Supporting high school students to engage in recreational activities with peers.
A DIY picture book plus two-minute self-rating lets teens with heavy support needs start and keep peer play in inclusive PE.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hughes et al. (2004) worked with five high-school students who needed lots of support. The teens wanted to join in PE games with general-ed peers but rarely started play or stayed long.
The team gave each student a small picture book. The book showed four steps: walk over, ask to play, follow the rules, and talk during the game. Before PE the students looked at the book. After class they scored how well they did each step. Staff gave praise and small prizes for matching their self-scores to the adult's data.
What they found
All five students began inviting peers to play far more often. They also stayed in the games longer and talked more with teammates. Their self-ratings grew more accurate each week.
The gains showed up quickly and held for the whole study. Even brief adult checks kept the skills going.
How this fits with other research
Picture prompts have worked before. Lord et al. (1986) tripled recess play for younger children with ID by posting picture cues and giving quick feedback. Carolyn's team moved the same idea into high school and let the students run the prompts themselves.
Einfeld et al. (1995) showed that adding a two-minute self-evaluation to a token system beat tokens alone for kids with emotional disorders. The new study keeps that self-evaluation piece and drops the tokens, proving the self-rating alone still powers social gains.
Stephens et al. (2018) seems to disagree. Their RCT on peer-mediated PEERS for students with ASD found only small social gains. The key difference: they used group lessons led by typical peers, while Carolyn used self-prompts in real PE. Self-management plus real-time practice may beat lessons about social skills.
Why it matters
You can copy this tomorrow. Print four photos that show the social steps your learner needs. Slip them in a small book or on a phone. Have the student look before recess or PE and rate after. Add a quick adult check and praise. No extra staff, no cost, and the student runs it. Middle- and high-school teams who want inclusive PE should start here.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The authors investigated the effects of an intervention package to support five high school students with extensive support-needs to initiate and engage in recreational activities with general-education peers in their physical education classes. The intervention components were (a) assessing participants' recreational activity goals, (b) teaching self-prompting using a picture book, (c) programming common stimuli, and (d) asking participants to assess daily performance and evaluate daily goal achievement. The intervention was associated with increases in participants' initiation of and engagement in recreational activities with general-education peers, as well as increases in ratings of quality of interaction. In addition, participants typically assessed with accuracy their performance of recreational activities and whether they had achieved their recreational goals. Findings are discussed with respect to future research and practice.
Behavior modification, 2004 · doi:10.1177/0145445503259215