Are Peers Effective in a Social Skills Program?
July 27, 2018
By: Organization for Autism Research
Categories: Research Review, Research
In 2014, OAR awarded two research scientists, Nicole Matthews, Ph.D., and Christopher Smith, Ph.D., both from the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center, a two-year $30,000 grant for their study comparing the effectiveness of a peer-mediated social skills intervention to a traditional one. The intervention they used was the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), an intervention targeting social skills and friendship quality in adolescents with higher functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The goals of the study, “Inclusion of Typical Peers in a Social Skills Intervention for Adolescents with ASD: A Longitudinal Examination of the Generalizability of Acquired Skills to Real-World Settings,” were to:
The research team recruited 34 teens with ASD to participate in the study, dividing them into three groups:
They also collected social network data in a total of 25 schools in the Phoenix, Ariz., metropolitan area, including 16 public high schools, three private schools, and six charter schools.
This study is the first to examine whether a peer-mediated social skills intervention for ASD is more effective than non-peer-mediated interventions. The researchers found initial evidence that peer-mediated interventions are slightly more beneficial. They also noted that their study is the first, as far as they know, to examine the PEERS curriculum when implemented in a community-based setting by service providers without doctoral degrees and/or academic affiliations. They found that, compared to the control group, participants in both PEERS groups improved, suggesting that the intervention is effective when implemented in a community-based setting.
These are some of the significant findings from the study:
These findings indicate that there are modest benefits to a peer-mediated PEERS curriculum for adolescents with ASD and peer mentors.
The researchers have not yet released the findings from their analysis of the follow up done one year after the study. Preliminary findings indicate that gains in social skills knowledge and social skills, and reductions in problem behaviors were maintained. In fact, both treatment groups showed small improvements (although not statistically significant) compared to the four-month follow-up.
For young people with autism and their parents, the most relevant findings from this research were:
The researchers also noted that many participants in the study were socially isolated in their general education classrooms at school despite having participated in an evidence-based social skills intervention. This suggests the need for continued practice of social skills and discussions with teachers about strategies that may increase socialization with peers in the classroom.