Teaching staff at a rural middle school, with support from the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders (NPDC-ASD), implemented a peer-mediated intervention. This program involved 4 learners with ASD and 18 typical peers divided into three groups that met over a semester as typical peers were taught about social skills and specific ways to support their classmates with ASD. While quantitative data were limited, outcomes suggest that Power Pals had a significant impact on school experiences and social interactions for both learners with and without ASD. Implications for future research and implementation in rural settings are discussed.
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