Socio-Dramatic Affective-Relational Intervention (SDARI) is a manualized social program developed by Dr. Matthew Lerner and colleagues to improve the social-emotional confidence and competence of autistic youth in an affirming group format. SDARI involves concrete presentation of social pragmatics goals, and the connection of those goals to specific highly-interactive, semi-structured, naturalistic pragmatically-enriched activities, including the novel use of drama-based activities (such as improv games). These goals are addressed and targeted according to the developmental needs of the individual participants.

SDARI incorporates a 3-part social model to facilitate growth in social connection skills:

1. Acting and improvisational games as a means to learn aspects of successful social interaction without direct instruction of social rules,
2. The use of strong age-appropriate motivators to support intrinsic motivation in a social context and to foster a sense of social belonging among participants with common interests, and
3. A strong focus on positive social reinforcement and relationship building between and among participants, allowing for in vivo teaching, socialization, and opportunities for forging authentic social connections.

Prior research of SDARI has found significant improvements in social assertion, ability to detect adult emotions, and reductions in social problems (Lerner et al 2011) for participants, as well as a more rapid increase in peer liking and social interactions compared to a traditional social skills program (Lerner and Mikami 2012).