Investigating Social Competence in a Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of a Theatre-Based Intervention Enhanced for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Blythe A Corbett, Alexandra P Key, Mark E Klemencic and 5 others
PMID 38109034WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with autism who did ten weeks of peer-supported theatre showed better brain responses to faces and reported higher social motivation.
These gains held at two-month follow-up. Direct measures of face memory and observed conversation skills did not improve.
Key findings
01The experimental group showed significantly higher incidental face memory brain responses at post-test compared to the waitlist group.
02Participants reported significantly better social motivation, social communication, and adaptive social functioning at post-test compared to controls.
03Improvements in social motivation were the only significant gains maintained at the two-month follow-up.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was a pilot trial with a small final analysed sample of 47 participants due to higher-than-expected attrition. The study excluded individuals with intellectual disability and those with recent aggression, limiting generalisability to more complex presentations. The sample was predominantly White, and the study relied on self-report for key functional outcomes, which may be influenced by expectation bias. The waitlist control group did not receive treatment during the study period, so differences could be partly due to the novelty of receiving any active intervention.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this theatre programme improves face recognition or conversational skills. The study found no significant improvement on the standardised face memory test or the observed social skills assessment, despite positive changes in brain responses and self-reported motivation.