Sociocommunicative skills training in high functioning autistic spectrum disorders

Abstract

This paper presents the effects of referential-ecological communication training regarding role-taking skills and task-evaluation skills concerning the possible interventions for the socio-communicative aspect of high functioning autistic spectrum Disorders (HF-ASD). The results are compared at three moments of evaluation (pretest, posttest and transfer) as to two groups of people with the same diagnostic condition of which one group had the training program applied and the other not. The training group shows a significant decrease in the non-adapted regulations to the speaker and an increase in self-restructuring, in both the post-test and the transfer test. These data suggest that the referential communication paradigm is a suitable, sensitive and reliable instrument for the exploration and study of the communication process and its results, permitting us to put a training program into practice for the most deficient skills of persons affected by HF-ASD