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This pilot study explored the efficacy of a social-cognitive intervention program for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Seven adolescents with ASD (mean age = 12.57 years) attended a school-based 10-week program. Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales, Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), and Theory of Mind Inventory were administered at baseline, immediately after the program, and post 2-months. There were significant positive gains in Theory of Mind knowledge and in individualized goals (of GAS), and there were further gains after 2 months. Qualitative evaluation was conducted by a focus group interview with parents of participants. Consistent with the quantitative findings, parents observed that their children have increased knowledge of social skills, socialize more with friends, and had increase in positive social behavior. On the other hand, they perceived an even more intensive and ongoing program could further benefit their children. This study has added to the understanding of the potential impact of social skills programs run in school.

Although copying and name writing skills are regarded as the indicators of handwriting development in alphabetic writing systems, there is limited information on logographs such as Chinese. Chinese characters are not only simply a combination of strokes as letters in English, but also place a great demand on visuospatial ability to maintain good proportion and alignment of these interwoven strokes. This study investigated the developmental characteristics of visuo-orthographic copying on the composition of Chinese characters, namely strokes, radicals and characters, and Chinese name writing among kindergarten children in Hong Kong. A group of 141 children from the first to third year of kindergarten education (K1 to K3) were recruited. They were asked to complete two tasks: (1) visuo-orthographic copying of common Chinese strokes, radicals, and characters; and (2) write down their Chinese name from memory. Overall, the abilities of Chinese name writing were moderately to strongly related with the abilities in copying the composition of Chinese characters. It also showed that copying radicals significantly predicted Chinese name writing ability. The results suggested that copying radicals provided a foundation so that a good spatial organization of these components within a square configuration could be achieved in the name writing task. It recommended that copying of strokes, radicals, and characters should be addressed as a whole for the Chinese handwriting development. In addition, Chinese name writing skills should also be assessed to provide a window on the understanding of the transition of copying skills into Chinese handwriting.

Visual-motor integration (VMI) is the ability to coordinate visual perception and motor skills. Although Chinese children have superior performance in VMI than U.S. norms, there is limited information regarding the performance of its basic composition of VMI in regard to visual and motor aspects. This study aimed to examine the differences in performance in VMI, visual perception (VP), and motor coordination (MC) using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI-6) among Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children compared to established U.S. norms. Standard scores for each age were statistically compared to the corresponding mean values for U.S. children. This comparison showed significantly higher VMI mean scores for Hong Kong Chinese children than for their age-matched peers. The following equation was derived to allow for a comparison of VMI to U.S. norms (adjusted score = 0.777 (Chinese VMI raw score)--0.796). In extending current knowledge on superior performance in VMI among Chinese children, better VP and MC skills were also observed. This phenomenon might be due to the orthographic feature of traditional Chinese characters and early formal instruction on reading and writing in Hong Kong. This study has not only pointed out the need to administer all three tests of the VMI-6 to identify the underlying causes of VMI problems but has also alerted educators and clinicians as to when to administer the tests to Chinese children in Hong Kong.