At an early age, children start to interact with peers. According to Smith et al, peers seem to be interested in each other with in the first year of birth. For children of this age their interactions consist of looks, smiles and deployment of toys. These usually last for a few seconds, a few minutes at the time. Imitation was also a form of peer interaction among children of a young age. “These imitation had a definite social …show more content…
“Sibling relationships can be intense, and provide opportunities for early social and cognitive learning (Smith, et al, p.160)” a is not exactly a peer , but their relationship has a significant effect on the child. Siblings can have direct effects on one another’s development. Siblings are usually close in age and share many of the same interests and environmental influences (Smith, et al, p. 161). Siblings are a fixture in family life. They’re “important social partners for each other in the home and environment (Smith, et al, p.161)” siblings’ help each other navigate through the world and family life. Older siblings are often more tolerant to their younger siblings. Older siblings’ model acceptable behavior to their younger, through many different methods. In a interview with a 16 year old boy, when asked how do you think having a sibling affects you? He states that“I have to take care of her, if I want to do something with my friends I have to take of her first. Sometimes she nags too much and she reacts crazy to thing but I have to make sure she okay”.at 16 years old the older …show more content…
They looked at 60 children who were diagnosed with ASD and assess them on standard task. They found that having another sibling negatively affected the Theory of mind for a child with ASD. This finding goes against everything that’s known about theory of method. The article states that, “ much research shows that having a sibling is link with advanced Theory of method, especially if siblings are older (O’Brien, et al, P.717, 2011)” this cooperates with the chapter four of Understanding children’s development where it states that “the experiences of siblings, both in joint pretend play and in conflicts and conflicts resolution, may be important in helping young children learn to understand the thoughts and emotions of others and more generally develop theory of mind(Smith, et al, p.165)”. The finding of the article states that the already delayed social- cognitive development of children with ASD develops even slower when they share a home with another sibling. There could be many factors to this one being the lack of family resources to provide the right interventions for the children. It could be a lack of interaction between the parents and child with ASD. These children might not experience the same interaction with parents as there Neuro-typical