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This study, examined the effectiveness of an inclusive summer camp by evaluating the effects of social intervention through use of motivational behavior analysis strategies to meet IEP social benchmarks and annual goals deemed important by the child’s educational team. Four children with autism ranging from 4.5 – 6 years of age, representing a large range of functioning, communication, and social levels participated in the summer camp. Children attended the camp for a total of two weeks and participated in a variety of social activities with typical children creating opportunities for social interaction and social practice for the children with autism. All children were supported by paraprofessionals who used a variety of social facilitation strategies to make the social interaction mutually reinforcing to both the camper with autism and his or her peer. In order to examine the effectiveness of the inclusive summer camp, a multiple baseline design across participants was used to measure if the IEP annual social goals could be met within a two week time period. Results of the study demonstrated that the inclusive summer camp was successful in rapidly reaching social IEP benchmarks and annual goals within the two week time period with 88% of the annual goals met during intervention and 66% of the goals maintained at generalization. The findings highlight the effectiveness of a program combing social facilitation strategies, natural environments, and typical peer models. In addition, the inclusive summer camp helps to move inclusive programming beyond the educational arena and provides additional social opportunities in a community setting. Finally, the benefits of the inclusive program point to the importance to coordinate programs with the school district to target social goals throughout the summer.
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