Scott R. McConnell

Interventions to facilitate social interaction for young children with autism: review of available research and recommendations for educational intervention and future research.

The purpose of this paper is to review the knowledge available from aggregated research (primarily through 2000) on the characteristics of social interactions and social relationships among young children with autism, with special attention to strategies and tactics that promote competence or improved performance in this area. In its commissioning letter for the initial version of this paper, the Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism of the National Research Council requested “a critical, scholarly review of the empirical research on interventions to facilitate the social interactions of children with autism, considering adult–child interactions (where information is available) as well as child–child interactions, and including treatment of [one specific question]: What is the empirical evidence that social irregularities of children with autism are amenable to remediation?” To do this, the paper (a) reviews the extent and quality of empirical literature on social interaction for young children with autism; (b) reviews existing descriptive and experimental research that may inform us of relations between autism and characteristics that support social development, and efforts to promote improved social outcomes (including claims for effectiveness for several specific types of intervention); (c) highlights some possible directions for future research; and (d) summarizes recommendations for educational practices that can be drawn from this research.

Relative Effects of Interventions Supporting the Social Competence of Young Children with Disabilities

This study compared the effects of different intervention approaches designed to promote peer-related social competence of young children with disabilities. Preschool-age children with disabilities who were enrolled in classes in Tennessee and Minnesota participated in four intervention conditions (environmental arrangements, child specific, peer mediated, and comprehensive) and a control (no intervention) condition. A performance-based assessment of social competence, which consisted of observational, teacher rating, and peer rating measures, was collected before and after the interventions and again the following school year. Analyses revealed that the peer-mediated condition had the greatest and most sustained effect on childrens participation in social interaction and on the quality of interaction, with the child-specific condition also having a strong effect. The environmental arrangements condition had the strongest effect on peer ratings. These findings indicate that there are effective intervention approaches available for children who have needs related to social competence and that different types of interventions may be useful for addressing different goals (e.g., social skills or social acceptance) of individual children.

Developmentally Appropriate Practice Appraising Its Usefulness for Young Children with Disabilities

Recently, many educators have advocated the use of the Developmentally Appropriate Practice approach in preschool programs for young children who are developing normally, as well as for young children with special needs. This article reviews the rationales and basic premises of both the Developmentally Appropriate Practice approach and early childhood special education. We highlight areas in which developmentally appropriate practice guidelines overlap those of early childhood special education. We also point out the insufficiencies of these guidelines for planning, carrying out, and evaluating early childhood special education programs. We provide a selective literature review to clarify issues that still separate the two areas and discuss the implications of these divisions for future integration efforts. Finally, we offer suggestions for standards that should guide the evaluation of all programs that serve young children with disabilities.

Promoting Social Reciprocity of Exceptional Children Identification, Target Behavior Selection, and Intervention

A conceptual and procedural alternative to the typical, individual-specific model of social behavior assessment and treatment is offered. This alternative, based upon the social reciprocity of childrens interactions, has direct implications for all phases of social behavior interventions designed and implemented for special education students. Our knowledge of social reciprocity suggests that interventions should focus on interactive exchanges, rather than discrete behaviors. Thus this paper presents a conceptual analysis of shortcomings in current treatment approaches and alternative guidelines for selecting students, target behaviors, and intervention strategies to promote increased reciprocity and competence in the social interactions of exceptional children.

Assessment in Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education: Building on the Past to Project into Our Future.

Assessment practices have been, and are likely to continue to be, a well-integrated part of early intervention and early childhood special education. While our field has sometimes adopted approaches to assessment that seem at odds with best practices, most assessment practices used with young children and their families are intended to provide useful information and contribute directly to intervention design and evaluation. Current activities in research and practice suggest three themes or directions that will mark early childhood special education assessment into the 21st century. First, I expect continued—indeed, intensified—attention to assessment of progress and growth for individuals and groups. Second, methods typically associated with ecobehavioral research will continue to be adapted and refined for practitioners to directly assess a variety of environmental conditions and characteristics that affect young childrens performance and development. Third, continued integration and linkage of assessment and intervention practices will yield more formal monitoring and decision making models that will reduce the uncertainty about when and how to intervene. Together, these future directions in assessment practice will contribute directly to improvements in the services and supports provided to children and families and to the outcomes these services and supports produce.

Effects Of Social Skills Training And Contingency Management On Reciprocal Interaction Of Preschool Children With Behavioral Handicaps

Four subjects participated in a study to evaluate the effects of various social interaction skill interventions on the social behavior of preschool children and the reciprocal nature of their interactions with peers. Intervention included social skills training conducted in a controlled instructional setting, as well as individual and group-oriented contingency management procedures implemented during free play. Subject performance was assessed with a behavioral role play test and via direct observation of subject and peer behavior in free play settings. Results indicated unique effects for social skills training and the two contingency management interventions. Social skills training alone produced significant improvement in the production of target social skills, as measured by role play, for 3 of 4 subjects. However, this intervention produced relatively modest effects on subject and peer behavior in free play. Prompts and praise for target behaviors delivered to individual subjects during free play (i.e., Coaching) produced significant change in rates of subject initiations and responses to peers and peer responses to subject initiations, but produced few changes in reciprocal interactions between subjects and peers. Prompts and praise delivered to total play groups (i.e., Group Coaching) produced desired effects on peer behavior, but had less effect on interactive behavior of subjects. These results are discussed with respect to the role of reciprocal interaction and behavioral trapping for producing maintenance and generalization in social interaction interventions for preschool children with behavioral handicaps.

Early literacy development: Skill growth and relations between classroom variables for preschool children

Promoting the development of early literacy skills might prevent later reading achievement problems. This longitudinal study investigated rates of early literacy growth using Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDls) for 69 preschool children classified as belonging to 1 of 4 groups with or without risk for developing early literacy skills. Group differences were obtained for 3 IGDIs (Picture Naming, Rhyming, and Alliteration) and rate of growth over time varied across groups for Picture Naming and Rhyming. Percent time spent in various classroom situations, as measured by the Ecobehavioral System for the Complex Assessment of Preschool Environments (ESCAPE), was correlated with each childs rate of IGDI growth. Correlations between IGDI growth rates and ESCAPE variables suggest classroom areas in which interventions could be concentrated for specific groups of children. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

A Multimeasure Performance-Based Assessment of Social Competence in Young Children with Disabilities

Social competence is a concept that has been defined and measured in many ways. Odom and McConnell (1985) proposed a performance-based assessment of social competence that involved significant social agents in childrens environments to make judgments about the competence of the childrens social behavior. This study constructed and initially evaluated such an approach for assessing social competence of young children with disabilities. A multimethod assessment of childrens social competence (i.e., direct observation, observer impressions, teacher rating, peer ratings) was conducted with 222 preschool children with and without disabilities. Principal component analysis yielded four factors, the first of which accounted for the largest percentage of variance and may be the better global assessment of social competence. Results of this investigation are discussed conceptually with respect to the adequacy of multiple-measure performance-based approaches and empirically with regard to the possibility of using these measures to evaluate factors affecting the development of social competence in early childhood special education.

Behaviorism in Early Intervention

A consistent and persistent devaluation and misunderstanding of behaviorism, the behavioral approach, and its application to early childhood special education exists among many professionals in the field. In this article we explore common criticisms of behaviorism and present reactions. In addition, we identify and describe the critical features of the behavioral approach and their similarities to early childhood special education. Finally, we provide examples of the influence and application of the behavioral perspective in early childhood special education. In the conclusion of this discussion, we assert that the behavioral perspective has contributed substantially to improving the lives of young children with developmental delays and disabilities and their families. As such, behaviorism has utility in the design and implementation of early childhood special education services.

Effects of Cumulative Prenatal Substance Exposure and Environmental Risks on Children's Developmental Trajectories

Examined the effects of cumulative prenatal substance exposure and cumulative environmental risk on the developmental trajectories of 278 infants, toddlers, and preschool children. Results indicated that both cumulative risk indexes were significantly correlated. Results also indicated that both indexes were related to decrements in developmental trajectories (intercept and slope) from 3 to 57 months of age. Both prenatal exposure and environmental risk added unique variance to the prediction of developmental level and rate of growth when entered after covariates (i.e., birth weight and sex). However, across a number of models with and without covariates, environmental risk accounted for more variance in developmental trajectories than did prenatal exposure. Implications are discussed.