title: Social involvement of children with autism spectrum disorders in elementary school classrooms. Child characteristics associated with outcome for children with autism in a school-based behavioral intervention A Comprehensive Peer Network Intervention to Improve Social Communication of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Randomized Trial in Kindergarten and First Grade
abstract: BACKGROUND Children with autism spectrum disorders ( ASD ) are increasingly included in general education classrooms in an effort to improve their social involvement . METHODS Seventy-nine children with ASD and 79 r and omly selected , gender-matched peers ( 88.6 % male ) in 75 early ( K-1 ) , middle ( 2nd-3rd ) , and late ( 4th-5th ) elementary classrooms across 30 schools completed social network surveys  examining each child 's reciprocal friendships , peer rejection , acceptance , and social involvement . RESULTS Across grade levels , peers less frequently reciprocated friendships with children with ASD than students in the matched sample . While children with ASD were not more likely to be rejected by peers , they were less accepted and had fewer reciprocal friendships than matched peers at each grade level . Although 48.1 % of children with ASD were involved in the social networks of their classrooms , children with ASD were more likely to be isolated or peripheral to social relationships within the classroom across all grade levels , and this difference is even more dramatic in later elementary grade s. CONCLUSIONS In inclusive classrooms , children with ASD are only involved in peers ' social relationships about half of the time , and appear to be even less connected with increasing grade level . Promoting children with ASD 's skills in popular activities to share with peers in early childhood may be a key preventive intervention to protect social relationships in late elementary school grade This study examined the extent to which clinical and demographic characteristics predicted outcome for children with autism spectrum disorder . Participants included 152 students with autism spectrum disorder in 53 kindergarten-through-second- grade autism support classrooms in a large urban public school district . Associations between child characteristics ( including age , language ability , autism severity , social skills , adaptive behavior , co-occurring psychological symptoms , and restrictive and repetitive behavior ) and outcome , as measured by changes in cognitive ability following one academic year of an intervention st and ardized across the sample were evaluated using linear regression with r and om effects for classroom . While several scales and subscales had statistically significant bivariate associations with outcome , in adjusted analysis , only age and the presence of symptoms associated with social anxiety , such as social avoidance and social fearfulness , as measured through the Child Symptom Inventory-4 , were associated with differences in outcome . The findings regarding the role of social anxiety are new and have important implication s for treatment . Disentangling the construct of social anxiety to differentiate between social fearfulness and social motivation has important implication s for shifting the focus of early treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder The purpose of this r and omized control group study was to examine the effects of a peer network intervention that included peer mediation and direct instruction for Kindergarten and First- grade children with autism spectrum disorders . Trained school staff members provided direct instruction for 56 children in the intervention group , and 39 children participated in a comparison group . Results showed children in the intervention group displayed significantly more initiations to peers than did the comparison group during non-treatment social probes and generalization probes . Treatment session data showed significant growth for total communications over baseline levels . Children in treatment also showed more growth in language and adaptive communication . Finally , teachers ’ ratings of prosocial skills revealed significantly greater improvements for the intervention group
target: RESULTS A review of these studies showed that children with ASD are less school ready emotionally than their peers and those children with ASD appear to have more externalising behaviours and self-regulation difficulties that affect their school engagement and their relationships with their teachers .
  There was a paucity of research looking at interventions targeting school readiness .
  However , school-based behavioural interventions appear to improve cognitive , language and daily living skills , but have less impact on socialisation and peer inclusion .
  CONCLUSION Children with ASD face more challenges transitioning to school , particularly with social interaction .
background: AIM To identify factors that promote a positive start to school for children with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) .