Parental judgments of behavior therapy efficacy with autistic children: a social validation.

As a complement to objective measures of treatment effectiveness, behavioral researchers have utilized social validation procedures to gather information from significant others regarding the social importance of behavior changes. The present study represents an attempt to socially validate the efficacy of behavior therapy with autistic children. Thirty-four parents of autistic children and 18 parents of normal children judged (via questionnaire) the behavior of four autistic children before and after behavior therapy. The results indicated that (1) parents socially validated the effects of behavior therapy in that they judged the children as significantly improved after treatment, and (2) the effects of treatment were also socially validated by the parents' indication that they were more willing to interact with the children after treatment than before treatment.