This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a computer software (i.e., Mind Reading) and in vivo rehearsal treatment on the emotion decoding and encoding skills, autism symptoms, and social skills of 43 children, ages 7-12 years with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). Children in treatment (n = 22) received the manualized protocol over 12 weeks. Primary analyses indicated significantly better posttest performance for the treatment group (compared to controls) on 3 of the 4 measures of emotion decoding and encoding and these were maintained at 5-week follow-up. Analyses of secondary measures favored the treatment group for 1 of the 2 measures; specifically, ASD symptoms were significantly lower at posttest and follow-up.

The purpose of this study was to: (1) examine symptom levels of anxiety and depression in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs) compared with matched control children using child self-reports and parent ratings; and (2) examine source differences within the two condition groups. An overall multivariate effect indicated significantly elevated depression and anxiety symptoms for children with HFASDs based on parent reports; however no significant between-group differences based on child self-reports. Within-condition source comparisons (parent vs. child) revealed a significant multivariate effect indicating a significant difference in symptoms of depression and anxiety for the HFASD group but none for the control. Correlations between parent and child reports for the HFASD group suggested some positive association between child-reports and parent-reports for depressive symptoms only; however, the difference in average scores reflected a substantial discrepancy in the magnitude of symptoms by rater. Implications for clinical assessment and future research are provided.

This replication randomized clinical trial examined the efficacy of a comprehensive psychosocial intervention for children aged 7 to 12 years with high‐functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs). Participants were randomly assigned to treatment or wait‐list conditions. Treatment included instruction and therapeutic activities targeting social skills, face‐emotion recognition, interest expansion, and interpretation of non‐literal language. A response‐cost program was used to reduce problem behaviors and increase skills acquisition. Significant treatment effects were found for five of seven primary outcome measures (parent ratings and direct child measures). Secondary measures (i.e., staff ratings) corroborated gains reported by parents. Children maintained social gains 2 to 3 months post‐treatment. High levels of parent, child, and staff satisfaction were found, along with high levels of treatment fidelity. Standardized effect size estimates were predominantly in the medium and large ranges for significant outcome variables.

This study examined the reliability and criterion-related validity of parent ratings on the Adapted Skillstreaming Checklist (ASC) for a sample of 275 high-functioning children, ages 6-12 years, with ASD. Internal consistency for the total sample was 0.92. For two subsamples, test-retest reliability was very good at the 6-week and good at the 9-month intervals. Child age, IQ, and language abilities were unrelated to the ASC score. The ASC total score was inversely and strongly related to parent ratings of ASD symptom severity. Significant positive correlations (moderate-to-high) were found between the ASC and prosocial skills scales and significant negative correlations (low-to-moderate) with problem behavior scales on a broad measure of child functioning. Implications and suggestions for future study are discussed.