Faculty of Education, Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2024 Jul-Aug;59(4):1578-1598. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.13021. Epub 2024 Feb 14.
Sociometric studies and adult reports have established that children with Language Disorder (LD) are at risk of peer relationship difficulties. However, we have limited knowledge of how children with LD understand friendship, whom they deem as a good or bad friend, and what role their friendship concepts play in their relationships with peers. This exploratory study aimed to conduct a qualitative investigation into the friendship concepts that children with LD hold and to explore their strategies for making friends.
We conducted multiple, art-informed interviews on the topic of friendship with 14 children with LD at the age of 6-8 years. Participating children were based in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. They attended enhanced provision, specific speech and language classes and mainstream classrooms. We used framework analysis to map children's responses to Selman's (1979) developmental model of interpersonal understanding, which espouses a theory of children's social development within the context of peer relationships.
The understanding of friendship formation in children with LD varied from physical presence to mutual support and sharing. Children's ideas about a good/bad friend represented the lowest developmental stage. Participants from the mainstream classroom demonstrated the highest stages of interpersonal understanding. Children with LD did not mention their language abilities as a barrier to making friends.
There are limited studies exploring friendship directly from children with LD, and this study provides insights into this gap, by utilising art-informed interviews. Children's immature understanding of a good/bad friend points towards a potential susceptibility to false friends, which we suggest needs further empirical validation. We also found that children with LD did not pay attention to their language difficulties when making friends, which raises questions about the ways diagnoses are shared with children.
What is already known on the subject Children with Language Disorder (LD) are at risk of peer relationship difficulties. Studies to date are based on sociometrics and adult reports. Only a few studies employ participatory approaches to research with children, directly engaging children with LD when exploring their friendships What this paper adds This paper directly asks children with LD about their understanding of friendship and strategies for making friends. Physical proximity and play are important to children.s understanding of friendship especially in recognising good and bad friends. This indicates potential reasons for children with LD being susceptible to false friends Additionally, children with LD do not perceive language and communication as a barrier to making friends. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Concepts around friendship and good/bad friends should be routinely assessed and targeted (if appropriate) in interventions. The study highlights the need to continue discussing practices around sharing diagnoses with children with LD.
社会计量研究和成人报告已经证实，语言障碍（LD）儿童存在同伴关系困难的风险。然而，我们对 LD 儿童如何理解友谊、他们认为谁是好朋友或坏朋友以及他们的友谊概念在与同伴的关系中扮演什么角色知之甚少。这项探索性研究旨在对 LD 儿童所持有的友谊概念进行定性研究，并探讨他们交朋友的策略。
我们对 14 名 6-8 岁的 LD 儿童进行了多次以艺术为灵感的友谊主题访谈。参与的儿童来自英国和爱尔兰共和国。他们在强化课程、特定的言语和语言课程以及主流教室中学习。我们使用框架分析来映射儿童对塞尔曼（1979）人际理解发展模型的反应，该模型倡导在同伴关系背景下儿童社会发展的理论。
LD 儿童对友谊形成的理解从身体存在到相互支持和分享不等。儿童对好朋友/坏朋友的看法代表了最低的发展阶段。来自主流课堂的参与者表现出最高的人际理解阶段。LD 儿童没有将他们的语言能力视为交朋友的障碍。
直接从 LD 儿童那里研究友谊的研究有限，本研究通过利用艺术为灵感的访谈，为这一空白提供了一些见解。儿童对好朋友/坏朋友的不成熟理解表明他们容易受到虚假朋友的影响，我们建议对此需要进一步的实证验证。我们还发现，LD 儿童在交朋友时并没有关注自己的语言困难，这引发了人们对与儿童分享诊断方式的质疑。
关于该主题已经知道的内容语言障碍（LD）儿童存在同伴关系困难的风险。迄今为止的研究基于社会计量学和成人报告。只有少数研究采用参与式方法对儿童进行研究，直接让 LD 儿童参与探索他们的友谊时，才会进行研究。本文添加内容本文直接询问 LD 儿童他们对友谊的理解和交朋友的策略。身体接近和玩耍对儿童友谊的理解很重要，尤其是在识别好朋友和坏朋友方面。这表明 LD 儿童容易受到虚假朋友的影响，这是一个潜在的原因。此外，LD 儿童不认为语言和沟通是交朋友的障碍。这项工作有哪些潜在或实际的临床意义？友谊和好朋友/坏朋友的概念应定期评估，并在适当情况下在干预中针对这些概念。该研究强调需要继续讨论与 LD 儿童分享诊断的做法。
