Table 2.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria of the SOSTA-net trial

Inclusion criteria	Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ICD-10: F84.0, F84.5, F84.1)
	Age 8-20 years at start of group therapy
	Informed consent
	No, or stable psychopharmacotherapy
	Children and parents are fluent in reading German to be able to understand instructions and fill in questionnaires
Exclusion criteria	IQ < 70 (full scale IQ according to HAWIK-IV/WIE)
	Psychiatric disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depressive episode with suicidal ideation, any personality disorder
	Aggressive behaviour interfering with group therapy
	Any neurological disorder (exception: well treated epilepsy)
	Other medical condition interfering with therapy
	Group-based SST during last 6 months prior to the study
	Participation in other clinical trials including observation period of competing trials

HAWIK-IV/WIE, Wechsler Scales for children, adolescents and adults with current German norms, measuring IQ; IQ, intelligence quotient.