BASELINE ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Abstract

Social skills are foundational to social adjustment, classroom participation, and socio-academic functioning, particularly among students with special needs. This study aimed to identify the baseline profile of social skills among students at Anavah Homeschooling prior to intervention. The study employed a single-subject experimental design, which is widely used in special education to examine individual behavioral performance across phases. Five students identified as experiencing social-skill difficulties were assessed through baseline observation in five domains: communication, sharing, compliance with instructions, target attainment, and appropriate decision making. Baseline data were analyzed descriptively and presented using line graphs. The findings revealed that all participants demonstrated low initial social-skills performance. Based on the baseline profile, communication and sharing showed limited but relatively higher performance (mean = 1.6 each), compliance with instructions remained low (mean = 1.4), and the weakest performance was found in target attainment and appropriate decision making (mean = 1.0 for both). Individual participant averages ranged from 1.0 to 1.6, confirming a consistently low baseline pattern across subjects. These findings underscore the need for structured, explicit, and sustained social-skills intervention to strengthen peer interaction, classroom engagement, and self-regulation among students with special needs.