Examining the effectiveness of an outpatient clinic-based social skills group for high-functioning children with autism.
Brief clinic groups teach autistic kids new greetings and play, but you must add home practice for true generalization.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Rutherford et al. (2003) ran an eight-week social skills group in a hospital clinic. The kids were high-functioning autistic children. Each week they practiced greetings and play skills with staff and peers.
Staff watched the kids during clinic games and noted if they used the target skills. Parents also filled out short surveys about what they saw at home.
What they found
Kids used more greetings and better play moves during clinic games. They also told staff they felt more support from friends.
Parents saw more greetings at home, but play skills did not carry over. The skills stayed in the clinic unless parents saw them first.
How this fits with other research
Winett et al. (1991) saw the same pattern: clinic-only gains until they added home coaching. The new study echoes that warning twelve years later.
Laposa et al. (2017) muddies the water. They gave no treatment and still got parent reports of “big” gains. That placebo effect may explain why D et al. saw only weak home reports.
Bauman et al. (1996) used the same BST steps and got strong generalization of emotional skills. The difference: they trained across people and places from day one.
Why it matters
Eight clinic sessions are enough to teach new social moves, but they are not enough to move them home. Add brief home practice or parent coaching if you want real-world use. Start with one extra home assignment per skill and check parent data the next week.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Although social skills group interventions for children with autism are common in outpatient clinic settings, little research has been conducted to determine the efficacy of such treatments. This study examined the effectiveness of an outpatient clinic-based social skills group intervention with four high-functioning elementary-aged children with autism. The group was designed to teach specific social skills, including greeting, conversation, and play skills in a brief therapy format (eight sessions total). At the end of each skills-training session, children with autism were observed in play sessions with typical peers. Typical peers received peer education about ways to interact with children with autism. Results indicate that a social skills group implemented in an outpatient clinic setting was effective in improving greeting and play skills, with less clear improvements noted in conversation skills. In addition, children with autism reported increased feelings of social support from classmates at school following participation in the group. However, parent report data of greeting, conversation, and play skills outside of the clinic setting indicated significant improvements in only greeting skills. Thus, although the clinic-based intervention led to improvements in social skills, fewer changes were noted in the generalization to nonclinic settings.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2003 · doi:10.1023/b:jadd.0000006004.86556.e0