Social skill interventions are critical to teach to students with ASD because

Social skill interventions attempt to remediate deficits in the set of social skills that are used to interact and communicate with others. For individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), this means difficulties in initiating interactions, sharing enjoyment, sustaining reciprocity, taking the perspective of another, and making inferences about the interests of others. Social skill deficits are a central feature of ASD. There are many different programs established to treat these social skill deficits for individuals with ASD; however, many programs are not well researched and do not have an established evidence base.

Historical Background

The social skill deficits noted in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were first described in papers published in 1943, one in English and one in German. Leo Kanner () described 11 children with “early infantile autism” in his paper “Autistic disturbances of affective contact” and highlighted poor social relatedness as a key...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Distance Learning Director, Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Vermont, 489 Main St. Pomeroy Hall, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Hope Morris MS

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  1. Hope Morris MS

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Correspondence to Hope Morris MS .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Director, Child Study Center, Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology Yale University School of Medicine, Chief, Child Psychiatry Children's Hospital at Yale-New Haven Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Morris, H. (2013). Social Skill Interventions. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_804