A Play-Based, Peer-Mediated Pragmatic Language Intervention for School-Aged Children on the Autism Spectrum: Predicting Who Benefits Most.
Kids who read the room but lack words are gold-star candidates for recess-style peer groups.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Parsons et al. (2019) watched 10 weeks of recess-style play groups. Kids with autism played with trained classmates.
The team ran quick language tests first. They wanted to know which kids would gain the most new social words.
What they found
Children who already used context clues well but had small vocabularies shot ahead.
High context-use plus low expressive words equaled big pragmatic gains after the peer games.
How this fits with other research
Ethridge et al. (2020) ran a follow-up trial. The same play groups helped the typical peers too, so everyone wins.
Fossum et al. (2018) found the opposite profile for PRT preschoolers. Those kids needed high expressive language at start, not low. Age and method explain the flip.
Antezana et al. (2023) also hunted predictors, but in PEERS preschool classes. Fewer repetitive behaviors helped there, showing different programs prize different starter skills.
Why it matters
You can screen in five minutes. Give the CCC-2 Context and EVT-2 vocabulary. If context is strong but words are weak, place the child in a peer-mediated play group. Skip the table drills for that kid and save hours of mismatch.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study explored characteristics of children with autism with large intervention effects following a peer-mediated pragmatic language intervention, to devise algorithms for predicting children most likely to benefit. Children attended a 10-week intervention with a typically-developing peer. Data from a pilot study and RCT formed the dataset for this study. The POM-2 measured intervention outcomes. Children completed the EVT-2, TACL-4, and Social Emotional Evaluation at baseline, and parents completed the CCC-2 and CCBRS. High CCC-2 Use of Context and CCBRS Separation Anxiety scores and comparatively lower EVT-2, CCC-2 Nonverbal Communication and Cohesion scores predicted children with large intervention effects. Results can be used by clinicians to predict which children within their clinics might benefit most from participating in this intervention.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04137-3