Social Behaviors of Children with ASD during Play with Siblings and Parents: Parental Perceptions.
Children with autism show more negative play behaviors with older siblings and parents than with younger siblings, suggesting partner-specific social strategies.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Payne et al. (2020) asked parents to rate how their child with autism acts during play at home. They compared play with older siblings, younger siblings, moms, and dads.
The team used a survey. Parents answered questions about positive and negative play behaviors they saw.
What they found
Parents saw more arguing, grabbing, and whining when the child played with older siblings or with parents. The same child looked calmer and more cooperative with younger siblings.
In short, partner age and role shaped social behavior more than a fixed skill deficit.
How this fits with other research
Reid et al. (1999) watched families in their homes and found parents did most play talking while kids initiated more with siblings. Payne et al. (2020) extend that idea by showing the quality of play also flips with partner age.
Meirsschaut et al. (2011) saw no extra social gains when preschoolers with autism played with their own mom versus an unfamiliar mom. That seems to clash with Payne et al. (2020), who report more negativity with parents. The gap is age: Mieke studied only 3- to 5-year-olds, while K included wider ages where older-sibling power games may matter more.
Slaughter et al. (2014) showed that three minutes of mom imitation boosted social bids more than stranger imitation. Together with Payne et al. (2020), the message is clear: who is in front of the child changes what you will see.
Why it matters
Before you label a child as “non-social,” watch who the partner is. During sibling training, start with a younger peer to build early wins, then teach older siblings to slow their pace and share control. Coach parents to expect some push-back and to use short, imitative turns. Partner choice is a low-cost prompt you can schedule tomorrow.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pair the learner with a younger sibling for the first 5-minute cooperative play trial and collect data on positive versus negative bids.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Both siblings and parents are important interactional partners for children with ASD, but we know little about whether these interactions differ between these two groups, or between older and younger siblings. AIMS: To gather data about how parents perceive the interactional behaviors displayed by their child with ASD in play with their typically developing siblings and their parents. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Parents completed a questionnaire developed for this study about the behaviors their children with ASD demonstrated when interacting with a sibling or parent. Following factor analysis, a 29-item instrument with two factors was revealed. Factors were labelled Prosocial Interaction and Withdrawal/Agonism. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: In some families, children with ASD were reported to display significantly higher levels of negative interaction when playing with their older siblings in comparison to younger siblings. When playing with their children with ASD, parents reported significantly more negative interactions compared to when their children with ASD played with younger siblings. There were few differences reported for play behaviors with parents versus older siblings. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Children with ASD appear to display different interactional behaviors depending upon their play partners within the family unit. This study could be used to inform researchers of different interaction strategies which may be useful in creating interventions.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103525