Improving Communication Between Children with Autism and Their Peers Through the ‘Circle of Friends’

Efrosini Kalyva and Elias Avramidis

Maureen Bennie

This case study was done to examine the interaction of children with autism and their peers. Due to a delay in social development being a key symptom of autism spectrum disorder, children diagnosed with autism have a difficult time interacting with peers. The study consisted of children with autism as well as those not on the spectrum being included in a circle time with their teacher. After circle time they were split off into groups and the interactions between the children were observed. One group was told of ways to interact with the children with autism and what to do in any cases where a child with autism might be doing something out of the norm. Another group was not taught what to do or how to interact.

The observer was looking for the amount of responses the children with autism gave to their peers by engaging, even just with eye contact. They were also looking for the amount of times a child with autism would initiate the interaction.

They were observed three times over a five month period and found that the group of children with autism placed in the group who were not taught how to interact were much more withdrawn. The group who were taught how to interact were much more engaged in the interactions.

These findings show that a little bit of education can go a long way. Currently in the school system there is no education on how to interact with children with developmental delays. This causes children with autism to become more withdrawn as time goes on. This simple method of teaching could also be used as an intervention technique for children with autism.

Implementation into Design

In a center for children with special needs, it could have an education room not only for parents, but for those involved in the school system and the child’s life. Having training on how to help children interact with those who are more withdrawn could help with development of lots of children. This could also cause an increase in quality of life as meaningful interactions have a direct correlation to quality of life.