Targeting Question-Asking Initiations in College Students With ASD Using a Video-Feedback Intervention

Abstract

Social conversational vulnerabilities associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) generally persist into young adulthood and have a detrimental impact on short- and long-term academic, vocational, and interpersonal success. In light of these challenges, there is a growing need for targeted interventions to improve the social competencies of this population. The current study examined the effects of a video-feedback intervention that targeted a key social conversational skill—making social initiations to one’s conversational partner. A multiple-baseline research design across three college students with ASD indicated that the use of video feedback to target question-asking initiations was associated with improvements in (a) total questions asked, (b) conversational pauses, (c) nonperseverative discussion, (d) conversational reciprocity, and (e) perceived confidence. These findings generalized across contexts and conversation partners, suggesting that this intervention strategy may hold promise for promoting key social competencies in young adults with ASD.