Peer engagement in toddlers with autism: Community implementation of dyadic and individual Joint Attention, Symbolic Play, Engagement, and Regulation intervention.
Stephanie Y Shire, Wendy Shih, Suzanne Bracaglia and 2 others
PMID 32643385WHAT IT FOUND
Toddlers with autism improved joint engagement with adults and peers during supported play in a dyadic JASPER adaptation.
However, they did not show significant gains in independent peer interaction without adult support. Individual JASPER remains effective for core skills, while peer engagement requires scaffolding.
Key findings
01Children in the peer-focused jasPEER group showed significantly greater improvement in time jointly engaged with adults and peers during supported sessions compared to the individual JASPER group by exit and follow-up.
02There were no significant differences between the jasPEER and individual JASPER groups in independent peer engagement during unsupported observations, nor in core social communication skills like initiating joint attention.
03Teaching assistants achieved an average of 72% fidelity in delivering the peer adaptation, which was lower than the 80% fidelity previously reported for individual JASPER.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was conducted in a specific center with a 1:1 teaching assistant-to-child ratio, which limits generalizability to programs with higher child-to-adult ratios. Follow-up was limited to one month post-treatment due to the school calendar. The unsupported peer observation measure may have been too demanding for toddlers, potentially masking gains in peer interaction that occur with subtle adult scaffolding.
Declared interests
Authors Bracaglia and Kodjoe were employees of the New York Center for Child Development during the study. Other authors declared no conflicts.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that peer-focused JASPER (jasPEER) is superior for all outcomes. While it improved joint engagement during supported sessions, it did not lead to better independent peer interaction or core social communication gains compared to individual JASPER. The benefit was specific to the context of adult-supported dyadic play.