Abstract
Social deficits are a core characteristic of individuals with autism spectrum disorders and co-occurring intellectual disabilities (ASD-ID). Despite persistence of these deficits into adolescence, few social skills interventions have been empirically evaluated for older individuals with ASD-ID. The present investigation adapted an efficacious protocol for adolescents with ASD, video-based group instruction (VGI), and extended the procedure to 4 adolescents in a public high school setting. A multiple probe across behaviors design demonstrated the effectiveness of VGI for teaching novel social behavior to three of the four participants, with mixed outcomes for the fourth participant. Long-term maintenance was observed for two participants, though generalization outcomes were mixed. The results support using VGI within high school curricula for some adolescents with ASD-ID.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Adrianne Hosking for her data collection, ongoing support, and dedication to the project, Alexis Vertz for data collection, and Samuel Odom for reading a previous version of the manuscript. This project was supported by an internal Grant from Michigan State University (#RC102238).
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Plavnick, J.B., Kaid, T. & MacFarland, M.C. Effects of a School-Based Social Skills Training Program for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 2674–2690 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2434-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2434-5