ABSTRACT
There is a growing amount of research that looks at the link between social interaction and cognitive development, as well as academic achievement. Schneider says that ‘numerous findings have illustrated the positive effects of social interaction on cognitive development’. The advantage of a whole class approach to teaching social skills is that it can be used before problems occur. The more common approach in schools is to use the targeted group approach where children are brought together with similar needs in a small group format where it is possible to provide more individualised attention. There is a large body of published work that focuses on peer-mediated interventions for improving social behaviour. Odom and Strain and Goldstein et al. have developed a number of successful peer-mediated strategies over the past 20 years and Strain et al. found that having intervention mediated by classroom peers was successful in social skills training for autistic children.
