Jean McDermott

I.J. Holton principal

I.J. Holton Intermediate School, in collaboration with the Parenting Resource Center and Vision 20/20 Community Spirit and Pride Committee, is kicking off the start of a new program called Peer Power Partners. The mission of Peer Power Partners is to partner students with disabilities with age-alike peers to provide friendship and academic collaboration opportunities during the school day. These partnerships will allow for bullying prevention and social inclusion by engaging, educating and empowering designated age-alike peers to become advocates on the behalf of students with disabilities.

Many children with disabilities attend mainstream classrooms for at least part of the school day. Many struggle socially and are at risk of being isolated or bullied. The most common intervention involves enrollment in social skills training in a clinic or therapist’s office. The instructor models appropriate social skills either one-on-one or with a group of socially challenged children. Both types of intervention improve social skills — at least within the clinics and academic centers where they’ve been studied. Their results in real-world settings have been less clear.

This year, the findings of a landmark study argue for a shift away from relying solely on such standard social-skills training and toward greater emphasis on teaching classmates how to interact with children who have social challenges. The study was led by educational psychologist Connie Kasari, Ph.D., of the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment. It appeared in the April issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

All students at I.J. Holton attended a program this week and met an exceptional young man, Stefan Kavan. Stefan is a young adult with autism and his mother, Barb Kavan, is author of the book “Trainman: Gaining Acceptance and Friendships through Special Interests.” This children’s book describes how Stefan’s parents and teachers turned his nearly exclusive interest in transportation topics (which isolated him from his peers), into an asset. His classmates learned to understand and respect Stefan for his vast knowledge and they now recognize that he is more like them than different.

The mission of Peer Power Partners is to help our young people learn more about their classmates’ disabilities  and to provide opportunities for these age-alike peers to interact during the school day. Through this interaction, understanding will develop and students will be able to advocate for their classmates who may find themselves in isolated or bullying situations due to their perceived differences. During adolescence, when differences seem to be amplified, having an advocate, partner, and friend is important. This year, 10 students with disabilities and 50 age-alike peers have been invited to participate in this pilot program. Our hope is to see this program expand in future years.

Through the Peer Power Partners program, students with disabilities gain acceptance, quality inclusion, understanding and improved opportunities to learn, play and work with age-alike peers. Peer advocates gain increased understanding, compassion and a new skill set which includes knowledgeable appreciation for others’ differences and challenges. In the bigger picture, both populations will become more well-rounded, and comfortable interacting with each other. As all these children age and grow together, many will hopefully become inclusive, productive, and diverse leaders in the Austin community.