Special Education Services
Plano Independent School District

Using Peers in Interventions

• Explain to both the child and his or her peers what and why you are trying to accomplish. It may make sense to target a few peers initially, those who would seem likely candidates for making friends with the AAC user. For example, talk about the importance of friendship, and the fact that some people are different and may have more difficulty making friends.

• Make the AAC user less of a mystery by describing how the child communicates, and how his or her AAC works. It may make sense to let the other children experience the AAC by trying it out.

• Describe in detail what the children are expected to do in specific situations (e.g. when approached by the AAC user, or upon seeing the user alone on the playground). Role playing, prior to actual use, is a good way to get children to practice these skills. When teaching and role playing the new skills, include examples of inappropriate behaviors and unacceptable interactions that might occur, how they would make a person feel, and what should be done instead (Haring & Lovinger, 1989).

• Prompts may be used to facilitate these interactions. At suitable moments, adults may prompt peers to interact with the child, and, vice versa, the child may be prompted to interact with peers. A suitable moment might be when a peer is looking for another child to play with, or when there is an open position in a game. If the AAC user interacts with an adult, the adult can also redirect the child to a peer. (For example, "Show that to Sarah. She would be interested in it.") (Haring & Lovinger, 1989; Schuele, Rice, & Wilcox, 1995).

• The children can be rewarded for interacting with each other. A reward may be verbal praise or a positive statement like "Look how much Joanna [the AAC user] is enjoying herself," or it may be an object or free time.

• Arrange the environment and offer activities that facilitate interaction among children. Provide toys and materials, and organize games that are interactive and can be adapted so that the child with disabilities can participate in a meaningful way. For example, the child with disabilities may be score keeper, or games with partners can be played.

• Be prepared to continue prompting and positively reinforcing the children over time as necessary. Put up posters as reminders of the behaviors that are being elicited. Also plan periodic "pep talks" to encourage the children to continue. Support and reinforce the relationships that do develop (Goldstein, English, Shafer, & Kaczmarek, 1995; Goldstein, H., & Ferrell, D. R. (1987).

 

 

 

 

Plano Independent School District
Department of Special Education Services
2700 W. 15th Street
Plano, Texas 75075-7543
469-752-8240