Social referencing training in children with autism spectrum disorder: A randomized controlled study

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background:

• Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often display reduced social referencing behaviors compared to neurotypical children.
• Social referencing is crucial for learning and social development, involving using others' reactions to understand situations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of a combined intervention (multiple-exemplar training, prompting, social reinforcement) for teaching social referencing to children with ASD.
• To assess the impact of the intervention on social referencing and joint attention skills.

Main Methods:

• A single-blind randomized control trial with a multiple-baseline design was employed.
• Twenty-five children diagnosed with ASD participated in the study.
• Intervention group received multiple-exemplar training, prompting, and social reinforcement.

Main Results:

• Participants in the treatment group demonstrated significantly improved social referencing scores post-intervention.
• No statistically significant differences were observed between the treatment and control groups in initiating and responding to joint attention scores after training.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that the implemented intervention is effective in enhancing social referencing abilities in children with ASD.
• Further research may be needed to explore the intervention's effects on other social communication skills like joint attention.