A student who can perform most social skills but struggles with greeting others demonstrates which type of deficit?

• A. Discrimination deficit
• B. Selective mutism
• C. Skill-based deficit
• D. Learned helplessness

Answer: (C)

When a child can perform most social skills but has trouble greeting others, the issue is a missing or weak specific skill rather than a problem with motivation or understanding. This points to a skill-based deficit: the child has the broader social repertoire but hasn't learned or practiced the discrete behavior of initiating a greeting.

A discrimination deficit would involve trouble recognizing when or whom to greet, which isn’t indicated here since the scenario centers on the act of greeting itself, not misinterpreting social cues. Selective mutism would manifest as a persistent inability to speak in social settings despite having the ability to speak in other contexts, which doesn’t fit a scenario where most social skills are intact. Learned helplessness involves a belief that one cannot control outcomes and would show broad disengagement, whereas this child can perform other social skills, suggesting the issue is specifically the missing greeting skill rather than a generalized lack of agency.

To address this, greeting can be taught as a targeted skill through explicit instructions, modeling, prompts, and reinforced practice across varied settings, helping the child add this specific behavior to their social repertoire.