| dc.description.abstract | When students with autism demonstrate deficits in social skills, academic instruction is sometimes relegated to secondary priority. A handful of studies focusing on academic skills show students with ASD in inclusive settings performed better academically than those in other settings (Kurth & Mastergeorge, 2010; Troyb et al., 2014). Other studies show that students’ academic competence influences social competence from year to year (Welsh, Parke, Widaman, & O’Neil, 2001), and a focus on academic skills training show greater benefits to academic and social outcomes compared to only social skills training (Coie & Krehbiel, 1984). Fluery et al. (2014) and Krebs, McDaniel, and Neeley (2010) found that students taught by peers improve social and academic outcomes simultaneously. Peer-mediated instruction (PMI) is an intervention demonstrating effects for increasing both social and academic skills for students with autism (ASD).
This dissertation will expand the literature on the academic status and performances of students with autism through three studies. First, a comprehensive examination of the literature will evaluate quality, overall effects, moderators, and construct a distribution of effect sizes to use in benchmarking for future studies. Second, a single case experimental study will be designed to address these threats and fill missing pieces of the literature. Overall, these studies will add to the literature on the effects of peer-mediated academic instruction.
The first study will determine and report on the effect sizes of peer-mediated academic instruction (PMAI) to increase academic skills for students with ASD. ES are expected to demonstrate a moderate to strong effect when using PMAI to teach students with ASD. Effects will be described by study, participants, and conceptually derived moderators of treatment. These results may validate if PMAI is effective when teaching academic skills to students with ASD.
In the second study, a multiple baseline experimental design will determine the effects of PMAI across three students in the academic content area of writing. Tutors (typically developing, same age, same grade peers) are provided training and visual prompting guides for working with tutee (students with autism). Anticipated results indicate peers can increase academic engagement during writing sessions with fidelity for students with autism. Social validity assessments will fill an existing gap in the literature and indicate the feasibility and acceptability of peer tutoring for teachers. Future directions and limitations are discussed. | en |
