Normative sample of the PEAK relational training system: Direct training module and subsequent comparisons to individuals with autism

The present data provide a normative sample of the PEAK: direct training module assessment and a subsequent comparison to individuals with autism. Altogether, 206 typically developing participants and 94 participants with autism took part in the study. For the normative sample, there was a strong relationship between PEAK total score and age (r = .659, p < .01), and a cubic regression provided a strong fit for the data (R2 = .821, t = 18.51, p < .01). The results from the autism sample suggest that there was no significant correlation between PEAK total score and age (r = .021, p = .861), and that PEAK total scores for the autism group were significantly lower than the normative sample (t(275) = 10.63, p < .001). The data suggest that PEAK may be especially useful as an assessment and curriculum guide for individuals with autism, and future research should be conducted on the increasingly complex topographies of human language and cognition that PEAK affords clinicians.