By the time young children with mild developmental (cognitive) delays reach preschool age, unusual difficulties in establishing relationships with peers and forming friendships are evident. These difficulties are apparent in various playgroup and community settings and affect virtually every aspect of childrens interactions with peers. In particular, in comparison to typically developing chronological age (CA) mates, children with mild delays experience difficulties initiating activities and entering peer groups; fail to sustain socially interactive play, frequently engaging in solitary forms of play; and exhibit inappropriate patterns of problem-solving during conflict episodes, revealing a confrontational and nonconciliatory orientation. As expected, these peer social competence difficulties are associated with lower levels of peer acceptance, restricted linkages between social partners in school and community settings, and limited reciprocal friendships. Of consequence, most of these patterns remain even after controlling for childrens developmental levels. This suggests that these difficulties correspond to characteristics related to childrens developmental status (i.e., the disability of mi
ld cognitive delay) and not simply developmental level. The sources of these difficulties are certainly multidimensional.
Child-specific cognitive and language factors associated with childrens developmental delays that can substantially compromise peer social competence include those related to attention; information processing; expressive language; and working memory, especially in relation to scripts. In addition to these child-specific factors, recent research and conceptual models have pointed to the influence of family factors. In fact, researchers who primarily study typically developing children have identified a number of important family-peer linkages. Indirect linkages, particularly associations between parentchild and childchild interactions have been examined. Evidence suggests that parent child interactions indexed by parental sensitivity and reciprocity, consistent affective patterns, moderate levels of control, and the use of discourse-based strategies of interaction and negotiation are positively associated with childrens peer-related social competence. Moreover, a number of socioemotional and socialcognitive processes have been identified that appear to mediate this association.