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An Evaluation of Individually Delivered Secret Agent Society Social Skills Program for Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Pilot Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2015

Yunxi Lynette Tan ,
Trevor G. Mazzucchelli  and
Renae Beaumont
Yunxi Lynette Tan
Affiliation:
Child and Family Research Group, and Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health Research Group, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Trevor G. Mazzucchelli*
Affiliation:
Child and Family Research Group, and Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health Research Group, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Renae Beaumont
Affiliation:
Parenting and Family Support Centre, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Trevor G. Mazzucchelli, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. Email: trevor.mazzucchelli@curtin.edu.au
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Abstract

High-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders display social skill deficits that can have a debilitating impact on their daily lives. The Secret Agent Society (SAS) program has been shown to be effective in improving the social skills of these children when delivered in a group setting. This pilot study evaluated whether individually delivered SAS would yield similar outcomes. Three participants were recruited for the 9-week intervention. Measures of social competence were administered at four points: pretest 1, pretest 2, post-intervention, and 6-week follow-up. Participants showed significant improvement in half of the measures assessing social competence. On a third of these measures, two participants demonstrated improvements to within the range of their typically developing peers. Follow-up results suggested that improvements were maintained at 6 weeks’ post-intervention. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

autismautism spectrum disorderinterventionsocial skills
Type
Standard Papers
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 159 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

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