From Intervention to Friendship

Utah State University student Stephanie Scholes studied the effects of a peermediated social skills intervention on the formation of friendship for preschool children with disabilities. The children were two 4-year-old boys with developmental delays. Both children attended preschool in Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start classrooms. Children were nominated for the intervention by their teachers who believed them to have no friends. Sociometric analysis conducted with classmates and friendship observations confirmed this assertion. Peer buddies, classmates to the children mentioned previously, were nominated by their teachers based on their good social skills. Friendship observations with peer buddies confirmed their nomination and provided mean levels of mutual positive affect, reciprocal social interaction, proximity, and behaviorally defined friendship. Following training, peer buddies were assigned to the children with disabilities for 10-minute sessions. Results from friendship observations indicated that the intervention was successful in increasing proximity and reciprocal social interaction to levels comparable with socially successful peers. Evaluation of these results suggested that participation in a peer-mediated intervention may precipitate friendship formation