This systematic review investigates social skills interventions used to develop or improve social skills in adults (aged 17 years or older) with intellectual disabilities and on the autism spectrum.
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Peer-reviewed studies (not otherwise described)
5
"It is not possible to reach conclusions regarding the efficacy of social skills interventions for this population due to the limited quantifiable data and small sample sizes" (p. 156). However, the findings from five studies suggested that social skills interventions for adults with intellectual disabilities and autism were promising:
<ul>
<li>Prompting, reinforcement-based social skills training, workplace training, and intensive interaction interventions reported positive outcomes.</li>
<li>Social stories interventions initially decreased targeted negative social behaviors; improvement was not maintained at follow-up. </li>
<li>Increased structured, social contact helped to decrease the negative behavior of social withdrawal.</li>
<li>No conclusions can be found regarding the overall maintenance of social skills.</li>
</ul>
