Graham, C., O'Hare, A., Pain, H., &
McConachie, H. (2016). A trial of an iPad intervention targeting social communication
skills in children with Autism. Autism, 20(7), 771-782.
In this research article, 54 preschool students, from the United Kingdom, with Autism Spectrum
Disorder (ASD) were broken into two separate groups: the intervention group and the control
group. The 27 students in the intervention group were given an iPad intervention in hopes of
enhancing their social skills. These students used a free app called “FindMe” that allowed them
to practice their joint attention skills (i.e. eye contact, gestures, verbal cues). This intervention
had taken place over a two-month period within their homes on top of their usual social skills
treatments done within the hospital setting. The control group was only given their usual social
skills treatments within the hospital setting. Results showed no observable impact or significant
positive difference between the intervention group and the control group.
These eight authors have all graduated from profound United Kingdom Universities. They are
aware of the limitations of the experiment due to the lack of relation between this study and
other intervention studies. The authors are forthcoming about their methods and give honest
thoughts on future directions of technology based, social skills interventions. No bias was seen
throughout the article.
I enjoyed how the findings of this article clearly stated that the iPad intervention had no
positive, observable impact on the students, yet they still published the article. To me this
shows that researchers should dig a little deeper to see if technology can be considered, at any
level, a resource in teaching social skills. In my mind, it does not seem to ever be a factor in the
enforcement of social skills due to the lack of person to person interaction. However, I do think
that if there were some type of app that students could work on in their homes, to boost
particular social skills, it would be highly beneficial for students with disabilities like Autism. A
social skills app would be beneficial for further practice of skills at any time of the day, even
when there is a lack of in person interaction going on.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Greca, A. & Lopez, N. (1998). Social Anxiety Among Adolescents: Linkages with Peer Relations
and Friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26(2), 89-94.
Greca and Lopez used the Social Anxiety Scale for Children (SASC-R) to evaluate whether high social
anxiety was linked to low acceptance and support from peers as well as having less romantic appeal. The
authors focused mainly on gender differences of high schoolers with social anxiety. During this study,
250 high schoolers from a middle class, metro area were surveyed. The results for girls showed that
friendships and peer acceptance were main predictors of social anxiety. The results for boys showed
that only peer acceptance was associated with social anxiety with a 19 to 26% discrepancy between the
boys and girls results.

Both authors provided educational background and an email correspondence for further
research questions. The limitations section was thorough in explaining both limitations shown
of the study. Adequate outside research over social anxiety, peer relationships, and mental
disorders was gathered in order to tie together this surveyed research.
I think that knowing whether students have social anxiety prior to implementing a social skills
intervention would be beneficial. Knowing this would allow me as a teacher to make them feel
more comfortable within the classroom and especially during the social skills intervention.
Another positive is that the SASC is a survey designed for children. Since I will be working with
kiddos in primary grades, the SASC would be easy to utilize in order to see where the social
anxiety is stemming from.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Guivarch, J., Murdymootoo, V., Elissalde, S., Tardieu, S., Jouve, E., & Poinso, F. (2017). Impact of
an implicit social skills training group in children with autism spectrum disorder without
intellectual disability: A before-and-after study. PLOS ONE, 1-18.
The study was conducted with six patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ages 9 to 11. The
patients were given a before and after study to determine the effectiveness of an implicit social
skills intervention involving modified board games. The students were evaluated for 22 weeks
using three different methods: Social Emotional Profile (SEP), Childhood Autism Rating Scale
(CARS), and Empathy Quotient (EQ). Results showed that the implicit group improved the
children’s overall social skills according to all three rating scales (SEP, CARS, and EQ).
All authors are health professionals at medical facilities in France, specializing in Child
Psychiatry or Medical Evaluation. A total of seventy-seven outside references were used to
guide this research article, showing the authors value in research methodology. All aspects of
the article were clearly ordered and described. They were aware of their limitations of this
study due to children ending the program, small sample size, and inability to have a control
group. Due to the authors denying a control group and nothing to compare the tested group
with, there is a bit of bias seen throughout the study. A noticeably sufficient amount of
references were used to guide this study.
I liked how the study focused around using adapted board games to strengthen social skills. I
think this is a very interactive intervention that would hook students right from the beginning.
The authors included a few charts with their three testing methods and results. However, I wish
they would have also included specific examples of what games were used throughout the
study. Another positive aspect of this study was the honesty seen within the limitations section.
I noticed that the authors specified to their audience that they did not use a control group due
to not wanting to hinder any students from receiving the taught social skills that they need. This
hit home for me and showed that the researchers cared about their students on a more
personal level, not just an experimental level. The idea of using board games could be beneficial
for me when selecting which intervention style I am wanted to implement for my study.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Lane, K. (1999). Young Students at Risk for Antisocial Behavior: The Utility of Academic and
Social Skills Interventions. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 7(4), 211-223.
Lane studied 53 first grade students who were identified for being at risk for behavior problems. These
students participated in a study that involved them in an intervention connected to reading academics
and social skills. This intervention aimed to increase reading performance and social skills and decrease
problematic behaviors. The reading intervention focused on phonemic awareness using the PATR
Program. Whereas the social skills intervention SSRS used a role-play format to build cooperation,
assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control. There was no major significance seen after the 12
and a half hours of intervention training, though the teachers did rate the interventions as highly
acceptable. Lane's hypothesis was not supported. Although the improvements were not significant from
the study, they were however maintained.

Lane holds a PhD and works as a professor in the Special Education and Psychology department at the
University of Arizona. She focuses her work around finding research that pertains to students at risk for
behavioral and emotional disorders. A mailing and email address was provided for readers with further
questions on this study. Limitations were drawn out and easily understood. Many reliable reference
sources were used to aid this research.

First, I think it is important to note that Lane published this article despite the insignificance of her
findings. What I have noticed throughout many articles is that role-play is a key factor when teaching
students in social skills groups. This is important to note for when I am to begin my own social skills
research intervention. I also thought that it was interesting that Lane paired her social skills intervention
(SSRS) with a phonemic awareness intervention (PATR). It is beneficial, however, to keep in mind that
both academics and social abilities should be high priority throughout a school day, especially for
students with special needs.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Licciardello, C., Harchik, A., & Luiselli, J. (2008). Social Skills Intervention for Children with
Autism During Interactive Play at a Public Elementary School. Education and Treatment
of Children, 31(1), 27-37.
These three researchers evaluated four elementary aged students with Autism Spectrum
Disorder. A social skills intervention was put into place by paraprofessionals involving rewards,
prompting and preteaching. This intervention was conducted daily during a recess setting
involving playground equipment. The goal of this intervention was to increase social initiations
and social responses between students with Autism and their peers. The intervention only took
place through one baseline and one intervention play period. Results from this brief
intervention showed a 14% or higher increase in all four children's social initiations and
responses.
All three authors provided educational background and an email correspondence for further
research questions. The limitations section was thorough in explaining their several limitations,
which included: lack of intervention data points, lack of knowledge regarding whether the skills
could be supported without the given intervention, frequency of peer initiation data, and
minimal IOA assessment data. Adequate outside research over Autism, social skills, and peer
interactions was gathered in order to tie together this small intervention study.
This research article has provided me with useful information in regard to my future research. I
found the study to be valuable in terms of providing me with a foundation of a specific setting
to conduct my observations in, a modifiable data collection method, and specific aspects of
social skills to focus my intervention around (i.e.: initiations and responses). The limitations
section also provided me with a good look at what else should be targeted and gathered from a
social skills intervention like this. I am hoping that knowing these limitations, I will be able to
gather sufficient information to show the true importance of my intervention.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Mobley, K. & Fisher, S. (2014). Ditching the Desks: Kinesthetic Learning in College Classrooms.
Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 105, 301-309.
In this research article, kinesthetic learning was explored within college level, social science
classrooms. The hope for this intervention is to further valuable dialogue between collegiate
students and allow application of these skills into different contexts. Kinesthetic learning allows
to build social cues and communication skills. This article allows educators to gather kinesthetic
ideas that are easily applicable to the classroom. It outlines 11 different kinesthetic activities
indicating the pros, cons, variations, and course connectable course objectives. No specific
study was completed with these activities. Rather, the article was formed to provide
information to educators.
There is not a lot of information provided giving background over the authors. Due to the lack
of intervention and data gathered throughout this article, there seems to be some bias present.
There was no evidence given that these activities would show positive educational outcomes
amongst college students. The authors did however gather an abundance of resources to back
up their thoughts of kinesthetic learning resulting in stronger communication skills and
transmission of content.
Mobley and Fisher provided good insight over the idea of kinesthetic learning. This article offers
an organized table of kinesthetic resources that can easily be utilized and adapted within any
classroom. The article was concise in terms of valuable information due to there not being a set
research study performed. My education philosophy aligns well with the idea of using multiple
means of representation in which kinesthetic learning is a major part of. Due to this, I am
always wanting to learn more about ways to incorporate this idea within my classroom.
Consequently, due to a final realization of topic, this particular study will not aid me with my
research.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Nelson, J., Stage, S., Epstein, M., & Pierce, C. (2005). Effects of a Prereading Intervention on the
Literacy and Social Skills of Children. Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty
Publications, 72(1), 29-45.
This research article looked to implement a prereading intervention on reading and social
behavior skills amongst kindergarten students, specifically those at risk for behavior disorder
(BD). A total of 63 students were selected and randomly distributed into two groups: the
treatment and the experimental group. The students were taken from 10 different schools
throughout the Midwest. The findings of using this prereading intervention showed statistic
and education gains compared to the treatment group.
All four authors of the article are professors at the University level. Two of the four authors are
co-directors at the Center for At Risk Children. However, three of the authors have attended
Universities within the 350th percentile range, worldly ranked. This shows lower credibility
considering their lack of educational level and choice of university attendance. Limitations were
specified and considered in the final representation of the article data. The only bias seen in
this experiment is that the treatment group received instruction based on whatever reading
program was present within their school. The bias applies due to the thought of each school
using their own reading program. Therefore, the control or treatment group may not be
comparable to other students due to the lack of information given about this reading program.
Social skills are a major priority with all children but are specifically difficult to learn for
students with BD. I enjoyed this article since it focused specifically on students with BD at a
young age. Due to my new position, I am looking for resources that focus on students from the
primary grades. Each intervention was bullet pointed and explained thoroughly. I specifically
enjoyed how they focused their intervention around different nursery rhymes. This not only is
easily adaptable but also desirable for kindergarten students.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Schohl, K., Van Hecke, A., Carson, A., Dolan, B., Karst, J., & Stevens, S. (2014). A Replication and
Extension of the PEERS Intervention: Examining Effects of Social Skills and Social Anxiety
in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord, 44, 532-535.
This study focused around the social skills and social anxiety intervention called "Program for the
Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills" (PEERS). This intervention was put into place as a
replication of the original PEERS intervention. There were 58 11-16 year old students with higher-
functioning ASD being observed and surveyed. The hypothesis of this study was that the adolescents in
PEERS would develop better quality friendships, a decrease in social anxiety, a decrease in autistic levels,
and a decrease in problematic behaviors. Results showed an increase in the knowledge of friendship
skills, an increase in the amount of friend "get-togethers," and a decrease in levels of social anxiety.

The authors attended Marquette University, graduating from the psychology department. This
university is a high ranking, catholic university in Milwaukee. The authors provided their
readers with a current mailing and email address if further questions were wanting to be
answered over their study. The limitations of lake of diversity, bias-ness of parent ratings,
behavioral ratings, and teacher report were briefly stated. Authors made it clear that bias could
be seen through the parent ratings and interviews.
I liked how the parents were involved within the study. This gives them some ownership toward
their student’s academic lives and allows them to carry over the learned skills to their home
lives. I also think that having a set intervention that targets the increase in social skills and a
decrease in social anxiety is beneficial. Many students, especially those with special needs,
show signs clear signs of social anxiety, resulting in a lack of friendships within their school
years. I personally have a few students within my classroom that go through this day in and day
out. I think it is important as educators to know how to help and prevent social anxiety from
flaring up as well as how to teach students the proper skills they need to be sociable at home,
with peers, in lax friends’ groups, and in our society.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Strain, P. & Wiegerink, R. (1997). The Effects of Sociodramatic Activities on Social Interaction
among Behaviorally Disordered Preschool Children. The Journal of Special Education, 10,
71-75.
Strain and Wiegerink looked at a classroom of 12 preschool students with special needs over a
five-month period. The preschoolers were being observed to see changes in social interaction
with one another. The intervention that was being used involved a read aloud, story period
with interactive characters, played by the students, prior to their 25-minute free play period.
Data was collected during each 25-minute free play, 5 days a week. A baseline was taken prior
to implementation of each intervention period. The intervention was given twice during this
five-month span. Results showed a growth in social interaction of over 30% each period due to
the interactive read aloud intervention.
Both authors have obtained a Ph.D. Limitations were stated within the article to inform readers
on possible malfuctions within the study. Little outside research was done to aid this articles
intervention. Due to the date of this study, more adequate information has been published
focusing around this topic.
The increase in social skills seen due to this intervention was a shock to me. I was not expecting
such a difference between the baseline percentages and the intervention percentages. What I
like about this article is the fact that this intervention is applicable in any classroom setting and
does not require an abundance of extra prep or planning. Knowing this, it is definitely
something that I could consider when performing my own social skills intervention as well as to
just remember throughout my teaching career. As mentioned, it is easy enough to impliment
within the classroom so why not have this intervention be a part of your classroom daily
routine?
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Vaughn, S., Kim, A., Sloan, C., Hughes, M., Elbaum, B., & Sridhar, D. (2003). Social Skills
Interventions for Young Children with Disabilities. Remedial and Special Education,
24(1), 2-15.
In this research article, 23 studies were dug into to compile information over social skills
interventions. These interventions targeted 3-5-year-old children in which 699 of them were
considered to have some type of disability and 203 of them were without any disabilities.
Results showed positive outcomes for multiple social skills interventions: play-related activities,
modeling, rehearsal and practice, and prompting.
Four of the six authors of this article have obtained a PhD in special education. This shows the
high level of education of over half of the researchers which validates their credibility. The
authors displayed two thorough tables within the article that show methods, data, and the
break-down of interventions and participants. No bias was seen throughout the article.
I really enjoyed how honesty was displayed through the authors choice of words within the
discussion section of the article. The authors stated their findings by showing that these
interventions give parents and teachers useful information over what social skills interventions
should be utilized at home and within classrooms. Another major aspect of this research was all
the collected and compiled data. I am the type of teacher that needs things neatly organized
and this article does a wonderful job of doing this throughout their data tables. I would easily
be able to visualize how the intervention would play out with my group of students because of
the concise, detailed information given in these tables: participants breakdown, intervention
breakdown, and key findings based on the intervention.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

Weggelaar, C. (2006). Kinesthetic Feedback and Dyslexic Students Learning to Read and Write.
ETC, 144-151.
This research article was developed in the hopes of using kinesthetic feedback to increase
students reading and writing abilities. Weggelaar used Professor P.M. Mesker’s test to
recognize a difference in hand preference and coordination. Weggelaar collected data from
2002 until 2004. The group looked at included 135 students from a secondary school. The
students were divided into a high-scoring group and a low-scoring group. These groups
participated in five different tests: read aloud, number of mistakes in short words, reading
speed, text comprehension, and spelling. Final results showed that there is no relation between
reading and spelling. Students with higher scores on the Mesker test had a unified style of
reading compared to those who scored low on the Mesker’s test, having a spiritic style of
reading.
Cornelis Weggelaar graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Leyden University
which is the 67th ranked university in the world (Times Higher Education, 2018). Post-
graduation, he published many books and articles over Dyslexia as well as taught at Alkmaar
School of Higher Education. Weggelaar received a good education and has studied Dyslexia for
many, many years. He would be considered a credible source for this article due to his history
with Dyslexia and Psychology. However, there was not a lot of research done to back up his
findings. This shows that there could be bias throughout the article due to not having sufficient
research to coincide with Weggelaar’s hypothesis.
This article did not benefit me in any type of way. I was looking for a method or instrument to
use to implement a kinesthetic writing intervention rather than the Mesker’s instrument that
Weggelaar used in his research. I also was not appreciative of the vagueness of the article.
While reading I was not able to fully understand the relationship between Weggelaar’s testing
method and the results found. Personally, there was just not enough information for me to fully
understand what had taken place within his study. This will not be an article that I will be using
for my final thesis.
Heather Muller
First Annotations

White, S., Keonig, K., & Scahill, L. (2007). Social Skills Development in Children with Autism
Spectrum Disorders: A Review of the Intervention Research. Springer Science+Business
Media, 37, 1858-1868.