A Strategy to Increase the Social Interactions of 3-Year-Old Children With Disabilities in an Inclusive Classroom

Abstract

The current study evaluated the play behaviors of children with disabilities (e.g., developmental delays, specific language impairment) who participated in a social communication intervention targeting skills such as initiations, responses, name use, proximity, and turn-taking. Three children who were enrolled in an inclusive classroom met the inclusion criteria. A multiple baseline design was used to determine the effects of the intervention. The social communication intervention was highly effective for all children in increasing the rate of parallel play behaviors. Several implications for practice were derived from the findings. By teaching children social communication strategies, the quality of social interactions that children have with their peers is likely to improve. The intervention offers a more systematic technique for teaching social communication and play skills than do informal strategies commonly used by teachers. Social validity assessments indicated that teachers found the intervention acceptable and produced important changes in behavior.

Enhancing Classroom Teaching for Students with Speech and Language Exceptionalities: A Social-Emotional Program

“…Social competencies refer to a child's ability to initiate conversation or play, participate in turn-taking activities, understand nonverbal behavior and develop or maintain a relationship with classmates and adults [4], [6]. Children need to be given opportunities to interact with same-age peers, and this generally occurs for the first time during the preschool years.…”

“…Children need to be given opportunities to interact with same-age peers, and this generally occurs for the first time during the preschool years. These years lay the foundation for the development of confident children, prepared to engage in academic and social activities and to problem solve [16], [6]. Interacting with peers of the same age naturally pushes children to use their language skills, conflict resolution abilities and perspective taking to initiate and manage social exchanges [16].…”

“…The majority of social situations "involve emotion, and children's ability to be emotionally competent determines how successful they are during their social interactions and relationships" (p. 515) [19]. Children need to understand how to validate and regulate their own emotions before relating to others, while learning to wait their turn, playing cooperatively with peers and problem solving [6], [15], [16]. Those who are unable to deal with emotions in a positive and constructive fashion often become aggressive, withdrawn and display internalizing and externalizing problems contributing to rejection and isolation in adolescence and adulthood [13], [2].…”

“…This program was preferred because it is applicable to younger children and those with a variety of special needs [9], [19], [16]. The program was divided into the following six units: (1) Making conversation; (2) Communicating feelings; (3) Expressing oneself; (4) Cooperating with peers; (5) Playing with peers; and, (6) Responding to aggression and conflict. Each unit was then further subdivided into various skills with specific goals, such as smiling or saying hello [9].…”

“…Past researchers focused on children with pragmatic language difficulties [4], [5] or developed specific interventions targeting social communication skills [6], [7]. No studies have been located which target the needs of children aged 4 to 7 with a range of speech and language exceptionalities by combining social and emotional teaching.…”