Autism: Group Therapy Helps Social Skills In Adolescent Patients

Children and adolescents with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)--a group of developmental disabilities that can result in social, communication and behavioral challenges--become more conscious that they're different than others when their intelligence is unaffected.

Now, a new study conducted by researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt found that children and adolescents with high-functioning ASD can learn better coping skills in the social world through group therapy. More specifically, researchers found that participants with the most severe symptoms and a higher IQ at the beginning of the therapy showed the most success.

"We often encounter children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder in clinical practice who would like to communicate with youngsters of their own age and at the same time experience every day that they meet with rejection because they are unable to understand many of their classmates' behaviour patterns. And this causes them to despair", said Professor Christine Freitag, Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, in a news release.

During the study, researchers examined 209 children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 18 over the course of three years. They used a standardized questionnaire (on the basis of a Social Responsiveness Scale - SRS), that showed 65 behavior patterns evaluated by parents before therapy began, at the end of the intervention and then at three months after the end of the intervention to measure stability.

Therapy took place once a week over the course of three months in a group with four to five youngsters of the same age and two therapists. There were also three parent evenings. The results were compared with those of a wait list control group. There was a clear improvement in social behaviour in the intervention group, which also remained stable after three months when examined again.

The study is published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 

Related Articles

'Social Brain' Impaired In Children With Autism

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).