Doctoral Candidate Brochure: Jennifer M. Worthington

Doctoral Dissertation Defense
of
Jennifer M. Worthington

For the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
School Psychology

Peer-Mediated Social Skills Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Comparison of School-Based Approaches Using HLM

May 13, 2025
11:00 A.M.
White Hall, Room 408A

Meaningful Relationships Between First-Generation Undergraduates and Faculty Members: A Grounded Theory Approach

This study utilizes hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to determine the current impact of peer-mediated interventions for students with ASD in school-based settings, as well as determine if there is difference in impact between individual and multi-peer interventions and between interventions in which peers were and were not rotated. Results indicate that peer-mediated interventions employing multiple peers do not demonstrate significantly greater effectiveness than one-on-one peer-mediated approaches in fostering social skill development. By contrast, in the standard HLM model, peer rotation significantly moderates the phase effect, suggesting that rotating peers may enhance intervention effectiveness. It should be noted, however, that this effect did not remain statistically significant when robust standard errors were applied, indicating that the result may be sensitive to model assumptions. These findings highlight the potential value of peer rotation in designing peer-mediated interventions, while also emphasizing the importance of conservative model evaluation in single-subject meta-analytic designs. This suggests that exposure to a variety of peers may provide students with ASD greater opportunities for generalization and adaptability in social interactions.