Remediation of Deficits in Recognition of Facial Emotions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

This study evaluated the efficacy of the Mind Reading interactive computer software to remediate emotion recognition deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Six unmedicated children with ASD and 11 unmedicated non-clinical control subjects participated in the study. The clinical sample used the software for five sessions. The control sample was evaluated only on pre- and post-test performance to assess practice effects. Results showed that participants with ASD scored significantly higher on the posttest than on the pretest. As level of emotion difficulty increased, mean scores on the pretest decreased, indicating that difficulty level had a valid effect. The Mind Reading computer software appears to significantly improve the emotion recognition abilities in children with ASD.

KEYWORDS:

• autism spectrum disorders
• emotion recognition
• mind reading
• social skills

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Erica Kovacs and Kathleen Linnane for their continued guidance and support, and to the individuals who participated in this study.