Designing the social skills training program and investigating its effectiveness on social competence of children with High function autistic (HFA) and non-verbal learning disorder (NLD)

The purpose of the present research was to designing social skills training program and to study its effectiveness on social competence of students with high function Autistic (HFA) and non-verbal learning disorder (NLD). The research method was experimental. The statistical population consisted of all 7 to 14 students with HFA and NLD disorder who study in Tehran autism and learning disorders centers in 2016-2017 academic years. Twenty students (10 HFA children from April 2 center and also 10 NLD students form Tohid center) were randomly select as a sample by simple sampling from target population. Belini Social profile was used as an instrument for data collection. Social skills training program including behavioral, cognitive, emotional, communication, motivation, social stories, facial expiration were implemented in 12 sessions each for 90 minutes for the experimental group. The results of Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed that both of the groups were affected by social skill program but NLD students were better than HFA Students in all components of Social competence.