Socially mediated intervention for improving the social interaction of a child with autism spectrum disorder

Sa？etak Peer-mediated intervention is one strategy for improving social interaction between children with autistic spectrum disorder and their peers in inclusive settings. It is based on teaching peers ways to communicate with children with autism spectrum disorder, while simultaneously decreasing adult intervention over time. The goal of this paper was to evaluate the impact of peer-mediated intervention on the frequency and quality of the social interaction of a child with ASD with his typical peers. The study participants included a boy (5,6 years) diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, five peers and the boy's mother. Using a single subject design, this study collected data on the following variables during initial and final assessment: initiating interaction with peers using speech, initiating interaction with peers using touch, responding to initiation of peers, commenting on activities of peers. For the purposes of exploring the generalization of skills to settings outside the intervention, a semi- structured interview with the boy’s mother and video-taped footage from different settings were used. The results confirmed the hypotheses: the child demonstrated more frequent and a higher quality of social interaction with peers after being involved in peer-mediated intervention and spontaneously generalized some skills to different settings