Examining the effectiveness of peer-mediated and video-modeling social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis in single-case research using HLM

Social interaction is a fundamental problem for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Various types of social skills interventions have been developed and used by clinicians to promote the social interaction in children with ASD. This meta-analysis used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine the effectiveness of peer-mediated and video-modeling approaches, the two approaches that are most commonly used for social skills training of children with ASD. The two approaches, with the average effect size of 1.27 (peer-mediated approach: mean = 1.3, 95% CL = 1.10-1.50, N = 9; video-modeling approach: mean = 1.22, 95% CL = 0.65-1.78, N = 5) were found to significantly and equally improve the social performance of children with ASD. In addition, age functioned as a significant moderator in the effectiveness of the intervention. Implications of the results and limitations of this study are discussed.