Relative effects of interventions supporting the social competence of young children with disabilities

This study compared the effects of different intervention approaches design ed to promote peer-related social competence of young children with disabil ities. Preschool-age children with disabilities who were enrolled in classe s in Tennessee and Minnesota participated in four intervention conditions ( environmental arrangements, child specific, peer mediated, and comprehensiv e) and a control (no intervention) condition. A performance-based assessmen t of social competence, which consisted of observational, teacher rating, a nd peer rating measures, was collected before and after the interventions a nd again the following school year. Analyses revealed that the peer-mediate d condition had the greatest and most sustained effect on children's partic ipation in social interaction and on the quality of interaction, with the c hild-specific condition also having a strong effect. The environmental arra ngements condition had the strongest effect on peer ratings. These findings indicate that there are effective intervention approaches available for ch ildren who have needs related to social competence and that different types of interventions may be useful for addressing different goals (e.g., socia l skills or social acceptance) of individual children.