Excerpted from Chapter 1 of Promoting Social Communication: Children with Developmental Disabilities from Birth to Adolescence, edited by Howard Goldstein, Ph.D., Louise A. Kaczmarek, Ph.D., & Kristina M. English, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2001 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

What is the essence of social behavior that might be relevant to children with developmental disabilities? Because of the lack of a comprehensive theory of social behavior and its development, this question is not an easy one to answer. Based on the literature and perhaps an intuitive analysis, a number of goals for children with developmental disabilities can be proposed. At least five areas seem to be relevant, each building on the prior areas: 1) identifying social skills or behaviors that are possible objectives for intervention; 2) improving rates of social interaction; 3) enhancing social acceptance, by peers in particular; 4) encouraging children with developmental disabilities to develop relationships with people in their lives; and 5) enabling people with disabilities to develop mutual relationships or friendships that yield lasting and even intimate relationships. This conceptualization reflects an interventionist’s perspective that is not readily apparent in the existing literature on social competence and social-communicative development. Indeed, as Newcomb and Bagwell (1995) pointed out in their review of 82 articles on children’s friendships, investigators readily acknowledge an absence of a strong theoretical conceptualization to guide work in this area. Nevertheless, a number of frameworks have been proposed that may help people to begin to understand the complexities of social behavior and its development in children with disabilities.

Developmental Perspectives

Most conceptualizations of social relationship development (e.g., Buhrmester, 1996; Furman, 1982) are based on Sullivan’s (1953) theory of friendship development. Sullivan proposed that people have specific interpersonal needs at different stages in development and that different types of relationships best suit these needs at each stage. The social skills and competencies needed to be successful in social interactions are thought to develop within the context of these relationships (Buhrmester & Furman, 1986). Because these social skills and competencies are not specified, however, diverse approaches are evident in the literature (see Chapter 3). This diversity of approaches is not surprising because the primary focus of investigators tends to shift as they examine different populations, cultural groups, and age groups.

Sullivan (1953) asserted that people need social interaction and social input, such as tenderness, companionship, acceptance, and intimacy, to obtain happiness and psychological well-being. An underlying assumption is that when such interaction does not occur, people experience distress and maladjustment. Sullivan defined friendship as collaborative relationships. Friends are sensitive to the needs of one another and seek mutual satisfaction. Sullivan suggested that friendship relationships do not typically begin to emerge until the preadolescent period when the need for acceptance transforms. That is, the need for acceptance in the elementary school years is met by general peer group interaction, but this focus shifts to a need for interpersonal intimacy during adolescence and beyond.

Although one may question whether Sullivan’s theoretical conceptualization has undergone direct empirical scrutiny, clearly his theory has helped direct investigators to observe and describe social behavior and relationships from a developmental perspective. Certainly those taking a behavioral perspective may wonder whether the theory of social needs has any real explanatory value or psychological reality. Sullivan’s theory lacks specification of social behaviors and competencies that are expected to develop. Nevertheless, Sullivan’s idea of scrutinizing the demands of social situations from a developmental perspective and acknowledging the changing value of companionship, peer acceptance, mutual satisfaction, and intimacy has great appeal for researchers. This concept is reflected in the developmental literature, in the chapters that follow, and in the milestones summarized next.

The first 3 years of social life typically are characterized by interactions with caregivers. Developmental approaches stress the development of parental bonds and attachment in infants. Warren and his colleagues (see Chapter 4) explain how a transactional model helps people to understand how social-communicative development is facilitated by the bidirectional, reciprocal influences of the child and the social environment. They provide a summary of social-communicative skills that typically are acquired during the first 2 years of life. In today’s society, toddlers often are provided opportunities to interact with peers. Toddlers’ peer relationships mostly converge around playing together. At this stage, peer relationships cannot really be defined as friendships. Infants and toddlers rarely show mutual and stable preferences for specific peers (Furman, 1982). Discrimination between familiar and unfamiliar peers may be the major characteristic of the friendship literature devoted to this age group.

During the preschool years, however, peer interaction becomes more prominent, mostly in the context of mutual engagement in play activities. Gottman and his colleagues (Gottman, 1983; Gottman & Mettetal, 1986; Gottman & Parkhurst, 1980; Parker & Gottman, 1989) distinguish among the social requirements associated with different types of play. Parallel play places few demands on children to accommodate each other. By the time preschoolers begin to display nonstereotyped fantasy play, they are faced with many more social-communicative demands. Fantasy play requires social coordination as children continually negotiate play roles. Consequently, it has the potential for disagreement and conflict that take sophisticated social skills to resolve satisfactorily. By the end of the preschool period, there are heavy demands on children in terms of verbal skills, behavioral inhibition, and perspective taking. Preschoolers who are more familiar with one another display fantasy play more frequently (Matthews, 1978). Likewise, they are more likely to acknowledge one another as friends (Berndt & Perry, 1986; Furman & Buhrmester, 1992).

About 75% of preschoolers have been described as having friends (Hinde, Titmus, Easton, & Tamplin, 1985; Howes, 1983). Although preschool children may have friends, relationships at this stage can change from day to day. There is some evidence, however, for stability of friendships. In a study of friendship stability, Gershman and Hayes (1983) found that two thirds of preschool friendships remained stable over a 6-month period. Regardless of length, preschool friendships are thought to be important for social development (Furman, 1982). Gottman (1986) also pointed out the potential role of preschool friendships in affective development. He noted that fantasy play seems to provide a means for practicing roles and for resolving major fears. Corsaro (1985) noted three recurrent themes for preschool fantasy play: lost-found, danger-rescue, and death-rebirth. Consequently, fantasy play seems to provide an avenue for children to address their fears within the supportive context of peer interactions. Thus, early peer relationships, especially in the context of play, are not only a source of excitement and entertainment but also seem to play an important role in social, communicative, and affective development.

School-age children begin to develop deeper friendships around age 8 or 9 (Furman, 1982). These relationships are characterized by less egocentrism and a greater sensitivity to others. But as Sullivan (1953) pointed out, the major goal of this stage in development is acceptance by peers. Predictably, children are concerned about self-presentation and want to avoid rejection by their peers. Children begin to form peer groups that differ in status (Crockett, Losoff, & Petersen, 1984; Hartup, 1984). Most children highly value group membership, but it may contribute to insecurity as they also view membership as somewhat capricious. Peer group reactions often are gauged using sophisticated verbal behavior, namely negative evaluation gossip and teasing. Children can use these strategies to determine group attitudes and norms without risking personal exposure by engaging in the behaviors yet to be judged. Children with developmental disabilities are at social risk not only because peers may not deem their behavior acceptable but also because they lack the social and communicative sophistication required for expressing and responding to gossip and teasing effectively (Goldstein & Gallagher, 1992).

Adolescents acquire a desire for interpersonal intimacy. The major theme of this stage of development is self-exploration and self-definition (Gottman & Mettetal, 1986). Relationships at this stage begin to be characterized by self-disclosure, trust, commitment, respect, and similar value systems (Furman, 1982). Through discussions with friends, adolescents explore their identities, beliefs, and aspirations. Hence, talking is a primary problem-solving strategy. When coupled with a high level of emotional involvement, these interactions pave the way for romantic relationships, a special kind of friendship.

Buhrmester (1996) qualified this timeline by stating that needs emerge as children become occupied with new developmental issues and concerns. He suggests that these concerns dictate what children seek in relationships and why mutual and exclusive relationships develop. Friendship provides a context for tackling issues with which children are preoccupied. He suggests that an absence of friendships may have deleterious effects on social adjustment and the learning of life’s lessons. Indeed, researchers have found that children who do not develop friendships due to peer relationship difficulties are at risk for social maladjustment in later life (see Dishion, Andrews, & Crosby, 1995; Parker & Asher, 1987).

Asher, Parker, and Walker (1996) differentiated between the concepts of peer acceptance and friendship. Peer acceptance refers to the extent to which children are liked and accepted by members of their peer group. In contrast, friendship is a dyadic construct that must include mutual liking between two individuals. Furman and Robbins (1985) suggested that some skills (e.g., intimacy) are better served in the context of friendship, whereas other skills (e.g., leadership) are likely to be acquired in peer group interactions. Therefore, the goals of social skills training programs should be to enhance peer interactions in general as well as to promote friendships.

These goals need to be examined with respect to children with developmental disabilities. Functional social-communicative objectives for a child with a disability may produce very different types of friendships from those of same-age peers due to delays in development. Indeed, Buhrmester (1996) suggested that the emergence of social behavior is influenced by multiple factors such as biological maturation, cognitive development, cultural expectations, and individuals’ experiences. He suggested that these elements converge to define children’s social needs and expectations at any given stage of development. Fulfilling these needs and expectations requires possession of certain knowledge, skills, and behaviors. The term social competence has come to refer to such knowledge, skills, and behaviors. Katz (1988), for example, used the term to refer to the initiation, development, and maintenance of relationships. Guralnick defined the construct as "the ability of young children to successfully and appropriately select and carry out their interpersonal goals" (1990, p. 4). The abilities to relate effectively to people and to be accepted by others are important outcomes of social competence (Quay, 1993).

Although social competence can be defined and described in myriad ways, the significance of social competence is unmistakable with respect to early development, particularly in children with disabilities (Farmer, Pearl, & Van Acker, 1996). Developmental changes motivate children to enter into new types of relationships. Within these new and more complex relationships, different social competencies are demanded. From this perspective, social competence plays a role in determining the quality of a child’s friendships. This influence is bidirectional in that friendship also provides access to opportunities to improve one’s social competence.

Friendship experiences might contribute to social competence in two ways (Buhrmester, 1996). First, friendship may provide exclusive opportunities to master certain social skills. For example, an adolescent without close friends may never be called on to discuss personal thoughts and feelings and, therefore, will not have the opportunity to practice and refine these skills. It also may limit the opportunities one has to learn observationally from a highly valued peer. Second, the feedback one receives through interactions with friends may play a role in shaping individual differences in social competence (Buhrmester, 1996). When friends react positively to a child’s attempts at a new social skill, that skill is reinforced; however, when efforts evoke negative feedback from friends, use of a new skill is undermined. Hence, keeping in mind the complete hierarchy of goals proposed at the beginning of this chapter seems important. Conceptualizing these goals sequentially may do a disservice to children with disabilities because of the reciprocal influences of friendships and social skills. Many studies have documented lower frequencies of social interactions in young children with developmental disabilities than in typical children (see Odom & McEvoy, 1988). Clearly, this situation puts children with disabilities at risk for fewer peer relationships and fewer mutual friendships (Guralnick & Groom, 1988). Educators and researchers may need to target relationships and friendships as well as social skills and social interactions to maximize the benefits of intervention. The social competence that children bring to a situation affects their likelihood of succeeding in forming relationships. From this perspective, if children manage to make friends, they are more likely to learn more sophisticated social skills and, in turn, are more likely to continue to develop relationships and make friends.

The developmental perspective is most pervasive in the chapters in this book; however, the exploration of theories emanating from other perspectives promises to provide fresh insights into the nature of social competence and relationship development.