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Feasibility and Initial Efficacy of a Cognitive-Behavioral Summer Treatment for Young Children with ASD

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Abstract

This study tested the feasibility and initial efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral summer treatment (summerMAXyc) for high-functioning young children, ages 4–6 years, with ASD (HFASD; without intellectual disability). The treatment was conducted 5 days per week, 6 h per day, over 5 weeks in the summer and included skills instruction and therapeutic activities targeting social/social-communication skills, facial-emotion recognition, and interest expansion. Skills instruction sessions and therapeutic activities utilized direct instruction, modeling, role-play, performance feedback, and repeated practice. A behavioral system was also implemented to increase skills development and reduce ASD symptoms and disruptive behaviors, and parents participated in weekly parent training. Feasibility was supported in high levels of treatment fidelity and child, parent, and staff clinician satisfaction, and there was no attrition or adverse events/responses. Results of the primary outcome measure (coding of the children’s social performance by naïve raters) indicated that 10 of the 12 children were treatment responders (d = 1.76). Significant post-treatment improvements were also found on secondary measures (parent and staff clinician ratings) of social/social-communication skills and ASD symptoms, as well as a range of adaptive behaviors (effect sizes in the medium and large ranges). Results supported the feasibility of the treatment and suggested that it may yield positive outcomes for 4–6 year olds with HFASD. Recommendations for ongoing testing are provided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Autism Research, Canisius College, Science Hall 1016D, 2001 Main Street, Buffalo, NY, 14208, USA

    Marcus L. Thomeer, Christopher Lopata, Jonathan D. Rodgers, James P. Donnelly & Adam J. Booth

  2. University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Allyson K. Jordan

  3. Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Westerville, OH, USA

    Christin A. McDonald

Authors
  1. Marcus L. Thomeer
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  2. Christopher Lopata
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  3. Jonathan D. Rodgers
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  4. James P. Donnelly
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  5. Allyson K. Jordan
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  6. Adam J. Booth
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  7. Christin A. McDonald
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Correspondence to Marcus L. Thomeer.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Written parental consent and child assent were obtained prior to the study.

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Appendix

Appendix

Social/Social-Communication Skills Taught

Greeting Others

Listening

Contributing to a Discussion

Playing a Game

Asking to Talk

Dealing with Losing

Using Nice Talk

Saying Thank You

Asking for Help

Following Directions

Asking a Question

Asking a Favor

Joining In

Sharing

Relaxing

Wanting to Be First

Accepting Consequences

Trying When it is Hard

Interrupting

Reading Others

Waiting Your Turn

Offering Help

Knowing Your Feelings

Asking Someone to Play

Dealing with Fear

Deciding if it’s Fair

Ignoring Distractions

Solving a Problem

Having a Conversation

Being Honest

Deciding How Someone Feels

Feeling Left Out

Knowing When to Tell

Dealing with Mistakes

Dealing with Feeling Mad

Using Brave Talk

Dealing with Teasing

Accepting No

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Thomeer, M.L., Lopata, C., Rodgers, J.D. et al. Feasibility and Initial Efficacy of a Cognitive-Behavioral Summer Treatment for Young Children with ASD. J Dev Phys Disabil 32, 735–754 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-019-09717-w

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