Consistent with a "double empathy" framework, autistic adults often experience better interaction with autistic compared with non-autistic partners. Here, we examined whether non-autistic observers detect differences in autistic interactions relative to non-autistic and mixed ones. Non-autistic adults (N = 102) rated the interaction…

Best practices in early childhood include using measures to identify children's social-emotional and behavioral needs within routine, naturalistic preschool contexts. Aligned with best practices, we examined the combined utility of two contextual measures, a teacher report and a direct observation of classroom behavior, in the context of…

Research Findings: Digital play is now commonplace in many young children's lives, but not in preschool settings. This situation is likely due to the fact that the existent literature seldom highlights what digital play looks like, the various ways it can be situated, and what young children do when they play together with digital devices in the…

The article presents the results of a pilot survey devoted to the behavior of young people in the public places of residential districts in St. Petersburg. These places are viewed as the spaces of potential interaction among the various urban publics in which the processes of self-identification and the establishment of social differences take…

This article outlines an ecological framework for describing children's social experiences during digital play. It presents evidence from a study that explored how 3- to 5-year-old children negotiated their social experiences as they used technologies in preschool. Utilising a systematic and iterative cycle of data collection and analysis,…

Mealtimes and their associated rituals are recognised as important aspects of human socialisation; however, much of the research about mealtimes in early childhood education settings has focused on health or on adult-child discursive exchanges. The present study aimed to investigate children's interactions with each other and their influence on…

This phenomenological study explored and described the experiences and perceptions of adult facilitators who facilitated virtual-reality-based social interaction for children with autism. Extensive data were collected from iterative, in-depth interviews; online activities observation; and video analysis. Four salient themes emerged through the…

Screening studies of a population in primary health care are sparsely reported. The aim was to describe observed atypical behaviours that may be associated with autism spectrum conditions, in a population (n?=?4,329) of infants at eight months. Observations were performed by paediatric nurses. An observational instrument, named SEEK developed for…

The goal of this study was to examine links between observed social participation in the schoolyard and indices of socio-emotional functioning in early adolescence. Participants were children (N = 290) aged 9 to 12 years. Social participation (e.g., solitary play, dyadic interaction, group interaction) was assessed in the schoolyard during recess…

This article examines the data obtained through a year-long ethnographic study of students from a Spanish primary school, and sheds light on their use of gender code networks during school recess. The results of this analysis confirm the conclusions on student interaction drawn by other studies (group segregation regarding age and gender and,…

Case study research methodology was used to describe the play behaviors of three infants at 12 months of age, who were later diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Data included standardized test scores, and analyses of video footage of semi-structured play sessions from infants identified as high risk for autism, because of having a sibling…

Previous research demonstrates that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can experience social difficulties. Therefore, the current study examined the effects of cross-age peer coaching on social behaviors of first graders with significant symptoms of ADHD using a multiple baseline design. Four students who met criteria…

This study examined activative fathering observed during father--child interactions in the family home, focusing on the relation between activative fathering at children aged four and children's behaviour dysregulation and sociability at children aged five. One hundred twenty-seven families participated in the study. Activative fathering was…

An attempt was made in the present study to identify mothers' and caregivers' teaching (mediation) behaviour in relation to toddlers' social behaviour. Participants were 103 toddlers, two- to four-year olds, their mothers, and 28 caregivers at 16 public daycare centres in Israel. Two observations were carried out, one in toddlers' homes and the…

The last two decades have witnessed a surge in research investigating the application of oxytocin as a method of enhancing social behaviour in humans. Preliminary evidence suggests oxytocin may have potential as an intervention for autism. We evaluated a 5-day "live-in" intervention using a double-blind randomized control trial. 38 male…