Effects of group socialization procedures on the social interactions of preschool children.
Prompting and praising preschoolers during group games lifts both prompted and spontaneous peer talk that lasts into free-play.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Brown et al. (1988) worked with preschool teachers. They used group socialization procedures during structured games.
Teachers prompted kids to talk or share. They praised the whole group when children responded. The team tracked peer interactions across several children.
What they found
Prompting and praise quickly raised both prompted and unprompted peer talk. The gains carried over to free-play time without teacher help.
How this fits with other research
Finney et al. (1995) later used the same idea with preschoolers with autism. They added five-minute peer-prompt training and saw even bigger jumps in interaction.
Chandler et al. (1992) reviewed earlier studies and warned that most forgot to check generalization. Brown et al. (1988) is one of the few that did, matching the review’s call for looser, real-world tests.
Reiss et al. (1982) tried a similar group contingency in older, elementary students. Their success paved the way for trying it with younger kids.
Why it matters
You can copy this package on Monday. Pick a simple game like “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Prompt one child to invite another, then praise the whole group for playing together. Keep the game short and fun. Watch for the same kids talking later at the block corner—that’s your proof it worked.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Run a 5-minute structured game, prompt a social bid, praise the whole group, then check if they keep talking during free-play.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
We investigated the effects of group socialization procedures on the social behavior of preschool children in two studies. Group socialization procedures consisted of teachers using antecedent and consequent events to promote social interaction during children's games. During intervention, teachers discussed friendship with the children and then prompted and praised child-child social responding within the context of games. Children's social behavior was assessed during two sessions, group game periods (i.e., intervention sessions) and nonintervention play periods (i.e., generalization sessions). In both studies, a multiple baseline design across two target children and peers in their respective group was used to evaluate the effects of group socialization procedures. During group game periods, after intervention, target children increased their rates of both prompted and unprompted social interactions with peers. Also, in nonintervention play periods, target children improved both the rate and the duration of their social responding with peers. Results indicated that group socialization procedures were a practical and effective method for improving young children's social interaction during both structured games and unstructured play activities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1988 · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(88)90031-5