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Examining Feasibility and Outcomes of the PEERS® for Preschoolers Program

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Abstract

Social impairments characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are evident in early childhood and often worsen. There is a paucity of evidence-based interventions explicitly targeting social skill development for young children with ASD and few actively integrate caregivers. The PEERS® program, an evidence-based caregiver-assisted social skills program, was extended for young children with ASD (i.e., PEERS® for Preschoolers (P4P)). This pilot study expands upon initial results by examining the feasibility of a briefer intervention period and the effectiveness in improving child social skills among 15 children with ASD. Results suggest P4P recruitment, participant retention, and implementation are feasible across clinicians and sites. Further, P4P appears to improve social skills, maintained post-intervention. Future research might examine mechanisms that lead to results.

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Patients signed informed consent regarding publishing their data. Data is available upon request.

Notes

  1. Many self-advocates from the autism community (Bury et al., 2020) and current research has indicated both a preference for identify first language (e.g., autistic children) or language describing the individual. Therefore, this language will be utilized throughout the present manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Virginia Tech Autism Clinic & Center for Autism Research, the Georgia Autism Center, and the Emory Autism Clinic for assistance with recruitment for this study and in running the groups, as well as all group leaders and research assistants. Finally, we are especially grateful to the families and children who participated.

Funding

The work was supported by the Virginia Tech Center for Autism Research under the SEED Student Grant (RF) as well as the Psi Chi Honor Society under the Mamie Phipps Clark Diversity Research Grant (RF; neither funding sources had Grant Numbers).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech 109 Williams Hall, 890 Drillfield Drive, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Reina S. Factor & Angela Scarpa

  2. Virginia Tech Autism Clinic & Center for Autism Research, 3110 Prices Fork Road, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Reina S. Factor & Angela Scarpa

  3. Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, 300 Medical Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Reina S. Factor & Elizabeth A. Laugeson

  4. Research in Autism and the Brain Lab, University of Washington, CHDD Box 357920, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Hannah M. Rea

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  1. Reina S. Factor
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  4. Angela Scarpa
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Contributions

RF: conceived of the study, trained clinicians, finalized its design, completed all analyses, and coordination and drafted the manuscript; HR: helped draft the manuscript; EL: consulted on and created intervention and study coordination; AS: participated in the design and coordination of the study and statistical manuscript.

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Correspondence to Reina S. Factor.

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All procedures performed 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. This study was approved by the Virginia Tech Institutional Review Board and all other organizations involved.

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Factor, R.S., Rea, H.M., Laugeson, E.A. et al. Examining Feasibility and Outcomes of the PEERS® for Preschoolers Program. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 1821–1833 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05502-5

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