Peer Interventionists

Hear from our Peer Interventionists

Can you tell me how travel has impacted your life and ability to be mobile in community? Was it hard for you to learn to navigate the transportation systems?

“Well, all my life I haven’t been able to drive. I’ve been planning to get a driver’s license, but I’ve always been scared to. Public transit has really been able to give me an alternative way to really get around the city; to get from place to place without really needing to plan a ride or spend exorbitant amounts of money on Uber or Lyft. It also fills me with like a sense of independence I don’t think I would have gotten if I were sharing rides with friends or family. It really gives me hope that I can be truly independent.”- Jeff

“Navigating different modes of transportation, such as from the regional rail to the subway. And getting schedules and times mixed up, which can lead to some complications. Trying to keep a cool and steady head in the midst of that has been the solution to those kinds of problems.”- Nate

What has it been like to be a peer interventionist?

“I felt like this job was a perfect fit for me when I first read the description in August 2019. From the time I was in high school to now, I’ve gotten a lot more interested in public transportation. This job has gotten me even more interested than I ever was before. I feel like I can learn about places I’ve never been to before and the different public transportation systems they have, especially with SEPTA but also with other mass transit systems that happen to be in that area. I can learn about how to get to those places, what routes to take, and what different methods I need to be taking. By just taking it once, I can know right away how I can do that. It’s second nature.” - Luke

“I just feel like it’s been such a great experience. There’s just been a number of experiences that have led me to believe that. One time, a participant and I took a bus from Norristown to the Montgomery Mall, where a friend of his worked, and he told me that he would never forget this day. You can clearly tell that learning how to use public transportation, especially for those on the spectrum that do not have a driver’s license, it changes lives. This role is helping to change people’s lives, and that’s something I was really looking for, especially in my first year after graduating from college.”- Luke

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Meet Luke

Luke Tomczuk joined the research team as a peer interventionist in September 2019. He participated in the first Community Autism Peer Specialist (CAPS) training in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in June 2019. Just one month earlier, he earned his BA in History at Temple University. Tomczuk was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at the age of 2.
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Luke's Presentation at the Philly Autism Project Conference this year!

Meet Nate

While not longer with us, Nathan Deitcher was an important part of our research team. He joined the research team as a peer interventionist in March 2019. He previously worked for a year as an AmeriCorpsAbility member at the Ruttenburg Autism Center after graduating from Juniata College with a B.A in Philosophy.
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Keeping Everyone Safe.

As we seek to broaden the transportation opportunities of adults on the autism spectrum, the safety of the peer interventionists and participants is our primary concern. There are many attributes that Peer Interventionists have that promote safety and learning. Our peer interventionist go through specialized training where they learn the following things.

General

Community Skills

The importance of establishing rapport and using interaction skills with the person, their families, caregivers, and others.
The impact of cultural and attitudinal factors affecting independent travel for people with disabilities.
The effects that body awareness, spatial, time, positional, directional, and environmental concepts have on moving purposefully in the environment.
The concepts of time, telephone communication, and handling money as they relate to independent travel.
Developing and maintaining professional relationships.

Curriculum-Based

Skills

How to analyze intersections to determine the best locations for negotiating street crossings by persons with different disabilities.
How to analyze traffic flow at intersections controlled by various types of traffic lights such as turning lanes and pedestrian push buttons.
How to communicate with transportation authorities regarding the needs of persons with disabilities.
Orientation and travel skills including route planning, schedule reading, use of transit maps, analysis of traffic patterns and street crossings as relevant to travel environments.
The process for selecting travel route and mode of transit based on the environment and person and family preferences.
Techniques used for familiarization of indoor and outdoor environments including the use of landmarks, signage, and numbering systems.
Teaching skills and strategies for students to use when lost or confused while traveling such as through use of street names, addresses, business phone numbers, landmarks, and by soliciting information or calling for assistance when necessary.
Methods of teaching the person to recognize problematic travel situations and strategies to respond appropriately.
Teaching concepts of left and right, directionality, position, spatial awareness, compass directions, measurement, and time.

Assessments

Basic understanding of the assessment procedures used for determining the person’s readiness for travel instruction.
The appropriate procedures used to assess orientation and travel skills in areas such as motor, cognitive, language, and sensory skills.
Evaluating students utilizing appropriate assessment tools, methods, and settings for designing instructional plans.
The strategies and methods for selecting an appropriate position (i.e., in front of, behind, or to the side of the person) for effective instruction and safety.

Transportation Goals

The strategies and methods used to design evaluations of travel skills when the person is followed without his or her knowledge.
How to teach persons to initiate actions in the travel situation.
Appropriate landmark selection, recognition, and use.
Teaching travel techniques in environments with escalators, automatic doors, revolving doors, turn-styles, pedestrian ramps, and elevators.
Teaching street crossings including scanning, choosing an appropriate time to initiate crossings, using traffic control signals, and walking within the crosswalk lines.
Developing efficient and effective scheduling for individual travel instruction.
Teaching person procedures to follow when they become lost or have problems when traveling.

Prior to 1-1 peer travel training, our peer interventionist complete a safety evaluation where they demonstrate the ability to plan and fully implement trips using public transportation with other people with Autism.

Peer Interventionist Training

Once hired, peer-interventionists participate in an intensive training process including observations by clinical and research staff in the early stages of implementation to ensure intervention fidelity.

The training was developed during a previous pilot of the intervention process. and includes the following components:

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Training Components

Introduction and Barriers to Transportation
Initial Steps to Training
Instructional Strategies/Methods
Prerequisite Skills
Preparing for Travel Training
Helping Network
Travel Training Sequence
Helpful Hints

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Researchers and clinical staff meet with the peer-interventionists on a weekly basis to answer questions, address problems, obtain feedback and refine the assessments and intervention processes if needed.