Increasing Peer Engagement and Prosocial
Behaviors through Coaching of Pre-school aged
Introduction
• A child's ability to interact with developmentally similar peers is a
crucial skill that can benefit the child's development in all major
domains (physical, cognitive, and social-emotional). Children who
are children are more likely to drop out of school, have mental
health issues, and become involved in criminal actions/behaviors
(Oden & Asher 1977)
• A ten minute coaching session was given before play periods where
the coach would encourage examples of prosocial behaviors (sharing,
talking, collaborative play, etc.) from the child and encourage the
techniques to be used amongst peers.
•Does coaching prosocial and engaging behaviors increase the
interaction and engagement of a preschool-aged children and their
peers?
Findings
In the baseline observations it was documented that the average
percentage of the selected child’s ability to engage with one or more
peers was 14%.
Once the coaching intervention was implemented, the average
percentage of the child’s ability engage with one or more peers was
30% over doubling the child's previous abilities.
Specifically, the child originally engaged in some sort of activity or
play with one child, 13% of the play period and 1% with a group.
After the intervention the child engaged in one-on-one play 23% of
the observed time and group play 7%.
•Data Collection:
– Data were collected on the selected child by
finding the total number of times the child
engaged with a classmate and dividing that
by the total number of times the child
performed isolated play or was alone.
– Data were collected on a peer by finding the
total number of times the child engaged
with a classmate and dividing that by the
total number of times the child performed
isolated play or was alone. This data was
used to compare the isolated child to a peer
that often interacts with others.
– Reliability was calculated on 16% of the
observed sessions, inter-observer agreement
was 86-93% based on both child self-
regulation and teacher responses.
100
Percentage of Observed Behaviors with Peer Engagement
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
Engagement with one Peer
20
10
0
1 2
Children
Madison Rohm
PK-3 Program
Method Discussion
Experimental Conditions: After this intervention was applied there was a significant increase
•Baseline: Centers and play periods occurred at in the child's engagement with one peer in particular. The child also
least twice a day for one hour. The data collected would experiment with engaging in group play alongside the secure
was done so with a momentary time sample of 1 peer for short period of time during play periods.
minute intervals over a 15 minute observation
session during morning centers. A total of five, 15 The research represented that through one-on-one coaching with a
minute sessions occurred to collect baseline data. preschool-aged child, there was an increase in longer periods of
peer engagement. Although the child stuck closer to one student
•Intervention: A 10 minute coaching session
more than the others, the child would stay with this peer longer and
before the child started their play period was
engage more often than before the intervention was applied.
implemented in a private area in the child's normal
classroom environment. During this session the
coach prompted from the child examples of
behaviors that would promote engagement and
acceptance of peers. Then the child was
encouraged to apply the techniques for the rest of
the play period and would later discuss the
interactions with the coach after the play period
ended
Conclusion
Baseline Coaching Peer Engagement • This intervention can be incorporated within other classrooms
Isolated play
alongside other techniques, such as social stories, to promote a
healthy classroom environment where no student feel isolated from
the community.
• Further research should be done to observe the lasting effects of the
Comparison peer engaged with coaching intervention over long periods of time. Another research
one other peer
that could co-inside with this technique is to record and analyze an
English learners progress in vocabulary after being exposed to it
more from engagement with English speaking peers.
Comparison peer engaged with 2+ peers
Ogulumus, S., & Kargi, E. (2015) The interpersonal cognitive problem
solving approach for preschoolers. Turkish Journal of Education.
Engagement with 2+ peers Oden, S., & Asher, S. R. (1977). Coaching Children in Social Skills for
Friendship Making. Child Development,48(2), 495-505.
doi:10.2307/1128645
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Sessions