Table 2.

Operational Definitions of Social-Communicative Behaviors

Dependent measure	Definition
Child Designation
F (focus child)	A communicative act emitted by the participant
P (peer)	A communicative act emitted by a peer
Response Type
I (initiation)	A communicative act directed to one peer or to the group as a whole that begins a new topic of conversation or is not in response to (within 3 seconds) ongoing communication between or action(s) of group members.
R (response)	A communicative act that is in response to or on topic with recent (within 3 sec) initiations or responses of other group members.
Social Behavior Definitions
COM (Comment)	A communicative act that refers to ongoing events, items, or actions, but is not a compliment. Examples: “That’s a pirate.” “This is fun,” “I have a fish and an owl.” “I need one more for Zingo.”
RQ (Request/Share)	A communicative act whose function is to elicit information, action, or reciprocal communication from group member(s) (i.e., greetings). Examples: “May I have it?” “What did you get?” “Pass Ned’s Head.”, “Where’s the magnet?”
TT (Turn-taking)	A communicative act that refers to taking turns or going first, second, third etc. Examples: “Your turn,” “Whose turn?,” You go first.”
PLO (Play organizer)	A communicative act that functions to set up a game or activity or labels a general rule of the activity. Examples: “Let’s play Pop Up Pirate.” “You can pass out the cards.” “I’ll be the Rule Ranger.” “Let’s fill all the squares to get Zingo.” “You have to find two things with the magnifying glass.”
NIC (Nicety)	A comment that is complimentary. Niceties also include terms synonymous with “good manners” such as “Thank you” and “You’re welcome”. Examples: “Good idea”, “Thanks”, “Cool, you got it!”, “Well done”.
NonV (Non-verbal)	A non-verbal communicative act not accompanied by verbal behavior. Examples: waving, looking at a peer when requested to do so, shoulder-tapping, winking, gesturing toward an object or person.