The effectiveness of the PEERS program in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The core deficits of ASD are limited social-communication capacities. Consequences of these social communication deficits are lack of social relationships, poor quality friendships and risk of anxiety or depression. The UCLA PEERS Program has been found to improve the parent-reported social competence in adolescents with ASD in USA and Korea relative to a waiting list comparison group.

The previous studies mostly used parent-reported outcome measures and little is known weather the program are effective in producing the effect of improved social competence. For these reasons, it is of great importance to culturally adapt the program, use blinded observation of social competence, and include teacher in reported outcome measures.

The present study examines the effectiveness of the Dutch translation and cultural adaptation of PEERS program in a RCT compared with an active treatment control group; ROAD.
Participants in this study are randomized after the baseline measurement and equally distributed to PEERS or ROAD.

Enhanced social knowledge (TASSK), cognition (TUSC) and skills (SSIS + SRS) and improved conversation ability (CASS + CRS)

Baseline (week 0)

Intermediate (week 7)

Post-intervention (week 14)

Follow-up (week 28)

- The PEERS program (experimental condition) consists of 14 weekly teen and parent sessions, with a duration of 90 minutes per session. The training is in a small group format (6-10 teens) that addresses elements of friendship, i.e. social skills that are taught using psycho-educational and cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques (i.e. didactic lessons, role play demonstrations, behavioral rehearsals and homework assignments)

- ROAD (active control) consists of 14 weekly teen sessions (parent-involvement trough e-mail hand-outs), with a duration of 90 minutes per session. The training is in a small group format (6-10 teens) that addresses issues relevant during adolescence, like developing autonomy and friendships, using psycho-educational techniques (i.e. didactic lessons, and homework assignments)