Reducing Teacher Prompts in Peer-Mediated Interventions for Young Children with Autism

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine an intervention package designed to support the transfer of a peer-mediated intervention for young children with autism to a setting in which teacher verbal prompts were not provided. Three preschool children with autism and four nondisabled peers, all enrolled in an integrated special education class, participated. Teachers first taught peers social initiation strategies for promoting the social interactions of the children with autism and then provided verbal prompts when necessary to peers in structured play setting. In a second structured play setting, teachers did not provide prompts to peers. Initiations increased in the setting in which teachers provided verbal prompts, but not in a second setting. In the third phase of the study, a correspondence training/visual feedback (CTVF) package was introduced in the second setting and resulted in substantial increases in peer initiations. In the final phase of the study, the peer-initiation intervention was discontinued and the CTVF package continued to support the peers' social initiations. Implications for practice are discussed.