Young adults with autism show improved social function following UCLA skills program
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - LOS ANGELES
Researchers at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA have found that a social skills program for high-functioning young adults with autism spectrum disorder significantly improved the participants' ability to engage with their peers.
In the study, the largest randomized controlled trial to show improved social functioning in young adults with autism, the participants' advances continued to be seen 16 weeks after the program's conclusion, and were even augmented by other improvements such as increased empathy and greater responsibility.
The study (PDF), which builds on previous findings showing the effectiveness of UCLA's Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills, or PEERS, appears in a special issue of the online Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
"There is still a misconception that autism is a childhood disorder," said Elizabeth Laugeson, the founder and director of the UCLA PEERS Clinic, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute and the study's principal investigator. "It's as if we've forgotten that these children grow up to be adults with their own unique challenges that very often affect their ability to be gainfully employed or establish meaningful friendships and romantic relationships.
"Our study offers encouraging findings that, through an evidence-based, caregiver-supported intervention, adults with autism can improve in ways that may help them be more successful in these aspects of their lives."
Autism affects approximately 1.5 million people in the U.S., and the number of young adults identified with the disorder is rising every year. Although individuals of all ages on the autism spectrum struggle as a result of social deficits, most interventions target young children; few programs are available to help young adults improve their social functioning.
"Unfortunately, research investigating the effectiveness of social skills training has fallen short for young adults with autism," Laugeson said. "In fact, very few social skills interventions exist for young adults on the spectrum, and apart from PEERS, none has been shown through research to be effective."
Laugeson and her colleagues, including Dr. Fred Frankel, a UCLA professor of psychiatry, developed PEERS at UCLA in 2005 and it has since expanded to other sites in the U.S. and other countries. The PEERS for Young Adults intervention consists of 16 weekly 90-minute sessions, along with concurrent sessions for caregivers.
"We're not teaching what we think young people should do in social situations, but what we know actually works through research," Laugeson said...
Read more about the study at EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-07/uoc--yaw073015.php
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