Has the Needle Moved for Social Inclusion of Children with ASD? a 10-Year View

Background:  

Developing meaningful relationships is a challenge for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Elementary-age children with ASD have fewer reciprocated friendships and are less engaged with their peers (Kasari et al., 2011). In the past few years, there have been more evidence-based social skills interventions that help children with ASD with social challenges (Kasari & Patterson, 2013). However, little is known about whether the proliferation of social skills interventions has resulted in improved peer relationships for children with ASD at school. 

Objectives:  

The current study will examine whether there are differences in friendships in cohorts of elementary school-aged children with ASD studied over a ten-year period.

Methods:  

Three cohorts of children were studied over a 10-year period, completed a social network and friendship survey regarding their friendships at school. The 3 cohorts were assessed from 2003-2007 (n=60), 2008-2011 (n=115), and 2011-2012 (n=17). Children were fully included in general education classrooms with IQs above 65. There were no significant differences between the cohorts in age, gender, and ethnicity. Participants included 192 elementary children with ASD in the Greater Los Angeles area, ages 6 to 12 (M = 8.31, SD = 1.57); 86% were male. Participants were from diverse ethnic backgrounds (44.3 % Caucasian, 9.2% African American, 17.3% Hispanic, 22.2% Asian, and 7% Other).

The Social Network and Friendship Survey were used to measure the number of friendships, social centrality, friendship nominations and reciprocity in children with ASD. The Playground Observation of Peer Engagement was used to measure engagement with peers on the playgrounds at school. 

Results:  

A chi-square analysis was used to examine the percentage of reciprocated friendships across the three groups. Approximately 28% of the entire sample had a least one reciprocated friendship; however, there were no differences in the percentage of reciprocated friendships among the three cohorts (21.4 %, 33.7%, 23.5 %), χ 2 (2, N = 196) =2.908, p =0.234.

One-way ANOVAs were conducted to examine differences in the friendship nominations across the three groups. Children had fewer nominations, both from others and to others, and there were no differences between groups (F (2, 181) = .405, p > .05; F (2, 181) = .831, p >.05).

One-way ANOVAs were conducted to examine how engaged the children were on the playground. There were no differences between groups in the percentage of time children spent isolated (33.6%, 34.5%, 23.3%), (F (2, 181) = 1.118, p > .05) or engaged (40.9%, 41.6%, 48.2%) with their peers, F (2, 181) = .380, p > .05.

Conclusions:  

Despite the proliferation of social skills interventions, the current study shows that the situation for children at school remains the same. They are unengaged on the playground and the numbers of nominated friendships remain the same. The numbers of reciprocated friendships also remain low and stable across all three cohorts. Although there have been much advances in social skills interventions for children with ASD, more work is needed to help children with ASD develop meaningful social relationships in the schools (Kasari & Smith, 2013).