Social skills group training is frequently used to support autistic children and adolescents in coping with everyday social demands and expectations. Meta-analytic studies suggest small to medium effect sizes. Effect moderators must be better understood to inform implementation and allow optimization of intervention protocols. Using data from two…

A recent study suggests that parent report on the Social Symptom and Prosocial scales of the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale provides useful information about differences in the social development of school-aged autistic children. The current study provides additional psychometric data on the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale regarding…

Robust evidence supports the efficacy of early autism intervention. Despite broad consensus that earlier intervention leads to better outcomes, evidence for this has been limited to correlational studies. This study examined timing effects of the Early Social Interaction (ESI) model, a parent-implemented intervention, using a complete crossover…

How parents support social learning at the preverbal level for toddlers with autism is rarely reported, limiting the field's understanding of factors that may influence early development of social competency. As a central challenge in autism that is resistant to intervention, preverbal social initiating is an important indicator of social…

It is widely believed that early diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder is essential for better outcome. This is demonstrated by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to screen all 1.5-2.5-year-old toddlers for autism spectrum disorder. However, multiple longitudinal studies of children diagnosed with autism spectrum…

Objective: Broadband social-emotional screening tools are designed to evaluate a child's social development and interactions. Such tools are expected to have reasonable sensitivity for identifying children at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but would also likely over-estimate risk for ASD since other conditions can also affect social…

The establishment of reciprocal friendships is a challenge for many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social interaction difficulties emerge early, persist throughout development, and have widespread functional impact. As such, interventions focused on social functioning are needed in early intervention programs. This two-part study…

Among social skills that are core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, turn-taking plays a fundamental role in regulating social interaction and communication. Our main focus in this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a robot-enhanced intervention on turn-taking abilities. We aim to identify to what degree social robots can improve…

Parent-implemented interventions (PIIs) hold promise for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families. Yet, reports of parent and family perceptions regarding PIIs are limited. The present study's purpose was to gain parent perceptions regarding the helpful and challenging intervention components and contextual factors in…

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder and average IQ exhibit a widening discrepancy between lagging adaptive skills relative to their cognitive potential, but it is unknown when this discrepancy emerges in development. To address this important question, we measured adaptive and cognitive skills longitudinally, from 12-36 months, in 96…

This study reports child and family outcomes from a community-based, quasi-experimental pilot trial of "Project ImPACT for Toddlers" that is a parent-mediated, naturalistic, developmental behavioral intervention for children with or at-risk for autism spectrum disorder developed through a research-community partnership. Community early…

The current study examined the feasibility and initial efficacy of the Summer Treatment Program for Pre-kindergarteners (STP-PreK) with 37 preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Parents and teachers reported on children's behavior, social/adaptive skills, and self-regulation. Children completed…

Few tools are available to comprehensively describe the unique social-emotional skill profiles of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study describes the usability, reliability, and validity of SELweb, a normed, web-based assessment designed to measure four core social-emotional domains, when used to measure these skills in a…

This study used a randomized controlled trial to compare two distinct models of group social skills interventions with adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Participants had a confirmed diagnosis of ASD, had an IQ greater than or equal to 70, and were educated in the general education setting. Data from 62 adolescent participants who…

This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children matched on receptive language share resources fairly and reciprocally. Children completed age-appropriate versions of the Ultimatum and Dictator Games with real stickers and an interactive partner. Both groups offered similar numbers of…