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Social Skills Groups and Autism Ranking: Strong positive evidence

Group of people including some with autism Social skills groups are designed to provide an opportunity for autistic people to practice and improve their social skills in a safe, supportive and structured environment.

Social skills groups meet on a regular basis and are usually facilitated by a professional.

Some groups consist only of autistic people although some may also include non-autistic people who are there to demonstrate appropriate social skills.

A social skills group session typically includes a structured lesson on a specific skill, demonstration of the skill, role playing with rehearsal/practice of the skill, discussion, and individualised performance feedback.

Social skills groups differ from social groups in that they are more focussed on the attainment of skills and are therefore likely to be more structured.

Our Opinion

There is a considerable amount of strong positive evidence to suggest that social skills groups may help some autistic children and young people practice and improve a range of social skills. There is much less evidence for any benefit for autistic.

Social skills groups are most likely to benefit autistic children and young people with average or above average IQ and with existing language skills. They may also be most appropriate for children and young people who actively wish to socialise and whose anxiety levels and behaviour are manageable in situations that involve several people at once.

However care should be taken to teach practical skills that children and young people actually want rather than abstract social refinements that other people think autistic people should have. Autistic children and young people should be taught multiple skills in situations that reflect real experiences and real settings as this is likely to be of more value to them than being taught isolated skills out of context.

There is a need for more research involving larger, controlled studies of social skills training groups. These should seek to differentiate more clearly between the different types of social skills groups and the different elements within each programme, should investigate socially relevant and useful skills in realistic settings, and should include adults as well as children and young people.

Disclaimer

Please read our Disclaimer on Autism Interventions

Audience

Social skills groups are designed to help autistic people who have poor social skills, such as conversational skills, play skills, friendship skills, understanding emotions and dealing with conflict. 

According to Rutten (2007)

"Groups are most likely to benefit individuals at the higher end of the autistic spectrum, those who actively wish to socialise and individuals whose anxiety levels and behaviour are manageable in situations that involve several people at once."

Social skills groups exist for pre-school children, 5-7, 8-10, and 10-13 year old children.  There are also groups for adolescents and adults.

Aims and Claims

Aims

The primary goal is to improve communication and social interaction skills of autistic people through a range of activities and interactions with other people.

According to Rutten (2007) "For young children social skills training is likely to revolve around turn-taking and sharing, whilst for older children friendship skills and keeping safe are important. Adolescents and adults may want to concentrate on transition into adult life, and the life skills necessary for participating in society."

According to Reichow et al (2012) "The exact mechanism through which social skills groups change behavior is not known, but is theoretically based on learning theory. Social skills groups for people with ASD are thought to affect an individual’s social functioning by providing instruction on specific social skills in a group format that allows for immediate rehearsal and practice of the learned skills. The social skill group format also allows for immediate reinforcement for using the targeted skill (in an unstructured setting, the reinforcement for using a social skill might be social reinforcement, which may or may not be a reinforcer for an individual with autism). Providing immediate reinforcement for displaying the desired (targeted) social skill should increase the likelihood of the skill being used again, thereby providing the individual with additional repetitions and practice."

Claims

There have been various claims made for social skills groups including that social skills groups or peer groups will help improve social, communication and other skills of autistic people.

For example Barry et al (2003) reported that social skills groups were effective in improving greeting and play skills; Chung et al (2007) reported that social skills groups were effective in improving social communication skills; and Yoo et al  (2014) reported"‘significant improvement in social skills knowledge, interpersonal skills, and play/leisure skills, as well as a decrease in depressive symptoms and ASD symptoms."

Key Features

Social skills groups are designed to provide an opportunity for autistic people to practice and improve their social skills in a safe, supportive environment.

Most groups consist of between 2 -10 members with similar characteristics e.g. age or ability.  Some groups include people with and without autism, although some groups consist only of  autistic people.  The groups may be held in the classroom, canteen, playground or other community facility.

Most groups are facilitated by professionals, who are there to help the individuals in the group meet agreed objectives. According to Rutten (2007) those objectives may include

  • Effective Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Boundaries
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Dealing with Emotions
  • Peer Interactions

Members of the group undertake a range of activities to achieve those objectives, including group activities, role play, team discussions, and unstructured play.  In some cases, interactions between group members are video-taped so that they can be discussed afterwards.

Group members who are not autistic usually receive some form of training in how to communicate with autistic individuals. Parents of children in a social skills group may receive training and or support at the same time as the group meets.

Cost and Time

Cost

The costs of participating in a social skills group vary from one group to another and will depend on which organisation is running the group, whether the group is provided as part of a wider care package etc.

At private residential centres social skills groups may be offered as part of a wider programme of support.

Time

The length and frequency of the intervention depends to a large extent on the individual group and who is running it. For example, some groups meet once a week for 1 or 2 hours and may do so for 3 to 6 months.  Other groups may meet for 30-60 minutes every day for several weeks.

 Most social skills groups are supervised by one or more professionals, although parents will need to support the process once the child is at home.

The professionals running the sessions may meet regularly with the parents to discuss experiences and to provide details of the programme.

Risks and Safety

Hazards

There are no known potential hazards with social skills groups for autistic people.

However, some autistic people may feel uncomfortable being told that their existing social skills are poor. Social skills groups may only appear to teach them ‘better’ social skills. In fact, they may be hiding what they actually feel, which could be stressful and exhausting. Poor practice, which is not respectful and which does not resonate with autistic people, could be detrimental to their mental health.

Contraindications

There are no known contraindications (something which makes a particular treatment or procedure potentially inadvisable) for autistic people.

Suppliers and Availability

Suppliers

Social skills groups are run in a number of countries in Europe and North America.

In the UK, a school’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) in conjunction with the child’s teacher, a range of other professionals and parents will draw up an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. The EHC plan will identify a number of areas of support, possibly including referral to a social skills group.  For children under 5, the health authority or social services may refer the child. 

Credentials

There are no formal qualifications for the facilitators of social skills groups.  Most facilitators are qualified in related activities e.g. teachers, psychologists, social workers, youth workers, occupational therapists.

History

Social skills groups cover a range of techniques and interventions and therefore no specific information has been found about how, where and by whom they were developed.

Current Research

We have identified more than 50 studies of social skills groups for autistic people published in English in peer-reviewed journals. These studies included a total of more than 1,500 participants, aged between three years old and adult.

The majority of the groups studied consisted of primary school children (5-11 years old) or secondary school children (11-18 years old).  Most of the participants were described as ‘high functioning’, that is, with average or above average IQ and with existing language skills.

  • The great majority of the studies reported positive results across a wide range of social skills. For example, Laugeson et al (2012) reported improvements in social skills knowledge, social responsiveness, and overall social skills in the areas of social communication, social cognition, social awareness, social motivation, assertion, cooperation, and responsibility.
  • Many of these studies also reported improvements in other areas. For example, Gantman et al (2012) reported increased frequency of get-togethers with friends and a decrease in feelings of loneliness.
  • Some of the studies reported positive results in a more limited number of social skills. For example, Whyte et al (2013) reported that a social skills group designed to improve the participants’ understanding of idioms did exactly that but no more.
  • Some studies reported positive results for parents and carers. For example, Solomon et al (2004) reported ‘Mothers’ depression scores tended to decrease and there were significant reductions in child problem behaviors reported’
  • Some of the studies reported positive results in the clinic that did not necessarily carry over into the community.  For example Barry et al  (2003) reported ‘Results indicate that a social skills group implemented in an outpatient clinic setting was effective in improving greeting and play skills, with less clear improvements noted in conversation skills... However, parent report data of greeting, conversation, and play skills outside of the clinic setting indicated significant improvements in only greeting skills.’
  • A few studies reported mixed or negative results.  For example, Lopata et al (2006) reported ‘Results of the study indicated significant improvement in social skills for the overall program based on parent and staff reports. In addition, parents reported a significant improvement in adaptability and reduction in unusual behavior for their children. In contrast, staff reports reflected no significant change in adaptability and an increase in unusual behaviors.’

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’

Ongoing Research

Adolescent Social Skills Training Program (ASST)

Penn State University is currently running a social skills group study. Clinical Trials Gov Ref: NCT01031823. For more details, please see Adolescent Social Skills Training Program

Future Research

Summary of Existing Research

There is a considerable amount of strong positive evidence to suggest that social skills groups may help some autistic children and young people practice and improve a range of social skills. There is much less evidence for any benefit for autistic adults.

Social skills groups are most likely to benefit autistic children and young people with average or above average IQ and with existing language skills.  They may also be most appropriate for children and young people who actively wish to socialise and whose anxiety levels and behaviour are manageable in situations that involve several people at once.

There is a lack of studies which

  • investigate socials skills groups for autistic adults
  • investigate if autistic people consider the skills taught in social skills groups to be relevant or useful to them
  • investigate if the skills taught in social skills programmes programme are transferable to real world settings, such as the workplace, and if they last once the social skills group ends
  • investigate if specific elements of social skills groups (such as the group setting or the individual teaching techniques) are more effective than others or whether it is the whole package which is more effective
  • Investigate social skills groups against other interventions which are designed to teach social skills.

Recommendations for Future Research

We agree with Cappadocia and Weiss (2011) who recommended:

"Future studies of SSTGs should investigate which target skills and teaching techniques have the largest impact on social skills development among these children and youth. It is also important to understand which teaching techniques are effective within each age group, as developmental level must be considered. In studies that have heterogeneous samples, such as the inclusion of multiple diagnostic groups, large age ranges, and/or both genders, the different subgroups should be contrasted or controlled to assess for significant differences across outcome measures. Researchers may also want to focus on studying the generalization of skills from the intervention context (either group or one-on-one interactions with peers) to other environments such as home, school, and the community in greater detail. Perhaps most important, studies should examine maintenance of change after the intervention is completed, as the building of social skills will only truly be effective if it is also lasting."

We also think that there is a need for more research involving larger, controlled studies of social skills training groups. These should seek to differentiate more clearly between the different types of social skills groups and the different elements within each programme, should investigate socially relevant and useful skills in realistic settings, and should include adults as well as children and young people. They should also investigate if autistic people consider the skills taught in social skills groups to be relevant or useful to them.

Studies and Trials

This section provides details of scientific studies into the effectiveness of social skills groups for autistic people which have been published in English-language, peer-reviewed journals. 

If you know of any other publications we should list on this page please email info@informationautism.org

Please note that we are unable to supply publications unless we are listed as the publisher. However, if you are a UK resident you may be able to obtain them from your local public library, your college library or direct from the publisher.

Related Studies and Trials

Other Reading

This section provides details of other publications on this topic.

You can find more publications on this topic in our publications database.

If you know of any other publications we should list on this page please email info@informationautism.org

Please note that we are unable to supply publications unless we are listed as the publisher. However, if you are a UK resident you may be able to obtain them from your local public library, your college library or direct from the publisher.

Related Other Reading

Additional Information

Social skills groups are sometimes used alongside other interventions - such as music therapy, art therapy and drama therapy to help improve social skills in autistic people.

Updated
17 Jun 2022
Last Review
01 Feb 2016
Next Review
01 Sep 2022
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