(156)SUCCESS OF ONLINE COUNSELING INTERVENTION FOR AT-RISK STUDENTS

摘要

The primary goal of schools is to educate students, however, consensus exists that schools can onlybe effective learning environments if strategies are implemented that build and maintain appropriatesocial behavior. The purpose of this pilot study was to create an easily accessible online manualizedintervention to fill the void of counseling interventions specifically designed to assist at-risk studentsand to investigate its' implementation. The manualized social skills counseling intervention wasimplemented for 2 years with at-risk elementary school students, and sought to create and maintainappropriate student relating and problem solving, and to improve academic performance. Participantsin the study were students who had not responded to a school-wide social skills, anti-bullying programand required more intensive support and intervention as they continued to exhibit deficits in socialproblem solving, and age appropriate peer relationships, accompanied by below grade academicachievement. A comparable group of students, in a demographically similar district school, awaitingintervention was followed as a comparison. The social skills lessons were implemented in a club likeformat for small groups of students. An adult leader ran weekly groups using the manualized socialskills counseling format. Each skill was defined and students participated in an interactive activity topractice the skill followed by processing questions for discussion. The format allowed for learning,review, practice, understanding and reinforcement. The effectiveness of the intervention wasdetermined using measures of behavior, grades, standardized tests, and need for special servicescollected pre and post intervention for individual students, the intervention group and a comparisongroup. Results suggest substantial positive intervention outcomes across multiple variables forindividual students and between groups. The study concluded that a research based social skillsintervention does significantly teach, increase, and maintain prosocial behavior, reduce disruptivebehaviors and improve academic performance when consistently implemented in an effective format.Implications of this field based study are considered in terms of applied school practice and globalresource accessibility.