The behaviour of young children with social communication disorders during dyadic interaction with peers Abstract: Children with social communication disorders are known to experience more problematic peer relations than typically-developing children. However, detailed observation of their behaviour and communication during interaction with peers has not previously been undertaken. Micro-analytic observational methods were used to analyse the audio-taped interaction of children (N = 80) selected from mainstream schools (ages 5-6 years-old) on a computerised collaborative task. Comparisons were made between children with high-and low-pragmatic language skill as measured by the researcher-administered Test of Pragmatic Skills. Consistently with their pragmatic language scores, low-skilled children were found to use more irrelevant directives and irrelevant responses and were more likely to ignore other children's questions and requests than were high-skilled children. When high-skilled children worked with lowskilled children, as opposed to with other high-skilled children, they showed some sensitivity and adaptation to these children's difficulties; they used more directives, clarification, explained reasons for disagreements and provided more information. Although it appears that the high-skilled children could provide support for the lowskilled children, there was a cost in terms of the emotional tone of these interactions; when working with low-skilled children, the high-skilled children expressed considerably more negative feelings towards their partners than when they worked with another high-skilled child. In conclusion, observation of the interaction of high-and lowskilled children suggests promise for peer-assisted interventions and specifies which communicative behaviours could be targeted. However, care should be taken to manage the affective climate of these interactions for the benefit of all children involved.
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