The Impact of Co-occurring ADHD on Social Competence Intervention Outcomes in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Christina Harkins, Micah O Mazurek
PMID 37142907WHAT IT FOUND
Co-occurring ADHD did not show smaller improvements after the social competence intervention period.
Both groups improved on parent-reported social measures, but not on clinician observation or peer quality-of-life scores. ADHD medication was also used, so causes cannot be separated.
Key findings
01Co-occurring ADHD did not show significantly different social functioning change over time compared with autism alone.
02Parent-reported communication, social reciprocity, peer interaction, and overall social responsiveness scores improved over the intervention period.
03Clinician observation and peer quality-of-life scores did not show significant improvement at the corrected significance level.
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, so improvement over time cannot be separated from normal development, school changes, or other supports. ADHD status was based on a parent-reported previous diagnosis, not a new structured diagnostic assessment. Many participants with ADHD were taking ADHD medication, so gains cannot be separated from medication effects. Post-test data were missing for 16% of measures and were replaced with multiple imputation. The sample was mostly male, had IQ scores of 75 or higher, and was not diverse by race or ethnicity. The study had no follow-up, so it does not show whether gains lasted or generalized to peers.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the Social Competence Intervention caused social gains in autistic children with ADHD. The study had no control group, 32 participants with ADHD were taking ADHD medication, and gains were not seen on the clinician observation score or the peer quality-of-life domain.