Pilot Trial of a Comprehensive Summer Psychosocial Treatment for High-Functioning Young Children with ASD

This study examined the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a comprehensive summer psychosocial treatment (summerMAX^yc) for high-functioning young children, ages 4–6 years, with ASD (HFASD). The 5-week treatment, conducted 5 days per week, 6 h per day, included skills instruction and therapeutic activities targeting social/social-communication skills, facial-emotion recognition, and interest expansion. A behavioral system was implemented to increase skills acquisition and maintenance and reduce ASD symptoms and problem behaviors. Feasibility was supported in high levels of treatment fidelity and child, parent, and staff clinician satisfaction. Significant post-treatment improvements were found for 9 of 10 outcome measures including parent and staff clinician ratings of targeted social/social-communication skills, ASD symptoms, and broader adaptive social and communication skills, and staff clinician ratings of daily living skills. Results suggested that summerMAX^yc was feasible and may yield positive outcomes for 4–6 year olds with HFASD.