An examination of interactions among children with autism and their typically developing peers

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether pre-school children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) interact differently with their peers with ASD compared to their typically developing (TD) peers, across three activities (free play, structured group time and semi-structured play) in an early intervention setting.

Methods: We completed a series of non-experimental case studies involving 13 children with ASD and two TD peers.

Results: We found trends, but no uniform differences, in the frequency or quality of means by which the children with ASD interacted with one another versus with their TD peers across the three contexts. The children with ASD interacted with both peer types more frequently during the semi-structured and structured activities, than during free play.

Conclusions: The children with ASD showed no clear bias towards one peer type over the other. Semi-structured activities may be the best context in which to facilitate peer interactions involving children with ASD in early intervention settings.

• Autism
• communication
• social interaction
• peer interaction
• play

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the children who participated in the study, as well as the following individuals: Ed Duncan, Kristy Capes, Jessica Feary, Shannon Upson, Lindsay Pamment and Giacomo Vivanti. We also thank Megan Grant for her careful coding of the video footage. This research was conducted as part of the research thesis requirement for the first authors’ honours degree in Psychology.