Long-term social skills group training for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Social skills group training (SSGT) is widely used for intellectually able children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies indicate small to moderate effects on social communication capacities. The duration of most available programs is relatively short, and extended training might lead to further improvement. This randomized controlled trial compared an extended 24-week version of the SSGT program KONTAKT with standard care. The weekly sessions gradually shifted in content from acquisition of new skills to real-world application of the acquired skills. A total of 50 participants with ASD (15 females; 35 males) aged 8-17 years were included. The study was conducted at two child and adolescent psychiatry outpatient units in Sweden. The primary outcome was the Social Responsiveness Scale-Second Edition (SRS-2) rated by parents and blinded teachers. Secondary outcomes included parent- and teacher-rated adaptive behaviors, trainer-rated global functioning and clinical severity, and self-reported child and caregiver stress. Assessments were made at baseline, posttreatment, and at 3-months follow-up. Parent-rated SRS-2 scores indicated large effects posttreatment [- 19.2; 95% CI - 29.9 to - 8.5; p < .001, effect size (ES) = 0.76], which were maintained at follow-up (- 20.7; 95% CI - 31.7 to - 9.7; p < .0001, ES = 0.82). These estimates indicate substantially larger improvement than previously reported for shorter SSGT. However, the effects on teacher-rated SRS-2 and most secondary outcomes did not reach statistical significance. Our results suggest added benefits of extended SSGT training, implying that service providers might reach better results by optimizing the delivery of SSGT.

Effectiveness of behavioral interventions for autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review

“…Thirty-two studies used integrative programs [18,20,24,25,28,30,33,[35][36][37]40,52,58,60,62,63,71,74,[77][78][79]81,86,89,92,96,98,[100][101][102][103]107]. Also, thirty studies used social skills development interventions [16,17,19,22,23,29,32,34,38,39,45,47,48,56,57,59,61,64,65,69,72,73,80,…”

“…Of the 30 studies on the social skills development intervention approach, 28 studies were signi cantly reached in all outcomes. 32 studies only examined the impact of the intervention on the social skills of the participants [16,17,22,23,29,32,34,39,47,48,59,64,65,69,72,73,80,[83][84][85]90,99,105], three studies on behavior and social skills [45,57,97], one study on social motivation [38], and one study on social engagement [61]. But, only two studies reported that some of the expected outcomes created signi cant change [19,56].…”

Association Between Rare Copy Number Variation and Response to Social Skills Training in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…We recently reported that a long version of KONTAKT (24-weeks) resulted in larger effects in general than we have found for the 12weeks version used here. 45 Unfortunately, that trial was not sufficiently powered for subgroup analyzes.…”

Proof of concept: The TRANSITION program for young adults with autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…The manual and work material should be user-friendly, accessible, and easy to adapt/revise. We viewed the length of the intervention as a trade-off between the optimal effect, available resources, and demands on the participant's time and effort [62]. To be effective, we reasoned that the duration should enable the participants to pursue and attain meaningful goals in the course of the intervention.…”