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Fostering communication and shared play between mainstream peers and children with autism: approaches, outcomes and experiences
Author(s) -
Whitaker Philip
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british journal of special education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.349
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1467-8578
pISSN - 0952-3383
DOI - 10.1111/j.0952-3383.2004.00357.x
Subject(s) - mainstream , autism , psychology , coaching , intervention (counseling) , mainstreaming , developmental psychology , peer group , medical education , pedagogy , special education , psychotherapist , medicine , psychiatry , philosophy , theology
More pupils with autism are now being educated in mainstream settings and inevitably there is increased interest in their interactions with their peers. In this article, Philip Whitaker, of the Educational Psychology Service in Northamptonshire, describes his study of shared play between children with autism and their mainstream peers. The study involved ten youngsters with severe autism, educated in a unit attached to a mainstream school, and a group of volunteer ‘peer tutors’. The children met in weekly interaction sessions designed to promote shared play and communication. The peer tutors were provided with some coaching in interaction techniques and the impact of the intervention was evaluated through analysis of video recordings of play sessions made at the beginning and end of the project. The peer tutors and their parents were also interviewed at the end of the project to explore their experiences. The results Philip Whitaker reports are encouraging. All parents were strongly supportive of their children's participation. All but one of the peer tutors found the experience challenging but rewarding and wanted to continue their involvement beyond the 20‐week project. The video evidence revealed that the peer tutors, with relatively limited preparation, were able to engage the youngsters with autism in high and sustained levels of shared play. The frequency of requesting by children with autism increased substantially over the course of the project, although levels of initiation of shared attention remained consistently low. Philip Whitaker concludes his report with a series of suggestions for enhancing the impact of this interesting work.