Abstract
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are often impaired in their ability to generate and maintain conversations with others (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Poor conversational skills inhibit children with ASD from appropriately interacting with peers and family members, often prohibiting them from developing satisfying relationships with others. The teaching interaction procedure was utilized in the present intervention to improve conversational skills in four children with an ASD. Children ages 7-11 participated in an outpatient social skills group over a period of 10 weeks. Results suggest the teaching interaction procedure was effective in improving conversational skills for all participants. This study highlights issues related to conducting short-term group therapy with individuals with ASD.
Highlights
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive childhood disorder currently defined by three major domains of impairment: 1) deficits in social interaction, 2) deficits in communication, and 3) restricted or repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; DSM-IV-TR)
Delivering social skills interventions within a group setting maximizes the efficiency of the clinician by allowing the individual to target multiple children with ASD at once
A multiple baseline across skills was implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching interaction procedure in improving conversational skills
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive childhood disorder currently defined by three major domains of impairment: 1) deficits in social interaction, 2) deficits in communication, and 3) restricted or repetitive behaviors (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; DSM-IV-TR). Clinicians who deliver evidence-based interventions in naturalistic environments are often faced with time constraints It is not uncommon for community organized social skills groups to run for only a few weeks at a time. To date, it is unclear whether the teaching interaction procedure can be applied effectively within a brief format. This individualized approach provides more information with respect to each group members’ progress and allows for more informed decision making on the part of the clinician/researcher with respect to treatment Our aim in this project was to attempt to balance the gains of utilizing a single-subject approach, while maintaining the naturalistic demands of a community summer social skills program. Our investigation of TIP within a community group sample provides one possible model for balancing these important internal and external validity issues
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