Article: Examining the effects of peer mediation on the social skills of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder as compared to their peers. By Hart and Banda, in Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 2018, 53, 2.
It took me forever to figure out who the "peers" were in peer mediation. For 4 elementary aged children diagnosed with ASD, their "peers" were typically developing classmates. So, when you use typically developing classmates to help teach kids with ASD social skills, it works. It works so well that the ASD kids perform these social skills at the level of their typically developing peers. They perform social skills at normal levels.