Effectiveness of Drama Therapy on Social Skills of Autistic Children

Objective: Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD) causes severe damage to children’s social skills, cognitive functions, and emotional self-regulation. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of drama therapy on the social skills of children with high functioning autism. Methods: The research design was experimental with a pre-test, post-test, and a control group. The statistical population included 120 children with high functioning autism in special education centers in Isfahan. For this purpose, 40 children with high functioning autism disorder were randomly selected by purposive sampling and using Morgan’s table and assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received a drama therapy program, and the control group was placed on a waiting list. The children’ instructors completed the Matson Social Skills Questionnaire at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up three months later. Results: Analysis of the results using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the drama therapy was effective on the social skills of the participants in the experimental group (p <0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that drama therapy will improve their social skills and performance in this field. Therefore, it can be stated that the findings of this study might be helpful as practical strategies for the practitioners in the field of autism.