The Effects of Peer-Mediated Check-In/Check-Out on the Social Skills of Socially Neglected Students.

The authors trained classmates to run Check-In/Check-Out for socially neglected elementary students.

Each morning the peer helpers greeted the target student, reminded him of social goals, and checked out with him at dismissal.

The study used a multiple-baseline design across students to see if social skills would rise.

Social skills improved for every student once peer CICO began.

The gains were large enough that teachers noticed the neglected students joining games and talking more.

Barthelemy et al. (1989) and Christopher et al. (1991) did similar peer-helper work with isolated girls and boys. They showed that two trained classmates can spark big, lasting gains at recess.

Rodríguez-Medina et al. (2016) moved the same idea to autism. One recess session a week raised initiations for a high-functioning student.

Lancioni et al. (2000) used positive peer reporting with older youths in residential care. Instead of morning check-ins, peers earned points for praising isolated teens out loud. All three lines show peers can drive social growth, but CICO adds a daily structure that fits neatly into existing school-wide systems.

You can run peer CICO without pulling students from class or adding staff hours. Pick two well-liked classmates, give them a script and a point card, and let them handle the rest. The neglected student gets fifteen extra positive contacts every day, and you get data on social goals during normal routines. Try it next week—start with one student and two peer helpers, then scale to your whole caseload.