Social Skills Interventions for Children with Asperger's Syndromeor High-Functioning Autism: A Review and Recommendations

摘要

This paper reviews the literature examiningsocial skills training (SST) programs for youth with AS/HFA, with an emphasis on critically evaluating efficacyand highlighting areas of future research. The reviewhighlights the disparity between SST programs described inthe extant literature, including lack of a universal definitionof social skills, various levels of intensity and duration oftreatment, divergent theoretical backgrounds, and varietyin services provided in clinic or classroom settings. Over-all, it is clear that, despite their widespread clinical use,empirical support for SST programs for children with AS/HFA is minimal at this time. Based on this critical review,a "roadmap" for future research, consistent with recom-mendations put forth by a leading group of autismresearchers, is presented.