Social Skills Training and Children with Autism: Does Teaching Children with Autism Social Skills Improve Their Relationships with Peers?
Overview of Autism
Children with autism have social skills deficits, which cause them to not socialize with their peers or learn from their peers (Carpenter, Soorya, & Halpern, 2009). In general, children with autism do not attend specialized schools for their needs. Instead children with autism attend regular schools with typical peers (Laushey, Heflin, Shippen, Alberto & Fredrick, 2009). Typical peers are children of the same age that display no mental or physical delays; as a result, they are normal. Without a foundation in social skills children with autism will continue to be left behind as their typical peers grow and learn more.
Although there is no known cure for autism, there are ways to help children with autism improve their social delays. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has acknowledged the importance of social skills training, the APA has defined autism as being a disorder that greatly effects verbal and nonverbal communication and greatly impairs all things that have to do with social interaction (APA, 2001). Children with autism will not learn from interactions with their typical peers alone, there needs to be some adult intervention as well (Disalvo & Oswald, 2002). The main obstacle that children have to overcome when they are diagnosed with autism is their social skills impairments (Carpenter et al., 2009).
The Use of Direct Instruction
Direct instruction is tools with empirical evidence proven to help children with autism learn social skills which they can then implement at school and beyond. Direct instruction is defined as the use of a researcher or teache...
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...ctancies.’ Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 17, pp. 198-207.
Laushey, K. M., Heflin, L .J., Shippen, M., Alberto, P. A., & Fredrick, L. (2009). Concept mastery routines to teach social skills to elementary children with high functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(10), 1435-1448. doi:
10.1007/s10803-009-0757-9
Sancho, K., Sidener, T. M., Reeve, S. A., & Sidener, D. W. (2010). Two variations of video modeling interventions for teaching play skills to children with autism. Education and Treatment of children, 33(10), 421-442
Walker, A. N., Barry, T. D., & Bader, S. H. (2010) Therapist and parent ratings of changes in adaptive social skills following a summer treatment camp for children with autism spectrum disorders: a preliminary study. Child Youth Care Forum, 39(10), 305-322. doi: 10.1007/s10566-010-9110-x
Development of social skills is very important for children that are diagnosed with autism because of ...
Autistic children are isolated from most schools, socially and within the classroom. Although most children with auti...
There are 3 main areas of difficulty which people who have autism and these can sometimes know as the “Triad of Impairments”. Social communication is difficult, as severe autism may never to develop any speech whilst those with Asperger syndrome may speak fluently. People who are on the autism spectrum have the ability to use their communication skills that are impaired. These difficulties are processing language and interpreting facial expressions, body language or tone of voice. Understanding figures of speech or metaphors. Struggle to follow long or complicated sentences, and only be able to follow one simple instruction at a time. Social interaction as a person with classic autism may appear withdrawn, aloof or uninterested in the people
“Your child has autism spectrum disorder” are words no parent wants to hear. They are words that will instill fear, worry, and sadness. When parents hear this for the first time, they will have many questions. “Is there anything I can do to help my child? If so, what can be done?” Early intervention services; such as applied behavior analysis therapy, occupational therapy, sensory integration therapy, and speech therapy before the age of three; can help improve the development of children with autism spectrum disorder. As an educator, early intervention is a subject teachers should be well educated in. It would be beneficial to the educator and the student, for a teacher to know and understand early intervention strategies.
This paper will review five studies concerning the behavior and development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The studies investigate how autism effects communication, socialization, cognitive development, and a number of other areas. Researchers use many different types of scales to measure and compare the difference between children with ASD and typically developing children.
Luiselli, James K. "Verbal Language and Communication." Teaching and Behavior Support for Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Practitioner's Guide. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
Orsmond, G. I., Krauss, M. W., & Seltzer, M. M. (2004). Peer relationships and social and recreational activities among adolescents and adults with autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 34(3), 245-256.
Since Autism doesn’t present the same in each person, everyones needs are unique. Where some will excel others may drag behind, it 's important to figure out what areas need to be focused on more so than others early on so you can target them with structured programs and activities. Most people with Autism have underlying medical conditions as well as behavioral conditions so being on the correct medication and monitoring that is very important. Often times it 's recommended for children with Autism to go to therapy sessions for speech, social interaction skills, and general development. It 's extremely important to focus on social skills since that 's one of the main components of Autism is a lack or strain on social skills. Enrolling your children in specialized structured activities to help them work on their social skills is important for their
Soenksen and Alper, 2006 D. Soenksen, S. Alper Teaching a young child to appropriately gain attention of peers using a social story intervention Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 21 (1) (2006), pp. 36–44
Autism is a disease. One of the main characteristics is having social problems. Children with Autism have trouble interacting with other children. They won’t play with other children. They could be so focus...
Whenever the benefits of inclusion are brought up the first component that comes to mind is: social interaction. The benefits of social interaction is the most important component for including children with autism in an inclusion, general education setting (Lynch & Irvine, 2009). The reason this benefit is so high within a general education setting is that interactions occur at a greater frequency. Typical peers that meet cor...
Ruble, L, Willis, H, & McLaughlin, V. (2008). Social skills group therapy for autism spectrum disorders. Clinical Case Studies 2008 , 7(287),
Ospina, MB., Krebs, SJ., Clark, B., Karkhaneh, M., Hartling, L., et al. (2008). Behavioural and Developmental Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Clinical Systematic Review. PLoS ONE, 3(11). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19015734
Kamps, D. et.al. (2002). Peer Training to Facilitate Social Interaction for Elementary Students with Autism and Their Peers. Exceptional Children, 68 (2), 173-187.
Jordan, R., & Powell, S. (1995). Understanding and Teaching Children with Autism. New York: Wiley.