Interventions to Improve Peer Interaction in Inclusive Preschool Classrooms: A Systematic Scoping Review

Interventions to enhance interactions between children with disabilities (CWD) and typically developing children (TDC) in inclusive preschool classrooms are crucial for the development of young children. This systematic scoping literature review describes peer interaction interventions in inclusive preschool classrooms. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were categorized according to a peer interaction intervention framework. Explicit social skills interventions, such as peer-mediated interventions, were the most common type of intervention. Most interventions were delivered to 4-year-old White children with Autism. Studies generally focused on increasing language and social skills for CWD and positioned TDC as intervention agents. The results suggest that future research intending to support peer interactions in inclusive classrooms should (a) include CWD other than autism and improve the reporting of race and language background; (b) clearly report what supports were in place before individualized interventions were implemented and expand research on less-intensive, naturalistic, or class-wide approaches; and (c) broaden the types of dependent variables measured.