Children with mental retardation experience social rejection and isolation; however, there is little information about how families can facilitate their children's social competence and social participation out of the home. This investigation will examine family facilitation of social outcomes in two groups of school age children with mild and moderate mental retardation: a representative sample who do not have Down syndrome (n=60), and a group of children with Down syndrome (n=60). Two comparison groups of school age children also will be evaluated: families of children with learning disabilities (n=60) who are at high risk for social rejection and families of typically developing children (n=60). Three forms of family facilitation will be investigated: indirect facilitation through family interactions that either teach and promote social competencies or lead to social deficiencies, coping assistance strategies to help children manage social problems and direct facilitation through active orchestration of children's social activities. The study will evaluate mothers and fathers and siblings roles in family facilitation using in-home observations and semi-structured interviews with families. Social competence for the target child will be comprehensively evaluated with observations and parent, teacher, and child reports of social behaviors and adjustment at home and at school. Multiple informants will report on social participation and peer relationships and the children's social-cognitive functioning will be directly assessed. The investigation will employ an overlapping cohort design to evaluate longitudinal changes in family facilitation processes, children's social outcomes, and the associations among these factors. Initial assessments will be conducted when the children are 8 to 10 years old, and all children will be followed through age 11. The families will complete yearly follow-up sessions for 2 to 3 years, and the children's social behaviors and experiences at school will be assessed at 6 month intervals. Hierarchical linear modeling will be used to evaluate linear and non-linear growth trends at the individual and group level, and will examine group differences in both the slope and the shape of changes across time. The analyses will examine hypotheses regarding three general mechanisms which propose that a) the quality of family interactions will influence children's social skills and behavioral adjustment, which in turn will influence their social outcomes; b) both family interactions and family assistance in coping with social rejection will influence the children's social-cognitive functioning; and c) direct efforts by families to arrange and monitor peer activities will be important techniques to promote social participation and acquisition of social skills for children who have disabilities.
| Floyd, Frank J; Olsen, Darren L (2017) Family-Peer Linkages for Children with Intellectual Disability and Children with Learning Disabilities. J Appl Dev Psychol 52:203-211 |
| Brooks, B A; Floyd, F; Robins, D L et al. (2015) Extracurricular activities and the development of social skills in children with intellectual and specific learning disabilities. J Intellect Disabil Res 59:678-87 |
