Cooperative Learning Groups in Reading: An Integration Strategy for Students with Autism and General Classroom Peers

Abstract

A reversal design in two classrooms was used to examine the effects of Cooperative Learning Croups (CLCs) for three students with autism and their general education peers. Pretreatment reading instruction consisted of whole language, teacher-led activities including teacher-student discussion of vocabulary, story concepts, main ideas, and story-mapping with reading aloud by individual students. Intervention conditions consisted of continued teacher-led instruction plus supplemental CLCs including three activities: (a) peer tutoring on vocabulary words, (b) comprehension questions, and (c) academic games. Results demonstrated increased reading gains, academic engagement, and peer interaction during the supplemental CLG conditions. Results also provided documentation of the peer-mediated strategy as a viable instructional arrangement for the integration of students with autism in general education settings.