Social Skills intervention planning for preschoolers: Using the SSiS-Rating Scales to identify target behaviors valued by parents and teachers

Teachers' and parents' importance ratings of social behaviors for 95 preschoolers were examined using the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales (Gresham & Elliott, 2008). Multivariate analyses were used to examine parents' and teachers' importance ratings at the item and subscale levels. Overall, parents assigned significantly higher importance ratings than teachers assigned on each of the seven assessed social skills domains: communication, cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, engagement, and self-control. Parents and teachers rated responsibility and cooperation as the most critical skill domains for preschoolers. At the item level, parents and teachers agreed on 4 of their top 10 critical items. The potential value of including parent and teacher importance ratings in planning interventions across home and school is discussed.