Building Social Competence in Preschool: The Effects of a Social Skills Intervention Targeting Children Enrolled in Head Start

The current study evaluated the peer-to-peer interactions of at-risk children enrolled in Head Start who participated in a social pragmatic intervention targeting skills such as initiations, responses, name use, proximity, and turn-taking skills. Eight Head Start classroom teams received two workshops and two coaching sessions and were taught to use an antecedent-behavior-consequence problem-solving process to develop and implement action plans addressing prevent-teach-respond strategies to improve targeted routines. Nine out of 10 children showed increases in average percentage of interactive play behavior from baseline to intervention. Nine of the 10 children targeted for participation in the social pragmatic intervention showed decreases in average noninteractive play from baseline. Social validity ratings obtained from participants indicated that training materials and procedures were feasible for use in Head Start classrooms and intervention had positive effects on study participants.