Preliminary Evaluation of a Social Skills Training and Facilitated Play Early Intervention Programme for Extremely Shy Young Children in China

Abstract

The goal of this study was to provide a preliminary evaluation of a social skills and facilitated play early intervention programme to promote social interaction, prosocial behaviours and socio‐communicative skills among young extremely shy children in China. Participants were a sample of n = 16 extremely shy young children attending kindergarten in Shanghai, China. Children were randomly assigned to either the Social Skills Facilitated Play or comparison condition. Baseline, post‐intervention and 2‐month follow‐up measures included observations of children's social behaviours in quartets of novel peers. Result indicated that as compared with shy controls, shy children who participated in the Social Skills Training Facilitated Play programme were observed to demonstrate significantly greater post‐intervention frequencies of peer interactions (e.g. group play and peer conversation) and prosocial behaviours (e.g. cooperation, sharing and making/accepting social initiations) during unstructured free play with novel peers, as well as better social‐communicative competence during a speech task. Almost all of these improvements were maintained 2 months post‐intervention. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of developing and refining early intervention programmes for extremely shy young children in China. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interventions stimulating prosocial helping behavior: A systematic review

“…Moreover, eight intervention studies involved special groups of participants (SG). These were, for example, children with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (Kellner et al., 2008; McKenney & Dattilo, 2001), disabilities (Davis, Langone, & Malone, 1996; Kroeger et al, 2007), and cognitive impairments (Hoff & Ronk, 2006) and aggressive (Leff, Waasdorp, & Paskewich, 2016) or shy children (Li et al., 2016). In one study, the participants were children of parents with depression (Solantaus et al., 2010).…”

Evaluating Links Among Shyness, Peer Relations, and Internalizing Problems in Chinese Young Adolescents

“…In terms of clinical practice, our findings support the recent trend among early intervention programs designed to assist extremely shy children to include a focus on improving social skills and facilitating social interactions (e.g., Chronis‐Tuscano et al., ). This has also included some promising preliminary results in China (Li et al., ). Our findings suggest that, among older children and adolescents, the peer group plays an increasingly complex and multifaceted role in the links between shyness and internalizing problems.…”

“…Accordingly, the primary aim of this study is to examine a complex conceptual model, involving both mediation and moderation, that links shyness, peer relations, gender, and internalizing problems in a sample of urban mainland Chinese young adolescents. A better understanding of the mediating and moderating factors implicated in the development and implications of shyness in China not only extends etiological models, but also aids in the design of effective early intervention programs (Li et al., ).…”

Generalization of an Early Intervention for Inhibited Preschoolers to the Classroom Setting

“…An initial evaluation of SSFP found increased observer-rated social behaviors at preschool compared to a waitlist control (WLC) group, though teachers did not report similar changes (Coplan et al, 2010). More recently, investigators reported similar benefits of SSFP participation in observer-rated group play and prosocial behaviors during unstructured free play among Chinese youth (Li et al, 2016). …”