Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Educational Program Based on Applied Behavior Analysis on Social Skills of High-Functioning Autistic Children

This study aimed to develop and validate an educational program based on applied behavior analysis and evaluate the program's effectiveness on the social skills of children with a high-performance autism diagnosis.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design, along with a control group. Twenty-four male students with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder were selected from among the special-needs students of Ziafat Boys' Elementary School in Shahriar district during the 2018-2019 academic year via available sampling method. Thane they were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. The subjects were exposed to applied behavior analysis training during 60 sessions. Bellini's Autism Social Skills Questionnaire was adopted to collect the required data.

The findings of the univariate analysis of covariance revealed that the functional behavior analysis program improved the social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder at a significant level of 0.001.

Based on the findings the present study, the ABA program is highly effective in improving the social skills of children with autism; so it is recommended that teachers use this program for this group of children.