A double-masked randomised actively controlled trial of KONTAKT™ social skills toolbox for Australian autistic children.

This article evaluates the efficacy of KONTAKT™, a manualised social skills group programme (SSGP), compared to ART-Legends, an active control social art programme, in supporting Australian autistic children aged 8–12 years in achieving personally meaningful social goals. In a double-masked randomized controlled trial with 84 participants, both programmes led to significant improvements in social goal attainment over time, with no overall superiority of KONTAKT™ except for enhanced friendship quality and greater enjoyment reported by KONTAKT™ participants. KONTAKT™ also showed advantages in reducing social interaction anxiety during the programme and demonstrated sustained parent-reported improvements in social skills at one-year follow-up. The study suggests that while structured social group programmes facilitate social progress for autistic children, explicit social skills training, as provided by KONTAKT™, may be necessary to improve friendship quality and certain social outcomes.