Factors influencing social interaction among high school students with intellectual disabilities and their general education peers.

Recent legislative, policy, and research initiatives affirm the importance of improving social outcomes for adolescents with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. Using observational methodology, we examined the influence of level of integration and Peer Buddy proximity on social interaction between students with intellectual disabilities and their general education peers in high school settings. Similarities and differences were found between more and less integrated settings with respect to contextual variables and measures of social interaction. Across settings, the proximity of a Peer Buddy was associated with higher frequency interactions and more positive student affect. Implications regarding increasing social interaction among high school students are discussed.

Supporting high school students to engage in recreational activities with peers.

The authors investigated the effects of an intervention package to support five high school students with extensive support-needs to initiate and engage in recreational activities with general-education peers in their physical education classes. The intervention components were (a) assessing participants' recreational activity goals, (b) teaching self-prompting using a picture book, (c) programming common stimuli, and (d) asking participants to assess daily performance and evaluate daily goal achievement. The intervention was associated with increases in participants' initiation of and engagement in recreational activities with general-education peers, as well as increases in ratings of quality of interaction. In addition, participants typically assessed with accuracy their performance of recreational activities and whether they had achieved their recreational goals. Findings are discussed with respect to future research and practice.

An intervention package to support high school students with mental retardation in general education classrooms.

The effects of using a multicomponent intervention package to support the classroom performance of 4 high school students with mental retardation enrolled in general education classes were investigated. Intervention components were (a) modification of teacher-assigned worksheets, (b) instruction in assignment completion, (c) instruction in self-monitoring of classroom performance skills, (d) including students in setting performance goals, and (e) instruction in goal-evaluation. Implementation of the intervention package was associated with improved performance on modified assignments for all participants and higher report card grades for 3 participants. Three of 4 participants also correctly and independently evaluated their performance in relation to their performance goals. Findings are discussed and recommendations made for future research and practice.