A Distance-Delivered Social Skills Program for Young Adults with Williams Syndrome: Evaluating Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy

Fisher, Marisa H.; Kammes, Rebecca; Black, Rhonda S.; Houck, Kristin; Cwiakala, Katie

doi:10.1007/s10803-022-05501-6

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…This study demonstrates that SSTP-WS is a promising intervention tool for people with WS. Fisher, Kammes, Black, and Cwiakala (2022) conducted an 8-week long SSTP with people with WS, further confirming the acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of this training program. Both studies demonstrated effective face-to-face telehealth social skills training in people with WS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Do Computerized False Belief Tasks Impact Mentalizing Ability in People with Williams Syndrome?

Hsu¹,

Rao²

2023

Preprint

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Background: People with Williams syndrome (WS) are characterized with hypersociability, fluency in languages, and advantageous face-processing skills, leading to the proposal of a social module. Previous studies on the mentalizing abilities of people with WS using two-dimensional pictures and mindreading from eyes, including normal-like, delayed, and deviant behaviors, have yielded mixed results. This study thus examined the mentalizing ability of people with WS through structured computerized animations of false belief tasks to investigate whether inferences about other people’s minds can be improved in this population. Method: Participants were shown animations with unexpected location and content changes. After viewing each animation, participants had to answer four types of questions: character identification, reality, memory, and false belief. Their responses were recorded and analyzed. Results: Comprehension of false belief was observed in 4-year-old healthy children, whereas children with WS showed unsuccessful comprehension of false belief (until they attained a mental age of 5.3 years), suggesting an improvement in theory of mind resulting from viewing structured computerized animations. This age is earlier than that reported by previous studies for using theory of mind to pass false belief tests (8.5 years old), even challenging the age at which individuals failed to pass the tests (12.10 years old). Conclusions: Structured computerized animations enhanced the mentalizing ability of people with WS to a certain extent. Compared to the typically developing controls, people with WS presented with a lower developmental level in processing false belief tasks. The educational implication of this study is to develop computerized social skills interventions for people with WS.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Do Computerized False Belief Tasks Impact Mentalizing Ability in People with Williams Syndrome?

Hsu¹,

Rao²

2023

Preprint

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“…Their study demonstrates that SSTP-WS is a promising intervention tool for people with WS. The acceptability, feasibility, and efficacy of this training program were further confirmed by an 8-week-long SSTP with people with WS [21]. Both studies demonstrated effective face-to-face telehealth social skills training in people with WS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Computerized False Belief Tasks Impact Mentalizing Ability in People with Williams Syndrome

Hsu

Rao

2023

Brain Sciences

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People with Williams syndrome (WS) are characterized by hyper sociability, fluency in languages, and advantageous face-processing skills, leading to the proposal of a social module. Previous studies on the mentalizing abilities of people with WS using two-dimensional pictures, including normal-like, delayed, and deviant behaviors, have yielded mixed results. Thus, this study examined the mentalizing ability of people with WS through structured computerized animations of false belief tasks to investigate whether inferences about other people’s minds can be improved in this population. Participants were shown animations containing unexpected location and content changes. After viewing each animation, participants had to answer four types of questions relating to character identification, reality, memory, and false belief. Their responses were recorded and analyzed. A comprehension of false belief was observed in 4-year-old healthy children, whereas children with WS showed enhanced comprehension of false belief (until they attained a chronological age [CA] of 5.9 years), suggesting an improvement in the theory of mind resulting from viewing structured computerized animations. This age is earlier than that reported by previous studies for using theory of mind to pass false belief tests (CA 9 years), even challenging the age at which individuals failed to pass the tests (CA 17.11 years). Structured computerized animations enhanced the mentalizing ability of people with WS to a certain extent. Compared to the typically developing controls, people with WS presented with a lower developmental level in processing false belief tasks. This study has educational implications for the development of computerized social skills interventions for people with WS.

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“…Considering that the gap between children with Williams syndrome and their peers expands with age, and that adults with Williams syndrome often suffer from poor social relationships [21], social skills training for both children and adults is an important area for intervention. Although social skills interventions have not yet been developed or tested in children in Williams syndrome, Fisher et al [22] recently developed and evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an 8-week, distance-delivered social skills training program for adults with Williams syndrome. In this study, 24 adults were assigned either to the intervention or a waitlist control group.…”

Section: Recent Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The more nuanced understanding of social behaviors [16 ▪▪ ,17 ▪▪ ], clinical presentations of anxiety [23,24], and eating behaviors [29 ▪▪ ] in Williams syndrome gained over the past 18 months will hopefully allow for the development of more targeted and effective interventions. Excitingly, the field has begun to move beyond phenotyping and has begun piloting treatment interventions for social skills training in adults [22], play and humor-based exposure therapy for the management of fears and phobias in children [25 ▪ ], and modified CBT for generalized anxiety disorder in adults with Williams syndrome [26 ▪▪ ]. As these interventions are further refined and tested, it will be critical to ensure that the research is conducted with an eye towards scalability and maximizing dissemination potential for a rare genetic syndrome.…”

Section: Future Research Directions and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychiatric and behavioral manifestations of Williams syndrome

Thom

2023

Current Opinion in Psychiatry

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Purpose of review The purpose of this review is to synthesize recent advances in the psychiatric and behavioral manifestations of Williams syndrome, a rare genetic syndrome. Recent advances have focused on more deeply characterizing the social phenotype and developing social skill interventions, improving the assessment and treatment of anxiety, and exploring eating behaviors. Recent findings The social cognitive phenotype in Williams syndrome, which consists of both high social drive and social cognition deficits, is present cross-culturally and may be related to reduced eye gaze. Social skills training for adults with Williams syndrome has demonstrated promise. Adapted exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy programs for children and adults respectively, have been piloted in Williams syndrome. The majority of adults with Williams syndrome are either underweight or overweight, and problematic food-related behaviors likely contribute to bodyweight status. Summary Williams syndrome is associated with a number of core social and psychiatric difficulties which have a significant impact on functioning and quality of life. Recent work has begun to utilize a more nuanced understanding of the clinical presentations of these problems to develop interventions tailored to this unique population. However, larger trials, particularly those inclusive of a more diverse Williams syndrome population, are needed.

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A Distance-Delivered Social Skills Program for Young Adults with Williams Syndrome: Evaluating Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy

Cited by 6 publications

References 47 publications

Do Computerized False Belief Tasks Impact Mentalizing Ability in People with Williams Syndrome?

Do Computerized False Belief Tasks Impact Mentalizing Ability in People with Williams Syndrome?

Computerized False Belief Tasks Impact Mentalizing Ability in People with Williams Syndrome

Psychiatric and behavioral manifestations of Williams syndrome

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