Enhancing social interactions for youth with autism spectrum disorder through training programs for typically developing peers: A systematic review

Background: Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristically demonstrate deficits in social communication, making it challenging for children and adolescents with ASD to form and maintain friendships. Widely implemented social skills interventions aim to ameliorate these deficits through explicit instruction. Despite reported gains in social competency, many children with ASD may not successfully generalize learned social skills to interactions outside the interventions. One barrier to generalization may be stigma from typically developing (TD) peers. Specifically, TD peers who could serve as social partners for individuals with ASD often perceive the social behavior of children with ASD as atypical and demonstrate negative attitudes toward and a preference for social distance from these individuals. Method: This systematic review aimed to identify the techniques employed by, and the impact of, TD peer intervention programs providing TD school-age children and adolescents with information about ASD and those training peers to be peer social models on peer perceptions of ASD. This search was conducted using three databases (i.e., PsychINFO, PubMed, Web of Science) and found 14 articles meeting inclusion criteria. Results: Results demonstrate that peer training programs employ multiple methods including didactic trainings, group discussions, activities, opportunities for video or in-person exposure to individuals with ASD, and opportunities to implement learned strategies with peers to disseminate varying levels and types of information (e.g., descriptive, explanatory, directive) about ASD to participants. Conclusions: Overall, results of such TD peer training programs demonstrate significant reductions in peer stigma and improvements in peer mediating abilities post-intervention.