Project Activities
The research team will recruit schools that support at least 10–12 secondary students with ASD in inclusive core content instruction. Recruited schools will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) PS only; (b) SDLMI only; (c) SDLMI + PS. In Years 2, 3, and 4, respectively, cohorts of 12 schools per year will participate in their randomly assigned treatment level for two academic semesters. After the implementation year, students with ASD will be followed for the remainder of the project (up to three years) to examine maintenance of outcomes.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research will take place in high schools that support at least 10–12 secondary students with ASD in inclusive core content instruction in rural, urban, and suburban schools in Kansas and North Carolina.
Sample
The sample will include 36 high schools and approximately 432 students in ninth to eleventh grade with ASD who receive core content instruction in a general education classroom and their peers without disabilities.
Intervention
: Schools will be randomly assigned to using PS only, SDLMI only, or SDLMI + PS. In the comprehensive SDLMI + PS intervention evaluated in this project, the SDLMI will be used to engage youth with ASD in the process of identifying academic and social goals to be achieved in the general education classroom, and PS will be used to enable peers to deliver supports to promote progress toward those goals in the general education classroom.
Research design and methods
The research will be conducted across 5 years. A longitudinal, cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) design will be used. The first year of the project researchers will finalize partnership agreements with schools and deliver initial training to teachers and other implementers. Implementation of the intervention with the first cohort of schools and students will begin in Year 2 with additional cohorts added in Years 3 and 4. Follow-up data will be collected through Year 5. Data analysis, cost analysis, and cost effectiveness analysis will be concentrated in Year 5.
Control condition
There is no control condition. Schools are randomly assigned to one of three conditions: PS only, SDLMI only, or SDLMI + PS.
Key measures
Academic measureswill include grades, course and grade completion, accrued credits, state standardized tests, PISA, and observational data collected using the Access CISSAR. Social measureswill include the Social Skills Improvement Rating Form and Social Connections and Relationships Assessment, and observational data collected with the MS CISSAR. Functional measureswill include the Self-Determination Inventory. Goal Attainment Scaling will be used to assess both social and behavior outcomes. Autism symptomology will be measured with the SRS-2.
Data analytic strategy
Researchers will analyze the data using multivariate multilevel modeling to examine change across proximal and distal outcomes. Researchers will conduct cost analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis, using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER).
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Products include information about the efficacy of the comprehensive SDLMI + PS intervention. The project will also result in a final data set, peer-reviewed publications and presentations as well as additional dissemination products that reach education stakeholders such as practitioners and policymakers.
Related projects
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator: Hume, Kara; Boyd, Brian
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
