Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 19, No. 1, 1989 A Social Skills Group for Autistic Children T. I. Williams 2 Reading, England The evolution and preliminary evaluation of a social skills training group for 10 autistic children aged between 9 and 16 years was described. These children attended a special unit which aimed to integrate them into normal school provision. The paper consists of a description of the evolution of the group and the training methods employed and an evaluation of the effect of the group. This was accomplished by the use of a standard teacher's ques- tionnaire. The results of the evaluation are described and the implications for further study of this means of helping autistic individuals discussed. Difficulties in forming relationships with other people constitute a central feature of autism and considerable effort has been devoted to devising methods for improving the social functioning of autistic individuals. One approach has been to seek to teach the skills involved in success- ful social interaction. Early studies of social skills training involved adult psychiatric patients or university students. More recently the techniques have been extended to younger age groups and to the mentally handicapped. So- cial skills training has been shown to be effective in enabling people to form friendships and to overcome social anxiety (Shepherd, 1983), although it was not superior to desensitization for the latter. The more successful training methods used explanation, modeling of appropriate behavior, role playing, and feedback from the trainer. In parallel with the broadening of client groups there has been a change in the methods of teaching used. Initially, the underlying assumption was that social skills were simple skills, which could be taught as isolated cam- L 1am grateful to the staff and children of the Chinnor Autistic Unit for their patience in setting up the group and evaluating it. The analysis of the results was suggested by an anonymous referee who together with another referee and my wife have tightened up the description con- siderably. 2Address all correspondence to T. I. Williams, 25 Erleigh Road, Reading RG1 5LR, England. 143 0162-3257/89/0300-0143506.00/0 9 1989 Plenum Publishing Corporation