Effectiveness of a peer-mediated intervention on job and social skills for students with intellectual disability: a pilot study

Abstract

Building foundational job and social skills for high school students with intellectual disability (ID) is critical for post-school employment success. Unfortunately, students with ID often experience limited opportunities to learn and hone these skills while in school. One way to build job and social skills are through a peer-mediated intervention (PMI) in a work-based learning experience (WBLE). A multiple-baseline design across participant dyads with generalization probes was used to investigate the effects of implementing a PMI on job and social skills for students with ID in a WBLE. Results showed that participants demonstrated improvements in job task independence and social interactions. Furthermore, social interaction quality improved after implementing the PMI for most dyads. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.