Learning how to problem solve is one of the key developmental milestones in early childhood. Children's problem-solving skills represent a key feature in the development of social competence. Problem solving allows children to stay calm during difficult situations, repair social relations quickly, and get their needs met in ways that are safe and…

The author replies to an article by F. Gresham in which Gresham argued that social skill training is an important prerequisite to satisfactory mainstreaming of handicapped children. The author questions Gresham's interpretation of social skill training studies in segregated settings, and emphasizes the need for more social skills training. (MC)

Ten nonhandicapped 3-5 year olds were taught to help instruct six autistic-like classmates. When compared to controls, the nonhandicapped helpers engaged in less disruptive behavior and equal amounts of on-task language and peer interaction. Treatment gains for autistic-like Ss' positive peer interactions were equivalent to levels exhibited by…

The social initiation intervention, in which nondisabled children are taught to direct social overtures to exceptional students, has been found to result in positive social behavior change. Extensive evaluations have revealed no negative side effects on peer trainers and increases in the social responding, social initiations, and length of…

Four seven- to ten-year-old boys with autistic behavior were examined with behavioral and observational measures in a peer mediated training, an integrated generalization assessment, and a segregated generalization assessment setting. Results favored the developmentally integrated condition for increases of positive social behaviors. (Author/MC)

A peer-initiation condition, in which confederates were taught to initiate interaction with three autistic four- year-olds, reliably increased the Ss's social responses. A teacher-antecedent condition, in which teachers prompted the autistic Ss to initiate with confederates who had been taught to reciprocate, increased the initiations and…

The article reports on two effective peer intervention strategies for handicapped children with social deficits. In the first, nonhandicapped children are taught to use interaction promoting strategies and in the second, handicapped and nonhandicapped children are taught sociodramatic play scripts which encourage interaction during free play.(DB)

Two observational systems were employed to measure the behavior patterns of two elementary-age autistic children and their classroom peers during a free-play period. The results obtained were discussed in terms of their significance for the clinical treatment of autistic behavior, and the evaluation of such treatment. (Author)

Positive social initiations by an age-peer were evaluated as an intervention for three isolate preschool children in training and generalization sessions. (Author)

Peer reinforcement, modeling, and cooperative programing arrangements are among the strategies described which involve peers in modifying the behavior problems of classmates. (CL)

This article offers suggestions on enhancing emotional vocabulary in early childhood education settings. A schematic of children's emotional literacy is followed by ways to build emotional vocabulary by teaching directly, teaching incidentally, or utilizing special activities. Suggestions also address teaching children to recognize feelings in…

Using a series of reversal designs, interventions to improve the active engagement and peer social skills of five preschool boys with autism were investigated. In contrast to intervention for engagement, peer social skill intervention resulted in "free effects" for all participants, including increased engagement with peers and exposure…

This paper describes the Early Childhood Social Skills Program developed at the University of Pittsburgh's Early Childhood Research Institute. The paper discusses specific social skill strategies as well as steps for implementing the peer-mediated social skill program in an integrated preschool setting. (JDD)

This study examined the impact of play activities, teachers' predictions of children's sociability, and intervention fidelity variables on levels of interaction between three preschoolers with autism and their nondisabled peers. Results indicated that social reciprocity and peer effort correlated highly with children's levels of social…