A direct prompting strategy for increasing reciprocal interactions between handicapped and nonhandicapped siblings

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Behavioral Intervention
• Special Education

Background:

• Reciprocal interactions are crucial for social development in children.
• Handicapped children often face challenges in initiating and maintaining social interactions.
• Sibling involvement can be a powerful tool in therapeutic interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a sibling training procedure involving direct prompting and modeling.
• To assess the impact of this training on reciprocal interactions between nonhandicapped and handicapped siblings.
• To examine the generalization and maintenance of trained interactions.

Main Methods:

• A multiple-baseline design across three sibling pairs was employed.
• Direct prompting and modeling were used to train siblings.
• Data collection occurred during training, generalization, and 6-month follow-up phases.

Main Results:

• The sibling training procedure significantly increased reciprocal interactions.
• Improvements were observed in both initiations and responsiveness to interactions.
• Interactions generalized to larger play groups and untrained peers, and were maintained at follow-up.

Conclusions:

• Sibling training is an effective intervention for enhancing social interactions in handicapped children.
• The trained behaviors demonstrate generalization and long-term maintenance.
• The intervention was perceived as socially valid by parents.