Including Social Opportunities During Small Group Instruction of Preschool Children With Social-Communication Delays

Young children with disabilities are less likely to display prosocial behaviors than their typically developing peers. One method for increasing social skills is embedding opportunities for social interactions during academic instruction. The purpose of this study was to teach functional sight words to young children in a small group arrangement, while embedding opportunities to engage in social behaviors. A multiple probe design across behaviors replicated across participants was used to evaluate the effects of using constant time delay to teach sight words. Children learned to read targeted sight words and some of their peers’ words. Secondary social measures suggest children acquired some social information about a peer when the information was presented via instructive feedback and learned to share materials during instructional sessions. Implications for practitioners and teachers are provided regarding (a) academic instruction and observational learning, (b) prerequisites for success in a small group arrangement, (c) embedding sharing during instruction, and (d) instructive feedback related to peer preferences.