A randomized controlled study of parent-assisted Children's Friendship Training with children having autism spectrum disorders.
This study evaluated Children's Friendship Training (CFT), a manualized parent-assisted intervention to improve social skills among second to fifth grade children with autism spectrum disorders. Comparison was made with a delayed treatment control group (DTC). Targeted skills included conversational skills, peer entry skills, developing friendship networks, good sportsmanship, good host behavior during play dates, and handling teasing. At post-testing, the CFT group was superior to the DTC group on parent measures of social skill and play date behavior, and child measures of popularity and loneliness, At 3-month follow-up, parent measures showed significant improvement from baseline. Post-hoc analysis indicated more than 87% of children receiving CFT showed reliable change on at least one measure at post-test and 66.7% after 3 months follow-up.
Frankel
Fred
F
UCLA Semel Institute For Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. ffrankel@mednet.ucla.edu
Myatt
Robert
R
Sugar
Catherine
C
Whitham
Cynthia
C
Gorospe
Clarissa M
CM
Laugeson
Elizabeth
E
D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D018579:Patient Selection; D010379:Peer Group; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome