Nesrhtens…..

Chan, Lang, Rispoli, O´Reilly, Sigafoos and Cole published in the recent issue of Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders (3 – 2009) an interesting systematic review of the use of peer-mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders.

They included in their review studies using peers trained to implement interventions for children with autism. They excluded studies where peers did not require any training to interact with the children with autism.

They identified 42 studies which included 172 participants with autism spectrum disorders, and 396 trained peers.The 42 studies consisted of different components implemented by peers, as initiating interaction, maintaining interaction, prompting, providing contingent reinforcement and academic instruction. And the strategies to train peers were also different, examples including verbal explanation, discussion, modeling, role play, on-going feedback, manuals, video instructions etc.

Outcome in the studies included in this review was mainly positive, suggesting that peer mediated interventions may be an effective intervention approach for individuals with ASD.

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3. New directions in behavioral treatment of autism spectrum disorders