Results of a Clinical Trial of the STRW Intervention for Autistic Teens in 11th and 12th Grades
Our research team recently published the results of a randomized clinical trial of the STRW daily living skills intervention for autistic teens in the 11th and 12th grades in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The main goal of the study was to determine if the STRW intervention led to improvements in daily living skills compared to an active control group that targeted social skills.
Adolescents and caregivers were randomized to either receive the STRW intervention or a social skills intervention. At pre-treatment and post-treatment assessment visits, the caregivers of teens completed a structured interview (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 3rd Edition) about their teen’s daily living skills and also set specific, individualized daily living skills goals for their teens.
We found that autistic teens who received the STRW intervention made statistically significant gains in daily living skills compared to teens who received a social skills intervention. This provides further evidence that the STRW intervention may be effective at targeting age appropriate life skills such as hygiene, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and money management, which may be particularly critical for teens before they transition from high school to the adult world.
Caregivers of teens in STRW reported meaningful improvements in their overall daily living skills, especially in the areas of domestic skills (e.g., cooking, cleaning, laundry) and community skills (e.g., saving, spending, and budgeting money). Teens in STRW made significant progress towards their individualized goals (e.g., doing laundry on their own, cooking dinner one day per week for the family). On average, teens gained 2-3 years of daily living skills over the course of the 14-week intervention! Read more about the study results at our website – https://strw.org/research
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