Promoting the peer-related social development of young children with mild developmental delays: effectiveness of a comprehensive intervention

To address the unusual peer-related social competence difficulties characteristic of young children with mild developmental delays, we conducted a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive, developmentally oriented, highly individu-alized intervention extending over a 2-year period. Outcome measures emphasized gener-alization of peer interactions in unfamiliar playgroups. Results revealed modest effects of the intervention, with children who had lower cognitive levels benefiting most. Interven-tion effects were best conceptualized as preventative, minimizing the negative features and atypical patterns of children’s social play with peers. Our discussion of future work was focused on alternative implementation models to enhance intervention intensity, inclusion of specific subgroups of children, and direct measurement of children engaging in social tasks. Extensive observations of preschool-age chil-dren with mild developmental (cognitive) delays in settings involving peers have revealed that sub