Exploring personal connections to texts and peers using cooperative peers tutoring groups in English language arts instruction with students with autism

The number of children identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) entering mainstream public school classrooms is increasing. No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that these students be taught using research-based practices. There is, however, very little known about best practices in the public school setting for this population. A structured peer tutoring protocol was developed to examine if its use in cooperative peer groups would affect reading comprehension and social reciprocity in four students with ASD.;A mixed-methods case study with multiple baseline design was used; data were gathered through videoed observation and testing. In both observations and testing, the four students with ASD had academic and social increases while intervention was underway. Peers began to respond to social initiations and reciprocations from the students with ASD. By breaking social and academic 'higher-order' thinking tasks down into discrete rule-based concepts students with ASD learned compensatory strategies towards deficit areas they exhibited in theory-of-mind, executive functioning, and weak central coherence. In the one month return to baseline phase both academic and social gains faded. Strategies introduced during intervention were not reinforced in the regular classroom, which may have been why the skills faded. Study results suggest that teacher and peer training is needed to ensure that no child is 'left behind' and all children are part of an enriching and inclusive educational experience.