A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Social Skills Interventions for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Social skills deficits are a central feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This meta-analysis of 55 single-subject design studies examined the effectiveness of school-based social skills interventions for children and adolescents with ASD. Intervention, maintenance, and generalization effects were measured by computing the percentage of non-overlapping data points. The results suggest that social skills interventions have been minimally effective for children with ASD. Specific participant, setting, and procedural features that lead to the most effective intervention outcomes are highlighted, and implications for school personnel are discussed. Finally, the results are compared to the outcomes of similar meta-analyses involving social skills interventions with other populations of children. IMPAIRMENT IN SOCIAL FUNCTIONING IS A CENTRAL feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and has been well documented in the literature (Attwood, 1998; Myles et al., 2005; Rogers, 2000). Thus, individuals with ASD have difficulty communicating with others, processing and integrating information from the environment, establishing and sustaining social relationships with others, and participating in new environments. Specific social skills deficits include difficulties with initiating interactions, maintaining reciprocity, sharing enjoyment, taking another person’s perspective, and inferring the interests of others. Although social skills deficits are a central feature of ASD, few children receive adequate social skills programming (Hume, Bellini, & Pratt, 2005). This is a troubling reality, especially considering that the presence of social impairments may portend the development of more detrimental outcomes, such as poor academic achievement, social failure and peer rejection, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and other forms of psychopathology (Bellini, 2006; La Greca & Lopez, 1998; Tantam, 2000; Welsh, Park, Widaman, & O’Neil, 2001). Most important, social skills deficits impede one’s ability to establish meaningful social relationships, which often leads to withdrawal and a life of social isolation. Social skills are critical to successful social, emotional, and cognitive development. As such, effective social skills programming should be an integral component of educational programming for children with ASD. SOCIAL SKILLS INTERVENTIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH ASD A number of qualitative reviews have examined the effectiveness of social skills interventions for children with ASD (Hwang & Hughes, 2000; McConnell, 2002; Rogers, 2000). Hwang and Hughes (2000) reviewed 16 studies involving social skills programming for children with ASD between the