SOCIAL ISSUES
Autism Spectrum Disorders impact all aspects of development, including socialization. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders tend to have difficulty with adaptive socialization skills. Although activities change as a child grows older and depend less on the help of others, at every age certain behaviors and skills are expected in the home, school, and community in order to effectively meet the social demands on one’s environment.
As all children get older, social situations become more complex and demands increase. For children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, deficits in social skills and understanding interpersonal interactions cause difficulties with peers. In addition, children with ASD often have constrained interests and can be viewed as different by others. These social challenges, combined with difficulties with transition, often lead to stress for children with ASD.
Some children benefit from direct instruction. The emphasis of the direct instruction is on increasing appropriate interpersonal interaction skills. Social skills instruction can help a child learning to interact cooperatively with both siblings and peer. Often if it is helpful for the child’s parents and/or teachers to observe him or her while he is interacting with peers. Based on these observations, they can begin to target skills that the child needs to develop in order to engage more with effectively with peers. As much as possible, the child can be taught rules that apply to a number of situations that will help him understand and correctly interpret social interactions. Specific self-care and community awareness goals are often also included in direct instruction programs. As much as possible, the child can be taught rules that apply to a number of situations that will help him understand and correctly interpret social interactions. Services may be provided by a therapist or clinician, and there are a number of books and written materials that are designed to guide parents in direct instruction of social skills as well.
Other children benefit from participation in a social skills group therapy program. Social skills groups help the child develop more appropriate interpersonal skills as well as to expand his or her peer group. Social skills groups offer an opportunity to model and role play pro-social skills with same-age peers. Skills may focus may focus on the development of appropriate “scripts” and actions for pro-social behavior. The specific skills worked vary, but may include taking turns in a familiar structured game, turn taking with decreasing levels of structure, responding to the initiation of a peer, following the lead of another in a play activity, for example.
For other children, a carefully designed and well supervised peer mentor program can be very effective. Peer mentoring programs match students in one-on-one relationships to provide guidance. Through this special relationship, peer mentors provide advice and support. Some peer mentor program partner a student with another student who is a bit older, while other programs partner the child with someone in the same grade or class.
Although every child is different and intervention must be tailored to the meet the needs of the individual child, promoting the development of social communication and social skills is important for children with ASD and should be included as goals at school.
Courtesy Erica Kovacs, PhD, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY
(212) 342-1600, kovacse@childpsych.columbia.edu
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