Beaumont Renae, Sofronoff Kate
The University of Queensland, Australia.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;49(7):743-53. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01920.x. Epub 2008 Jul 1.
The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a new multi-component social skills intervention for children with Asperger syndrome (AS): The Junior Detective Training Program. This 7-week program included a computer game, small group sessions, parent training sessions and teacher handouts.
Forty-nine children with AS were recruited to participate and randomly assigned to intervention (n = 26) or wait-list control (n = 23) conditions.
Relative to children in the wait-list group, program participants showed greater improvements in social skills over the course of the intervention, as indicated by parent-report measures. Teacher-report data also confirmed that children receiving the intervention made significant improvements in social functioning from pre- to post-treatment. Treatment group participants were better able to suggest appropriate emotion-management strategies for story characters at post-intervention than at pre-intervention, whereas control participants were not. However, there was no difference in the improvements made by children in the intervention and control conditions on facial expression and body-posture recognition measures. Follow-up data suggested that treatment gains were maintained by children at 5-months post-intervention.
The Junior Detective Training Program appeared to be effective in enhancing the social skills and emotional understanding of children with AS. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.
本研究旨在调查一种针对阿斯伯格综合征（AS）儿童的新型多成分社交技能干预措施的有效性：初级侦探训练计划。这个为期7周的计划包括一个电脑游戏、小组会议、家长培训课程和教师手册。
招募了49名患有AS的儿童参与研究，并将他们随机分配到干预组（n = 26）或等待名单对照组（n = 23）。
根据家长报告的测量结果，与等待名单组的儿童相比，参与计划的儿童在干预过程中社交技能有更大的改善。教师报告的数据也证实，接受干预的儿童在治疗前到治疗后社交功能有显著改善。干预组参与者在干预后比干预前更能为故事角色提出适当的情绪管理策略，而对照组参与者则没有。然而，干预组和对照组儿童在面部表情和身体姿势识别测量方面的改善没有差异。随访数据表明，儿童在干预后5个月时保持了治疗效果。
初级侦探训练计划似乎在提高AS儿童的社交技能和情绪理解方面是有效的。讨论了研究的局限性和对未来研究的建议。
