About
This multi-site study will recruit 120 autistic children, ages 3 to 6, from preschools and elementary schools in the Kansas City metro area and North Carolina Triangle. Each child will be paired with two peer partners. A member of the child's school team will be trained as lead interventionist to implement Stay-Play-Talk, a peer-mediated intervention.
Goals
1) Evaluate Stay-Play-Talk, an evidenced-based peer intervention aimed at improving social communication in school-age children with autism and limited or no spoken language.
2) Explore the effectiveness of adapting peer interventions to meet the individual communication needs of children with autism who may respond at a different pace.
Project Accomplishments
Years 1-3:
- Provided 33 autistic children with an iPad with voice output app (e.g., TouchChat) to use as a speech-generating device. Collaborated with child’s team to program a functional communication vocabulary.
- Trained and coached 25 early service providers to provide Stay-Play-Talk intervention
- Taught 64 peers to Stay-Play-Talk and be responsive social partners
- Observed marked communication improvements for both autistic children and peer buddies in how often they talked to each other and in reciprocal, back-and-forth interactions during play.
- Research team shared written outcomes and reports with families and school staff during end of school year meetings.
PIPA is formally titled, Examining Adaptive Peer-Mediated Interventions for Preschoolers with ASD and Limited or No Spoken Language: A Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial