Promoting Early Engagement, Relationships, and Socialization (PEERS)

About This Grant

The goal of the proposed randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the impacts of the Promoting Early Engagement, Relationships, and Socialization (PEERS) intervention on the language and social experiences and skill development of young children with developmental language disorder (DLD). PEERS is a peer-mediated intervention designed to help children with DLD form social connections with their classmates and engage in more positive, reciprocal peer interactions. The sample includes 100 preschool classrooms randomly assigned to the treatment (n = 50) or a business-as-usual control condition (n = 50). In each classroom, one target child (3- to 5-years old; n = 100) with DLD who experiences peer exclusion and has pragmatic language difficulties is identified. Also in each classroom, two peers (n = 200) referred to as buddies with relatively strong language skills and peer connections are identified. In treatment classrooms, teachers implement the peer-mediated intervention for a six-month period in the spring of the school year. Buddies are trained to use age-appropriate strategies to socially engage with the target child during center time with incidental teacher support. Target children’s and buddies’ language and social experiences with peers are observed throughout the preschool year, and assessments of language and social skills are collected at three timepoints to understand target children’s and buddies’ development in these areas. Target children are also followed beyond the preschool year, with 3 additional assessment timepoints through two years post-intervention to understand long-term impacts of intervention participation. To evaluate the effectiveness of PEERS, the present study has three aims. First, the trajectories of target children’s language and social experiences will be examined across the preschool year using a combination of in-person observations and state-of-the-art sensing technologies. Second, target children’s short-term (through the spring of preschool) and long-term (two years post-intervention) gains in language and social skills will be examined using a combination of direct and indirect assessments. Third, the extent to which target children’s language and social experiences with their preschool peers mediates the effects of PEERS on the trajectories of the target children’s language and social skills development of will be tested. Overall, we expect participation in PEERS to have meaningful, positive impacts on the language and social experiences and skills of the target children.