Be part of the solution. Help to improve life outcomes for autistic children.

By Marnie Adams, Contributor @ Kids In Perth | Created in collaboration with Curtin Autism Research Group (CARG) 01 Feb 2022

My daily companion through time, it is always with me now and in the photos I want and share it with you. My greatest love, my daughter...

Sometimes it's hard for children to talk and play with other children.

Often it's a reason for some children to not enjoy school, play with classmates, or engage with new people they meet. This is especially true for autistic children.

Practicing social skills in a safe social environment can help these young people deal with these situations.

To support autistic children navigate the everyday social life designed for neurotypicals, they'll usually attend evidence-based social skills group programs.

Practicing and improving their social skills can also help toward reducing anxiety in everyday interactions and situations that most people will often overlook or take for granted.

Girl Supporting Sad Boy Sitting Alone on Playground

Curtin Autism Research Group (CARG) has been evaluating the efficacy of social skills group programs that are delivered to autistic individuals.

To help in the evaluation of 2 programs designed for autistic children, they're seeking parents with autistic children to fill out the survey below and take part in their research study.

By participating, you're helping towards improving the quality of social skills group programs and the training of future educators. Ultimately, benefiting future generations of autistic children.

This research study will include approximately 90 autistic children and their families/carers, as well as, the therapist delivering the program.

Your child will be randomly assigned into 1 of 2 groups:

Art Group
Weekly Social Art group held at one of Autism Association of Western Australia's locations (Either Joondalup or Midland | 16 Sessions across School Term 1 and Term 2). Your child will be invited to participate as part of a small group of 6 to 8 children. The group is guided by leaders trained to work with autistic children for 75 minutes.

KONTAKT®
Weekly Social skills group held at one of Autism Association of Western Australia's locations (Either Joondalup or Midland | 16 Sessions across School Term 1 and Term 2). Your child will be invited to participate as part of a small group of 6 to 8 children. The group is guided by leaders trained to work with autistic children for 75 minutes.

Allocation to either group is random.

Parents with children selected in both groups are asked to complete online surveys and attend an online session to do some activities with their child.

As part of their research, Curtin Autism Research Group (CARG) would like to ask you to:

Participate in online surveys and face-to-face sessions (for both you and your child), to help get to know your child better.
These sessions will ask questions about how you feel about your child’s life, how he/she recognises emotions, as well as, how he/she communicates and interacts with others. Finally, the services your child receives and their costs.

After the KONTAKT©®/Art group has ended, during a second evaluation, CARG will invite you to participate in the same evaluation to examine how your child’s skills have changed.
Further evaluations of your child will be repeated 3 months after the KONTAKT® / Art Group and 1 year after the program has ended.

Participate in a 30-60 minute interview, during this interview they will ask about yours, as well as, your child’s experience with KONTAKT©®/Art Group. You may ask for a copy of the questions in advance. The interview will be audio-recorded.

Note: There will be no costs involved in participating nor will you be paid for taking part in the program.

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