Investigating the iSocial intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder in a home setting
Authors:   , Buranova Nargiza 
Published: October 2023

[EMBARGOED UNTIL 8/1/2024] The rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is growing rapidly in the USA (Maenner et al, 2021). There is an existing need to provide evidence-based interventions to all students with ASD to support their academic and social learning. Technology-based and videoconference interventions have been used and demonstrated the potential to deliver services and interventions for a population with ASD (Ellison et al., 2021). The recent pandemic and related restrictions (school closure, social distancing) further highlighted the need to investigate the utility of videoconference interventions for the autistic population. There are few comprehensive curricula for a population with ASD that is webbased and target social skills. It is important to investigate this format as there is an increasing need for this type of intervention delivery. The Social Competence Intervention for Adolescents (SCI-A, Stichter, et al., 2010), an in-person social skills intervention for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been proven efficient in a cluster randomized control trial (Stichter et al., 2016). Next, the iSocial (Stichter et al., 2014), a 3D virtual learning environment was developed based on SCI-A (Stichter et al., 2010) curriculum. Studies have been conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of iSocial in a school setting (Stichter et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2017). Currently, the iSocial is delivered through a videoconference platform (Zoom Video Communications, Inc. 2020) to students with ASD in their home setting. The effectiveness of the iSocial program delivered through a videoconferencing platform to students in a home setting has not been studied yet, so an investigation is needed to explore the utility of this intervention for students with ASD in their home environments. The current dissertation study replicated the previous study on iSocial (Stichter et al., 2014) intervention with several modifications such as modality (videoconference), setting (home environment), direct assessment of the student behavior (General Social Outcome Measure), and a control group. The purpose of this pre and post-test control group design study is to examine the impact of the iSocial videoconference program on students' social skills performance and investigate the social validity of this intervention. For all pre-post assessments changes in scores from pre to post were examined via the Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with a posttest score as the dependent variable and a pretest score as a covariate. The results present a significant effect of condition on social skills performance after controlling for pretest scores on the total Social Responsiveness Scale- Second Edition (SRS-2; Constantino and Gruber, 2012) F (1,19) = 5.87, p < .05, 2 = .24; General Social Outcome Measure (Stichter et al., 2012), F (1,19) = 39,73, p < .001, 2 = .68, and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF-2; Gioia et al., 2015), F (1,19) = 14.63, p < .001, 2 = .43. The further analysis of subscales demonstrated mixed findings with some results that did not indicate significant improvements from pre to posttest. The analysis of the social validity survey showed high satisfaction with iSocial intervention among parents (m=5.01, SD=0.5, the maximum score is 6) and students (m=1.54, SD=0.27, the maximum score is 3). In addition, analysis of open-ended questions revealed some suggestions for further improvement of intervention to make it more beneficial for students and families.