Improving Social Skills in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Adaptation of the UCLA PEERS Program into a School-Based Teacher-Assisted Intervention

Background: Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) typically display deficits in social skills, committing infractions of rules of social etiquette that often lead to negative reputations, peer rejection, social isolation, withdrawal, and loneliness.  Although typically-developing teens often learn basic social rules through observation of peer behavior and/or specific instruction from parents, adolescents with ASD often require further instruction.  By teaching appropriate social skills and improving the quality of friendships for adolescents with ASD, we may promote positive social skills which could impact current and long-term adjustment.  Consequently, social skills training has become a popular method for helping adolescents with ASD more effectively adapt to their social environment.  Yet, very few social skills intervention studies have taken place in the classroom, arguably one of the most naturalistic social settings of all.  Previous studies have also typically failed to include teachers as interventionists, perhaps underutilizing the powerful impact of school-based treatment.  

Objectives: This study, which is currently under investigation, seeks to examine the change in social functioning among teens with ASD following the implementation of a 12-week school-based teacher-assisted social skills intervention compared to teens in an active treatment control group. 

Methods: Utilizing adapted treatment protocol from the UCLA PEERS Program, a parent-assisted evidence-based social skills intervention for teens with ASD, sixty participants will be recruited across six middle school and high school classrooms at The Help Group’s Village Glen School, a nonpublic school serving adolescents with ASD.  Each of the six classrooms, comprised of approximately 10 students each, will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions: Treatment group (n = 30) or Active Treatment Control group (n = 30).  Participants will receive daily social skills instruction for 30 minutes a day in both conditions.  Participants in the Active Treatment Control group will receive the typical Village Glen school-based social skills scope and sequence.  Participants in the Treatment group will receive the 12-week teacher-assisted PEERS intervention.  Teachers assigned to the treatment condition will be trained and supervised in all aspects of the intervention.  Key elements of the intervention will be taught didactically through instruction of simple rules of social etiquette.  Newly learned skills will be rehearsed in the classroom, while teens receive performance feedback from their teachers during behavioral rehearsal exercises.  Teens will also be required to complete weekly socialization homework assignments, which will help generalize the training outside of the classroom.  Parents will receive weekly handouts to provide instruction about how to help their teen make and keep friends. 

Results: Forthcoming preliminary findings are anticipated to reveal that teens in the PEERS teacher-assisted social skills condition will exhibit significantly greater improvement in their social functioning and friendship skills compared to teens in the active treatment control condition, according to self-reports, teacher-reports, and parent-reports.   

Conclusions: Findings are anticipated to suggest that the use of the PEERS teacher-assisted social skills intervention is effective in improving the social competence and friendship skills of teens with ASD.