The ASA's 39th National Conference on Autism Spectrum Disorders of ASA

The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Scottsdale, AZ

http://www.autism-society.org/
For a complete author index with session numbers, please click here
Friday, July 11, 2008: 10:45 AM-12:00 PM
Sarasota 1
#3669- College Students as Peer-Aged Partners: Promoting Social Skill Development
This session will provide an overview of a program developed to assist late adolescent students with autism in the acquisition and performance of appropriate social skills. A partnership between Defiance College and the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center has created a public school classroom on campus and provided college students with intentional learning opportunities to work as peer-aged partners with students in the public school classroom.

Presenters:Jo Ann Burkhardt, Ph.D., Defiance College, Director Hench Austism Studies Program - Dr. Burkhardt is the Director of the Hench Autism Studies Program at Defiance College. She administers a program that includes a classroom for adolescents with autism on campus and peer mentor courses. She is working towards developing a residential site for adolescents to learn independent living skills.

Buerk Don, Doctor, of, Philosophy, Defiance College, Associate Professor of History - Dr. Buerk is an associate professor of history at Defiance College. In addition, he teaches within the First-Year Program.

Joyce Sutton, Master, of, Education, Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center, School Psychologist - Ms. Sutton is a school psychologist with 21 years experience. She is currently functioning as a trainer and direct service provider in the field of ASD.

 
The purpose of this session is to present a model of a social skill training program focused on late adolescent students with autism. At the end of the session, participants should know about the model, the partnerships involved, the training components for the college students, activities and experiences developed and implemented and the desired outcomes for the program.
The model consists of college students working with late adolescent students with autism within the college community as peer-aged partners. Another term for these peer-aged partners might be peer-mediators. The central strength of the model is derived from a partnership consisting of college faulty, typically-age college students, late adolescent students with autism and personnel from the public schools.  The personnel from the public school consist of an intervention specialist, a special education supervisor, a paraprofessional and a school psychologist.
The personal from the public school are members of a partnership between Defiance College (DC) and the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center (NwOESC) and are part of a larger initiative, the Hench Autism Studies Program (HASP).  This program was initiated by a local family who struggled with the needs of their autistic son when he reached adolescence.  The Henches approached Defiance College about finding ways to meet the needs of adolescents and their families, and these conversations provided the catalyst for what became HASP.  For an overview of HASP, please see the DC website (http://www.defiance.edu/hasp.html). 
The social skills training model consists of several components.  These components include the public school classroom, the college campus, and the First Year Program at DC. Participants in this session will learn how the components and the personnel involved, interface to work collaborately to provide social skills training for late adolescent students with autism.
Participants will learn how college students are trained to become peer-aged partners.  Included will be a discussion of pedagogies used with the college students in their preparation to work as peer-aged partners. These pedagogies include role-play, simulation, discussion, case studies and supervised interactions with the public school students on campus. In addition, a bibliography of instructional print materials will be provided. The methods for training college students in the understanding of the acquisition, performance and generalization of social skills by students with autism will be discussed. A special focus will be the use of college students as social actors to provide scenarios for use by the special education personnel. The use of technology in the development and dissemination of the scenarios will also be discussed.
The roles and functions of the college and public school personnel will be presented. In addition, special attention will be given to the unintended and unexpected ethical and professional challenges of working with late adolescent students with autism on a college campus.
It is hoped that the participants in the session will learn about the complexities of this exciting partnership and understand the benefits to all the partners, most importantly the students with autism. This will be an interactive session with the participants working within groups to process and critique the information provided.  Participants will also engage in a brief work session to develop outlines for future social scenarios.

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