Work

Training Mildly Handicapped Peers to Facilitate Changes in the Social Interaction Skills of Autistic Children

Year: 1984

Type: article

Abstract: We evaluated the effects of a peer-training strategy, consisting of direct prompting and modeling, on the occurrence and duration of interactions between autistic students and nonautistic peer-trainers. Data were obtained in both training and generalization settings. The results of a multiple-baseline design across students demonstrated that:the direct prompting procedure produced immediate and substantial increases in the occurrences and durations of positive social interactions between the peer-trainers and autistic students; these increases were maintained across time at levels above baseline during subsequent free-play probes; these findings were judged by teachers to be socially valid; untrained peers increased their interactions with the autistic students in three of the four groups; generalization of behavior change across settings occurred only after specific programming; and interactions between untrained peers and peer-trainers decreased following training. Variables that may account for the results and the implications of these findings for peer-mediated interventions are discussed.

Source: Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis

DOI: 10.1901/jaba.1984.17-461

Authors: Michael S. Shafer, Andrew L. Egel, Nancy A. Neef

Institutions: Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Maryland, College Park

Language: English

Topic: Behavioral and Psychological Studies

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services