Direct observational methodology (video recordings) was used to investigate the social abilities of a group of ten adolescents with Down's syndrome. Pro-social performance prevailed in the repertory of the individuals as compared to the coping responses presented. Therefore, there was no significant relation between those two classes of abilities. This result can be explained by the fact that those are different behaviors which are acquired in specific learning contingencies, and by the larger number of categories that composed the first class. Most of the subjects showed deficit in the coping responses, suggesting the need of educational and preventive interventions which contribute to improve the performance in situations with such demands.
Social skills; Adolescents; Down's Syndrome
