Identification of appropriate social interaction by adolescents with autism

Abstract

The current study compared 14 individuals with autism, 10 individuals with no disabilities (ND) and seven individuals with intellectual disability (ID) on ability to judge the social appropriate/inappropriateness of 12 scenarios on DVD. The individuals with autism were then trained with six of the previous scenarios and eight new scenarios, and then retested with the original 12 scenarios. The results showed that individuals with autism were significantly worse than individuals with ID or ND at identifying appropriate/inappropriate social scenarios. The severity of autistic symptoms was negatively correlated with performance. The results of the training component of the study showed that the individuals with autism significantly improved their scores both on the scenarios used in the training and novel scenarios.

Keywords:

• Adolescents
• Autism
• Appropriate social interaction

Our thanks go to the adolescents involved in making the DVD, who showed great dedication and focus throughout the project. Thanks to Steve Houlston and his team for their technical support. Thanks also to the families who participated in the study. We would also like to thank the schools who were instrumental in making this research happen.