A Systematic Literature Review of Interventions to Improve Work-Related Social Skills of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience impairments in social communication, which may affect their ability to develop social skills necessary for successful employment. It is unclear which types of interventions have been used to teach specific work-related social skills to people with ASD and what the overall effectiveness of those interventions has been. This article reviewed the literature on interventions targeting improvement in work-related social skills of people with ASD. Database searches yielded 1,140 articles; 14 articles met inclusion criteria. Interventions that incorporated several common elements (e.g., modeling, rehearsals, feedback) or used visually-based, technological approaches resulted in improved work-related social skills. However, high-quality research is needed, as is research that occurs in competitive, integrated workplace settings.