TEACCH-based group social skills training for children with high-functioning autism: a pilot randomized controlled trial

BioPsychoSocial Medicine

Kayoko Ichikawa⁴  Yoshimitsu Takahashi⁴  Masahiko Ando³  Tokie Anme⁵  Tatsuro Ishizaki²  Hinako Yamaguchi¹  Takeo Nakayama⁴ 

[1] Osaka Psychiatric Medical Center, 3-16-21 Miyanosaka, Hirakata, Osaka 573-0022, Japan

[2] Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-0015, Japan

[3] Center for Advanced Medicine and Clinical Research, Nagoya University Hospital, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Syowa-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8560, Japan

[4] Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Yoshida-Konoe, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

[5] International Community Care and Life-Span Development, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan

关键词: TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication Handicapped Children);    Social skills training;    Autism;    Randomized controlled trial;   

Others  :  1082344
DOI  :  10.1186/1751-0759-7-14

 received in 2013-06-22, accepted in 2013-09-23,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Although social skills training programs for people with high-functioning autism (HFA) are widely practiced, the standardization of curricula, the examination of clinical effectiveness, and the evaluation of the feasibility of future trials have yet to be done in Asian countries. To compensate for this problem, a Japanese pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH)-based group social skills training for children with HFA and their mothers was conducted.

Methods

Eleven children with HFA, aged 5–6 years, and their mothers were randomly assigned to the TEACCH program (n=5) or a waiting-list control group (n=6). The program involved comprehensive group intervention and featured weekly 2-hour sessions, totaling 20 sessions over six months. The adaptive behaviors and social reciprocity of the children, parenting stress, and parent–child interactions were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Parenting Stress Index (PSI), Beck depression inventory-II (BDI-II), and Interaction Rating Scale (IRS).

Results

Through this pilot trial, the intervention and evaluation of the program has been shaped. There were no dropouts from the program and the mothers’ satisfaction was high. The outcome measurements improved more in the program group than in the control group, with moderate effect sizes (SDQ, 0.71; PSI, 0.58; BDI-II, 0.40; and IRS, 0.69). This pilot trial also implied that this program is more beneficial for high IQ children and mothers with low stress than for those who are not.

Conclusion

We have standardized the TEACCH program, confirmed the feasibility of a future trial, and successfully estimated the positive effect size. These findings will contribute to a larger trial in the future and to forthcoming systematic reviews with meta-analyses.

Trial registration

UMIN000004560

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Ichikawa et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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