None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Individuals diagnosed with ASD experience persisting deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts. They experience high levels of social anxiety, loneliness and isolation, despite a strong desire for friends. It is likely that many of these children have much to gain from social skills training. KONTAKT(c) is a manualized Social Skills Training Group (SSTG) program designed for children and adolescents with ASD which has demonstrated improvements in social skills, behaviour, reduced stress and improved overall functioning as reported by parents immediately following and at three months after the program. However, social skills are at least in part influenced by social cultural contexts so the aim of the current project is to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a social skills group training intervention, KONTAKT(c), for Australian Children with ASD.
Interventions
KONTAKT(c) is a manualized Social skills group training program designed for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) aimed at improving communication, social interaction skills, the severity of ASD symptoms, and the ability to empathise and adapt in a group setting. The KONTAKT(c) participants (4-8 participants) meet face to face weekly for 16 weeks for an hour in a group facilitated by two trainers. Sessions are structured according to principals of cognitive behaviour the
KONTAKT(c) is a manualized Social skills group training program designed for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) aimed at improving communication, social interaction skills, the severity of ASD symptoms, and the ability to empathise and adapt in a group setting. The KONTAKT(c) participants (4-8 participants) meet face to face weekly for 16 weeks for an hour in a group facilitated by two trainers. Sessions are structured according to principals of cognitive behaviour therapy, behaviour activation, observational learning, psychoeducation and social cognition training. Sessions scaffold knowledge of common social rules and norms, aiming to promote problem solving strategies, emotion recognition and emotion expression. The structure of the program is as follows: Opening round, Reviewing the homework, themed discussion, group activities, snack time, Assigning new homework, and the closing round. The participants will have 20 minutes of homework per week Group activity examples are: Charades, Whispering game, EU-motion (practicing facial expressions on computer using whole-body or face area only), Spin the bottle (with/without a theme), What has changed? Alphabet sentences, Role play (including selection of theme for the ”role play”), Treasure hunt, Blinking game, Joint activity (e.g. baking), Advanced treasure hunt, Stress management: breathing square. Facilitators are trained and have sufficient expertise and clinical experience in working with children with ASD (psychologist, occupational therapist, social worker, doctor, special education, etc.). They should have experience in leading groups. The trainers will receive extensive training for 2 full days in methods of delivering KONTAKT(c). TH training will be held in January 2020 by 2 Swedish psychologists with expertise in delivering KONTAKT(c). To be considered an expert KONTAKT(c) trainer, they will need to submit video recordings of them delivering the program to a group of children on the autism spectrum, before the trial begins in second half of 2020. They also will be receiving ongoing supervision while delivering the program. In addition to a trainer's manual, the trainers will receive a Fidelity scale to make sure they are following the KONTAKT(c) program.
Sponsors
Curtin University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
8 Years to 12 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Individuals aged 8 to 12 (school grade 2-6) Clinical consensus diagnosis of ASD as defined by DSM-5 and confirmed by the Autism Diagnostic Observation schedule-2 IQ scores > 70 as measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence - Second Edition (WASI-II)
Exclusion criteria
Existing prior comorbid externalizing behaviours as assessed by the Childhood Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). Clinically assessed self-injurious behaviour Low intrinsic motivation to participate in a social skills training group Insufficient English language skills
Outcome results
None listed