Peer-mediated social skill interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review

Submitter and Co-author information

Lauren Sabourin, University of WindsorFollow

Type of Proposal

Visual Presentation (Poster, Installation, Demonstration)

Faculty

Faculty of Education

Proposal

This purpose of this systematic literature review was to examine current research literature surrounding peer-mediated social skill interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As a core deficit of Autism Spectrum disorders, social skill impairment impacts the child's ability to interact with their peers, and in the future, interact with their community. This systematic literature review identifies key indicators of effective interventions in current research of social skill interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Interventions are assessed using the Social Skill Intervention Evaluation framework as for their specificity in targeting core deficits of Autism as identified by the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic criteria. This research was conducted as a systematic review of the research literature using PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature reviews. The reviewed literature examined peer-mediated interventions that targeted social skills for children between the ages of 3-12. Using Bellini and Hopf’s (2007) study as a framework, social skill interventions were coded according to the criterion of social reciprocity and social participation and corresponding sub criteria. Additionally, studies were examined in alignment with diagnostic criteria of social communication deficit to examine specificity for targeting skills for individuals with ASD. The findings of the systematic review identified the majority of the peer-mediated intervention targets included initiating social exchanges, responding to social interactions, and acknowledging communicative partners. When examining the interventions in relation to the diagnostic criteria of social communication deficits, all the peer-mediated interventions in the review primarily targeted the social initiation and response area.

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Viable, Healthy and Safe Communities

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Peer-mediated social skill interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review

This purpose of this systematic literature review was to examine current research literature surrounding peer-mediated social skill interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As a core deficit of Autism Spectrum disorders, social skill impairment impacts the child's ability to interact with their peers, and in the future, interact with their community. This systematic literature review identifies key indicators of effective interventions in current research of social skill interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Interventions are assessed using the Social Skill Intervention Evaluation framework as for their specificity in targeting core deficits of Autism as identified by the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic criteria. This research was conducted as a systematic review of the research literature using PRISMA guidelines for systematic literature reviews. The reviewed literature examined peer-mediated interventions that targeted social skills for children between the ages of 3-12. Using Bellini and Hopf’s (2007) study as a framework, social skill interventions were coded according to the criterion of social reciprocity and social participation and corresponding sub criteria. Additionally, studies were examined in alignment with diagnostic criteria of social communication deficit to examine specificity for targeting skills for individuals with ASD. The findings of the systematic review identified the majority of the peer-mediated intervention targets included initiating social exchanges, responding to social interactions, and acknowledging communicative partners. When examining the interventions in relation to the diagnostic criteria of social communication deficits, all the peer-mediated interventions in the review primarily targeted the social initiation and response area.