Social Skills Groups and Autism Ranking:

Status Research

According to Reichow et al (2012):

‘There is some evidence that social skills groups can improve social competence for some children and adolescents with ASD. More research is needed to draw more robust conclusions, especially with respect to improvements in quality of life.’

There are methodological weaknesses in most of the of the research studies identified to date. For example

• There are a wide number of activities and techniques under the heading ‘Social Skills Groups’ or ‘Peer-led Social Skills Training’ and therefore it is difficult to effectively compare studies.
• There are apparent differences in outcomes when the intervention is carried out in a structured group environment and when the autistic person is at home.  This requires further research.
• There are differences in the conclusions about the efficacy of social skills groups in various studies.  A review by Bellini (2007) highlights that the intervention has limited positive outcomes.
• Many of the studies are based on the study of a limited number of individuals in a social skills group.

For a comprehensive list of potential flaws in research studies, please see ‘Why some autism research studies are flawed’

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Feb 2016

Next Review

01 Sep 2022