It's Time to Play: Peer‐Mediated Intervention With a Student With Autism at Recess

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often taught within inclusive classrooms, which provide opportunities to develop social communication and peer interaction skills. Pivotal response training (PRT) and peer‐mediated intervention (PMI) are evidence‐based practices that promote social skill development. We used a concurrent multiple probe across peers design to evaluate the effects of training three third‐grade peers to use PRT as a PMI to promote the social communication and play behaviors of a classmate with ASD during recess. Generalization measures were conducted in the classroom during free play. Results indicated a functional relationship between training peers on PRT and increased use of PRT and between peers' use of PRT and the target child's communication to peers, confirmed by Tau‐U and visual analysis. A functional relation between peers' use of PRT and the target child's play with peers was not demonstrated. Similar effects were observed in the generalization environment.