The Playground Observation of Peer Engagement

Background: Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have social challenges, which become increasingly apparent as children with ASD enter school. Several commonly used checklists and surveys are used to measure social behaviors of individuals with ASD (e.g., Gresham & Elliott, 2008; Constantino & Gruber, 2005), but these measures rely on reporters’ perceptions of behavior, rather than objective observations of social behaviors within authentic social contexts. There is a critical need for social skills assessments that are able to measure the extent to which children with ASD utilize social skills in real life settings (Freeman & Cronin, 2017). The Playground Observation of Peer Engagement (POPE; Kasari, Rotheram-Fuller and Locke, 2005) is a 15-minute observation measure that captures discrete social behaviors by measuring the proportion of time that children spend in different engagement states and the frequency of social initiations, responses, and conversations. The POPE has been shown to detect changes in behaviors of children with ASD in naturalistic environments.

Objectives: The study purpose is to provide a systematic review of social skills intervention studies that have utilized the POPE to measure the effect of interventions on peer engagement in naturalistic environments.

Methods: A comprehensive search using three electronic databases and keyword search terms (Playground Observation of Peer Engagement, POPE, autism, ASD, playground observation, peer engagement) yielded 74 articles. Eight articles met the inclusion criteria: (a) Participants with ASD were in kindergarten through high school and were educated in a mainstream setting; (b) Social skills interventions at school in inclusive settings; (c) POPE was used to examine changes in social engagement of individuals with ASD.

Results: Selected articles include four randomized controlled trials (Kasari et al, 2016; Kasari, et al, 2012; Kretzman, et al, 2015; Shih, et al., 2018), one quasi-experimental design (Locke, et al, 2018), and three single subject experimental designs (Ezzamel & Bond, 2017; Radley et al., 2014; Radley et al., 2017). One hundred and ninety-six socio-economically and ethnically diverse children with ASD (ages 5 -11) participated in social interventions at school. POPE observations occurred before the start of the intervention (Baseline), post intervention (Exit), and four to six weeks post intervention (Follow-up). Evidence of behavior change was reported for Solitary, Joint Engagement, and Initiations and Responses. Five studies reported a significant decrease in Solitary between baseline and exit, with participants maintaining effects at follow-up (n=4). Six studies reported increase in Joint Engagement pre and post assessment, with four studies maintaining the effects at follow-up. Three studies reported an increase in positive social initiations and social responses post intervention, with two studies reporting maintenance effects at follow-up.

Conclusions: The POPE is an ecologically valid observation instrument that is able to capture discrete social behaviors of a diverse population of children with ASD at school. Currently, POPE observations have only been tested in elementary school settings. Research is needed to examine the usefulness of the POPE in secondary settings, and to examine which variables on the POPE are consistently being used to measure change.