Schools on TRACKS is a peer-mediated social skills program designed to teach students how to make friends and ensure a rewarding experience. In particular, it provides students with proven strategies to use when interacting with children with disabilities and/or social challenges. 

This peer-mediated approach used in TRACKS involves teaching peers how to interact with children with social challenges to learn appropriate social skills in natural settings. TRACKS is named for the skills taught to peers in a child-friendly acronym:

It has been demonstrated that inclusion alone, or pure exposure to typically developing peers, is not sufficient to produce social skills change for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Laushey & Heflin, 2000; McConnell, 2002). Instead the five components in the TRACKS acronym provide peers with strategies to interact with students with social challenges.

Why at School? 

Social interactions are a primary focus at school. However, students with social challenges and other disabilities often have difficulties with peer interactions and social situations. The ability to perform socially is essential to children’s and youth's achievements (Barnhill, 2002). The National Research Council (2001) states the two most critical skills for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are similar to every child--to attain social skills and independence. The proximity of adults to children with disabilities can also limit opportunities for interaction with peers. Adults that are close by may be intimidating for peers or be socially inappropriate (Giangreco et al., 1997). 

Traditional Adult-Mediated Approach  

The traditional approach of teaching children with a disability social skills and then placing them in an environment with peers can lead to a lack of generalization or inappropriate use of the skill. 

New Peer-Mediated Approach 

A peer-mediated approach requires the educator to train peers and discretely prompt them to interact with the child with disabilities and assist in learning new social skills in naturally occurring situations. This increases the likelihood that both will seek other opportunities to interact without the direction of the educator in the future. Initially, educators need to prompt through peers and reinforce them for each interaction. In time, students may not need to be rewarded with tangible items, but rather by the interaction itself. This will indicate when it is time to gradually fade prompts and proximity. 

Originally developed in 2008, and named the PEER Pals Program, the Schools on TRACKS program has been run across schools in Ontario. Recently, a partnership between Thames Valley Children’s Centre, Fanshawe College, Huron Perth Catholic District School Board, and Thames Valley District School Board has re-created the manual more specific to the current educator. 

Fanshawe College brings expertise around childhood development, best practices in adult learning and online training, and experience in research and evaluation.

 

Huron Perth Catholic District School Board (HPCDSB) brings extensive experience implementing the PEER Pals program school-wide across their board.

Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) has  implemented the TRACKS program board-wide and have created many hands-on resources to add to the program.