The utility of teacher judgment (rankings, ratings) and peer judgment (sociometric ratings) were studied as screening variables for preschool social withdrawal/responsiveness. Observational measures of preschoolers' interaction were used as the validation criterion based upon theoretical, empirical, and practical considerations related to development of a multipurpose behavioral assessment system. Results indicated that teacher rankings of students' verbal interaction frequencies (1) were most highly correlated to interaction rate in two preschool settings, (2) had test-retest reliability consistently above Rho = .80, and (3) were useful in that 77% of teachers using this procedure could identify their least socially responsive student within five rankings. The peer nomination sociometric rating was the least reliable measure at retest (Rho = .35) and showed consistently the lowest correlation with observational indices of interaction partner preferences, e.g., reciprocal rate (Rho = .29 to .39). The tendency for relationships among screening measures and the criterion to increase at retest suggested a training effect on screening accuracy. The use of teacher rankings in combination with observational measures to confirm selection accuracy and for monitoring treatment progress is discussed as a cost-effective behavioral assessment procedure for preschool social withdrawal/responsiveness.

This study investigated the effects of reinforcing, singly and in combination, three topographic components of social interaction among socially withdrawn children assigned to an experimental class setting. These were: (a) initiating positive interactions with others (START); (b) responding to positive initiations by others (ANSWER); and (c) maintaining social interactions over time (CONTINUE). Three groups of six children each, with low peer interaction rates and enrolled in grades I to 6, served as subjects. Three experiments are reported. In experiments I and 2, the above topographic components were selectively reinforced in differing orders. In experiment 3, these components were reinforced simultaneously within ongoing social interactions. Results showed that reinforcement of Starts and Answers suppressed interactive behavior, while reinforcement of Continuing and overall time spent engaged in interactive behavior produced powerful and replicable increases in child social interaction.

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