Tip of the Week for October 15th, 2012
Social Thinking
Many of our teenagers with high-functioning autism, Asperger's syndrome, PDD-NOS, and other neurologically based disabilities involving social thinking deficits, are missing social-thinking skills that neuro-typical folks have "picked up" or learned "intuitively" at much younger ages.
One such skill is the ability to follow others' eye gazes and then to predict others' thinking, and make inferences about their intentions. We want to help our teenagers begin to take on others' perspectives and make predictions about others' behaviors, but before we can help them to do that, we have to ensure that our teenagers can follow others' eye gaze (the first, and most important step!)
We teach teenagers about following people's eye gaze to give them a tool to discern important social information (i.e. who's talking, who's listening, who's "got the floor," who should answer the question, who should talk next, etc.)
When a teenager interrupts you or talks out inappropriately, remind him to look at eye-gaze clues by shielding your own eyes with your hand (blocking his eye-contact from yours) and drawing a line in the air with your other hand to the other person who is talking or who you're talking to. You can say, "I'm looking at (other person's name), my body is facing (other person's name) and I'm listening to (other person's name)."
Book of the Week: Social Skills Training for Children and Adolescents with Asperger Syndrome and Social-Communication Problems/ Jed E. Baker; Chapter 2 by Brenda Smith Myles. Autism Asperger Pub. Co., 2003. "Whether it's learning how long one can look at somebody; 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 sensitive topic - it's all here - and more. In this comprehensive and user-friendly book, the author translates years of experience working with students with 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-communication 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."--Publisher's website.
This book is in the SESA Library. You may search the library catalog via the SESA website, or contact Anne directly by email at afreitag@sesa.org or by phone at 907-334-1301. |
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