Cross-Cultural Adaptation to Australia of the KONTAKT© Social Skills Group Training Program for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Feasibility Study.

Bahareh et al. (2020) brought the Swedish KONTAKT social-skills program to Australia.

They ran the 16-session group with autistic teens in a high-school setting.

Before and after, they asked each teen to pick a personal social goal and tracked progress.

Every teen met the social goal he or she had chosen.

Parents and teachers said the kids now joined talks more and felt less left out.

The team saw enough promise to plan a full-scale RCT next.

Marwick et al. (2021) also used small groups in schools. Their Playboxes method lifted pretend-play skills in younger kids, showing group formats work across ages.

Roane et al. (2001) warned that autistic teens often "masquerade" to survive class. KONTAKT gives them real skills instead of just masking, filling a gap that study exposed.

Arnold et al. (2026) found camouflaging tools like the CAT-Q may not be valid for teens with language delays. KONTAKT sidesteps that worry by teaching live interaction, not paper scores.

You now have a ready-made teen group curriculum that fits inside a school term. Pick one social goal per student, run the 16 lessons, and let the teens practice in real lunch-room talks. No extra tests needed—just watch the goal met and hear the hallway chatter grow.