Broadening the Scope of Peer-Mediated Intervention for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Płatos and colleagues wrote a position paper. They asked: why do we quit peer-mediated help after grade school?

They say we should keep peer programs going for teens and adults with autism. The goal is real friends and real community life, not just classroom skills.

The paper does not give new data. It argues the field must widen PMI past childhood.

The authors want programs that teach friendship, dating, work, and leisure with peers.

Gantman et al. (2012), Boudreau et al. (2015), and Płatos et al. (2022) already show PEERS works for teens and young adults. These studies give the hard numbers the target paper says we need.

Wyman et al. (2020) looks like a clash: school-based PEERS raised knowledge but not real friendships for ASD students. The gap supports the target plea—programs must plan for outside-class use.

Lee et al. (2022) and Ferguson et al. (2021) extend the idea into jobs and into adults with ID. They prove PMI can move past social skills into work and into new populations.

If you run social groups, think past the school walls. Add outings, peer mentors, and parent help that push practice into cafés, clubs, or work sites. Pick one teen or adult goal—like hosting a get-together—and build a PMI plan around it next week.