Setting generality of peer modeling in children with autism.
Follow-the-Leader with varied toys and rooms teaches autistic preschoolers to imitate and generalizes without extra work.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Four preschoolers with autism played Follow-the-Leader with a typical peer. The leader showed new toy actions each day. Adults gave gentle physical prompts if the child did not copy.
Sessions happened in one room. Later the kids moved to new rooms and toys to see if copying carried over.
What they found
Every child learned to copy the peer during the game. Copying also showed up in new places with new toys, even when no adult helped.
The skill stuck without extra teaching. Generalization was built in, not added later.
How this fits with other research
Jones et al. (2014) swapped live peers for short videos and still got generalization of social responses. The medium changed, but the goal of broad use stayed the same.
Mueller et al. (2000) trained the whole class instead of one leader. More peers helped, showing the idea scales up.
Charlop et al. (1992) dropped the leader game and taught peers to attend, comment, and acknowledge. Social play still rose, proving the game format is just one path.
Why it matters
You can teach imitation and get generalization in one step. Pick a motivated typical peer, rotate toys and places daily, and keep the game short and fun. No extra generalization drills needed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Behavior development in normal children is greatly facilitated by peer modeling. Unfortunately, autistic children do not typically imitate their normal peers. The present study was undertaken to identify variables that facilitate the acquisition of peer imitation and promote setting generality of imitative skills once they have been acquired. We selected a common preschool activity (Follow-the-Leader) as the vehicle for studying modeling effects. Four preschool children with autism took part in an intervention in which a normal peer demonstrated and, if necessary, physically prompted a variety of actions and object manipulations that defined the activity. Following training, all four children generalized their imitative skill to a new setting involving new actions and object manipulations. Results are discussed with respect to the potentially important role that the use of multiple training objects and/or responses play in enhancing attention to the model and facilitating setting generality as well as the role that intrinsically reinforcing activities may play in maintaining acquired peer imitation.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1990 · doi:10.1007/BF02206856