Effects of Activity-Based Interventions and Parent Involvement on Social Interaction Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study identifies parents’ perspectives on the effects of activity-based interventions and parent involvement on the social interaction skills of a small group of school-aged children with autism. The researchers hypothesized that parents would report improvement in their child’s social interaction skills after participating in small group activities with peers where parents and therapists prompted and facilitated appropriate social behaviors.

DESIGN: A small group (4 cases) of parents and their children were recruited through a social skills group already in place at the Autism Center at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. A survey was administered to the parents of the children before, immediately after, and again three months after the group intervention.

METHOD: The study was a mixed method case study utilizing surveys to elicit parents’ perspectives on the effects of activity-based intervention and parent involvement on the development of social skills. The parent survey consisted of 27 questions to be answered using a Likert Scale to rate the frequency of the participants’ social behaviors including, but not limited to, eye contact, eliciting the attention of others, verbally greeting others, asking questions, and tolerating crowds. The immediate post-intervention survey and the three month post-intervention survey also included subjective questions related to parents’ views on changes observed in their children’s social behaviors. Participants attended 1.5-hour group sessions, 4 days a week for three weeks. The social group included social stories, activities that reinforce learned skills, and parent involvement in learning prompts for social interactions. Changes in pre- and post-intervention ratings for each question were analyzed for each child individually. The subjective information provided by the parents was also analyzed for themes regarding their perceptions of the effectiveness of the interventions and how their child’s social interaction skills have changed.

RESULTS: Parent surveys were analyzed and the researchers found that in three of the areas (making eye contact with others, physically getting parent’s attention, and physically getting other’s attention) three out of four parents reported improvement. In eight other areas, there were at least two parents reporting improvements. Parents of all four boys reported that they felt the interaction with peers of the same age was very influential in seeing positive changes in their children, though those changes were different for each child. Parents also verbalized that learning strategies for prompting social interaction in their children were helpful overall when facilitating social skills in settings outside of the clinic.

CONCLUSION: The results of this case study support the hypothesis of the researchers that parents would perceive improvement in the social behaviors of their children following small activity-based group sessions in which they actively participated. The data collected can be used to support two primary tenets of the profession of occupational therapy: the value of activity-based intervention, and the impact of social environment (peers and parents) on occupational performance (social participation). Little research in the field of occupational therapy is available on this topic; therefore, this project will contribute to the knowledge base of the profession. It will also provide information that will facilitate further research on this specific topic.

References

Green, J., Charman, T., McConachie, H., Aldred, C., Slonims, V., Howlin, P., ...the PACT Consortium. (2010, May). Parent-mediated communication-focused treatment in children with autism (PACT): A randomised controlled trial. Lancet, 375(9732), 2152-2160. Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60587-9

Kauffman, N. A., & Kinnealey, M. (2015). Comprehensive social skills taxonomy: Development and application. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(2).