Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29423608›Full record

SynthesisJournal of autism and developmental disorders2018

A Systematic Review of Group Social Skills Interventions, and Meta-analysis of Outcomes, for Children with High Functioning ASD.

J Wolstencroft, L Robinson, R Srinivasan, E Kerry, W Mandy, D Skuse

Registry-linked trialOpen access · hybridAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07594171 (Comparative Outcomes of VR and In-person NDBI-informed Social Skills Interventions for Preschool-aged Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder), which is not on this map. Cited by 70 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
70citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
9.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07594171 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Comparative Outcomes of VR and In-person NDBI-informed Social Skills Interventions for Preschool-aged Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

TypeinterventionalSponsorNational Cheng-Kung University HospitalRan2023 to 2025Enrolled32ConditionsAutism Spectrum Disorder High-Functioning, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)ArmsVirtual Reality-Based Social Skills Group Intervention, In-Person Social Skills Group Intervention
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

70 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 180 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  11. Visual Perspective Taking Training Improves Theory of Mind in Autistic Children.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
    Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERSJournal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025
    Trial
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  19. Utility of an Observational Social Skill Assessment as a Measure of Social Cognition in Autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2021
    Trial
  20. Trial

10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

J WolstencroftThe Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK. j.wolstencroft@ucl.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0001-6160-9731
L RobinsonInstitute of Psychiatry, King's College London, 103 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
R SrinivasanThe Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK.
E KerryThe Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK.
W MandyDivision of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
D SkuseThe Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK.
University College London · GBInstitute of Child Health · GRKing's College London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Group social skills interventions (GSSIs) are a commonly offered treatment for children with high functioning ASD. We critically evaluated GSSI randomised controlled trials for those aged 6-25 years. Our meta-analysis of outcomes emphasised internal validity, thus was restricted to trials that used the parent-report social responsiveness scale (SRS) or the social skills rating system (SSRS). Large positive effect sizes were found for the SRS total score, plus the social communication and restricted interests and repetitive behaviours subscales. The SSRS social skills subscale improved with moderate effect size. Moderator analysis of the SRS showed that GSSIs that include parent-groups, and are of greater duration or intensity, obtained larger effect sizes. We recommend future trials distinguish gains in children's social knowledge from social performance.

Indexed as

Social SkillsAdolescentAdultAutism Spectrum DisorderBehavior TherapyChildFemaleHumansMaleRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicSocioenvironmental TherapySocial competenceSocial responsiveness scaleSocial skills

Identifiers

PMID29423608
PMCPMC5996019
OpenAlexW2793586905

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.