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Peer-mediated Instruction and InterventionFor Children and Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Chapter2:Overview 2

Overview

PMII is designed to increase the social engagement of children and youth with autism

spectrum disorders (ASD). This article will focus on the late elementary

What is Peer-Mediated Instruction and Intervention (PMII)?

1) Social impairment and difficulty with social reciprocity - or understanding the back-

and-forth nature of social interactions - is perhaps the single most defining feature of

autism (American Psychiatric Association, 1994; National Research Council, 2001).

Research has shown that children and youth with ASD respond less frequently to

social initiations and engage in shorter interactions due to their difficulties in initiating

interactions and understanding social cues. Stereotypic, or repetitive, behavior (e.g.,

hand-flapping, body rocking, head rolling) or other inappropriate behaviors (e.g.,

tantrums) also may decrease the likelihood that typically developing peers will initiate

social interactions (Bass & Mulick, 2007; Lee, Odom, & Loftin, 2007; McConnell,

2002). As a result, children and youth with ASD have fewer opportunities to engage in

social interactions to practice and acquire social and play skills. Peer-mediated

instructional approaches can address these concerns by teaching children and youth

with ASD new social skills and increasing social opportunities within natural

environments, often a primary goal of families.

PMII Across the Age Span

PMII can be implemented with pairs or small groups of learners across the age range

starting in preschool and extending through high school. With young children (i.e., 3 to 8

years of age), practitioners can use peer-initiation training, or a buddy approach, to help

learners with ASD acquire important social skills. Social networking strategies are more

appropriate for older learners (i.e., 9 to 18 years of age). PMII has been shown to havepositive effects on academic, interpersonal, and personal-social development, and may

be the largest and most empirically supported type of social intervention for learners with

ASD (Bass & Mulick, 2007; Maheady, Harper, & Mallette, 2001; McConnell, 2002).

Goals of PMII




Chapter2:Overview 3

PMII is designed to increase the social engagement with peers for children and youth

with ASD. Specifically, the goals of PMII are to:

◦ teach peers ways in which they can talk and interact with children and youth w/ASD,

◦ increase the frequency with which children and youth with ASD interact with typically

developing peers,

◦ extend peers' social initiations with students with ASD across activities in the

classroom,

◦ minimize teachers'/adults' support (e.g., prompts and reinforcement), and

◦ promote interactions between typically developing peers and students with ASD that

are positive and natural in quality.

Who Can Use PMII and How Does it Work?

Who Can Use PMII?

This approach can be used by a variety of professionals including teachers, special

educators, therapists, and classroom assistants in different educational and community-

based environments.

Who Would Benefit Most from PMII?

PMII is most useful for children and youth with ASD who have limited communication

skills, who rarely initiate or respond to social interactions with peers, and who do not

appear to be benefiting from group instruction. For these learners with ASD, the

persistent social initiations from peers will increase social responding, sometimes

increase social initiations, and heighten their social engagement. For children and youth

with ASD who have communication skills (i.e., can express their needs to adults and

understand verbal instructions), social skills training groups that involve both focal

children and peers may be more effective. For middle school-aged and high school-aged

students with ASD, social networking groups may be more appropriate.

How Does it Work?

Peer-mediated interventions are based on principles of behaviorism and social learning

theory (Bandura, 1977). Peers are carefully and systematically taught ways of engaging




Chapter2:Overview 4

children and youth with ASD in positive and extended social interactions in both teacher-

directed and child-initiated activities (English et al., 1997; Odom et al., 1999; Strain &

Odom, 1986). Peer-mediated interventions are beneficial for children and youth with ASD

because they increase the likelihood that learners with ASD will generalize new social

skills to different activities and with different peers that were not involved in the initial

training and intervention (Rogers, 2000). This is particularly important given the difficulty

that individuals with ASD have generalizing the use of skills to new situations and to

different people.

PMII for Early Childhood: Peer Initiation Training

The Focus of the Intervention

Peer initiation training involves directly teaching peers how to

(1) socially initiate (or start) an interaction with the focal child and

(2) appropriately respond to the focal child when he/she socially initiates.

Social play and interaction with at least one peer are the primary focus of peer-mediated

instructional strategies used with children with ASD. Social play and interaction involve all

three of the following features:

◦ orientation (being aware of other children as shown by looking at them, at their play

materials, or what they are doing);

◦ parallel/proximity play (playing independently beside or near another child and using

the same play space or materials); and

◦ common focus (engaging in activities directly involving one or more peers including

informal turn-taking, active sharing of materials, giving and requesting items to and

from someone else, asking someone to play).

An important focus of the planning and implementation process is to help children with

ASD become socially engaged with peers. Therefore, practitioners help children with

ASD acquire the skills they need to establish and maintain a common focus with peers.

This, in turn, provides the opportunity for other social play skills, such as orientation and

parallel play to develop (Bass & Mulick, 2007).




Chapter2:Overview 5

Although these skills are outlined for early childhood, sometimes older students with ASD

who are significantly impacted may still need training in orientation, parallel play, and

getting to the point of common focus. However, for the focus of this pilot group, we will

outline the more appropriate steps to implement PMII for late elementary through High

school. These steps will be further explained in the next chapter but include:

1. Selecting Peers

2. Training Peers

3. Supporting Peers

4. Implementing in Classroom Settings and Throughout the Day

5. Extending Initiations Across the Day

Written content in this article comes from the following:

Neitzel, J., Boyd, B., Odom, S. L., & Edmondson Pretzel, R. (2008). Peer-mediated instruction andintervention for children and youth with autism spectrum disorders: Online training module (Chapel Hill:UNC-Chapel Hill, National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, FPG ChildDevelopment Institute). In Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI), Autism Internet Modules, www.autisminternetmodules.org. Columbus, OH: OCALI. Adapted and edited by Tracy Parent, Feb. 2011

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