Original title: Making Peer-Mediated Interventions Work in Secondary Schools: A Practical Guide for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Jesse Irvan Fleming, Juliet Hart Barnett · September 2026
Students with intellectual and developmental disabilitiesConditions that affect learning, thinking, and daily life skills starting in childhood. often have few social interactions and struggle to make friends in secondary school. To help, researchers look at peer-mediated interventionsPrograms where students without disabilities help classmates with disabilities learn social skills.. These are evidence-based practices where classmates without disabilities support skill development in normal, everyday school settings. This approach works by having peers directly help these students practice social communication skills where they naturally interact. However, educators often need extra help to choose and run these programs well. This paper gives educators practical guidance to use three specific models: peer initiationA method where a peer starts conversations or activities with a student with disabilities., peer networksSmall groups of peers that meet regularly to provide support and friendship., and peer support arrangementsA system where one or more peers provide ongoing assistance in class.. It explains how each works, helps teachers pick the right one for each student, and provides helpful tools like checklists, a decision tree, and strategy templates.
You are organizing a team sport. One player has trouble following directions. You know that assigning a buddy could help, but you need to decide whether to have a one-on-one buddy, a small group, or just teach a teammate to guide them. In this paper, the player is a student with disabilities, the buddy programs are peer-mediated interventions, and the checklists and decision tree help teachers choose the right one.
Secondary school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities often struggle to make friends. This guide gives teachers concrete tools—checklists, decision trees, and templates—to run peer-mediated programs that boost social interactions. With clearer steps, more schools can offer these evidence-based supports.
The abstract does not include new experimental data or evaluation of the tools provided. The guidance is based on existing evidence and may require adaptation to specific school contexts. The effectiveness of the checklists and decision tree remains untested in this paper.
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Making Peer-Mediated Interventions Work in Secondary Schools: A Practical Guide for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities — Jesse Irvan Fleming, Juliet Hart Barnett — EdArXiv — doi:10.35542/osf.io/fxn8z_v2
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.