Clinical trial NCT04551313: Effectiveness of Social Skills Training Group for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Official title: Effectiveness of Social Skills Training Group for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Keywords: Autism,autism spectrum disorder,social skill training
Lead sponsor: National Taiwan University Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-09-16
Enrollment: 86
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 5
Maximum age (years): 6
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Socio-communicative impairments are core deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD have difficulty understanding eye contact, facial expressions, body language, and different tones of voice when communicating with others. They can't interpret the thoughts and feelings of others, or predict social events, and the impaired social skills may lead to rejection of peers and poor participation in school.

Social skills training targets the core symptoms of ASD. Empirical support is building for cognitive-behavioral intervention approach, social skills training group for verbally fluent, school-aged children with ASD. Several studies have shown the efficacy of the social story intervention. It is usually provided individually, but we want to use it in the group.

Detailed description: Many different intervention program have been used throughout the world. One alternative method used to teach children is the social stories method, which was created by Gray (1993) to address the social difficulties of children with ASD. The theoretical framework of the social stories is based on theory of mind (TOM) hypothesis. Difficulties associated with the impaired TOM was addressed by explaining the complex social concepts in simple words and often include the description of perspectives of others. Several studies have shown the efficacy of the social story intervention. It is usually provided individually, but we want to use it in the group.

In this study, we plan to randomly assign thirty-six 5-7-year-old children with ASD to one of two kinds of social skills groups: the social skills group or the play activities group (control condition). Group met for 16 weeks, one time per week, one hour each time. Participants were recruited between October 2020 and September 2023. Assessment were conducted at baseline and endpoint (16 weeks). To empower parents, we would also ask parents of participants to attend our treatment and lecture.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion criteria:

* Clinical diagnosis of Autism spectrum disorder
* Must be able to understand 3-steps verbal commands

Exclusion criteria:

* Mental retardation
* Seizure

Primary outcomes:
measure: GAS (Goal attainment scale)
timeFrame: the first week and the 15th week of the duration
measure: Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale
timeFrame: the first week and the 15th week of the duration
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Taipei
country: Taiwan
facility: National Taiwan University Hospital
city: Taipei
country: Taiwan
facility: NTUH
Study officials:
affiliation: National Taiwan University Hospital
name: Fu-Mei Chiang, MAMS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: