Peer versus adult models and autistic children's learning: acquisition, generalization, and maintenance

This study compared the effectiveness of a peer model and an adult model in teaching an expressive language task to four autistic boys. A BCBC design, counterbalanced across subjects, was used. After training criterion was reached, generalization of responding to an extratherapy school setting and to the home was measured. Thirteen weekly maintenance probes were conducted after training in each condition. Results indicated that all children learned through observing the peer and adult models and that few consistent differences occurred across the two conditions. The degree of generalization and maintenance of responding was consistently high in both conditions. The relation of these data to the modeling literature on autistic children and implications for developing educational programs for autistic children are discussed.