1. A Glorious Mess: Implementing Evidence-Based
Social Skills Interventions in Public School Settings
Jill Locke1, Mark Kretzmann2, Connie Kasari2 & David S. Mandell1
1University of Pennsylvania 2University of California, Los Angeles
Measures
• Social Network Centrality (Cairns et al., 1988).
Students identified classroom group
membership, resulting in four categorizations of
social network integration: isolated (0), peripheral
(1), secondary (2), and nuclear (3).
• Playground Observation of Peer Engagement
(Kasari, Rotheram-Fuller, & Locke, 2005) is a timed-
interval behavior coding system that examines
children’s engagement with peers on the playground.
(coded as a percentage of time spent in various
engagement states).
• Fidelity of implementation. Yes/No completion
of each intervention component (scored as a
percentage of completed steps) and a 1-5 Likert
rating (not well to very well) of the quality of
implementation
Procedures
• School personnel and children were randomized in
pairs to immediate treatment or waitlist control.
• Hands-on training during the lunch period for 6
weeks (2x/week)
• Social Networks and POPES conducted at
baseline, exit, and follow-up
• Fidelity of implementation rated by coach at
baseline, midpoint, and exit
Intervention Implementation
• Included didactics, modeling, rehearsal, in vivo
coaching and homework for school staff
• Focused on facilitating opportunities for children to
engage in conversations, activities and play games
with peers in the cafeteria and on the playground.
Methods Continued Results
Challenges to Implementation
Discussion and Future Directions
Contact
Jill Locke, Ph.D.
jlocke@upenn.edu
• To conduct a randomized pilot of a modified
evidence-based social skills intervention with
school personnel.
Participants
• 9 children with ASD (mean age = 8.4; SD = 1.3)
• 6 classrooms; 2 schools
• fully included in a regular education 1st-5th
grade classroom for at least 80% of the
school day
• 9 school staff members (5 district employed one-
to-one assistants, 3 noon-time aides, 1 bus
attendant)
• Mean age 48.6 years old; SD = 9.7
• 5 African American; 4 Caucasian
• 72 classmates (mean age = 8.4 years; SD = 1.6)
Objectives
• Social impairment is a core deficit of ASD.
• Kasari et al., (2012) found that peer-mediated
interventions improved the social inclusion of
children with ASD, but gains did not sustain.
• School personnel did not continue the intervention
post-study because the manual was developed for
experienced intervention researchers.
• In this study, we addressed these challenges by
modifying the Kasari et al. (2012) intervention for
school personnel to implement.
• Modifications included: modules that address
strategies for working with children with ASD, a
step-by-step breakdown of the developmental
sequence of engagement and strategies to facilitate
engagement in the cafeteria/on the playground.
Background
This study was funded by an Autism
Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship
No COI
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Baseline Exit Follow-up
SocialNetworkCentrality
Waitlist Immediate Treatment
End of Waitlist
Suggests the need to:
• Intervene at the staff and school levels
• Work with schools to address school-level
barriers to implementation and sustainability
• Develop implementation strategies that will
allow schools the flexibility to adapt
intervention components that fit the needs of
their students, staff, and resources.
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
Baseline Exit Follow-up
%Time
Waitlist Immediate Treatment
Solitary Engagement
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
Baseline Exit Follow-up
%Time
Waitlist Immediate Treatment
Joint Engagement
End of Waitlist
End of Waitlist
Methods
Baseline Midpoint Exit
Assessing Playground 42.5 77.5 55
Transitioning to an Activity 0 55 77.5
Facilitating an Activity 0 67.5 67.5
Participating in the Activity 10 55 77.5
Fostering Conversation 0 35 57.5
Directing Peers in Vivo 0 42.5 57.5
Direct Social Skills Instruction 32.5 62.5 77.5
Addressing Problem Behaviors 10 42.5 57.5
Quality of Implementation 1.9 3.9 4.0
Percentage of Staff Using Strategy During Intervention
Barriers that prevented the use and sustainability
of the intervention:
• Staff-level
• Unclear roles during recess/lunch
• Lack of incentives and administrative
support for aides
• School-level
• Staff reassignment and turnover
• Loss of recess (in favor of
academics, detention policies, inclement
weather)
• Availability of resources
(playground, playground
equipment, indoor space)