For students with disabilities, peer support can:
- Increase the frequency and quality of interactions with classmates in the classroom
- Help children on the autism spectrum develop new friendships and supportive relationships
- Expand their social networks thru peer support and inclusion
- Promote their sense of belonging
- Ensure broader participation in class and school activities
- Improve their social competence and social skills
- Inspire higher expectations from teachers and peers
- Boost their proficiency in the use of communication systems
- Strengthen their independence and self-determination
- Support acquisition of new academic skills
- Foster greater academic engagement and curricular access
- Promote progress toward educational goals
- Give them less stigmatizing and intrusive sources of supports
For students without disabilities, participating in peer support activities can:
- Strengthen academic engagement and class participation
- Increase their opportunities to receive and provide social support
- Help them acquire new support and advocacy skills
- Connect them with additional attention and feedback from adults
- Spark lasting friendships with peer inclusion
- Inspire a sense of accomplishment and personal growth
- Increase their class and school attendance
- Help improve their grades and homework completion
- Develop a stronger appreciation for the importance and value of inclusion
- Increase their self-confidence and help them assume greater responsibility
- Deepen their knowledge about and understanding of specific disabilities
- Help them understand and accept diversity and individual differences
What Peer supports have you tried in the classroom?
Below are some effective approaches that benefit students with and without disabilities.
PEER INCLUSION - WE ALL HAVE HOPES AND DREAMS
We are grateful for people like you. Partnering with us can play a role in helping with Autism Awareness and Education. Help facilitate the lives of every autistic child to thrive for a better tomorrow.