Peer-mediated interventions are interventions in which peers without disabilities are systematically taught to engage children with disabilities in positive social interactions, with the aim of helping children with disabilities acquire new, targeted social skills. Peer-mediated interventions have been used to enhance the social and play skills of young children with disabilities for many years and continues to be commonly used with young children with disabilities in classroom settings. Because of the frequent use of peer-mediated interventions, it is important to know the level of empirical support for this instructional practice. The objective of this overview was to evaluate systematic reviews of peer-mediated interventions for young children with or at risk for disabilities under the age of five years old.This synthesis is an overview of reviews, which is a review method used for evaluating existing research reviews. To complete this overview, we searched electronic databases and other sources for published articles presenting the results of reviews of studies on peer-mediated interventions for young children with or at risk for disabilities under the age of five years old. We then synthesized the findings across reviews to formulate conclusions on the effects of the intervention to make practice recommendations. We searched the literature in October 2023 for articles that presented findings of a systematic review on peer-mediated interventions for young children with or at risk of disabilities under the age of five years old. We located 10 reviews. In the 10 reviews there were 47 studies with 114 young children with a variety of developmental disabilities. In the studies included in the reviews, the peer-mediated interventions typically occurred in natural settings including inclusive classrooms and children's homes. The findings from all 10 included reviews suggested that peer-mediated interventions were an effective intervention for improving the social development of young children with disabilities. Over 80% of the 47 studies included in the 10 reviews had positive findings. Three reviews conducted a meta-analysis, which is a statistical technique of combining results across studies. All three meta-analyses showed robust results of the peer-mediated intervention. Thus, the use of peer-mediated interventions for children with or at risk of disabilities under the age of five is strongly supported by empirical research. Therefore, peer-mediated interventions should be considered an evidence-based practice for young children with disabilities. As demonstrated in the reviews, the use of peer-mediated interventions was most robust when used with preschool-aged children in inclusive (natural) settings.
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