Purpose Many university-based services for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have incorporated peer mentorship programs; however, the research on the success of these programs to increase social engagement is extremely limited. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a peer mentor program, both alone and combined with an incentive program, on increasing the social engagement of college students with ASD. Additionally, the perceptions of college students with ASD were also examined to determine potential barriers to participate in these social events. Design/methodology/approach A component analysis was used to determine what intervention component or combination of components, was most effective in increasing the social engagement among college students with ASD. The number of students during each component was totaled and averaged across the number of social events held during that phase. A survey regarding barriers to social engagement was also provided. Findings Results suggest that both the peer mentor program alone, as well as the peer mentor program in conjunction with an incentive program, were effective at increasing students’ attendance at weekly supervised social events. Results from the survey regarding barriers to social engagement revealed that the majority of students reported difficulties managing time to fit social events into their schedule. Originality/value To the knowledge, the use of peer-mentoring programs combined with an incentive program on increasing social engagement has not yet been investigated. Further, perceptions of the use of these programs by college students with ASD is relatively limited.

Three teacher educators worked at a US community college with two adult education staff on a grant-supported project bridging high school dropouts from adult education to employment. The teacher educators' apparently simple task of facilitating grant participants' engagement with action research became confusingly challenging. The consultants engaged in 'second-order' action research to frame their process of reflective practice, thus deepening their understanding of the project's complexity, the marginalization of adult education, and their adult education colleagues' and other grant participants' reflective practice. This shift in understanding, powered by their continuing reflective practice, precipitated a transformation of their theoretical framework. They moved from questioning the nature of their roles to a more complex understanding of their experience and identity as movement among and within overlapping communities of practice.

Oral reading fluency has been established in previous literature as a key component in becoming an effective reader. Repeated reading (RR) and listening passage preview (LPP) are both oral reading fluency interventions well‐supported in the research literature, however, most of this study explores their use with elementary‐aged children, with only a handful of studies over the last 20 years evaluating their use in middle‐school children. The overall goal of the current study was to explore the effectiveness of both of these interventions independent and relative to one another. An alternating treatment design (A/ABC), including the use of baseline, was implemented to compare RR, LPP, and a control. Three middle school‐aged struggling readers were randomly exposed to the conditions over time, with oral reading fluency acting as the primary dependent variable. Data were analyzed using visual analysis and effect size calculated using nonoverlap of all pairs (NAP). The results indicated primarily large effects for RR, with LPP effects ranging from small to large across participants. Limitations, implications, and future directions are also discussed.

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