Article: Antecedent Social Skills Interventions for Individuals with ASD: What Works, for Whom, and Under What Conditions? By Ledford and others. In Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 2018, 33(1).

This article is not exactly what the title suggests. It was less a review of empirically supported techniques for social skills interventions for people with ASD and more a review of the research around the issue. More than that, it was a criticism of the research and ultimately the peer reviewed journals that are publishing these studies.

Much of the technical language was beyond the effort I wanted to put in today, but the summary is that much of the research this study reviewed was missing some key components. Many studies were missing common study elements and vital information about participants.

It seems like interest in "what works" for individuals with ASD is increasing, so hopefully submissions to journals are also increasing, and quality of studies published can go up. Until then, the take away message was to be critical about the "research" you are reading for the sake of treatment planning. Regardless how positive the outcomes are, "...practitioners should consider the extent to which evidence for the practice has been accumulated for the behaviors they encounter, for the individual they serve, in contexts similar to theirs." (p. 12).