Mary Schmidt
Research Article Summary and Critique
Stichter, J. P., O’Connor, K. V., Herzog, M. J., Lierheimer, K., & McGhee, S. D. (2012). Social
competence intervention for elementary students with Aspergers syndrome and high
functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42(3), 354-366.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a social competence intervention
on elementary-age children (SCI-E) with high functioning Autism or Aspergers Syndrome. This
intervention utilized Cognitive Behavior Intervention (CBI) concepts, which is training that aims to
change how an individual thinks and behaves socially. The goal of the SCI-E was for the individual to be
perceived as a socially competent individual.
Intervention sessions were held during 2 hour sessions, twice a week, for 10 weeks. Sessions
were conducted by individuals with Master’s degrees and specific training in regard to special education
and Autism. Sessions consisted of the educator modeling social skills and providing opportunities for the
participants to practice the skills with one another in a structured and naturalistic environment. The
purpose of introducing and practicing social skills was to improve their theory of mind (ToM), emotion
recognition, and executive functioning abilities. In this study, ToM related to a participant’s ability to
acknowledge that other people may hold ideas and behaviors different than their own. Emotion
recognition referred to the capability of identifying the emotions of another by observing facial
expressions. Executive functioning was associated with the ability to self-control cognitive, physical, and
emotional responses to others and the overall surroundings.
There were 20 participants, 19 males and 1 female. Participants possessed certain characteristics
including: a diagnosis along the range on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), an age
between the range of 6-10, an IQ of at least 70, and past interactions with typically developing peers
during a portion of their everyday lives.
In order to determine the effectiveness of the social competence intervention (SCI-E), researchers
administered a performance battery to the participants and questionnaires to the parents and primary
teacher of each participant. Measures were given pre- and post-intervention and aimed to assess each
participant’s theory of mind (ToM), emotion recognition, and executive functioning abilities.
The Sally-Anne false belief task and Smarties false belief task were administered to assess ToM.
These batteries evaluated whether participants could correctly infer assumptions about object
identification and location in realistic and hypothetical scenarios. The Faux Pas Stories assessed ToM by
requiring participants to decide if given scenarios followed social norms.
The Diagnostic Analysis of Non-Verbal Accuracy-2, Child Facial Expressions (DANVA-2-CF)
and the Reading the Mind in Eyes test assessed emotion recognition. The DANVA-2-CF measured
whether participants could recognize facial expressions. The Reading the Mind in Eyes test evaluated if
they could determine the mental state of a person based on a facial expression. Executive functioning was
evaluated through administration of the Test of Problem Solving-3 (TOPS-3). This test assessed a
participant’s ability to identify difficulties and possible solutions in different scenarios.
Parents and the primary teacher of the participants completed the Social Responsiveness Scale
(SRS), which assisted with collecting data on their views of the child’s social skills at home and at school.
Social skills were broken into five domains such as: social awareness, cognition, motivation,
Mary Schmidt
Research Article Summary and Critique
communication, and autistic mannerisms. Parents also completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of
Executive Function (BRIEF) to determine the parent’s views in reference to their child’s executive
functioning abilities of meta-cognition and self-regulation of behaviors.
In conclusion, SRS questionnaires completed by the parents and primary teacher of the
participants revealed significant increases in overall social aspects. Social cognition, social
communication, and social motivation mainly improved post-intervention. In regard to ToM, scores on
the Sally-Anne test and Smarties demonstrated mixed results, but the Faux Pas stories indicated
significant improvements in determining social scenarios that did not reflect social norms. Results
supported that participants significantly increased in their executive functioning abilities of metacognition
and behavior management. Emotion regulation measurements did not yield significant improvements
post-intervention.
A major strength of this study was that the researchers utilized standardized procedures and
measures in order to investigate the effectiveness of the SCI-E. These aspects increase the validity and
reliability of the results. This suggests that consumers of the research can have more confidence in the
implications of the results.
On the other hand, a weakness of this research is that it had a limited number of 20 participants.
The limited number of participants decreases the ecological validity of this study, because the findings
reflect a small and concise sample population rather than an expansive sample that can be generalized to
the overall population of children with ASD. Until research is conducted with more participants,
clinicians are left questioning whether this intervention has an overall benefit for the majority of
elementary-age children with ASD.
Additionally, this study was conducted over a short period of time; therefore, the results do not
provide information on whether significant improvements of emotion regulation would have occurred
given more time. The shortened time frame also leaves the question of whether the intervention would
have long-lasting improvements during their middle school, teen, and adult years. Future studies should
administer the intervention for a longer period of time in order to provide further evidence in regard to
emotion regulation improvement and long-term effects.
This research was interesting and informative in relation to the effectiveness of a social
competence intervention and its contributions to overall improvements of social abilities. Elementary-age
children with ASD increased their abilities to identify and determine the emotional states of an individual
by evaluating their facial expressions. Their ability to self-regulate behaviors also improved.
As a future clinician, I believe this article was helpful. It supplied me with information about
what interventions should focus on in order to improve the social skills of elementary-age children with
ASD. Although more expansive research must be conducted on the elementary-age population, this study
provides evidence that social competence intervention is effective for this age group. Additionally, prior
research supports that social competence intervention is effective in improving the social skills of
adolescents. Combining the findings of various research, clinicians have evidence that modeling and
practicing social skills is effective in teaching children with ASD. This type of intervention should be
utilized in schools and clinical settings, because it assists in improving their ability to infer what others
are thinking and feeling as well as control their own behaviors in reaction to a variety of social situations.