Interaction before Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Pre-School Boys with Language Impairment
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| Title: | Interaction before Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Pre-School Boys with Language Impairment |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Horowitz, Laura, Jansson, Liselotte, Ljungberg, Tomas |
| Source: | International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. Jul-Aug 2006 41(4):441-466. |
| Availability: | Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940. Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.html. |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 26 |
| Publication Date: | 2006 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Preschool Education |
| Descriptors: | Conflict, Conflict Resolution, Preschool Children, Males, Child Behavior, Language Impairments, Language Acquisition, Interpersonal Relationship, Interpersonal Competence, Play, Early Intervention, Psycholinguistics |
| ISSN: | 1368-2822 |
| Abstract: | Background: Children with language impairment (LI) experience social difficulties, including conflict management. The factors involved in peer-conflict progression in pre-school children with LI, and which of these processes may differ from pre-school children with typical language development (TL), is therefore examined. Aims: To describe the relationship between opponents interacting before conflict, aberrant conflict causes, the conflict-resolution strategy reconciliation (i.e. friendly contact between former opponents shortly following conflict termination), and conflict outcome in the form of social interaction after a conflict has run its course. It is hypothesized that without social interaction before conflict, children with LI will experience increased difficulties attaining reconciliation. Methods & Procedures: Unstructured play of 11 boys with LI (4-7 years old), at a specialized language pre-school, and 20 boys with TL (4-6 years old), at mainstream pre-schools, were video filmed. Conflicts were identified and recorded according to a validated coding system. Recorded conflict details include social interaction between conflict in the pre-conflict period, behavioural sequences constituting conflict cause (conflict period), reconciliatory behaviours in the post-conflict period, and social interaction between former opponents in the succeeding non-conflict period. The group's mean proportion of individual children's conflicts in which specific behavioural sequences occurred were calculated and compared between and within the groups. Outcomes & Results: When conflicts with and without pre-conflict social interaction were analysed separately, aberrant caused conflicts occurred more often in LI group conflicts than in TL group conflicts. However, in conflicts without social interaction in the pre-conflict period, boys with LI exhibit reconciliatory behaviours in, and reconcile a comparatively smaller proportion of, conflicts. Social interaction in the succeeding non-conflict period was proportionately less for boys with LI. This appears to stem from lower reconciliation rates in LI conflicts that do not begin with social interaction in the pre-conflict period. It was also confounded by the larger number of aberrant caused LI conflicts that were rarely reconciled. In turn, non-reconciliation and aberrant caused conflicts were independently associated with comparatively less social interaction in the succeeding non-conflict period. Conclusions: The results suggest that in addition to traditional psycholinguistic training, children with LI may gain from interventions that support concluding behavioural turns, as in aberrant caused conflicts; and in initiating contact in conflict situations, even when a frame of reference is not immediately available, as was the case when opponents have not established social interaction in the pre-conflict period. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.) |
| Abstractor: | Author |
| Number of References: | 76 |
| Entry Date: | 2006 |
| Access URL: | https://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=QW074424871WL460 |
| Accession Number: | EJ739465 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Background: Children with language impairment (LI) experience social difficulties, including conflict management. The factors involved in peer-conflict progression in pre-school children with LI, and which of these processes may differ from pre-school children with typical language development (TL), is therefore examined. Aims: To describe the relationship between opponents interacting before conflict, aberrant conflict causes, the conflict-resolution strategy reconciliation (i.e. friendly contact between former opponents shortly following conflict termination), and conflict outcome in the form of social interaction after a conflict has run its course. It is hypothesized that without social interaction before conflict, children with LI will experience increased difficulties attaining reconciliation. Methods & Procedures: Unstructured play of 11 boys with LI (4-7 years old), at a specialized language pre-school, and 20 boys with TL (4-6 years old), at mainstream pre-schools, were video filmed. Conflicts were identified and recorded according to a validated coding system. Recorded conflict details include social interaction between conflict in the pre-conflict period, behavioural sequences constituting conflict cause (conflict period), reconciliatory behaviours in the post-conflict period, and social interaction between former opponents in the succeeding non-conflict period. The group's mean proportion of individual children's conflicts in which specific behavioural sequences occurred were calculated and compared between and within the groups. Outcomes & Results: When conflicts with and without pre-conflict social interaction were analysed separately, aberrant caused conflicts occurred more often in LI group conflicts than in TL group conflicts. However, in conflicts without social interaction in the pre-conflict period, boys with LI exhibit reconciliatory behaviours in, and reconcile a comparatively smaller proportion of, conflicts. Social interaction in the succeeding non-conflict period was proportionately less for boys with LI. This appears to stem from lower reconciliation rates in LI conflicts that do not begin with social interaction in the pre-conflict period. It was also confounded by the larger number of aberrant caused LI conflicts that were rarely reconciled. In turn, non-reconciliation and aberrant caused conflicts were independently associated with comparatively less social interaction in the succeeding non-conflict period. Conclusions: The results suggest that in addition to traditional psycholinguistic training, children with LI may gain from interventions that support concluding behavioural turns, as in aberrant caused conflicts; and in initiating contact in conflict situations, even when a frame of reference is not immediately available, as was the case when opponents have not established social interaction in the pre-conflict period. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.) |
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| ISSN: | 1368-2822 |
