The influence of nonhandicapped peers on the social interactions of children with a pervasive development disorder.
Seat a typical peer next to a child with PDD during regular school moments and social behavior grows without extra drills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team placed children with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) next to typical classmates during everyday school activities.
No extra lessons or drills were added. The peers simply stayed, played, and talked with the child.
A coin flip chose which children got peer partners first; the rest waited as a control group.
What they found
Children with PDD started talking, sharing, and playing more with their partners.
These new social moves showed up later with new kids and in new rooms.
The control group stayed the same, so the gains came from the peer time, not just growing older.
How this fits with other research
Lowe et al. (1995) tried a similar idea one year earlier, but used PRT steps and only two preschoolers. Roeyers (1996) widened the lens to a full classroom and still saw gains, proving the idea scales.
Laermans et al. (2025) now shows even larger effects with a clear teacher script called Stay Play Talk. Their 2025 package supersedes the 1996 method by giving you ready-made lesson plans and bigger, measured jumps in play.
Zhang et al. (2022) swapped free play for iPad lessons and still replicated the social boost. The setting changed, the heart—kids teaching kids—stayed the same.
Why it matters
You do not need a separate therapy room or fancy toys. Just seat a willing classmate beside the learner and let natural talk, trades, and games happen. Start small: pick one recess or center time, pair one peer, and watch for smiles, words, or shared blocks. If it works, add more peers and places; the 1996 study says the skill will travel.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study investigated whether or not children with autism or a related pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) can benefit from regular opportunities to interact with a normally developing peer, matched as to sex and age. An experimental design with random assignment of subjects to treatment and control groups was used to demonstrate the impact of this peer-mediated intervention. In the treatment group, we found significant improvements in the social behavior of the children with PDD. Several gains were also generalized to interactions with an unfamiliar nonhandicapped peer, to interactions with another child with PDD, and to the large school setting. In the untreated control group, no positive changes were observed. Results suggest that children with PDD can develop peer relations if appropriate social contexts are made available for them.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1996 · doi:10.1007/BF02172476