Matrix Parents Presents: The Power of Peer Mentoring for Adolescents with Autism

Matrix Parent Network and the Marin Center for Independent Living funded and supported the production of this podcast. 

Pairing students with autism with neurotypical peers is proving to be a powerful tool in teaching the critical life skills of self-advocacy and self-determination.

We'll define these terms and explain how they fit together before looking at the research and model programs that use mentoring as a tool.

Articles used for this podcast:

1.) Advanced Autism Mentorship (https://www.advancedautism.com/post/the-role-of-peer-mentorship-in-autism-support-programs)

2.) Peer Support in Autism - Autism Research Institute (https://autism.org/peer-support-in-autism/)

3.) That Connection With Community… it is just a positive thing - Mentoring autistic adolescents participating in community coding programs(https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11933780/)

Thanks to  soundimage.org for the free access to the AI generated music used in this podcast (https://soundimage.org/) 

Transcript

In this episode we will explore peer mentoring for autistic middle and high school aged youth and how it can increase the skills they will need to be successful in their transition to adulthood.

To begin, we need to define mentoring and two other related skill areas, self- advocacy and self-determination. These skill areas are hierarchal in nature, with effective mentoring leading to better self-advocacy skills which then leads to being a self-determined person, a goal all of us try to reach.

First, a definition for mentoring is, “the process of facilitating the development of another person (mentee), offering knowledge, advice, experience and guidance to support a mentees personal development”. (Shah, 2017; Sharma & Freeman, 2014). 

Self-Advocacy has been defined as, “A person understanding themselves as to needs and wants, knowing their rights, and communicating these effectively to others.  

Self Determination characteristics include the individual acting in a way that is autonomous, self-regulated, psychologically empowered, and self-realizing. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12081370/)

One can see the importance of knowing and being able to express wants and needs and carry out the actions needed to get them met, which is self-advocacy.  And mentoring can be a major part of the teaching needed. 

For the program we will use three articles about peer mentoring (links are in the show notes)

They are:

1.) Advanced Autism Mentorship (https://www.advancedautism.com/post/the-role-of-peer-mentorship-in-autism-support-programs)

2.) Peer Support in Autism - Autism Research Institute (https://autism.org/peer-support-in-autism/)

3.) That Connection With Community… it is just a positive thing - Mentoring autistic adolescents participating in community coding programs(https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11933780/)

There are links to all in the show notes.

The first article quoted from, Advanced Autism Mentorship the authors write, “Mentors assist autistic individuals in understanding their strengths, needs, and rights, fostering independence and confidence. Setting personalized goals and participating in tailored workshops empower mentees to advocate for themselves in academic, workplace, and community environments. This autonomy-building encourages proactive behavior, enabling individuals to communicate their needs effectively and seek necessary accommodations. 

Participation in mentorship programs often leads to increased independence by teaching practical skills—like navigating social situations or managing academic responsibilities. Celebrating small successes and reflection on personal growth boost self-esteem. Mentors serve as role models, demonstrating resilience and positive self-image, which further encourages autonomous behavior..

From the next article, Peer Support in Autism, we look at peer mentoring from a more granular level

The authors write, “Modern peer support programs are highly modifiable and can be woven into various care strategies and goals across ages, locations, and activities.  A recently implemented peer-based reading buddy strategy to increase social interaction among autistic children showed promise. Another study using partner-focused conversation skills revealed increased pragmatic language efficiency for autistic youth, and all students (both autistic and allistic)”.  

This is me for a moment, the word allistic refers to neurotypical people, now back to the authors:

“Systematic reviews of peer-intervention programs show improvements in social interactions, academic engagement, and quality of friendships in autistic high school students and their allistic peers Research also suggests that communication skills gained via peer support relationships can be generalized to other settings.”

Bishop Hendricken High School in Rhode Island is a Catholic preparatory school for boys. For students at Hendricken, peer mentorship experiences are integral to their education. Through the Options Program, students with autism, intellectual (ID), and developmental disabilities are included in everything from spirit week to assemblies and have a designated mentor in each class. The program focuses on facilitating student interaction and building brotherhood, creating a culture of inclusion where everyone belongs. Megan O’Connor and Steve Gauin, parents of Nick, an autistic student participating in the program, emphasize their son’s continual growth in age-appropriate language, independence, and openness at school and home. 

“In like three weeks he was starting to pick up their lingo, which is age appropriate… So that was unbelievable…and last year he was in the bowling club, and the bowling alley is across the street from the school, a pretty busy street. And he just took his stuff, and he walked across the street all by himself. And I just thought, I didn’t know that we would get to that point in his life that he would do something independently like that. I don’t think he would have ever done that had he not had all the experiences here at Hendricken.”

Since entering the Options Program at Bishop Hendricken, Nick’s personal and academic success has continually increased. He has graduated from a one-to-one to a two-to-one mentor set-up, and this year, he had a line in the school play!

Later in the article the authors write, “Most peer support initiatives do not require parental involvement as they are applied in classroom or therapy settings . However, in the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS), parents/caretakers attend a class where they learn how to assist adolescents in making and keeping friends. Simultaneously, children attend a class using didactic lessons, role-play demonstrations, and socialization activities to learn and practice social skills. Thus, PEERS programs offer support at the family level, ensuring personal empowerment and social skills continue to evolve. Parent/caregiver participants report improvements in family chaos and self-advocacy with potential long-term impact following PEERS training. 

‘It is clear that parent involvement in peer support strategies directly impacts intervention success. However, participation also requires significant adaption from parents, who often manage the needs of more than one child on top of their own (Tripathi et al., 2022; Estes et al., 2017). A 2017 study found that caregiver burden had a negative relationship with quality of life and that social support mediated that negative relationship. (Marsack & Samuel, 2017). Further investigation shows that both received and perceived social.” 

And the following is from the third article, That Connection with Community, It describes a research study conducted in London of school children and computer coding clubs that used mentorship of autistic peers as a tool.

“Facilitators also play a key role in the mentoring process, typically as organizers of the coding program. Facilitators have previous knowledge and experience providing guidance to mentors with motivation, understanding of mentee needs and the development of personal mentoring skills such as communication and confidence. Both mentors and facilitators use specific skills and strategies to develop the mentor–mentee partnership enabling them to succeed in their roles. 

‘We found that mentors and facilitators needed support to develop their mentoring skills which helped them to grow, made them feel better and gave them a feeling of satisfaction. Our study showed the importance of understanding autism spectrum and supporting mentors and facilitators. We showed how mentoring programs are an emerging approach that occupational therapists can engage with to better support autistic youth with their strengths and passions.

That’s our brief look at mentoring and how it can have a positive effect on autistic youth.

As the parent of a child with a disability, how can you get your child involved in a program?

The most effective programs are often school based.  There are the support personnel with the training and experience to set up a program.  

Interestingly enough, a lot of the literature that was reviewed for the program was directed at occupational therapists (OT).  In adult medical and social practices, OTs are often the professionals working with patients and clients on issues like independent living and so on.

School based OTs have a different focus, mainly the processing of language into fine motor tasks, but they also have the training to work on pre-adult skills.

You could check with your child’s OT, if they are qualified for services, and see what reaction you get.

Another way to address it is to encourage your child’s school to start a peer mentoring club.  A school counselor or psychologist would be ideal facilitators.  As mentioned in one of the articles we talked about today, there is strong evidence that mentors and mentees need training and support, which needs to be on-going.

Or an existing club structure could be used if the club focuses on equity and social issues.  Or a gaming club is a great way for kids to mix and share what is a passion for many autistic and neurotypical kids.

Tutoring programs, going both ways, as many kids with autism are academically advanced, can be set up to help kids both academically and socially.  This could be set up during a student support period which kids with disabilities use as a homeroom.  General education students could use the class to get extra help or to provide it.

It often takes parents to initiate change in school districts.  Administrators listen to parents and you have more power than you think to encourage your district to set up programs like the ones described here.