Background and aims

Children with Language Disorders (LDs) can exhibit increased levels of social withdrawal, aggression and problems managing social conflicts. The reasons underlying this pattern of social interaction profiles remain unclear. This qualitative study aimed to document the nature of social interactions between children with LDs and their peers, and to evaluate explanations for their social behaviour, as understood by parents and practitioners.

Methods

This study focused on children with LDs who spend school hours with other children with LDs. Three parent focus groups (n = 8) and three practitioner focus groups (n = 10) were conducted with parents of children aged 4–12 attending specialist language schools and practitioners working at these schools. This was a mixed clinical sample. All children of participating parents had LD as their primary area of need, which was the reason they required specialist schooling. Focus groups were conducted across two specialist schools in the UK between March and June 2018.

Results

An inductive reflective thematic analysis of the data identified three themes; social knowledge, coping strategies, and emotional competence. Parents and school staff reported that children with LDs experience difficulties managing peer interactions due to a combination of challenges including difficulties with understanding and regulating emotions, and difficulties understanding social situations. Some of the children with LDs were described as having developed strategies to cope with their challenges, for example imposing structure on their social interactions to manage uncertainty, which has implications for their social interactions with peers.

Conclusions

Children with LDs have difficulties understanding emotions, difficulties understanding their peer’s intentions and difficulties resolving conflict situations independently according to their parents and practitioners working with these children. Participants proposed a novel explanation that social withdrawal may be used adaptively by children with LDs to process information. This study demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between Language Disorders and peer interaction profiles.

Implications: Suggestions are offered regarding future research directions, such as investigating the specific contribution language skills make to children’s emotion understanding, to better understand the reasons for peer interaction difficulties in children with Language Disorders.

中文翻译：

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语言障碍儿童同伴互动的本质是什么？家长和从业者观点的定性研究

背景和目标

有语言障碍 (LD) 的儿童可能表现出更高程度的社交退缩、攻击性和管理社会冲突的问题。这种社交互动模式背后的原因尚不清楚。这项定性研究旨在记录 LD 儿童与其同龄人之间社交互动的性质，并评估父母和从业者所理解的对其社交行为的解释。

方法

这项研究的重点是与其他患有 LD 的儿童一起上学的 LD 儿童。三个家长焦点小组 (n = 8) 和三个从业者焦点小组 (n = 10) 的对象是 4-12 岁儿童就读专业语言学校的家长和在这些学校工作的从业人员。这是一个混合的临床样本。参与父母的所有孩子都将 LD 作为他们的主要需求领域，这就是他们需要专科学校教育的原因。2018 年 3 月至 6 月期间，在英国的两所专科学校开展了焦点小组讨论。

结果

对数据的归纳反思主题分析确定了三个主题；社会知识、应对策略和情绪能力。家长和学校工作人员报告说，由于各种挑战，包括理解和调节情绪的困难，以及理解社会情况的困难，患有 LD 的孩子在管理同伴互动方面遇到困难。一些患有 LD 的儿童被描述为已经制定了应对挑战的策略，例如在他们的社交互动中强加结构以管理不确定性，这对他们与同龄人的社交互动有影响。

结论

据他们的父母和与这些孩子一起工作的从业者说，患有 LD 的孩子难以理解情绪，难以理解同伴的意图以及独立解决冲突情况。参与者提出了一种新的解释，即患有 LD 的儿童可能会适应性地使用社交退缩来处理信息。这项研究证明了语言障碍与同伴互动概况之间关系的复杂性。

启示：对未来的研究方向提出了建议，例如调查语言技能对儿童情绪理解的具体贡献，以更好地了解语言障碍儿童同伴互动困难的原因。