A Group-Administered social Skills Training for 8- to 12- Year-Old, high-Functioning Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Evaluation of its Effectiveness in a Naturalistic Outpatient Treatment Setting

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 46; no. 11; pp. 3493 - 3504
• Main Authors: Deckers, Anne, Muris, Peter, Roelofs, Jeffrey, Arntz, Arnoud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.11.2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ambulatory Care; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Asperger Syndrome; Asperger Syndrome - diagnosis; Asperger Syndrome - psychology; Asperger Syndrome - rehabilitation; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Autism Spectrum Disorder - rehabilitation; Autistic children; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and School Psychology; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - diagnosis; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - rehabilitation; Children; Children & youth; Children's social skills; Clinical medicine; Clinics; Cognition; Community Mental Health Centers; Comorbidity; Comparative Analysis; Control Groups; Families & family life; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Foreign Countries; Group Processes; Health aspects; High functioning; Humans; Hypothesis Testing; Interaction; Intervention; Loneliness; Loneliness - psychology; Male; Netherlands; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Outcome Assessment (Health Care); Outpatient treatment; Parent Attitudes; Patient outcomes; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Pretests Posttests; Program Effectiveness; Psychological aspects; Psychological Patterns; Psychology; Public Health; Questionnaires; Regression (Statistics); Skill Development; Social anxiety; Social aspects; Social Behavior; Social education; Social interaction; Social Skills; Statistical Analysis; Surveys; Teacher Attitudes; Teachers; Theory of Mind; Netherlands; Autism spectrum disorders; Social skills; Children
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-016-2887-1

A social skills training (SST) for high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was evaluated in an outpatient setting using a combined between- and within-subject design in which SST and a waiting list condition were compared. According to parents and teachers, the SST produced greater improvement of social skills than the waiting list, and these effects were maintained at 3 months follow-up. No between-group effects were found for loneliness, although in general scores on this outcome measure decreased from pre- to follow-up. The effects of SST were unaffected by social anxiety, ADHD symptoms, Theory of Mind, or desire for social interaction. Altogether, SST seems an effective intervention for high-functioning children with ASD that can be applied in daily clinical practice.