This article presents a review of research on social interaction that was conducted by the author, students, and colleagues, primarily at George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University. The article traces the history and presents both successes and failures of our research in gaining information regarding the development of social interaction skills of handicapped (i.e., behaviorally disordered and mentally retarded) children. Several suggestions are made for future research and development areas. The article does not represent a comprehensive review, but rather a historical overview of a program of research conducted at Peabody. Each publication cited has incorporated related research from sources other than that completed at Peabody. In order to illustrate the progression of our program of research, the literature presented is consciously limited. The author presents this article as a personal perspective which should not necessarily be considered the perspective of other investigators involved in the research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ApolloniT., & CookeT. P. (1975). Peer behavior conceptualized as a variable influencing infant and toddler development.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 45, 4–17.
2.
BradyM. P., ShoresR. E., GunterP., McEvoyM. A., FoxJ. J., & WhiteC. (1984). Generalization of an adolescent's social interaction behavior via multiple peers in a classroom setting.Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 9, 278–286.
3.
BradyM. P., ShoresR. E., McEvoyM. A., FoxJ. J., & EllisD. (in press). An investigation of multiple peer exemplar training to increase the social interactions of severely handicapped autistic children.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities.
4.
BradyM. P., McEvoyM. A., GunterP., ShoresR. E., & FoxJ. J. (1984). Considerations for socially integrated school environments for severely handicapped students.Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 19(4), 246–254.
5.
BuellJ., StoddardP., HarrisF. R., & BaerD. M. (1968). Collateral social development accompanying reinforcement of outdoor play in a preschool child.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 167–174.
6.
BurneyJ. D., RussellB., & ShoresR. E. (1977). Developing social responses in two profoundly retarded children.American Association for Education of Severely/Profoundly Handicapped Review, 2, 53–60.
7.
CookeT. P., & ApolloniT. (1976). Developing positive social-emotional behaviors: A study of training and generalization effects.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9, 65–78.
8.
CookeT. P., ApolloniT., & CookeS. A. (1976). The effects of a second nondelayed playmate on the freeplay initiation and interaction of delayed and nondelayed children. Unpublished manuscript.
9.
DayR. M., FoxJ. J., ShoresR. E., LindemanD. P., & StowitschekJ. J. (1982). The social competence intervention project: Developing educational procedures for teaching social interaction skills to handicapped children.Behavioral Disorders, 8, 120–127.
10.
DayR. M., LindemanD. P., PowellT. H., FoxJ. J., StowitschekJ. J., & ShoresR. E. (1984). Empirically-derived teaching package for socially withdrawn handicapped and nonhandicapped children.Teacher Education and Special Education, 7(1), 46–55.
11.
FersterC. B., & SkinnerB. F. (1957). Schedules of reinforcement.New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
12.
FoxJ. J., GunterP., BradyM. P., BambaraL., Spiegel-McGillP., & ShoresR. E. (1984). Using multiple peer exemplars to develop generalized social responding of an autistic girl. In RutherfordR. B.Jr., & NelsonC. M. (Eds.), Severe behavior disorders of children and youth (Vol. 7, pp. 17–26). Reston, VA: Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders.
13.
FoxJ. J., ShoresR. E., LindemanD., & StrainP. (1986). Maintaining social initiations of withdrawn handicapped and nonhandicapped preschoolers through a response dependent fading tactic.Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 14(3), 387–396.
14.
Gaylord-RossR. J., HaringT. G., BreenC., & Pitts-ConwayV. (1984). The training and generalization of social interaction skills with autistic youth.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 17, 229–247.
15.
GunterP., FoxJ. J., BradyM., ShoresR. E., & CavanaughK. (1985). Nonhandicapped peers as multiple exemplar stimuli for the generalization of social skills training with autistic students. Unpublished manuscript, George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
16.
HartB. M., ReynoldsN. J., BaerD. M., BrawleyE. R., & HarrisF. R. (1968). Effect of contingent and noncontingent social reinforcement on the cooperative play of a preschool child.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 73–76.
17.
HecimovicA., FoxJ. J., ShoresR. E., & StrainP. S. (1986). An analysis of developmentally integrated and segregated freeplay settings and the generalization of newly-acquired social behaviors of socially withdrawn preschoolers.Behavioral Assesssment, 7, 367–388.
18.
HendricksonJ. M., StrainP. S., TremblayA., & ShoresR. E. (1981). Relationship between toy and material use and the occurrence of social interactive behaviors by normally developing preschool children.Psychology in the Schools, 18, 500–504.
19.
KirbyF. D., & TolerH. C. (1970). Modification of preschool isolate behavior: A case study.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 3, 309–314.
20.
McEvoyM., ShoresR. E., DennyR., WehbyJ., JohnsonS., & FoxJ. (1987). The social integration of autistic children. Unpublished manuscript, George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
21.
O'ConnorR. D. (1969). Modification of social withdrawal through symbolic modeling.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2, 15–22.
22.
PattersonG. R., & ReidJ. B. (1970). Reciprocity and coercion: Two facets of social systems. In NeuringerE., & MichaelJ. (Eds.), Behavior modification in clinical psychology.New York: Appleton.
23.
RaglandE. U., KerrM. M., & StrainP. S. (1978). Behavior of withdrawn autistic children: Effects of peer social initiations.Behavior Modification, 2(4), 565–578.
24.
ShoresR. E., ApolloniT., & NormanC. W. (1976). Collateral changes in peer verbalizations accompanying individual and group contingencies.Perceptual and Motor Skills, 43, 1155–1169.
25.
ShoresR. E., HesterP., & StrainP. S. (1976). Effects of amount and type of teacher-child interaction on child-child interactions during freeplay.Psychology in the Schools, 13, 171–175.
26.
SidmanM. (1960). Tactics of scientific research.New York: Basic.
27.
StokesT., & BaerD. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 349–367.
28.
StokesT., BaerD., & JacksonT. (1974). Programing the generalization of a greeting response in four retarded children.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 7, 599–610.
29.
StrainP. S. (Ed.). (1981). The utilization of classsroom peers as behavior change agents.New York: Plenum.
30.
StrainP. S. (1983). Generalization of autistic children's social behavior change: Effects of developmentally integrated and segregated settings.Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 3, 23–34.
31.
StrainP. S., KerrM. M., & RaglandE. U. (1979). Effects of peer-mediated social initiations and prompting/reinforcement procedures on the social behavior of autistic children.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9, 41–54.
32.
StrainP. S., & ShoresR. E. (1983). A reply to “misguided mainstreaming”.Exceptional Children, 50(3), 271–273.
33.
StrainP. S., ShoresR. E., & KerrM. M. (1976). An experimental analysis of “spillover” effects on the social interaction of behaviorally handicapped preschool children.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9, 31–40.
34.
StrainP. S., ShoresR. E., & TimmM. A. (1977). Effects of peer social initiations on the behavior of withdrawn preschool children.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 289–298.
35.
StrainP. S., & TimmM. A. (1974). An experimental analysis of social interaction between a behaviorally disordered preschool child and her clasroom peers.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 7, 583–590.
36.
TimmM. A., StrainP. S., & EllerP. H. (1979). Effects of systematic response-dependent fading and thinning on the maintenance of child-child interaction.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 308.
37.
TremblayA., StrainP. S., HendricksonJ. M., & ShoresR. E. (1980). The activity context of high and low social interactors.Psychology in the Schools, 17, 380–385.
38.
TremblayA., StrainP. S., HendricksonJ. M., & ShoresR. E. (1981). Social interactions of normally developing preschool children: Using normative data for subject and target behavior selection.Behavior Modification, 5(2), 237–253.
