Long-Term Treatment Outcomes of PEERS® for Preschoolers: A Parent-Mediated Social Skills Training Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Isita Tripathi, Jasper A Estabillo, Christine T Moody and 1 others
PMID 34302574WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism who completed PEERS for Preschoolers kept reduced social impairment and more playdates 1 to 5 years later, but social skills compared with same-age peers and problem behaviors returned toward baseline.
Key findings
01On the SRS-2, where higher T-scores mean greater impairment, total scores fell from 75.45 at baseline to 66.86 after treatment and were 68.34 at follow-up, still significantly different from baseline.
02Monthly playdates rose from 1.65 at baseline to 3.35 after treatment and were 2.73 at follow-up, still significantly different from baseline.
03Age-normed social skills and problem behaviors improved after treatment but did not maintain, because follow-up scores did not significantly differ from baseline.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study had no control group and did not track other treatments during follow-up, so PEERS itself cannot be proven responsible for maintained outcomes. Only 29 of 45 eligible children completed follow-up, and parents who were more satisfied may have been more likely to take part or report gains. All outcomes were parent-reported, and the parents were also the intervention coaches, so ratings may reflect their involvement. ASD diagnoses were not independently confirmed by the study team. Intellectual or adaptive functioning was not assessed, so children's cognitive level may have affected outcomes. The playdate benchmark of 2.5 playdates per month came from school-aged samples, not preschoolers, so it may be too strict for younger children. Parenting stress was not elevated at baseline in some domains, and power was low, so null stress findings may not apply to more stressed families.
Declared interests
The paper does not report funding sources or author conflicts of interest. Parents received a gift card incentive for completing forms.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that PEERS for Preschoolers produces lasting improvement in all social outcomes. Age-normed social skills and problem behaviors improved after treatment but did not differ from baseline at follow-up, and the study had no control group or comparison treatment.