Autism programs are huge failure.

• Position: Psychology

Programs designed to teach social skills to children with autism are failing to meet their goals, reveals a study by Indiana University, Bloomington, which found that outcomes for social skills training were poor overall, but programs held in normal classroom settings were more likely to result in positive changes than those held in other environments.

"The results of the meta-analysis are certainly hard to swallow, but they do shed some light on factors that lead to more beneficial social outcomes for children with autism," says Scott Bellini, assistant professor in the School of Education. "These results underscore the critical need for researchers and practitioners to develop more effective social skills programming."

The reviewed studies included students ranging in age from preschool to secondary school. The programs were aimed to address skills such as group play, joint attention, and language usage, or to improve performance of social behaviors, such as initiating interactions, responding to communication, and maintaining interactions. Overall, the programs resulted in little change in the targeted behaviors, and students did not apply the skills outside the programs.

However, students receiving social skills programming in their usual classrooms had substantially more favorable outcomes than those who received services in a pull-out setting. Students in classroom-based programs were more likely to engage the targeted skills during the program, and showed a greater tendency to maintain changes in...