Teaching Social Skills to Children with Autism: How to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck!
One of the most recommended therapies for youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is social skills therapy. After all, deficits in social interaction define the autism spectrum – meaning, all children with autism/Asperger’s/PDD have impairments in this area. But, is it possible to effectively teach social skills and, more importantly, can that teaching translate into meaningful social relationships for children with ASD? We think so, but there are some things parents can do to ensure that their children are getting the most benefit from social skills treatment.
First, let’s discuss what we mean by “social skills therapy.” Therapy targeting social skills can take many forms. For example, it can occur in small groups of same-age children, with two children at a time, or individually with an adult therapist (although the latter type often has limited utility). It can occur in the school setting or through a community provider and can be facilitated by speech-language pathologists, psychologists, educators, or mental health therapists (among others).
Further, social skills therapy can target many different skills. In very young children, these may include seeking proximity (tolerating playing close to peers), developing pretend play skills, increasing eye contact, and practicing and improving listening skills. Building on these skills, targets may include increasing joint attention skills (showing things to others, telling someone about a vacation or other event), playing structured games with a peer and learning how to take turns. Sharing (being flexible), imitating and learning how to join a group or start an interaction with another child are all skills that can be specifically taught. Higher level skills include negotiating conflict, perspective taking, conversation skills, and friendship skills. Each one of these skill areas can be broken down into sub-skills or steps, each one specifically taught and modeled for children.
A skills-based approach is one of the most common approaches to teaching social skills. This approach follows the steps outlined below:
- 1) Generate concrete RULES that specify what happens when the skill is used (e.g., When you look at me, I know who you are talking to)
- 2) TEACH skills through scripts, cartoons, role play, videos, observing other kids, etc.
- 3) Set-up SITUATIONS that encourage the skill
- 4) REINFORCE effort (not just 100% success), highlight natural contingencies (e.g., when you share your toys you get to play with Jimmy’s toys too) and work on generalization (practice skills in many different settings)
Now that we understand what is meant by “social skills therapy,” let’s highlight why social skills are so important. It’s true that not everyone needs to be a social superstar, but here are some compelling reasons why social skills should be a primary target for intervention:
- -Being competent in the social arena has been shown to predict success in other areas. Language skills, for instance, primarily develop within the context of social interactions. When a child looks at something another person is looking at (what we call “joint attention”) children learn to associate words with objects and events. At older ages, by participating in social interactions (often through conversations with others) children learn to understand more abstract and subtle language
- -Academics are also impacted, as specific skills such as listening and asking questions enhance classroom performance
- -Social acceptance by peers, greater social support and the ability to deal with difficult and intense emotions have been associated with fewer behavior problems in youth
- -Being successful with peers also helps children to build self-esteem, feel good about themselves and protect them from developing depression and/or anxiety
- -Another very important reason why children with ASD need a foundation of social skills is to enhance “adaptive functioning,” or the ability to live and work independently
So if social skills are so important and there are therapies that help children develop these skills, why are many families disappointed with the lack of social progress their child makes? First, because this type of therapy targets the core symptom domain in ASD, that means it is often the toughest area to tackle. Also, social skills continue to get more and more complex as we grow older because social interactions become more complex. At age 5 we simply need to share toys in the sandbox, but by age 15 we need to rapidly move from conversation topic to conversation topic.
Given that progress in the social skills arena will be steady, but slow, here are some tips to help kids and families get the most out of social skills therapy:
- -First things first. Address other difficult or primary behaviors first, such as intense anxiety, oppositional behavior and ADHD behaviors. These other behaviors can get in the way of your child’s ability to pay attention to and then practice what is being taught. Children with these behaviors will still benefit from social skills therapy, but progress is often enhanced when these behaviors are better managed at the outset.
- -Slow and steady wins the race. Children with autism benefit most from social skills therapy when it is ongoing across development. Be creative. If social skills groups are too expensive, get some ready-made materials yourself (such as materials from Social Thinking as well as the Social Skills Picture Book series by Jed Baker, PhD) and work on these skills with your child at home and in your everyday lives (i.e., when doing errands, participating in group activities, at the grocery store, etc.).
- -Adopt a “24/7” Mentality. Social skills are skills that we use all the time, even when we don’t realize it. Your child needs to practice new skills all the time too, not just one hour a week during therapy. Be sure that your child’s teachers and other community providers know what skills your child is working on at any point in time. Ask that they help by prompting and reinforcing use of new skills. Remember it is effort that counts not just 100% success!
- -Parents can play too! We know that when parents are involved in the therapy, it works better. Find out what lessons are targeted each week in therapy and specifically how you can support your child’s learning and practicing new skills. Come back next week and talk to the therapist about what worked well and what didn’t so you can troubleshoot problems right away.
In sum, social skills therapies come in many forms and target the core symptom domain in autism. Social skills take time to develop, but there are many benefits that come from intervening in this area. For example, language skills improve, adaptive functioning increases, and self-esteem is boosted. Most importantly, social skills therapy can teach children that being social can be fun and rewarding.
I love this post. Social skills therapy is something we are working on heavily right now with my son. We are doing a nontraditional therapy using gymnastics in a group setting (with normal kids) and its been amazing. The key thing is that what ever they work on that week in class we work on at home. At times it working on using his imagination and playing with his sister, or taking turns or even just making eye contact consistently we work on those things during the week and have seen tons of progress. Not to mention we also use this as a more fun version of OT!
I have always known that social skills was at least as important as academic or maybe even, more important. I have attended loads of seminars on the topic, including Michelle Garcia Winner, who has excellent materials in many formats – books, cd’s, dvd’s. I have also wanted to try scripting with my son but find the school district very resistant to the idea – he is now in 9th grade and I am very doubtful that they will include anything like it in his IEP. My son has an incredible memory and will imitate with an uncanny precision, down to the tone, inflection and of course – use of pronouns.
My biggest problem with my son is motivation. He still hasn’t found a reason to care. Although every school year, he seems to become really enamored with one child. It’s usually a child that wants nothing to do with him and 90% of the time it’s a little girl. Of course, she will rebuke him and depending on how that is done – may actually encourage him to pursue even more. I know – how silly is that?
He does fairly well with adults but still ignores most kids. He is fond of babies and young children, but ignores anyone even close to his age. I’m hoping that this tendency will change but will appreciate any words of wisdom from someone who knows better or experienced anything similar. Bottom line, I don’t want my son to suddenly realize later that he’s lonely and needs friends/people in his life and not have any skills or experiences to draw from. Anybody else relate to this? Thanks.
I really liked this article. My one question/concern is to know if this type of intervention would work on a mostly non verbal child. My son does speak, but mostly when prompted. My son also seems to have little to no interest in friends.
Great question. Social skills groups are typically designed for children who are verbal. Usually the coach or therapist will teach a skill to the group (like introducing yourself or starting a conversation) and then have the kids practice using the new skills with each other. However, you can still effectively target social skills in a nonverbal child – the best way to do this would be using a behavioral approach (e.g. ABA therapy) and you could work on skills like making eye contact, smiling when greeting others, etc.
Hope this helps!
Amy Bohlander, PhD
What are the best social skills classes in the greater Seattle area – preferably on the Eastside for a 10 year old girl with ADD.
Hi Hope,
I asked Jaimie and Katrina, our resource specialists about social skills groups for girls and here’s what they came up with. These are not recommendations, simply a few they are aware of.
Aspire Girls: http://www.washingtonautismadvocacy.org/updates/2013/11/24/aspire-girls-puget-sound/ Washington Autism Advocacy in Kirkland
Girls Rule: http://aspiringyouth.net/financialforms/SSG%20Flyer%20-%20Winter%202017.pdf Aspiring Youth in Seattle and Kirkland
Girls Group: http://www.seattlesocialskillssupport.com/index.html Seattle Social Skills Support LLC in Seattle area
Theater of Possibility: http://www.laurenmarshall.com/TheaterOfPossibilityFlyer2017winter-spring.pdf
There is also a theater program on the Eastside through the Bellevue Youth Theatre Foundation http://bytfoundation.org/theatre-transforms-lives/
I also recommend she simply Google: Social Skills Seattle area Girls (in case new groups sprout up).
What are the best social skills classes in the greater Seattle area – preferably on the Eastside for a 8 year old girl with ASD.
Hi Dori,
We don’t endorse specific therapies/providers as each child/family is unique. For a list of social skills groups in the community, check out our Autism Center webpage http://www.seattlechildrens.org and Resource List.