Effectiveness of Sand Play Training on Social Skills, Multiple Problem Behaviors and Peer Relationship in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Sand play training is one of the most common interventions to help address social deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of sand play training on social skills, multiple problem behaviors and peer relationship in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In a semi-experimental pretest-posttest-follow-up with a control group design, 30 children were selected by convenience sampling method and assigned to experimental and control groups randomly. The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) and Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS-2) were used to collect data. The experimental group underwent 8 sessions of sand play training, but the control group did not receive any training. Repeated measures analysis of variance in SPSS-24 software was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that intervention was effective on social skills, multiple problem behaviors and peer relationship in children with ASD (p <0.01). Furthermore, Results revealed that intervention effects continued at 2-month follow-up (p <0.01). According to our results, sand play training improved the social skills and peer relationship and decreased the multiple problem behaviors in children with ASD. Therefore, this treatment along with other therapeutic interventions can be used as an effective intervention method in the rehabilitation program for children with ASD.

Keywords

• sand play training
• social skills
• multiple problem behaviors
• children with autism spectrum disorder