Increasing social skills and decreasing anxiety in adolscents with asperger syndrome

by Loudon, Jennifer L.

The study evaluated the use of social groups, social narratives, and video modeling to increase social skills in adolescents diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. The study employed a single subject, multiple baseline design to determine the effects of the three different interventions on the performance of social skills within a school setting. A literature review evaluated previous studies that used the interventions independently. The researcher investigated the sequence of interventions and determined that the order the interventions were presented did not have an effect on the performance of skills. The study also evaluated the anxiety levels of the participants and investigated whether an increase in social skill performance influenced anxiety levels of the individuals. Findings support the use of the interventions and revealed a potentially associated decrease in anxiety levels after intervention phase.