The Role of Early Social Scaffolding in Atypical Development.

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Early social scaffolding is a driving force behind child development, with interactive experiences having been linked to attention, language, and social communication skills (Vygotsky, 1978; Perret-Clermont, 1980; Lewis & Carpendale, 2009; Tomasello, 2009; Rodriguez & Tamis-LeMonda, 2011). However, research has overwhelmingly focused on the everyday experiences of typically developing (TD) children, resulting in a need to investigate the importance of social scaffolding on atypical developmental trajectories.

The presentations within this symposium will share novel research addressing scaffolding behaviors in a variety of different contexts for children with and without neurodevelopmental disorders. The first talk will explore maternal linguistic input during an interactive play session in a laboratory setting with children with and without autism spectrum disorder. The second talk will examine variation in the amount of time children with and without developmental disabilities spend in structured and unstructured classroom activities and the associations between that time and their language development. The third talk will focus on the application of evidence-based strategies to promoting school readiness among preschoolers with autism and related developmental disabilities, with particular emphasis on cultural considerations for partnering with parents in these applied endeavors.

Together, this symposium suggests differential scaffolding strategies among different social-interactive contexts with different populations of children with and without neurodevelopmental disorders. Furthermore, the combination of the work presented sheds light on how scaffolding experiences can be leveraged to improve developmental outcomes for non-TD children.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Disabilities

Chair

• Elizabeth Susan Perkovich, University of Houston

Individual Presentations

• Maternal Language Input During Social Play Contexts Among Children with Autism and Typically-Developing Children - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Susan Perkovich, University of Houston; Hanako Yoshida, University of Houston

• How Activity Contexts Set the Stage for Social Learning In Inclusive Preschool Classrooms - Presenting Author: Lynn K Perry, University of Miami; Nicole P Vershov, University of Miami; Stephanie Custode, University of Miami; Batya Elbaum, University of Miami; Daniel Messinger, University of Miami

• Preparing Preschoolers with Autism for School: Social Scaffolding as a Means to Increasing School Readiness - Presenting Author: Sarah S. Mire, Baylor University; Anna Laakman