Improving emotion recognition in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and intellectual disabilities

Rationale: Social skills are crucial for adapting to an increasingly complex social world during development. The implications of impaired social skills for mental well-being have called for identifying interventions that enhance social cognitive functioning and specifically target the core cognitive problems. Most social skills interventions are developed for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, approximately 50% of individuals with ASD have comorbid intellectual disabilities. The Transporters, an animated series designed to improve emotion comprehension in children with ASD, is a promising intervention for this specific group, given the visual nature, the frequent repetition and the small steps in which new information is being introduced. This study evaluates the efficacy of The Transporters in children with ASD an Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF, 70

Main hypothesis: The group of children with ASD and BIF that receive "The Transporters" will show significantly more improvement in contextual understanding of emotions and social functioning than the group of children with ASD and BIF that receive the control intervention "Thomas & Friends".

First assessment: at the start of the interveniotn.
Second assessment: one week after completing the intervention.
Follow up: six months after completing the intervention.

Two groups of children, randomly assigned to either the treatment condition or placebo group, are compared to each other. The intervention group watches the specifically designed DVD series called 'The Transporter'. The control group children receive a DVD of existing DVD episodes of 'Thomas & Friends', assembled specifically for this study. Both groups watch the DVD for 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week over the course of 4 weeks. In both groups, parents are actively involved in the treatment of their children by discussing certain specified topics using a diary and in helping their children make the generalisation across different settings.