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Date of Graduation
8-16-2025
Semester of Graduation
Summer
Degree Name
Educational Specialist (EdS)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
First Advisor
Deborah Kipps-Vaughan
Second Advisor
Tammy Gilligan
Third Advisor
Tiffany Hornsby
Abstract
Some of the challenges for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include social engagement as well as building and establishing relationships with peers. Social skills training programs have been used to improve social skill development in children with ASD. The current study sought to examine the use of a group social skills training intervention to develop the perspective taking skills of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Social Thinking curriculum, “You Are a Social Detective” was implemented with a small group of two students with ASD over the course of 10 weekly sessions. The students’ teachers completed the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2), and the researcher conducted classroom observations pre- and post-intervention to examine any change in the students’ social behavior. The researcher also completed the Goal Attainment Scale (GAS) for each child following every session to determine progress and evaluate the outcome of the session. A multiple single case design was utilized to examine data and trends individually and participants were not compared to each other. The results indicated that there was only a notable change demonstrated in one subdomain of the SRS-2, social cognition, for one of the students who participated in the group. Both students increased the frequency of positive peer interactions from the pre-intervention observation to the post-intervention observation. The study intended to help participants understand how they feel and think about what others say and do in social situations, and to improve the students’ social responsiveness. Overall results indicate benefits for students with ASD improving social skills as an outcome of a group social skills training intervention.
