This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a randomized controlled trial of a social skills intervention, the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS: Laugeson et al. in "J Autism Dev Disord" 39(4): 596-606, 2009), by coding digitally recorded social interactions between adolescent participants with…

Establishing a communication-rich classroom can be difficult. This article describes the process and findings of a practitioner action research study addressing the question of how teachers can interact with their students while they are working in groups to encourage and enhance student-to-student communication. Recommended research-based teacher…

Relatively little is known about the effect of adult interactive style on children's communication. The aim of this study, written by Lila Kossyvaki, Glenys Jones and Karen Guldberg, all from the University of Birmingham, was to explore the effects of adult interactive style on children's spontaneous communication. The study used an action…

The purpose of this article is to synthesize the available studies regarding responsive interaction intervention (RII) for children with or at risk for developmental delays with a focus on six dimensions: (a) the characteristics of participants, (b) the features of RII, (c) the measurement of treatment fidelity, (d) the overall effectiveness of…

The intervention of Intensive Interaction is gaining attention for its demonstrated effectiveness in promoting social engagement in individuals with severe communicative impairments. The present study sought to extend the evidence base for this intervention by investigating the rapidity with which an increase in engagement becomes apparent.…

This study demonstrated that five withdrawn adults living in a residential center for psychotic and mentally handicapped persons could serve as peer therapists to increase the social interaction of other withdrawn residents. Positive results were maintained during a four-month follow-up condition. (Author/DB)

This study, involving five elementary students with severe emotional and behavioral problems, demonstrated the effectiveness of an intervention package comprising (1) observation of videotapes following peer activity sessions; (2) self-evaluation of peer interactions observed on videotapes; and (3) delayed feedback and reinforcement for desirable…

A self-rating scale was used with five mothers of preschool children with language impairments to determine whether the mothers' directive interactional style could be changed to a nondirective style without modeling or correction. Preliminary results indicated that viewing a videotape of a play session between the mother and child and completion…

This research demonstrated a social network intervention for youths with moderate and severe disabilities. Two groups of nondisabled peers participated in weekly discussions with an adult integration facilitator to increase social interaction for two students (one autistic and one moderately mentally retarded). Both quantity and quality of…

The purpose of this manual, the culmination of a graduate project begun at the University of Kansas, is to assist individuals with severe, multiple disabilities and their service providers in learning to utilize nonsymbolic behaviors in an expanded, facilitative manner that leads to more consistent and predictable communication functioning. The…

Eight high school students who were peer tutors in a classroom for students with severe disabilities were matched in pairs and then randomly assigned to interact with and serve as a partner for a classmate with severe disabilities. One participant in the pair received social interaction training, and one participant did not. Statistical analysis…

A model for assessing the interactive sources of communication development in young children is proposed, focusing on the reciprocal behaviors of both adults and children. The model integrates theoretical and empirical findings and is designed for parallel diagnostic and treatment purposes in five areas: social play, turn taking, nonverbal…