Effective Comparison of Interventions by Involving Parents or Peers in Improving Social Competence of Autism Children

This article presents a literature review related to therapies or interventions used to improve social competence of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with autism disorder have problems in their social environment where children cannot communicate or interact socially. This study reviews 20 international journals covering interventions used by involving parents, interventions involving peers, analysis of both methods, and conclusions. The interventions or therapies used vary, with the therapeutic setting taking place at home, at school, or at the place of professional therapy by involving parents and peers in the intervention. The design used in this research were single experiments and group experiments. The results of this literature review indicate that interventions that involve peers are more effective than interventions that involve parents in increasing the social competence of children with autism spectrum disorder because in peer intervention, they are directly involved. This research also influences further research, especially those conducted in Indonesia. Key word: systematic review, interventions involving family, interventions involving peers, autism spectrum disorder Introduction Social competence is an individual's ability built since the very young age. It can include interaction with parents, peers, and teachers. Individuals who need to develop their social competence are those having difficulty in interacting with others, while individuals who are able to develop more social competence are individuals who have good interactions with others. Therefore, social competence becomes important in the development of children (Samrud-Clikeman, 2007). Some aspects contained in social competence are the ability to build interpersonal relationships, the ability to develop identity and the desire to become citizens who are caring and responsible in society. Children's interpersonal relationships can be developed through parents, peers, and teachers. It aims to improve children social competence and positive life (Ma, 2012). Mental disability children may be related to cognitive delay, language, motor skills, difficulty in establishing friendships in the environment, and difficulty developing social competence. These problems are often found in children with autism spectrum disorder (Samrud-clikeman, 2007). Davey (2014) suggested that autism disorders are associated with damage in the developmental area. Children with autism disorders have problems in the development process, social disorders (social interaction), mental retardation, emotions, lack of language and communication skills, and the development of harmful behaviors. Children with autism disorder tend to have problems with social interaction. Therefore, the child remains isolated without proper intervention. In 1943, psychiatrist Kenner first identified autism syndrome at Hardvard. Initially, autism syndrome was considered an early onset of schizophrenia in adults. However, with much evidence, it was identified that autism and schizophrenia are two different things. Children with autism do not experience delusions and hallucinations, and autism disorders can be identified in the first months of the child's age. Meanwhile, individuals can be called schizophrenic if they experience hallucinations and delusions (Davison, Neale, & Ann, 2012). This disorder is rarely found in the general population. In 10,000 births, it only occurs in 2 to 5 babies or 0.05% of the number of births. However, there has been a significant increase in this disorder. In 2018, UNESCO reported that autism sufferers reached 35 million inhabitants. While in Indonesia alone, in 2009, the number of autism reached 150-200 thousand people, in 2010 it was estimated to reach 112 thousand people, and in 2015 the number of autism sufferers reached 12,800. Autism disorders are more common in boys than girls (Nugraheni, 2016). Some interventions that have been carried out in improving the social competence of children with autism spectrum disorder include interventions that involve Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 395 5th ASEAN Conference on Psychology, Counselling, and Humanities (ACPCH 2019) Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL. This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). 139 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 395 5th ASEAN Conference on Psychology, Counselling, and Humanities (ACPCH 2019)