This study investigated the effects of teaching sociodramatic scripts on interactions among three triads, each containing two typical preschool children and one child with autistic characteristics. Results supported the inclusion of systematic training of scripts to enhance interaction among children with and without disabilities during…

This research abstract describes two studies: first, "Class Instructional Programs with Autistic Children; Group Structures and Tutoring Models" (Debra M. Whorton et al.) and, second, "The Use of Explicitly Trained Peers To Facilitate the Social Behavior of Autistic Children" (Andrew Egel and Michael Shafer). Both studies investigated effective…

When two nonhandicapped peers of an autistic five-year old were trained to initiate social interaction, social interaction increased and then dramatically decreased in a reversal phase, and no decrease in the autistic child's disruptive behaviors was observed. When the autistic child was trained to initiate interaction, social interaction…

This study involving three autistic and four nondisabled preschool children found that a peer-initiation intervention produced increases in peer initiations and social interactions when the teacher verbally prompted, but not without verbal prompts. When a correspondence training/visual feedback package was implemented, peer initiations and social…

Eight high school students who were peer tutors in a classroom for students with severe disabilities were matched in pairs and then randomly assigned to interact with and serve as a partner for a classmate with severe disabilities. One participant in the pair received social interaction training, and one participant did not. Statistical analysis…