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

Findings

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Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Study Details

Setting

The study took place in an inclusive preschool classroom serving children with special needs and children at risk within a rural public elementary school.

Study sample

Target participants included three three-year-old students from one preschool classroom, all of whom were receiving special education services. One child was identified as having a language impairment and the other two were identified as having a developmental delay. All children qualified by meeting at least one criterion: scoring one standard deviation below the average on a language assessment, being rated by teachers as having significant behavior challenges, or showing poor social skills based on teacher reports. Two of the students were male and one was female; two were Black and one was White. The study did not report other demographic information. Each child was paired with an at-risk peer who served as the child's playmate throughout the study.

Intervention Group

The study investigated the effect of a shared storybook social communication intervention on play behaviors of children with disabilities. The intervention was used to teach the following social communication skills: (i) playing close by a peer; (2) starting a conversation or play activity with a peer; and (3) providing on-topic verbal responses to what a peer says. The peers were students from the same classroom, of the same gender, who were considered at risk. Each intervention session, which included the target child and their peer, used one of five dramatic play themes: grocery store, doctor, construction, animal doctor, and hair salon/barber. Each dramatic play theme was paired with a storybook that taught the intervention’s target behaviors and featured photos of participating children along with the exact materials and props used in sessions. Themes changed with every session and were repeated only after all five had been introduced. Each intervention session had three parts: (i) the advance play organizer, (ii) the play session, and (iii) the review session. The advance play organizer component was approximately 10 minutes long and included four parts: (i) instructing target vocabulary words; (ii) teaching the roles for each theme, (iii) reading the storybook and teaching the social communication strategies, and (iv) planning play. The play session then followed during which the children played with the thematic materials for 10 minutes and observational coding of child behaviors took place for study conditions. The intervention session concluded with a 5-minute review session during which the interventionist reviewed with the children the thematic roles, target vocabulary words, and use of social communication strategies. Intervention sessions were conducted 2 to 3 times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and some Fridays) and were approximately 20 to 25 minutes in length.

Comparison Group

There is no comparison group in single-case designs. In the baseline phase, each student was observed in the dramatic play center of their classroom 2 to 3 times per week for approximately 10 minutes each session. For each baseline session, the children were asked to play in the center but were not given any direct instruction or prompting by the interventionist to play with the available play materials or interact with peers. Play materials were based on five dramatic play themes: grocery store, doctor, construction, animal doctor, and hair salon/barber.

Support for implementation

The first author, who had educational degrees in early intervention and early childhood special education (ECSE) and 5 years of classroom experience teaching children at risk and children with disabilities, conducted the baseline and intervention conditions. Three master’s degree students in ECSE transcribed and coded observational data, treatment fidelity measures, and reliability coding. These research staff held bachelor’s degrees in psychology and had practicum experiences in early childhood, at-risk, and ECSE classrooms.