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Promoting Social Skill Development in Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorders: A Feasibility and Efficacy Study

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Abstract

A randomized controlled design was employed to evaluate a social skills intervention for children with pervasive developmental disorders. Aims included evaluating the acceptability of the program and gathering preliminary evidence on efficacy. Forty-four children, ages 8–11 years, were randomly assigned to treatment or wait list. Treatment consisted of a 16-week group intervention designed to teach appropriate social behavior. Between group comparisons showed that children in treatment were rated as improved on the primary outcome measure, (unblinded parent report), but not on the secondary outcome measure, a parent questionnaire. Parents reported a high level of satisfaction with the intervention. The study supports the feasibility of this intervention to families and highlights challenges for future research in social skills intervention.

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Notes

  1. Group leaders included an advance practice registered nurse, two social workers, and four clinical psychologists.

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Acknowledgments

Organization for Autism Research; Beatrice Renfield- Yale School of Nursing Clinical Initiatives Fund; Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, P.O. Box 207900, New Haven, CT, 06520-7900, USA

    Kathleen Koenig, Susan Williams White, Maryellen Pachler, Monika Lau, Moira Lewis, Ami Klin & Lawrence Scahill

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  1. Kathleen Koenig
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  2. Susan Williams White
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  3. Maryellen Pachler
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  4. Monika Lau
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  5. Moira Lewis
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  6. Ami Klin
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  7. Lawrence Scahill
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathleen Koenig.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 Fidelity to treatment checklist
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Koenig, K., White, S.W., Pachler, M. et al. Promoting Social Skill Development in Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorders: A Feasibility and Efficacy Study. J Autism Dev Disord 40, 1209–1218 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-0979-x

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