A peer-mediated intervention for middle school students with autism spectrum disorder
department or school: Education, Faculty of
department or school: Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Brain, Thea
issued: 2018-08-21T17:15:05Z
issued: 2018
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk for social isolation and loneliness. Although students with ASD are spending more time in inclusive settings at school, research has found that simply placing a student with ASD in physical proximity to typically developing peers is not sufficient to promote social gains. This study used a non-concurrent multiple-baseline, multiple-probe across participants design to investigate the effectiveness of a low-intensity, low-cost peer-mediated intervention (PMI) on social behaviours (engagement and communicative acts) for middle-school aged students with ASD during lunch breaks at school. Nine typically developing peers received less than one hour (40-50 minutes) of peer coach training. Following training, peers were encouraged to interact with their classmate with ASD during lunch breaks at school, using the strategies taught during training. Peer coaches were provided with brief feedback after each probe observation during intervention and praise only during follow-up. Results showed a functional relation between the intervention and both engagement and communicative acts, with three demonstrations of effect across participants. There was some maintenance of effect at 1-4 weeks follow-up. Social validity of this intervention was high for both peer coaches and classroom teachers. In addition, mutual enjoyment was observed for the majority of probe observation sessions across groups. This study contributes to and extends the existing PMI research by including participants between the ages of 11-13 with varying intellectual and social-communication abilities and by delivering the intervention in natural, unstructured school settings. It is important to identify evidence-based interventions that have high social validity from the perspective of school administrators, as interventions that are effective, efficient, and cost-effective are most likely to be adopted by schools.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/66870
note: A PEER-MEDIATED INTERVENTION FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER by Thea Brain B.A., Capilano University, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Special Education) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) August 2018 © Thea Brain, 2018 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: A Peer-Mediated Intervention for Middle School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder submitted by Thea Brain in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Special Education Examining Committee: Dr. Pat Mirenda, Special Education Supervisor Dr. Joseph Lucyshyn, Special Education Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Vicki Knight, Special Education Additional Examiner iii Abstract Youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at increased risk for social isolation and loneliness. Although students with ASD are spending more time in inclusive settings at school, research has found that simply placing a student with ASD in physical proximity to typically developing peers is not sufficient to promote social gains. This study used a non-concurrent multiple-baseline, multiple-probe across participants design to investigate the effectiveness of a low-intensity, low-cost peer-mediated intervention (PMI) on social behaviours (engagement and communicative acts) for middle-school aged students with ASD during lunch breaks at school. Nine typically developing peers received less than one hour (40-50 minutes) of peer coach training. Following training, peers were encouraged to interact with their classmate with ASD during lunch breaks at school, using the strategies taught during training. Peer coaches were provided with brief feedback after each probe observation during intervention and praise only during follow…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2018-09
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0371171
language: eng
degree discipline: Special Education
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/66870