Penetrating the classroom social network for children with language impairment via peer-mediated intervention

项目概要/摘要 这项探索性实验旨在确定社会化经历的程度， 社会，行为和语言技能的学龄前儿童语言障碍（LI）可以提高。我们 在30个包容性学前班教室实施同伴调解干预，随机分配到治疗组 或控制在一个等待名单设计实验。在每个教室确定一个焦点儿童（n = 30），代表一个 患有LI的儿童（3至5岁），表现出最差的实用语言技能和最高水平的社交能力。 排斥在课堂上。在12周的时间里，重点儿童将接受同伴中介干预 从确定的同龄人，谁使用的战略，从事社会的焦点儿童在中心时间，作为支持， 课堂辅导员（教师、助手）。感兴趣的成果包括总体课堂社交网络 及其嵌入的社会化过程（例如，儿童与儿童互动的频率），焦点儿童的 与同龄人的互动和接触同龄人的谈话，以及焦点儿童的社会，行为和语言技能。 这项研究采用了最先进的社会网络分析来代表孩子的课堂网络， 二元和网络级，并在学年内使用高级位置跟踪动态建模 技术和语音激活记录器，以捕捉传入和传出的同龄人谈话的焦点儿童。我们 预计这项研究的结果将产生重大的理论和科学影响。理论上，我们建议 改善学前班的社会化体验可以打破社会排斥和同伴关系， LI儿童所经历的虐待，导致社会，行为和语言的加速增长 结果与李。我们可以检验同伴中介干预与 儿童的结果，以评估这些直接和间接的途径。科学家们，我们的多学科团队已经准备好 追求一流的健康相关研究，整合复杂的技术和动态建模， 社交网络，以改善干预设计和概念化，并将提供概念验证 将这些方法纳入今后关于残疾儿童和其他人社会化的研究。

Project Summary/Abstract This exploratory experiment is designed to determine the extent to which the socialization experiences and social, behavioral, and linguistic skills of preschoolers with language impairment (LI) can be improved. We implement a peer-mediated intervention in 30 inclusive preschool classrooms, randomly assigned to treatment or control in a wait-list design experiment. A focal child (n = 30) is identified in each classroom, representing a child with LI (3 to 5 years of age) who exhibits the poorest pragmatic-language skills and highest level of social exclusion in the classroom. Over a 12-week period, the focal children will receive peer-mediated intervention from identified peers, who use strategies to engage the focal child socially during center time, as supported by a classroom facilitator (teacher, aide). Outcomes of interest include the overarching classroom social network and its embedded socialization processes (e.g., frequency to child-to-child interaction), the focal child’s interactions with peers and exposure to peer talk, and the focal child’s social, behavioral, and linguistic skills. The study employs state-of-the-art social network analyses to represent the classroom network at the child, dyad, and network level and is dynamically modeled over the academic year using advanced location-tracking technologies and voice-activated recorders to capture incoming and outgoing peer talk for the focal child. We anticipate the results of this study to yield significant theoretical and scientific impact. Theoretically, we propose that improved socialization experiences in the preschool classroom can disrupt the social exclusion and peer maltreatment experienced by children with LI, leading to accelerated growth in social, behavioral, and linguistic outcomes for children with LI. We can test the mediated relations between peer-mediated intervention and child outcomes to assess these direct and indirect pathways. Scientifically, our multidisciplinary team is poised to pursue best-in-class health-relevant research integrating complex technologies and dynamic modeling of social networks to improve intervention design and conceptualizations, and will provide proof-of-concept for integrating these approaches into future research on the socialization of children and others with disabilities.