The effects of verbal support strategies on small-group peer interactions

This study investigated whether child care providers could learn to facilitate peer interactions by using verbal support strategies (e.g., prompts, invitations, or suggestions to interact) during naturalistic play activities.

Seventeen caregivers were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, stratified by center so that staff from one center could attend the training program together. The experimental group received inservice training on how to facilitate peer interaction; the control group received training on adult-child communication strategies. Caregivers in the experimental group were taught to facilitate children's interactions with their peers by using indirect referrals (e.g., alerting children to situational information, offering praise) and direct referrals (e.g., telling a child what to say to a peer, inviting children to play together).

At posttest, the caregivers in the experimental group used more verbal supports for peer interaction than the caregivers in the control group. Specifically, they used more utterances to promote communication between peers and to invite children to interact together. In turn, the children in the experimental group initiated interactions with peers more often and engaged in extended peer sequences more often than the children in the control group.

The results support the viability of this training model in early childhood education settings and suggest that future research of its effects with children who have disabilities is warranted.