Improving Social Skills in a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder Through Self-Management Training

• Published in: Behaviour change Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 273 - 284
• Main Authors: Liu, Yadan, Moore, Dennis W., Anderson, Angelika
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2015
• Subjects: Standard Papers; autism spectrum disorder; self-management; discrimination training; social skills
• ISSN: 0813-4839; 2049-7768
• DOI: 10.1017/bec.2015.14

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a partially parent-implemented self-management intervention incorporating video-modelling for discrimination training on improving social skills in a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The participant was a 9-year-old girl with ASD. A multiple baseline across behaviour design (no interruption, asking for opinions, and appropriately greeting unfamiliar adults) was used to assess the effects of the intervention. Results showed: (a) the intervention was associated with improvements in all target behaviours in the training setting with a strong overall treatment effect; (b) the behavioural gains were generalised to non-training settings and maintained in both fading and follow-up phases; and (c) social validity measured by the Behavior Intervention Rating Scale — Adapted version (pre- and postintervention) was high. The intervention was effective in improving social skills with this participant, with good generalisation and maintenance effects and high social validity.