Cheryl Lee Group B

Case Study 1
Area of Focus: Social-Emotional Development

(i) The intervention
This study conducted by Stanton-Chapman, Denning, and Jamison (2008) examined the effects of a multi-component social communication intervention to promote language learning and peer-directed social interactions in preschool children with disabilities.

The aims include assessing the impact of social communication intervention on:
- Peer-directed requests in interactions between two peers with disabilities.
- Verbal requests and nonverbal requests in interactions between two peers with disabilities.
- The number of different words that the participants used throughout the course of the intervention.

The study conducted utilized a peer-mediated intervention, as the authors feel that communication with peers is more natural with lesser interruptions. Three sequential components were employed during intervention: (a) an advanced play organizer (10 minutes), (b) a play session (10 minutes), and (c) a review session (5 minutes).

(a) An advanced play organizer was to introduce the selected theme for the children (e.g. Grocery store.”). The trainer and children would label the materials to be used during the play theme which helps to expand vocabulary range. Children also learnt theme-related roles (e.g., doctor and patient, barber and customer, grocery worker and shopper) for each theme. Picture books and flash cards with picture symbols were used to reinforce social communication skills in the classroom.

(b) Child got to play with the thematic toys during the play session. The trainers’ role was to prompt children to interact using the social communication skills (Explained in ques 3, para. 5), and to use the target vocabulary words for the day’s theme. A prompting procedure hierarchy was established for the social communication skills.

If a child was engaged with the materials, but not currently interacting with a peer, the trainer prompted the child to initiate to a peer (talk to your friend). If a child was engaged with a toy and a peer initiated talk but the child did not respond, the trainer would prompt the child to respond (listen, then respond to what your friend says). If a child attempted to initiate a conversation with a peer, but the peer did not respond, the trainer would prompt the child to use the peer’s name to obtain his or her attention (use a peer’s name). Finally, if a child initiated a conversation, the peer responded, but the child did not respond in an attempt to maintain the conversation, the trainer would prompt the child to respond to the peer (take your turn and give your friend a turn).

(c) Children had to evaluate their performance at the end of the play session. The trainer reviewed the thematic roles that each child played and what they did in that role, their use of the target vocabulary words while they played, and their use of the targeted social communication strategies. Children were reinforced verbally if they reported correctly that they had performed a target behavior.

(ii) Its effectiveness (as reported in the journal article)
The Peer Language and Behavior Code (Stanton-Chapman Kaiser, Vijay, & Craig-Unkefer, 2003) was used to measure children’s and adults’ language and behavior during the 10-minute baseline sessions and the 10-minute play sessions.

Children’s Requests from Peers
Changes in total requests to the peer were measured to test whether social communication intervention could affect the less-developed social communication skills of children with disabilities. With the introduction of the social communication intervention, there was a modest increase in the frequency of peer-directed requests for 6 of the 8 participants.

Verbal Requests and Nonverbal Requests to Peers:
There was a modest increase in the number of verbal requests from baseline to intervention phase for 6 of 8 participants

Children’s Number of Different Words Used to Peers:
There was a significant increase in the number of different words used for six of the eight participants after the intervention was introduced.

This finding is promising given that previous work by Loeb, Pye, Redmond, and Richardson (as cited in Stanton-Chapman, Denning, and Jamison, 2008) has found that children with disabilities used fewer words than children with typical language development. By providing multiple opportunities to practice language forms and receive feedback on communicative attempts, the social communication intervention encouraged and facilitated language development in preschoolers with disabilities.

(iii) Your personal evaluation how the child will benefit from this intervention
I feel that it is important for a child to learn to manage social interactions with others, and this seems to be a challenge for Annie. Brinton, Fujiki, and Cohen (as cited in Stanton-Chapman, Denning, and Jamison, 2008, p. 2) state that children with developmental delays “are more likely to respond inappropriately to social bids from others and are more likely than are children with typical development to be ignored when attempting to initiate a conversation with a peer”. I chose the area of social and emotional as she is already attending language therapy. So I hope to be able help her apply what she has learnt in therapy into her social life.

The strategies that are incorporated as techniques for social communication skills in this intervention include, Instruction, Rehearsal, Feedback and reinforcement, and Skill maintenance and generalization.

Annie finds it difficult to communicate due to her facial deformities, so practicing to articulate her thoughts regularly would be a good exercise. And this is evident in the intervention as there are opportunities for her to rehearse, where different scenarios are created for her to response appropriately. She would be provided with feedback and reinforcement from the teacher as a form of encouragement. This creates another outlet for her to express her emotions instead of biting her friends.

Then when Annie has shown the ability to execute a skill with the aid of an adult, the intervention will gradually shift towards learning independently which is under skill maintenance and generalization. This facilitation helps scaffold Annie’s learning as she is a shy and withdrawn girl. Thus having a teacher to pose problems and provide instruction may give her a sense of directions and security.

Trainer intervention was used to teach four social communication skills: (1) Talk to your friend: verbally initiating a conversation to a peer; (2) Listen, then respond to what your friend says: verbally responding to peer verbal initiations with appropriate replies (e.g., topic related, intelligible, directed to a peer); (3) Use a peer’s name: stating a peer’s name to gain his or her attention before talking to him or her; and (4) Take your turn and give your friend a turn: taking an appropriate number and length of turns in conversations (e.g., sufficient turns, not dominating conversation, pausing for a peer to talk, taking turns to maintain conversation).

These four social communication skills help foster and develop interaction skills amongst the children. By providing them with a framework, the children then have the freedom to work within the guide. This enables them to be focused on the objectives of communicating with one another and responding appropriately. Annie and her classmates are given the opportunity to cooperate, and it helps them to get a better understanding of one another. Through this, Annie’s classmates will get to know and discover that she is just like everyone else who has feelings and ideas.

(iv) Your suggestions how you can make adjustments to cater to the needs of the child and to facilitate integration of the child / the intervention activity into your classroom.
When implementing this intervention, the teacher may select stories that highlight teasing and solutions to solve this problem. This will get the class involved and enable them to see at another angle of how making fun of others, particularly Annie is like. As they say“, “Art imitates life”, thus dramatization allows them to experience how a ‘victim’ and a ‘bully’ behave. Solving the problem fosters cooperation and allowing everyone to internalize the situation, and prevent it from happening again.

The teacher may invite Annie’s parents to be involved in the intervention by taking up a few roles in the story. However, it will be more feasible when the children have gone through a few sessions and are familiar with it. Annie’s parents will be able to get the opportunity to interact with the children and more importantly, Annie. This permits Annie’s parents to observe her progress in articulation, vocabulary range and social interaction.

This intervention will be a good introduction to a Dramatic Corner. In the intervention, the stories and roles picked are according to a theme, and the children know what is expected of them as they do engage in repeated practice. So when a teacher introduces a Dramatic Corner to them, the procedures will be fairly similar except that the teacher will not always be there to facilitate. By having a Dramatic Corner, children are encouraged to practice on their social development during their free time. This provides a continuation from the intervention to their daily activities.

The teacher may also include a slot for Drama once a week in the time-table. This allows for teacher facilitation and cooperative play as the entire class is involved. The time for Drama is where children may let their creativity flow as there is not one right answer. This is a period for the children to get to know Annie better in a relaxed setting. And it may reduce any bias perceptions they have of her as Drama encourages individuality and uniqueness.

Rerference:
Stanton-Chapman, T., Denning, C., & Jamison, K. (2008, August). Exploring the effects of a social communication intervention for improving requests and word diversity in preschoolers with disabilities. Psychology in the Schools, 45(7), 644-664. Retrieved September 8, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.