Using The Transporters DVD to Teach Emotion Recognition Skills to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Factors that Enhance the Outcome for Lower-functioning Individuals

Abstract

There is a large body of literature demonstrating impairments in social interaction and communication in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Despite this, there have only been a few interventions developed to enhance emotion recognition and comprehension in children with ASD. One such intervention is the Transporters, which was designed for children between the ages of 3 and 8. It has been argued that due to brain plasticity, early intervention for impairments in emotion recognition may prove more effective (Dawson & Zanolli, 2003). Thus, Transporters was specifically created to motivate young children with ASD to develop their recognition and understanding of emotions (Golan et al., 2010). It is for this reason, that the Transporters intervention was the focus of the current research project. To date, three studies have been conducted that evaluate the efficacy of the Transporters intervention for young children with ASD. The findings from these studies have provided mixed support for the efficacy of the Transporters. The main aim of the current study was to extend research in this area by examining factors that might enhance the efficacy of the Transporters in teaching emotion recognition skills to young children with ASD with a lower range of cognitive ability. More specifically, we explored the relationships between parent training and support, as well as length of intervention, on child outcome. Another aim of the study was to determine whether improvements in emotion recognition skills as a result of the Transporters generalised to improvements in mindreading and ToM ability, as well as social skills outcomes. The participants were parents of a child between the ages of four and seven (at the time of recruitment) with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Twenty-nine families were recruited to participate and randomly assigned to either the high parent training and support group (n = 13) or the low parent training and support group (n = 16). The results from the present study provide support for the efficacy of the Transporters intervention in teaching emotion recognition skills to young children with ASD with a lower range of cognitive ability. Significant differences were found on measures of emotion recognition, mindreading, and Theory of Mind ability at post-intervention. Follow-up data suggested that treatment gains were maintained by children at 6-week follow-up. In addition, children made significant improvements in social functioning from pre-intervention to 6-week follow-up, as indicated by parent-report measures. However, the lack of a control group, observational and long-term follow-up data limit the conclusions that can be drawn from this investigation. Nevertheless, the present study provides support for the inclusion of increased parent training and support throughout the Transporters intervention and the decision to extend the length of the intervention. Furthermore, the Transporters received an overwhelming endorsement from parents and was well accepted by both parents and children alike. The inclusion of a behavioural family intervention (i.e., Group Stepping Stones Triple P), however, did not appear to produce greater outcomes for children. Collectively, the results from the present study and the findings from research conducted by Williams, Gray, and Tonge (2012) suggest that the Transporters programme may be most efficacious for older children with higher verbal skills. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.