Teaching Social Skills To People With Autism

Difficulties with social skills are among the biggest challenges for children with autism. This landmark, research-based essay collection is an overview of the best practices for teaching social skills to people with autism. Thirteen contributors include well known professionals who describe what works best for learners with autism: - parent training to increase their toddler's engagement & play - combining approaches in small group settings with typically developing peers - targeting core deficits of autism with Pivotal Response Treatment - using conversational scripts, video modeling, and peer-mediated interventions - employing naturalistic teaching strategies Behavior analysts, teachers, early interventionists, SLPs, graduate students, and anyone who instructs other professionals how to teach children with autism can consult this book to find tried-and-true approaches to teaching social skills. Parents, too, may wish to consult this book if they are seeking a more effective approach to helping their child master social skills.

This book examines current trends and practices in social skills instruction for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), focusing on empirical support of current practices and for which populations such practices have been most frequently evaluated (e.g., ages, levels of functioning). It details key practices that may be implemented as social skills teaching strategies as well as the theoretical underpinnings of the teaching strategies, relevant empirical support, and a guide to utilization supported by the empirical evaluations. These guides to utilization are a practical tool for implementation of commonly evaluated social skills teaching strategies. In addition, the book describes limitations of social skills teaching and offers recommendations for future research and intervention strategies that may overcome its current limitations. Key topics featured include: Video modeling and social skills training for individuals with ASD. Behavioral skills training for ASD. Peer-mediated teaching of persons with autism. Social narratives of individuals with ASD. Social Skills Teaching for Individuals with Autism is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, therapists, and other professionals in clinical child and school psychology, behavioral therapy/rehabilitation, social work, public health, and all interrelated disciplines.

This comprehensive and accessible guide contains everything that needs to be known in order to set up and run a Minecraft® Social Group for children with autism spectrum disorders. Minecraft®, often described as 'digital Lego', provides an ideal forum to help children with autism and related conditions to develop social and communication skills. This book offers guidance on how to use the game to support the learning of social and emotional concepts such as having a conversation, showing interest in others and understanding another person's point of view. With over 150 pages of photocopiable and downloadable session plans, visuals and handouts, this manual is essential reading for professionals working with autism who are interested in introducing Minecraft® to support social skill development in their students.

Social Skills Games and Activities for Kids With Autism provides complete instructions for using fun, engaging games and activities to teach social skills to children with autism spectrum disorders. The games include directions for assessing skills such as asking for toys, getting the attention of others, reading nonverbal gestures, understanding perspectives, and cooperating to solve problems. Using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, the book takes teachers through motivating, prompting, shaping, modeling, and reinforcing social skills while playing the games and helping students learn to participate in other activities such as demonstrating the social skill in role plays and the natural environment. Perfect for teachers struggling to help their students with autism learn to interact socially with their peers, these games are sure to become a much-loved part of students' daily routines.

One of the most important yet difficult skills for children with autism to learn is effective social interaction. This book introduces social skills programs to parents of preschool- and kindergarten-aged children diagnosed with one of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), including Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder, and PDD: Not Otherwise Specified. The book is based on the authors' decades of clinical experience using Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), a proven educational method, to teach social skills at home and school. This book focuses on four broad topics: play skills; the language of social skills; understanding another person's perspective; functioning in an inclusive classroom. This book helps parents to work with their child's strengths to improve social skills. Following the suggestions and exercises in this book, parents can teach children to: pretend-play, use toys appropriately, know when to use conventional responses like -- excuse me -- tell jokes, recognise that others' feelings and thoughts are different from their own, and initiate social interaction with peers. Included are tips for using games, modelling, rewards, role play, videos, activity schedules, and social stories to teach social skills and make the learning experience fun for parents and children. A case study of one family's efforts and successes provides a real-life example that's informative and reassuring. Appendices listing resources such as books, games, and activities give parents additional material to explore.

A visual, easy to use model developed to guide assessment and intervention across severity levels and age groups for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Finally a social skills program that covers all the bases! Whether it's learning how long one can look at somebody without being accused of staring; how to shift topics, despite one's desire to stick with that all-consuming special interest; how to say no to peer pressure; or dealing with a sensitive topic - it's all here... and more. In this comprehensive and user friendly book, the author translates years of experience working with students wiht Asperger Syndrome and social-communication difficulties. After brief introductory chapters on skills to target, instructional strategies, behavior management, promoting generalization, etc., as well as a special chapter by Brenda Smith Myles on relevant characteristics of autism spectrum disorders, the reader is presented with the essence of this must-have resource: 70 of the skills that most commonly cause difficulty for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and social-communications problems. The presentation of each skill consists of a reproducible skill handout, as well as activity sheets listing ways teachers and parents can demonstrate, practice, and reinforce the skill in the classroom and at home. A concluding chapter on promoting peer acceptance offers sensitivity training programs for both students of various age groups and school staff, making this a complete social skills training package for students of all ages.

The only evidence-based program available for teaching social skills to adolescents with autism spectrum disorders Two nationally known experts in friendship formation and anxiety management address the social challenges faced by adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The book helps educators instruct youth on conversing with others, displaying appropriate body language, managing anxiety, initiating and participating in get-togethers, and more. The book is filled with helpful information on ASD to aid teachers who have received little training on the topic. Extremely practical, the book includes lesson plans, checklists, and sidebars with helpful advice. Based on UCLA's acclaimed PEERS program, the only evidence-based approach to teaching social skills to adolescents with ASD Contains best practices for working with parents, which is the key to helping kids learn social skills The authors discuss the pros and cons of teaching students with ASD in educational settings like full inclusion (good for academics but bad for social skills) and pull-out special day classes (where the reverse is true) Provides a much-needed book for teachers at all levels for helping students develop the skills they need to be successful.