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Parent and Teacher Report of Social Skills in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Lisa A. Ruble
University of Kentucky, Lexington

Heather Willis
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Cynthia A. Molloy
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati

Contact author: Donna S. Murray, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, 3333 Burnet Avenue ML 4002, Cincinnati, OH 45229. E-mail: donna.murray{at}cchmc.org.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the agreement between parent and teacher perceptions of specific social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Method: Informant ratings were generated concerning 45 children with ASD between the ages of 5 and 14 years who were enrolled in social skills groups at 2 Midwestern outpatient autism treatment centers.

Results: Moderate agreement was observed between parents and teachers for the overall social skills rating scores (r = 0.34; p < 0.05), but there was little agreement on specific social items. Distinct patterns of skill profiles emerged. Parents consistently provided relatively higher ratings on items that pertained to initiating interactions. Teachers, on the other hand, consistently provided higher ratings on items related to responding to and maintaining interactions. Parents and teachers agreed most often on items of affective understanding and perspective taking.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that specific social behaviors may be context dependent, indicating the need for a multi-informant approach to provide a more complete profile of a child's social abilities, which is necessary for generating a more effective treatment plan.

KEY WORDS: autism, social skills, parent, teacher report

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