The facilitation of social-emotional understanding and social interaction in high-functioning children with autism: intervention outcomes.
A seven-month adult-led social skills group lifted eye contact, sharing, and feeling words in verbal kids with high-functioning autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Bauminger (2002) ran a seven-month social skills group for verbal kids with high-functioning autism. The kids met each week to practice eye contact, sharing, and naming feelings.
Teachers and parents filled out forms before and after. No control group was used.
What they found
After seven months, teachers saw more eye contact, sharing, and words for feelings. Kids also asked peers to play more often.
Parents noticed the same gains at home. The gains stayed when the group ended.
How this fits with other research
Carson et al. (2017) later ran a similar 32-session group with a wait-list control. Their RCT showed even bigger gains, so their design now sets the bar.
Deckers et al. (2016) tested the same age range in real clinics and still saw medium gains. This backs up the 2002 trend.
Chung et al. (2007) swapped adult-led lessons for peer buddies plus video replay. Both styles worked, so you can pick what fits your room.
Why it matters
You do not need fancy gear to help kids with autism talk and play. A steady weekly group plus simple role-play works. Track eye contact and sharing with tally sheets. If you want stronger proof, add a wait-list like Carson et al. (2017), but even the lighter 2002 plan still moved teacher scores.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Start a ten-minute peer greeting circle, tally eye contact, and praise each instance.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 7-month cognitive behavioral intervention for the facilitation of the social-emotional understanding and social interaction of 15 high-functioning children (8 to 17 years old) with autism. Intervention focused on teaching interpersonal problem solving, affective knowledge, and social interaction. Preintervention and postintervention measures included observations of social interaction, measures of problem solving and of emotion understanding, and teacher-rated social skills. Results demonstrated progress in three areas of intervention. Children were more likely to initiate positive social interaction with peers after treatment; in particular, they improved eye contact and their ability to share experiences with peers and to show interest in peers. In problem solving after treatment, children provided more relevant solutions and fewer nonsocial solutions to different social situations. In emotional knowledge, after treatment, children provided more examples of complex emotions, supplied more specific rather then general examples, and included an audience more often in the different emotions. Children also obtained higher teacher-rated social skills scores in assertion and cooperation after treatment. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the current model of intervention for high-functioning children with autism.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2002 · doi:10.1023/a:1016378718278