Supporting peer engagement for low-income preschool students with autism spectrum disorder during academic instruction: A pilot randomized trial.
Jonathan L Panganiban, Stephanie Y Shire, Justin Williams and 1 others
PMID 35420044WHAT IT FOUND
Teachers trained to embed social communication strategies into small group academic instruction used them more consistently.
While all students improved in joint engagement and language, only the treatment group showed significantly increased peer engagement. This suggests the approach specifically targets peer interaction during classroom activities.
Key findings
01Teachers in the JASPER group significantly improved their use of JASPER strategies from entry to exit compared to control teachers.
02Students in the treatment group had significantly higher odds of being engaged with peers during small group rotations at the end of the intervention compared to control students.
03There was no significant difference between treatment and control groups on standardized measures of joint attention, behavioral requests, or expressive/receptive language.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot study with a small sample size (49 students). Recruitment was rolling, leading to variations in intervention duration across cohorts, though analyses accounted for this. The study lacked follow-up data to determine if teacher strategy use or child outcomes were maintained after the intervention ended. Group sizes in the classroom varied due to absences and enrollment changes, which affected peer engagement outcomes. The sample was predominantly male and from specific ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, limiting generalizability.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this intervention improves language or joint attention skills more than standard classroom instruction. The significant finding was specific to peer engagement; other outcomes showed improvement in both groups, suggesting the benefits of standard curriculum or other concurrent services.