This project examines data collected during a social group intervention in which teens with ASD are grouped with peers without disabilities. By using discourse analytic methodology, we are able to explore the collaborative process of social action within the intervention context. This approach often reveals how individuals with ASD use atypical means (such as echolalia) to achieve socially relevant ends. To date, we have studied how an adolescent with ASD negotiated social participation during group activities, and the construction of a group identity in a 16 year-old male with ASD over the course of six social group sessions.
Social Participation Identity