Advisory Committee Chair
Fred J Biasini
Advisory Committee Members
Kristi C Guest
Scott Snyder
Laura Stoppelbein
Martha Wingate
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2015
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) College of Arts and Sciences
Abstract
The social status and social relationships of preschool children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) were assessed as developmentally relevant outcomes of a social skills intervention with a large peer-training component. Changes in teacher-reported behavior problems were also measured and used to predict social status before, immediately after, and twelve weeks after the social skills intervention. Patterns of children’s social associations were measured utilizing child- and teacher-report. Additional steps were taken to establish test-retest reliability for the sociometric measures used in this study in order to contribute to the psychometric literature focused on the social functioning of young children with ASD. Results indicate that children with ASD generally experience more internalizing and externalizing behavior problems than their typically developing peers. Children with ASD that participated in the social skills intervention did experience significant improvements in their social status, which lends support to the intervention. Teachers rated children with ASD to be lower in popularity and to have fewer reciprocal playmate relationships, even after the intervention took place. Few significant long-term effects were found. Overall, results from this study seem to suggest that the children with ASD require continued and intensive support in building appropriate social relationships and developing social competence throughout the preschool years.
Recommended Citation
Leger, Sarah, "Assessing Changes in Social Status and Behavior Problems in Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) After Exposure to a Peer-Mediated Social Skills Intervention" (2015). All ETDs from UAB. 2246.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/2246