Deficits in social skills are common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and there is an urgent need for effective social skills interventions, especially for improving interactions with typically developing peers. This study examined the effects of a naturalistic behavioral social skills intervention in improving social initiations…

Eating Disturbances (ED) are common in young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and may be influenced by Social Functioning and Social Anxiety, but no report has been made of the relative associations between these factors. Fifty-three girls with ASD aged (M age = 9.6 yr, range = 6 yr to 14 yr) rated their Social Anxiety and their ED, and…

The study aims to analyze the effectiveness of a swimming program on interpersonal skills, autistic mannerisms, and aquatic abilities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Research on aquatic therapy showed improvements in motor skills, whereas there is little evidence of effectiveness of this approach on social impairments of ASD.…

This pilot research investigated the effects of a community-based organized football program on behavioral, social and communicative outcomes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In a non-randomized design, 19 children completed the football program and were compared pre- and post-intervention with 21 children who received no comparable…

Rooted in both ABA and developmental theory, Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBI) are some of today's most effective, evidence-based, and widely used interventions for autism spectrum disorder. Prepare tomorrow's autism professionals for success in the field with this graduate-level textbook, the first comprehensive…

This study examined informant discrepancies for parent and teacher adaptive behavior ratings of 103 children, ages 6-12 years, with ASD (without intellectual disability). Scores on the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, third edition (Harrison and Oakland, Western Psychological Services, Los Angeles, 2015) General Adaptive Composite (GAC) and…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate limited playfulness. Their difficulty engaging in meaningful interaction with others renders playful engagement in social interactions a challenge. Although little direct evidence exists regarding the promotion of these children's playful engagement, links can be established with many traits…

This study examined whether adaptive behaviour, emotional and behavioural challenges, and social skills, respectively, moderated the effect of a movement skill intervention on movement skills among preschool aged children with autism spectrum disorder. Twenty-seven participants with autism spectrum disorder (N = 13 experimental) between 3 and 5…

Purpose: Cross-informant ratings are considered best practice for assessing children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, informant disagreement often occurs, which can pose significant challenges to various aspects of clinical services. This study explored the degree of parent and speech-language pathologist (SLP) agreement on ratings of…

We conducted a systematic review and summarized the outcomes of single-case research design studies conducted in the last decade that have implemented peer-mediated interventions (PMI) to address the social competence needs of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) younger than 8 years of age. Eighteen studies with 53 children with ASD were…

Relationships between sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) and age and IQ were investigated in children with autism and/or ADHD covering broader age and IQ ranges than in previous studies. Mothers rated 1436 children with autism and 1,056 with ADHD (2-17 years, IQs 9-149) on Pediatric Behavior Scale SCT items. Increasing age correlated with SCT in the…

Limited research has explored how to best train caregivers to support their child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) despite caregivers being well suited to promote generalization and maintenance of their child's skills in the natural environment. Children with ASD have been shown to benefit from social skill training, which is not always…

The assessment instruments for diagnosing children with autism spectrum disorder have been developed mostly in affluent, English-speaking countries. Among the most popular has been the Autism Diagnostic Interview--Revised. This article reports its use in Iran with the dual aims of confirming the factor structure of the revised Autism Diagnostic…

Social development is one of the most critical developmental areas for human beings. Deficits in social skills may negatively impact several essential domains including academic achievement, interpersonal relationships, behavior, mental health, and adult life outcome. Individuals with autism present with core deficits in social skills. Without…

Despite widespread clinical use of group-based social skills training (SST) for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there remains a lack of follow-up data, generalisation effects, common definition of social skills, and teacher report data. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an 8-week SST intervention with a play component…