Investigating the effectiveness of role-playing method on improving social skills of high-functioning autistic children

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder, and its main characteristic is a persistent deficit in establishing two-way social communication and interactions, and repetitive and restricted patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of role-playing methods on improving the social skills of high-functioning autistic children. The research method in this study is semi-experimental, in which 20 children aged 6-12 who referred to the Arman Psychology Center and were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were selected as a sample through convenience sampling, and 10 were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 10 to the control group. Then, the social skills questionnaire was administered as a pre-test for both groups, and after providing 40 sessions of therapeutic intervention for the experimental group, the same questionnaire was administered again as a post-test for both groups. The obtained data were compared using one-way analysis of variance. The results of data analysis show us that there is a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in social skills, so it can be concluded that the role-playing method improves social skills in children with high functioning autism.