Action Research On Promoting Social Interaction Between Peer And Children With Developmental Delay In Natural Settings

The social interaction between peers plays an important role in the social development of young children.However,children with developmental delay in cognitive,language,and other fields suffered from difficulties in social interaction with peers.The development of preschool inclusive education has created opportunities for typical developing children and children with developmental delay to interact socially in natural situations.Research on how to use this opportunity to promote the social interaction between typical developing children and children with developmental delay needs to be explored.The current study is conducted utilizing action research,integrating observation and interview as main approaches to explore a feasible plan for preschool teachers to improve social interactions between typical developing children and children with developmental delay in natural school settings.6 typical developing children in the Z kindergarten were respectively grouped in dyads,paring with 1 child with developmental delay.Before the study,problems such as poor awareness of social interaction and incompetent interpersonal skills were observed in social interactions between typical developing children and children with developmental delay,which laid the foundation of the design of subsequent action research plans.This action research is divided into three rounds.During the first round of action,3 times of picture book teaching were conducted by the researcher to each group of typical developing children,aiming at helping typical developing children to get a basic understanding of interacting with peers with developmental delay;during the second round of action,the researcher delivered a strategy teaching for 3 times in sequence,to help typical children understand basic strategies to interact with children developmental delay;during the third round of action,the researcher taught integrated interactive strategies to each group of typical developing children 3 times,aiming to support typical developing children practically to apply those strategies in interaction with children with developmental delay in natural settings.Then,the generalization of the social interaction between typical developing children and children with developmental delay in integrated sports activities was be observed.Conclusions were listed below:(1)After four rounds of action,this study explored the action plan suitable for preschool teachers to promote social interaction between typical developing children and children with developmental delay in natural settings.Teachers start with using picture books to help typical developing children understand the significance of socializing with developmentally delayed children.Second,teachers conduct strategy instruction about social interactions between typical developing children and children with developmental delay.Finally,teacher guide and support the social interactions between typical developing children and children with developmental delay in natural settings.(2)The action plan mentioned above was found effective in educational settings from the following aspects:enhance the willingness of typical developing children to interact with children with developmental delay;improve the social competencies of typical developing children to interact with children with developmental delay;the social interaction between them can be generalized to integrated sports activities.Based on finding described above,this study suggests kindergarten teachers to provide typical developing children with more guidance and interactive strategies in interaction with children with developmental delay,thus creating more opportunities for interactions in natural settings.