Introduction: An innovative undergraduate helping skills course where students learn, practice, and apply a problem management model with a peer volunteer on a non-clinical issue across three supervised helping meetings is presented. Statement of the Problem: Undergraduate helping skill courses are typically offered as in-class role-plays. This…

Classroom intervention focusing on peer interaction persuades children to develop positive behaviour. Peer interaction plays a significant role in managing problem behaviour among adolescent children. It facilitates identifying weaknesses in children's justification for their problem behaviour. Thus, the study aimed to propose a classroom…

This systematic review and meta-analysis examined interventions targeting play skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involving typically developing (TD) peers. The objectives of this work are to (a) identify and describe the characteristics and components of interventions aimed at improving play skills in children with ASD and…

Peer interaction offers critical learning opportunities for preschool students, yet exposure to peers of different skill levels varies within and across classrooms. We explore two ways peers may affect learning: differences in who children play with in a classroom and differences in student composition across classrooms. We find that playing with…

Despite the popularity of social skills groups, there remains a need for empirical investigation of treatment effects, especially when targeting pivotal aspects of social functioning such as initiations to peers. The goal of the present study was to conduct a randomized controlled trial of a 12-week social intervention (SUCCESS), which combined an…

Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents' experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical…

No preschool teacher starts off the year aiming for a chaotic classroom filled with squabbling students. However, if they do not have a purposeful plan, that is likely what they will end up with. Small changes can make huge differences, and a year started off right can lead to a joyful preschool experience for the precious children in our care.…

Peer collaboration is a foundational skill that emerges in early childhood. Children spend significant time in early educational settings, making it an important setting where young children can learn how to collaborate with peers. However, research on how to support children's collaboration effectively is limited and findings in this area have…

Early educational settings such as early childhood education and care and kindergarten (i.e. formal schooling) are important contexts to foster children's peer collaboration, an important skill for the twenty-first century. The prevalence of technology in early educational settings has continued to increase rapidly in ways that can support the…

Peers can play an invaluable role in helping a student to learn, and peer support is a means to help collaborative students learn well in teams. Students who communicate well with peers understand multiple points of view, and peer support allows students to achieve a shared goal. In higher education, a student can enroll on an undergraduate…

Higher education institutions have devoted substantial efforts to providing first-year students with resources and support to successfully navigate their academic journey. The rapid challenges at the academic and social levels lead to the need for more inclusive and innovative supporting methods. This scoping review explores the use of shared…

Developmental research suggests that peer rejection has negative spillover effects which strain parent-child relationships and parent attitudes toward the child's school. This study tested whether a school-based social skill training program could reverse these effects and improve parent-child closeness and parent attitudes toward the school.…

Engineering and technology teachers have advocated using robotics and coding to cultivate students' computational thinking and problem-solving skills at PreK-12 levels. Understanding teachers' perceptions of how preschool children develop strategies and skills for engaging in robotics and coding activities is crucial for promoting the early use of…

The study examined the efficacy of the Polish adaptation of the PEERS® curriculum for adolescents on the autism spectrum. Twenty-nine adolescents (aged 11-16) were randomized into a Treatment and a Waitlist Control Group. Due to COVID-19-related restrictions, the Treatment Group received part of the intervention online (in hybrid mode). Results…

The capacity to navigate conflict and solve problems will persist as an essential skill of the future, even if today's students will be doing jobs that haven't been invented yet. What are we doing in schools right now to ensure students have these skills? For nearly a decade, a program called Speak Truth has taught students to use their voices,…