The social behavior of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder was evaluated weekly over 19 weeks of a social skills training program. Participants’ vocalizations were coded as initiating, responding, or other (e.g., self-talk). Participants’ interactions were coded as dyadic peer interactions, dyadic leader interactions, interactions with a group of peers, interactions with a group of peer(s) and leader(s), or time spent by self. Over the course of the intervention, participants made fewer initiating and other vocalizations, more responding vocalizations, spent more time interacting with a group of peers, and spent marginally less time interacting with a leader. Gender, age, and intervention attendance effects on social behavior are also noted.

Although prior studies have demonstrated reduced resting state EEG coherence in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), no studies have explored the nature of EEG coherence during joint attention. We examined the EEG coherence of the joint attention network in adolescents with and without ASD during congruent and incongruent joint attention perception and an eyes-open resting condition. Across conditions, adolescents with ASD showed reduced right hemisphere temporal–central alpha coherence compared to typically developing adolescents. Greater right temporal–central alpha coherence during joint attention was positively associated with social cognitive performance in typical development but not in ASD. These results suggest that, in addition to a resting state, EEG coherence during joint attention perception is reduced in ASD.

Higher-functioning participants with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) viewed a series of face stimuli, made decisions regarding the affect of each face, and indicated their confidence in each decision. Confidence significantly predicted accuracy across all participants, but this relation was stronger for participants with typical development than participants with ASD. In the hierarchical linear modeling analysis, there were no differences in face processing accuracy between participants with and without ASD, but participants with ASD were more confident in their decisions. These results suggest that individuals with ASD have metacognitive impairments and are overconfident in face processing. Additionally, greater metacognitive awareness was predictive of better face processing accuracy, suggesting that metacognition may be a pivotal skill to teach in interventions.

In this paper, we synthesize the current literature on group-based social skills interventions (GSSIs) for adolescents (ages 10–20 years) with higher-functioning autism spectrum disorder and identify key concepts that should be addressed in future research on GSSIs. We consider the research participants, the intervention, the assessment of the intervention, and the research methodology and results to be integral and interconnected components of the GSSI literature, and we review each of these components respectively. Participant characteristics (eg, age, IQ, sex) and intervention characteristics (eg, targeted social skills, teaching strategies, duration and intensity) vary considerably across GSSIs; future research should evaluate whether participant and intervention characteristics mediate/moderate intervention efficacy. Multiple assessments (eg, parent-report, child-report, social cognitive assessments) are used to evaluate the efficacy of GSSIs; future research should be aware of the limitations of current measurement approaches and employ more accurate, sensitive, and comprehensive measurement approaches. Results of GSSIs are largely inconclusive, with few consistent findings across studies (eg, high parent and child satisfaction with the intervention); future research should employ more rigorous methodological standards for evaluating efficacy. A better understanding of these components in the current GSSI literature and a more sophisticated and rigorous analysis of these components in future research will lend clarity to key questions regarding the efficacy of GSSIs for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

The ability to regulate behaviors and emotions depends in part on the ability to flexibly monitor one’s own progress toward a goal. Atypical patterns of response monitoring have been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the current study we examined the error related negativity (ERN), an electrophysiological index of response monitoring, in relation to behavioral, social cognitive, and emotional presentation in higher functioning children (8–16 years) diagnosed with autism (HFA: N = 38) and an age- and IQ-matched sample of children without autism (COM: N = 36). Both HFA and COM participants displayed larger amplitude responses to error compared to correct response trials and these amplitudes did not differ by diagnostic group. For participants with HFA, larger ERN amplitudes were associated with more parent-reported autistic symptoms and more self-reported internalizing problems. However, across the full sample, larger ERN amplitudes were associated with better performance on Theory of Mind tasks. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of electrophysiological measures for understanding essential moderating processes that contribute to the spectrum of behavioral expression in the development of Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Parent- and adolescent-report of social skill importance and social skill engagement on the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) were assessed in higher-functioning adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Compared to parents, adolescents reported that social skills were less important. Additionally, adolescents reported that they engaged in social skills more frequently than parents reported them to be engaging in social skills. Parents, but not adolescents, reported a discrepancy between importance and engagement, such that the importance of social skills was rated higher than the frequency of adolescent engagement in social skills. These results suggest that social skills interventions for individuals with ASD may need to target awareness of social skill importance and accurate monitoring of social skill engagement.

Error-monitoring, or the ability to recognize one's mistakes and implement behavioral changes to prevent further mistakes, may be impaired in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Children and adolescents (ages 9-19) with ASD (n = 42) and typical development (n = 42) completed two face processing tasks that required discrimination of either the gender or affect of standardized face stimuli. Post-error slowing and the difference in Error-Related Negativity amplitude between correct and incorrect responses (ERNdiff) were used to index error-monitoring ability. Overall, ERNdiff increased with age. On the Gender Task, individuals with ASD had a smaller ERNdiff than individuals with typical development; however, on the Affect Task, there were no significant diagnostic group differences on ERNdiff. Individuals with ASD may have ERN amplitudes similar to those observed in individuals with typical development in more social contexts compared to less social contexts due to greater consequences for errors, more effortful processing, and/or reduced processing efficiency in these contexts. Across all participants, more post-error slowing on the Affect Task was associated with better social cognitive skills.

Participants assessed the employability of vignette characters whose presentation varied across two dimensions during a job interview: presence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristics (present, absent) and disclosure of diagnosis (ASD, ADHD, diabetes, or no disclosure). Participants more knowledgeable about ASD had more positive perceptions of vignette characters, particularly when they disclosed an ASD diagnosis and did not show ASD characteristics. Participants high in social desirability perceived vignette characters more positively. Participants expressed the most concern about job candidates showing inflexible adherence to a routine and sensory sensitivity, although such concerns may have been context-dependent due to job expectations. Overall, these results emphasize that employer factors, particularly employer knowledge of ASD and social desirability, significantly affect the perceived employability of job candidates with ASD. Public Significance StatementThis study suggests that employer characteristics, such as an employer's knowledge of ASD and an employer's tendency to behave in socially acceptable ways, significantly affect first impressions of a job candidate. Employer-based interventions (e.g., increasing employer knowledge of ASD) may be critical for reducing rates of unemployment and underemployment in ASD.