Effect of Peer-Mediated Intervention and Social Skill Training on Social Competence of Children with Social Communication Disorder

The study determined the impact of peer-mediated intervention and social skill intervention on the social competence of children with social communication disorder. Additionally, it examined how social anxiety and gender moderate the social competence of the participant. A quasi-experimental design with a 2x2x2 factorial matrix was used. The participants were chosen via a purposive sampling technique and randomized to experimental groups 1 (PMI), 2 (SST), and a control group, with 15 participants each. Treatment lasted for ten weeks and was guided by 5 hypotheses. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Sidak Post-hoc test at a 0.05 level of significance were used to analyse the data. The study's findings demonstrated a significant primary effect of interventions on children with social communication disorder's social competence (F(1, 44) = 143.147; p<0.05, partial η2 =.8).  Social skill training produced the highest adjusted post-social competency mean score, while peer-mediated intervention had the lowest mean score (51.78).  Additionally, the findings demonstrated that social anxiety and gender significantly impact the social competence of children with social communication disorder (η2 = 0.13).  The study concluded that children with social communication disorder benefit more from social skill training in terms of their social competence.  The result indicated that speech-language pathologists should employ social skill training to improve the social competence of children with social communication disorders.