White, Susan W.Scarpa, AngelaConner, Caitlin M.Maddox, Brenda B.Bonete, Saray2016-10-122016-10-122015-03-011088-3576http://hdl.handle.net/10919/73205Despite the impact of social disability on the lives of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), we know little about how to assess clinical improvement in this domain. This is a preliminary study of the potential utility and sensitivity of a novel observational rating system, the Contextual Assessment of Social Skills (CASS), as a treatment outcome measure with cognitively unimpaired adults with ASD. Five cognitively unimpaired adults with ASD completed the CASS, before and after a group social skills intervention. Based on ratings made by evaluators masked to assessment (pre-treatment or post-treatment), reliable change indices were computed to assess improvement. Four participants demonstrated significant improvement in conversational involvement, two initiated significantly more topic changes, and one asked more questions. Laboratory-based observational measures, such as the CASS, may be useful in clinical trials for adults with ASD, though further evaluation with larger samples is required.3 - 12 (10) page(s)application/pdfenIn CopyrightEducation, SpecialPsychology, DevelopmentalRehabilitationEducation & Educational ResearchPsychologyautismadulttreatmentsocialassessmentPSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIESINTERVENTION RESEARCHINTERACTION ANXIETYCHILDRENADOLESCENTSPHOBIAMETAANALYSISINDIVIDUALSSPAI-23Article - Refereedhttps://doi.org/10.1177/1088357614539836301