Older Siblings' Use of Responsive Interaction Strategies and Effects on Their Younger Siblings with Down Syndrome

Abstract

The effects of an intervention designed to facilitate interactions between older typically developing siblings and their younger siblings with Down syndrome were investigated. Older siblings were taught to use two responsive interaction strategies through the use of written materials, modeling, role play, and oral feedback. Following training, older siblings increased their use of mirroring and verbal responding. Intentional communicative behaviors increased among their younger siblings. One-month follow-up observations indicated that older siblings maintained their use of the responsive interaction strategies, but the effects of the intervention did not appear to generalize to an untrained setting. In an assessment of social validity, blind observers found sibling interactions to appear more positive and reciprocal following intervention than during baseline.