Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore several family-related factors that may be associated with treatment response to an evidence-based social communication intervention targeting preschoolers with disabilities or at-risk. We used multilevel modeling to conduct retrospective analyses of data collected across a series of single-case intervention studies. Forty-six preschoolers participated in the study. The results of the positive peer interactions analyses indicated that children from married, separated, or widowed homes and children with mothers with high maternal education levels tended to interact more positively with their peers and decreased in their amount of play verbalizations over time relative to children whose parents were divorced or had low maternal education levels. Similar data patterns were found for both the immediate responders (e.g., children who make immediate progress once an intervention program has begun) and delayed responders (e.g., children who make changes in behavior after receiving a few or several intervention sessions).
Highlights
One key element in establishing a set of evidence-based practices for promoting peer relationships amongISSN 1927-0526 E-ISSN 1927-0534 www.ccsenet.org/jedp preschoolers involves recognizing the need for the individualization of treatment
All participants in the current study took part in a social communication intervention targeting children with language delays, social skills delays, and/or problem behaviors. Participants for these studies were three, four, or five years old at the introduction of the study and were rated by their classroom teachers as having low rates of social interactions during dyadic or group play. Participants in these studies had to meet one or more of the following criteria: (a) they scored at least one standard deviation below the normative mean on the total language score of the Preschool Language Scale-4 (PLS-4; Zimmerman & Pond, 2002); (b) they were rated by teachers as having clinical levels of problem behavior on the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Form (CTRF; Achenbach, 1997); and/or (c) they demonstrated poor social skills on the Social Skills Rating System-Teacher Form (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1992)
The conditional growth model shown in Equations 1-3 was estimated allowing changes in positive peer interaction scores over time to vary across dyads
Summary
One key element in establishing a set of evidence-based practices for promoting peer relationships amongISSN 1927-0526 E-ISSN 1927-0534 www.ccsenet.org/jedp preschoolers involves recognizing the need for the individualization of treatment. A compelling knowledge base should enable practitioners and researchers to better identify which intervention strategies work with which students (Horner et al, 2005) This approach involves moving beyond advocating for a single intervention approach for all children, and instead requires determining when and with whom particular intervention approaches are most likely to be effective (Sherer & Schreibman, 2005). Immediate responders have been defined as children who make immediate progress once an intervention program has begun, and delayed responders are defined as children who make changes in behavior after receiving a few or several intervention sessions (McMaster et al.) This area of research has provided many insights into salient factors that distinguish those students with or at-risk for disabilities who do and do not benefit from specific intervention efforts. Identifying individual characteristics that predict responsiveness to treatment could improve screening measures and inform the selection of the most appropriate early and intensive intervention for children with certain characteristics (Al Otaiba & Fuchs, 2002)
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