Teaching adolescents with autism how to use prosocial lies in conversation

Abstract

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) commonly have deficits in social communication and interactions. Therefore, numerous studies have been published over the last few decades which have centred on prosocial skills development for children and adolescents identified as having ASD. One skill that has become more common in the literature, is that of prosocial deception. However, a need still exists for a more effective way to teach this skill. Therefore, this study sought to instruct adolescents with ASD how to use prosocial lies when engaging in various social interactions via behavioural skills training (BST). A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used, and results indicated adolescents were able to successfully learn how to tell prosocial lies when taught either virtually or in-person using BST. All participants significantly increased their ability to tell a prosocial lie while appearing engaged in a conversation through the use of modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Additionally, the treatment resulted in the participants acquiring the skills needed to engage in conversations outside of their restricted interests. Implications of this research along with limitations and future directions will also be discussed.