A double-masked randomised actively controlled trial of KONTAKT™ social skills toolbox for Australian autistic children.
KONTAKT social-skills groups beat art clubs only for friendship quality—use them when peer relationships are the target.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers ran a double-blind RCT with autistic Australian kids. They compared KONTAKT social-skills groups to art-based groups. Both groups met for the same number of sessions.
Therapists, kids, and parents did not know which group was the “real” one. Everyone set personal social goals at the start.
What they found
Both programs helped kids reach their own social goals. KONTAKT added a medium-to-large boost in friendship quality. Kids also said KONTAKT sessions were more fun.
How this fits with other research
Gillberg et al. (2010) did an earlier RCT of a manual social-skills program. Their program worked, but it was less focused on real friendships. KONTAKT keeps the manual style and adds peer friendship targets.
Li et al. (2025) and Chung et al. (2025) both used robots to teach social skills. Robots helped, yet gains were the same as human teaching or only slightly better. KONTAKT shows live peer groups still beat creative clubs when friendship is the goal.
Van Gaasbeek et al. (2026) pooled 29 studies and found most behavioral social programs help. KONTAKT now gives one clear example you can copy tomorrow.
Why it matters
If a child’s main struggle is making friends, pick a structured peer group like KONTAKT instead of a general arts club. The extra friendship payoff is worth the tighter lesson plan. You can keep the art class for other goals, but use KONTAKT when peer bonds are the target.
Get CEUs on This Topic — Free
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ on-demand CEUs including ethics, supervision, and clinical topics like this one. Plus a new live CEU every Wednesday.
Swap one open-ended activity for a KONTAKT lesson that pairs kids to practice joining a game, then rate friendship quality at exit.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
To explore the efficacy of KONTAKT™, a manualised social skills group programme, compared to an active control group, 84 autistic children aged 8-12 years were randomised to KONTAKT (n = 43) or ART-Legends, a group-based social art programme (n = 41). Both programmes ran for sixteen 75-min sessions. Primary (Goal Attainment Scaling) and Secondary outcomes (Social Skills Group Assessment, LERID Friendship Scale) were collected at baseline, post-completion, 3-month (primary endpoint) and 1-year follow-up. A weekly survey was also collected to capture children's enjoyment, motivation and social interaction anxiety while attending their group. Linear mixed modelling indicating significant effects for both groups on the primary outcome GAS (p < 0.001) over time. No Time*Group interaction was observed for GAS or any of the secondary measures at the primary endpoint, except quality of friendship (effect size = 0.67, p = 0.01). The weekly survey indicated higher enjoyment levels from attending KONTAKT compared to ART-Legends. This study found that both social group programmes helped autistic children achieve their personal social goals, with no clear advantage for KONTAKT over ART-Legends. However, KONTAKT's specific elements were necessary for improving friendship quality. Future research can benefit from exploring and identifying the elements of a social programme supporting enjoyment and helping autistic children achieve their goals.Trial registration: (1) Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12619000994189, registered 12 July 2019, anzctr.org.au; (2) ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04024111 registered 1 December 2019, https://clinicaltrials.govLay AbstractSocial skills group programmes such as KONTAKT™ are the most frequently used programmes for supporting the social needs of autistic children in navigating a non-autistic social world. The success of these programmes is largely measured by comparing participants attending a social skills group programme to others not receiving this support or attending another social skills group programme. Therefore, it is unclear whether mere exposure to a supportive social group based on interests is as beneficial as a social skills group programme in supporting the social needs of autistic children. To understand this effect, researchers compared KONTAKT to ART-Legends, a group-based social art programme. While participants in both programmes engaged in free social play, KONTAKT participants also had opportunities to practise their social skills in activities such as roleplays and discussions. Two to three health professionals delivered both programmes to groups of 4-8 autistic children aged 8-12 years. Both programmes were manualised and ran for sixteen 75-min sessions. Overall, 84 children attended the programmes, 43 in KONTAKT and 41 in ART-Legends. A researcher, unaware of the group each child attended, collected data before, then immediately, 3 months and 12 months after the programmes ended. The enjoyment and motivation of attending the groups and the children's anxiety when socialising while attending the groups were also collected. This study found that both groups made clear progress on their personal social goals and social skills over time. However, children in the KONTAKT group showed better results than those in the ART-Legends group when it came to making friends, enjoying the sessions and feeling less anxious in social situations. Overall, this research suggested that when autistic children take part in a structured social group programme led by trained professionals in a supportive setting, the programme can help them reach their personally meaningful social goals. However, if the aim is related to improving their friendships and having more successful socialisation skills, KONTAKT is superior. Future studies could look more closely at what parts of the programme are most helpful in improving friendship and socialisation skills.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2026 · doi:10.1177/13623613251414902