In his nostalgic look at Kindergarten, Fulghum (1989) described the important things he learned for having a happy life: "share everything," "play fair," "don't hit people," and "say sorry when you hurt somebody." These simple axioms all point to a straightforward truth: getting along with others is a skill that serves one well. Having the capacity to interpret social situations appropriately and influence others provides the company of good friends, boosts self-esteem, and contributes to well-being throughout life (Ladd, 2005).

Unfortunately, not all children have the opportunity to fully develop this capacity. Some children are left out of social situations because they do not have the language skills to keep up with their peers. Other children, such as children with autism or a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, may lack the social cognitive or attentional capacity to know what to do in social situations to keep others engaged in their interactions. Because successful peer interactions are so important for children's mental health and long-term social adjustment-and because children with compromised language skills may find peer interactions challenging-this issue focuses on assessment and intervention approaches for identifying and addressing social communication problems in preschool and school-aged children.

The best approach for addressing social communication problems may be to promote social interactions and/or prevent potential problems during the preschool years when peer interactions gain prominence in children's everyday lives. The first article in this issue highlights techniques for supporting peer interactions in preschool environments. Girolametto and Weitzman describe a professional development program that is delivered by speech-language pathologists to early childhood educators and preschool teachers. The program emphasizes the use of naturalistic environmental arrangements and verbal support strategies to facilitate peer interactions in classrooms serving young children. Implementation of these evidence-based strategies has had positive effects on the quality of peer interactions among typically developing preschoolers. Importantly, these authors are working toward documenting the effects of these strategies on children with language impairments.

For some children, these preventive strategies may not be enough to facilitate the development of competent social communication skills or change problematic peer interaction behaviors. Who is likely to experience continued problems in peer interactions? Recent findings from a 2-year longitudinal study of young children with "mild developmental delays" (including receptive and expressive language delays) provide several important implications for speech-language pathologists serving young children (Guralnick, Hammond, Connor, & Neville, 2006). The study revealed that children's initial level of peer interactions predicted the quality of their peer interactions 2 years later. Children identified as "low interactors" were at especially high risk for future peer interaction problems. Moreover, the severity of children's language deficits was not the best predictor of future social communication problems.

These findings support the need for tools that provide a close look at children's peer interactions to identify potential social communication problems. Two articles in this issue describe the development of new protocols and methodology for conducting direct observation of children's peer interactions. First, Olswang, Coggins, and Svensson discuss a new coding construct and accompanying hand-held computer technology for documenting the frequency and duration of children's social communication behaviors during daily classroom activities. The goal of this combined coding and software technology is to obtain naturalistic data in an efficient manner and to use this data to support intervention planning. Second, Hyter describes the development of a pragmatic assessment protocol that is designed to assess preschoolers' social communication skills in authentic settings, while considering cultural influences on peer interactions. Hyter reviews familial and external influences, including political, economic, and cultural processes, that may affect everyday social interactions in the preschool classroom. The development of these innovative protocols speaks to the challenges of providing ecologically valid and culturally appropriate social communication assessments. Both tools show promise for addressing these concerns.

Sometimes children's social communication problems can escalate to a point whereby an interdisciplinary perspective is needed to address the breadth and depth of the problems. Two developmental psychologists, Ostrov and Godleski, discuss problematic social interactions with a particular focus on children who are likely to be aggressive (e.g., children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or conduct disorders) and children who are likely to be the victims of this aggression (e.g., children with developmental language disorders). They provide suggestions for how speech-language pathologists and psychologists could collaborate to improve services for children on their respective caseloads. A list of referral indicators, or warning signs for potential development of chronic problematic behaviors and self-esteem issues, is provided to help speech-language pathologists make informed decisions about which children may need assessment by a mental health professional.

The final two papers in this issue focus on intervention. My colleagues and I (Timler, Vogler-Elias, & McGill) review intervention contexts and strategies for promoting generalization of social communication skills in children with language impairments. Strategies to promote changes within peer interactions are emphasized. A case study from our lab is provided to illustrate how these strategies could be implemented in preschool settings. Next, Goldstein, Bell, and Thiemann review two decades of a research program aimed at addressing the specific social communication difficulties frequently observed in children with autism. Their peer-mediated intervention program emphasizes the importance of training typically developing peers to facilitate positive social interactions for children with autism. These authors provide "the nuts and bolts" of their

intervention and reveal how a combination of clinical expertise, teacher wisdom, and data-based evidence guided the fine-tuning of their approach. The various perspectives provided by each of the contributors in this issue underscore the importance of supporting children's peer interactions and are representative of current themes in social communication research. These themes emphasize assessment protocols that provide ecologically valid information about children's peer interactions in authentic school day activities and intervention techniques that support the development of children's social communication skills during interactions with other children. The evidence-based strategies and emerging innovations highlighted by each of the contributors provide helpful direction for tackling some of the challenges that children with social communication problems may encounter in everyday peer interactions.

Geralyn R. Timler PhD, CCC-SLP

Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY

REFERENCES