Webb, B.J., Miller, S.P., Pierce, T.B., Strawser, S., and Jones, W.P. (2004). Effects of social skill instruction for high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. 19 (1): 53-62.

In this study, ten male adolescents or teenagers participated in a ten-week social skills group using SCORE, a skills strategy program whose name is an acronym that stands for the five core social skills it attempts to teach – sharing ideas, complimenting others, offering help or encouragement, recommending changes nicely, and exercising self-control – through formal instruction, role play, and various types of group assignments. Several assessment methods, including scored observation, written examinations, and parent and participant satisfaction surveys were used to measure results, which were favorable, by and large. All of the boys demonstrated statistically significant gains in observed social skills and performance in the written testing after the program ended, and parents and participants were generally pleased. The satisfaction surveys also indicated that that the skills could be useful in other settings, although the researchers did not go into any natural settings to observe the participants before or after the study.

This study provides preliminary evidence that social skills instruction, the SCORE program in particular, can be beneficial to high-functioning individuals on the Autism spectrum. What was being measured and how it was being measured were clear and tangible; measures were taken before and after the program; and enough participants were involved to strongly suggest that the documented improvements were not coincidental. Further research is, of course, needed – this study could be replicated with a larger population, and certainly outcomes in females and different racial groups (other than one Asian-American participant, the rest were all white) deserve attention. Also, studying broader age ranges, to see if such instruction would be more effectively begun at a younger age and/or whether methods like SCORE could still be effectively applied to adults, would be useful. Furthermore, observing how much of the progress initially made through a program such as SCORE is retained over an extended period of time would be useful, and the effects of a more long-term, substantive training would also be worth documenting.

- John Cavanagh

Asperger Foundation International
501 Madison Avenue, 18th Floor
New York, NY 10022
Phone: 212-371-7755
www.aspfi.org