Using a Video Feedback Intervention Package to Improve Affective Empathy Skills for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Impairments in empathic responding are related to decreased social interactions and fewer friendships for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Teaching adolescents to respond empathetically during conversation may promote the development of healthy social relationships. The current study examined the effectiveness of an affective empathy video feedback intervention package to teach empathic communication to four adolescents with ASD (11–14 years old) using a multiple baseline across participants design. Two out of the four participants met mastery criterion, maintained empathy skills up to 4 weeks after intervention, and generalized empathy to a different conversational partner. Effects and implications of the intervention and results are discussed as well as future directions for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]