Association for Behavior Analysis International

Adolescents with autism commonly experience an array of pragmatic language difficulties that can interfere with peer social conversation and relationships. Yet, there are few demonstrations of effective conversation interventions conducted in high school settings. Based on our accumulated research of six single case studies involving 19 adolescents with autism and over 120 neurotypical peers, this session will illustrate how peer-mediated interventions, implemented in natural high school contexts, can be used to address different profiles of conversational learners. This session will describe a conversational taxonomy for classifying conversational difficulties and identifying relevant intervention goals, essential components of our peer-mediated approach that involves direct peer and focus student instruction, and effective intervention strategies to address different conversational profiles of the reluctant, passive, and overly talkative communicator, including those who engage in inappropriate communication acts such as perseveration. Strategies for intervention will be illustrated and the procedures, findings and implications of our research will be shared. Peer-mediated interventions in high school is relatively new. We hope that is session will motivate both practitioners and researchers to further individualize and advance the effectiveness of the intervention to enhance the social conversations between adolescents with autism and their peers.

School practitioners