Siblings' Use of Milieu Teaching at Home

Abstract

This study examined the effects of teaching 3 older siblings to use two milieu teaching procedures, modeling and mand modeling, with their younger siblings who exhibited language delays. A single-subject, multiple baseline design across subjects was used to determine the effects of the intervention on the behavior of the siblings and the target children. Results indicated that siblings were able to apply milieu teaching techniques while playing with the target children. Siblings' responsiveness to the target children's verbal initiations also increased. The target children learned to use their targeted utterances in response to teaching attempts by their siblings and used the target spontaneously. Additionally, the interactions between the children became more positive and balanced during the intervention. Generally, all the siblings and target children maintained the changes in their behavior. Two of the three dyads generalized the behavioral changes to a snack setting. Implications for future investigations of sibling-implemented language intervention are discussed.