A single-subject A-B design was conducted virtually to determine the effectiveness of an established social-emotional curriculum, Strong Kids™, on typically developing siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Published articles have shown Strong Kids™ to be effective for 94% of students in reducing their internalizing symptoms following the program (Gueldner et al., 2019). The majority of research has focused on students in mainstream classes altogether; however, none have studied typical siblings of children with ASD specifically. This study included five
siblings ages 9-10 who participated in the Strong Kids™ program twice weekly for 90 minutes over six weeks. Baseline data were recorded on three occasions before the introduction of the treatment. During the intervention phase, the participants answered 10 multiple-choice questions related to social-emotional knowledge before and after each session. Secondary measures, “Strong Kids™ Knowledge Test” and “Knowledge About Autism Scale” (KAAS), were also employed pre-and post-intervention. The data were analyzed by visual inspection, observing trend lines, slope, and baseline stability, as well as the percentage of non-overlapping data (PND) and two standard deviation method. The results indicate that all participants improved their skills
in either social-emotional knowledge or knowledge of autism or a combination of both, providing the potential for further investigation.
Keywords: typical siblings, social-emotional learning, autism spectrum disorder, teletherapy
