Augmenting communicative interaction between handicapped and nonhandicapped preschool children

A peer-mediated intervention designed to promote communicative interaction by 3 handicapped children with behavioral, social, and communicative deficits in an integrated preschool was evaluated. All 6 normally developing preschoolers in the class were taught facilitative strategies. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used in combination with withdrawal designs for 2 of the subjects. Significant increases in communicative interaction occurred when the peers were prompted to use the strategies with the 3 handicapped classmates. In particular, increases in the handicapped children's response rates were demonstrated during free play observations. In addition, fewer initiations by the handicapped children during the peer intervention was shown to be attributable to reductions in teacher prompting. Generalization to other settings was demonstrated by 1 subject. Although most strategy use by peers was prompted during the initial intervention phases, prompting dropped gradually while peer strategy use was maintained by the end of the study. Results of this study have implications for refining our ability to tailor interventions individually to improve treatment effectiveness based upon the characteristics of handicapped children.