Social Communication Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support (SCERTS)

Children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families

SCERTS^® is an educational model for working with children with ASD and their families. SCERTS^® is designed to build competence in social communication, emotional regulation, and transactional support and can be used for individuals with a wide range of abilities and ages across home, school, and community settings. It provides specific guidelines designed to help a child become a competent and confident social communicator, while preventing problem behaviors that interfere with learning and the development of relationships. It also is designed to help families, educators, and therapists work cooperatively as a team, in a carefully coordinated manner, to maximize progress in supporting a child.

Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP

• Website: https://scerts.com/
• Email: bprizant@gmail.com
• Phone: (401) 626-0681

Publicly available information indicates there is some training available for this program. See contact info.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

"What is included in the Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research section?"

• Morgan, L., Hooker, J. L., Sparapani, N., Reinhardt, V. P., Schatschneider, C., & Wetherby, A. M. (2018). Cluster randomized trial of the classroom SCERTS intervention for elementary students with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 86(7), 631–644. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000314

  Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial

  Participants: 60 Schools (197 students)

  Sample / Population:

  • Age — Children: Mean=6.77–6.82 years; Caregivers: Mean=30.14–31.19 years; Teachers: Mean=41.86–42.98 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — Children: 63%–65% White, 20%–23% Hispanic, 12%–13% Black, 9%–10% Asian, 8%–9% Not Reported, and 4%–9% Multiracial; Caregivers: Not Specified; Teachers: 83%– 89% White, 5% Asian, 4%–5% Not Reported, 3% Multiracial, 2%–4% Black, and 1%– 6% Hispanic
  • Gender — Children: 79%–85% Male; Caregivers: Not specified; Teachers: 95%–96% Female
  • Status —

    Participants were enrolled in either a general education or special education classroom and had a diagnosis, either clinical or educational, of autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), or Asperger syndrome as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV).

  Location/Institution: California, Florida, and Georgia

  Summary:

  The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Classroom Social Communication Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support (SCERTS) intervention (CSI) compared with usual school-based education with autism training modules (ATM). Participant schools with students in 129 classrooms were randomly assigned to CSI or ATM. Measures utilized include the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (fifth ed. [SB-51]), the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), and measures of classroom active engagement (AE), vocabulary, adaptive behavior, social skills, and executive functioning. Results indicate that the CSI group showed significantly better outcomes than the ATM group on observed measures of classroom active engagement with respect to social interaction. The CSI group also had significantly better outcomes on measures of adaptive communication, social skills, and executive functioning. Limitations include that parents and teachers were aware of student treatment condition and therefore the potential for bias cannot be ruled out, lack of follow-up, and concerns about lack of generalizability due to child gender.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

There are currently no references available for Social Communication Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support.