2016 TASH Conference

SMILE (Social Mechanics Integrated in the Learning Environment) is a social skills intervention designed to deliver social skills lessons taught by adults combined with promptings by peer mediators to increase social engagement with middle school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through natural social interactions occurring during the lunch period. Two of the six participants in the study spent time in a self-contained setting, and often ate lunch in the Special Education classroom. The goal of the researchers was to have the students eat lunch with their same age peers at the lunch tables where all the students in the school eat their lunch. The peer mediators involved in the study volunteered to be a part of the intervention, and invited other students with disabilities, not involved in the study, to eat lunch with their group of friends. The intervention allowed a gateway for the peer mediators to allow all the students in the Special Education program and other students in the school to eat lunch together and interact with equality and respect. Attendees will be able to implement the SMILE intervention for students with ASD at the elementary or middle school level in any setting where social interactions naturally occur (e.g. school, home, play date, church). Attendees will be able to discuss specific benefits for peer-mediated social skills interventions for students at the middle school level, and how to implement the intervention with sensitivity for mediators and participants. Attendees will be able to replicate the described study while addressing described limitations, if desired, for future research.