Abstract
Children’s preschool experiences, including their interactions with peers, play a critical role in their development. However, it is still unknown how children’s real-time peer interactions actively shape their language development, and how these processes differ for children with delayed language abilities, like those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delay (DD), relative to their typically developing (TD) peers. Here we used objective measures of movement and vocalizations to assess children’s real-time dyadic vocal interactions and create classroom social networks. We then asked how children’s vocal interactions and role in their classroom network related to their assessed language abilities. Participants included 26 preschoolers (6 female; M=49.62 months) in inclusive classrooms for children with ASD or DD and their TD peers. We found that, regardless of their eligibility group, children were more likely to vocalize to their peers who had previously talked to them. However, social network analyses revealed key group and individual differences. Modularity, or the cohesiveness of group ties, was lower for ASD-ASD and between-group connections than for TD-TD or DD-DD connections. Individual children with ASD and DD were less central to classroom networks than TD children, but children’s centrality was associated with their end-of-year assessed language abilities, regardless of group. Findings highlight the impact peers and social networks play in the language development of children with developmental disabilities in inclusion classrooms.