Factors Affecting the Impact of Social Interaction Skills Interventions in Early Childhood Special Education

Abstract

As a group, preschool children with disabilities are at risk for problems in the development of social interaction skills and related behaviors. This article highlights the need for effective social skills interventions for these children and reviews available intervention procedures and packages. In addition, factors affecting the current impact of social skills interventions in early childhood special education are discussed, and research efforts to increase the impact of these interventions are reviewed. Specifically, research efforts aimed at documenting intervention integrity and confirming the link between intervention integrity and intervention effectiveness are addressed.As a group, preschool children with disabilities are at risk for problems in the development of social interaction skills and related behaviors. Compared to age-mates with typical development, children eligible for early childhood special education services exhibit lower rates of social initiations, social responses, and other aspects of social interaction (Spicuzza, McConnell, & Odom, 1991;Strain, 1983); spend less time engaged in classroom activities where social interaction is likely to occur (Odom, Peterson, McConnell, &C Ostrosky, 1990); and are likely to use fewer, and lower-quality, social strategies for participating effectively in interactions with other children (Guralnick, 1992). To address these and other social behavioral deficits, researchers have devoted substantial attention and resources to the development of social interaction skills interventions. These inter-TECSE 13(1), 38-56 (1993) © PRO-ED Inc. 38 at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on May 25, 2015 tec.sagepub.com Downloaded from

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