Establishing a normal peer as a behavioral model for developmentally delayed toddlers

The present investigation demonstrated a systematic teaching procedure for establishing a normal toddler as a peer-model for three children showing delayed development, each one under 27 mo. of age. For each delayed subject, training consisted of adult-directed prompting and social reinforcement contingent upon the delayed children's imitations of material use and motor responses emitted by a normal peer. Within-subjects multiple-baseline designs across responses were used to demonstrate intrasubject control over imitative responding. Indices of stimulus and response generalization were assessed through having the peer-model present the trained responses along with untrained responses in a situation free of adult prompting and social reinforcement for imitative responding. Results indicated that the training in peer-imitation was successful for establishing the peer-model's behavior in a stimulus control relationship with the imitative responding of the delayed children. Moreover, the findings generally demonstrated transfer of training across stimulus situations and responses. Implications for educational programming with developmentally delayed children are discussed.