This review of the literature focused on the issue of classroom application of social skills training for handicapped children. First, ten theoretical models are described as representative of the approaches to social skills training in special education: behavioral, humanist, psychological, transactional, neuropsychological, ecological, psychoanalytic, sociological, cognitive-developmental, and social learning. Next, in a representative sampling of 95 social skills curricula, only 21 appeared to have any theoretical curriculum model guiding their development; the majority of these derived from a behavioral orientation. Finally, 81 research studies are reviewed as representative of the diversity of research that aims to improve handicapped children's social skills. Of these, less than half were conducted in a classroom context, and the majority of these in special classes. Four areas were identified as encompassing social skills training in the selection of these studies: (1) disruptive behavior; (2) social interacting; (3) activities of daily living; and (4) personal functioning. It is recommended that social skills research use a curriculum as its base; that it incorporate a linkage phase where the classroom teacher works with the researcher to improve children's social skills; and that it include a seminal stage in which the teacher implements the program without assistance. (JW)