Treino computadorizado interativo de habilidade social laboral para pessoas diagnosticadas com TEA

Abstract

The incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis has increased in recent years, including late diagnosis in adults. Despite this, there is still few research with adults as participants. Studies that promote labor inclusion are of particular interest for this population, especially regarding deficits in social skills. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a Computerized Interactive Training (ICT) tool to teach the social skill of “asking for help”, in a simulated work environment, to four adult participants with ASD. For this, a multiple-probe experimental design was used. The participants, after going through the pre-test phase in simulated situations, were given the ICT focusing on teaching the targeted skill. Then, they went through the post-test phase also in simulated contexts. The results indicate that, after the exposure to the ICT, two of the four participants reached the 100% performance accuracy for the targeted skill. The other two participants required brief feedback (5 minutes) to reach the acquisition criterion. Performance generalization measures were carried out in new contexts and a follow-up measure was applied to verify performance maintenance three weeks after the end of the intervention phase. According to the social validation assessment, the intervention procedures and the behavior taught were considered socially relevant by the participants. This research presents a contribution to the literature on ICT and on teaching social work skills to adults with ASD. The short duration of the training (approximately 25 minutes) increases the feasibility of application in organizations, which may directly imply increased employability for people with ASD.