Social Skill Intervention

Strategies for Children with

Autism

Megan Bailey
Clinical Interventionist III
Mbailey@autismcenter.org
 Autism

ƒ Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

• Most prevalent childhood developmental disorder in the U.S
• 1 in 110 children are affected by ASD

• 1 in 110 children are affected by ASD

• Most prevalent developmental disorder in the US

• 4 males: 1 female

• In Arizona in 2002 the median age of diagnosis for autism was 5 years 3
months

© 2007 SARRC
 Autism

• Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder in

which excesses and deficits in behavior are observed
that have a neurological basis.
• DSM-IV; 3 areas of impairment:
– 1. Social interaction.
– 2. Communication.
– 3. Restricted and repetitive behavior.

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 Autism Spectrum Disorders

Social

Restrictive/
Communication Repetitive
Behavior

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 Research on Social
Development
• Without support, children with ASD may have difficulty:
– Starting up a conversation
– Invite kids over to play
– Go to parties
– Joining activities
– Keeping up with the game or understanding the rules
• Lack of social relationships in childhood may lead to:
– Decreased employment
– Decreased independent living
– Decreased life expectancy
– Severe mental health problems
(depression, suicidal ideation, anxiety)
(Strain, 1991; Wing, 1981; Strain & Schwartz, 2001)
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 Relationships/Friendships

• Provide continuous, stable relationships with

familiar peers
• Bolster self-worth, sense of belonging
• Provide companionship, affection, emotional support
• Create opportunities to share hopes, fears, and
interests
• Help us learn about the social world outside our
families and self

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 Skills Necessary for
Friendship
• Sharing
• Ability to compromise
• Consider another person’s perspective
• Companionship
• Empathy
• Conflict Resolution
• Reliability
• Ability to exchange feelings
(Asher, Parker, & Walker, 1998)

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 Research Related to ASD and
Social Skill Development
• Physically integrating students alone may not
be enough (Gresham, 1984; Kamps et al., 1998)
• Students with disabilities considered “least
liked” (Sale & Carey, 1995)
• Incidence of peer victimization (Shtayermman, 2007; Little,
2002)

– High levels of bullying

– Peer shunning
• Not invited to birthday parties
• Eating alone at lunch
• Picked last for teams
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 Research Directly Related to Recess, Lunch
and
Unstructured Time

• Increased (Nelson et al., 2007)

– isolation
– low engagement

• Less likely to initiate

social interactions
(Hauck, Fein, Waterhouse, & Feinstein, 1995)

• May not respond (appropriately) to

initiations by peers
(Lee, Odom, & Loftin, 2007)
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 The result…

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 Social Skills-
Intervention Approach
• Use treatment approaches based on the
principles of Applied Behavior Analysis as
appropriate for each child’s needs

• Promote healthy relationships

• Peer sensitivity/disability awareness to promote

awareness and understanding through student
education and emersion
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 Effective Social Skills
Interventions
– Occur across multiple naturalistic settings
(Bellini, Peters, Benner, & Hopf, 2007)

– Peer mediated
(Harper, Symon, & Frea, 2008; Kamps et al., 1992;
Kohler et al., 2007; Owen-DeSchryver et al., 2008)

– Frequent
(Bellini, Peters, Benner, & Hopf, 2007; Strain & Schwartz, 2001)

– Motivating and child directed

(Kern at al., 1998; Koegel, Dyer, & Bell, 1987; Koegel et al., 2005)

– Include cooperative arrangements

(Kennedy & Itkonen, 1996; Koegel et al., 2005)

– Mutually reinforcing
(Koegel,
© 2007 SARRC Werner, Vismara, & Koegel, 2006)
 Benefits For Those
with ASD
• Increased:
– Peer initiations
(Kalyva & Avramidis, 2005; McGee et al., 1992; Owen-Des Schryver et al., 2008)

– Reciprocal interaction (initiations & responses)

(Harper, Symon & Frea, 2008; Kamps et al., 2002; Kalyva & Avramidis,
2005; Kohler et al., 1997; Kohler et al., 2007; McGee et al., 1992)

– Peer acceptance
(Kamps et al., 2002; McGee et al., 1992)

– Participation in community or after school activities

(Goldstein, Schneider, & Thiemann 2007)

– Opportunities to practice and generalize skills

(Laushey and Heflin, 2000)

– Engagement
(Kamps et al., 2002)

• Decreased:
– Stigmatizing behaviors
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(Lee, Odom, & Loftin, 2007)
 Social Skills: Supports
Peer Sensitivity Training

Typical peers are supported so they develop

skills and learn how to interact appropriately
and, most importantly, develop meaningful
relationships with dignity and respect as equal
members of the school community.

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 Types of Social Interactions

• Observing (proximity to peers)

• Parallel Play

• Responding to initiations of peers

• Cooperative Play

• Initiating with peers

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 Observing (proximity to peers)

• Watching peers complete an activity

– E.g. standing near or in the middle of a soccer

game that is occurring without actually participating

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 Parallel Play

• Completing the same play activity as peers

separately but within close proximity

– E.g. drawing with chalk; digging in the dirt

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 Responding

• Responding (verbally or physically) to the

initiation of a peer

– E.g. A peer asks a child for a toy and the child gives
the peer the toy

– E.g. A peer asks a child what she wants to play and

the child responds “game”

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 Cooperative Play

• Completing a play activity WITH peers

– E.g. Digging a whole in the sand with peers

– E.g. Taking turns playing hopscotch

– E.g. Playing tag with peers

– E.g. Talking to a peer about the soccer game they

are watching
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 Initiating

• Starting a social interaction with peer(s)

– E.g. Asking to join a game

– E.g. Asking a peer if they want to play

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 Setting up a Social Skills Intervention
Program
PLAYGROUND PROGRAM

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 Getting Started

1. Assess to identify strengths and deficits

2. Identify goals
3. Intervention
4. Collect data to monitor and evaluate progress
5. Teach across all settings (Generalization)

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 Recognize the Need

– Data-driven decision-making
– Assessment of student
• Collect baseline data
– IEP
• Specific goal
• Specific service-delivery

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 Assessment for Social
Skills Training

• Objectives:
– To determine what social skills need to be
addressed
– To determine what would be the most effective
teaching strategies
– To determine the most effective teaching modalities

Baker, 2001
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 Assessment Strategies

• Teacher Checklist
• Parent Interview
• Student Interview
• Observation

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 IEP- Social Skills Goal
Should be individualized to the needs
and abilities of each student
contingent on baseline data.

Sample IEP Goal:

Student will interact with typical peers 85%
of the time during recess, lunch and other
less structured times of the day.
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 Sample Goals
• Child A
– Increase appropriate initiations with peers:
• Child A will appropriately initiate with two peers during a recess across three
consecutive days.
– Increase duration of engagement within large group activities
• Child A will engage with five or more peers in a structured group activity (e.g. red light
green light, soccer).
• Child B
– Decrease prompts to engage in activities:
• Child B will engage in an appropriate recess activity for ten minutes with no more than
two prompts from an adult.
• Child C
– Increase cooperative play with peers during group activities:
• Child C will turn take with peers without displaying challenging behaviors 4 out of 5
opportunities for three consecutive days.
• Child D
– Develop appropriate behavior when loses a game:
• Child D will not display challenging behaviors after losing a game 4 out of 5
opportunities for three consecutive days.
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 Social Skills Training-
Examples of What to teach
• Sharing and turn taking
• Initiating interactions
• Responding appropriately to greetings and play
initiations
• Bringing up appropriate topics and reciprocal
conversations
• Attention to facial expressions and body language
• Respecting personal boundaries and space
• Eye contact
• Appropriate comments and questions
• © Ask about others interests and listen
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 Taking Baseline

• Data Measures-Specific to goals of students

– Social Initiations with peers (frequency)
– Time engaged with peers (duration/percentage)
– Responses to peer initiations (percentage)

• What is baseline?
– Recording the current levels of each behavior being
measured
– Do not need to remove any supports provided on
the playground; continue to provide same level of
support on playground
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 Baseline

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 Steps for Effective Social Skills
Intervention Program

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 Provide Structure

• Set up structured activity/prompt peers to invite

target children to join

– E.g. Set up red light green light

– E.g. Help facilitate students picking teams for

kickball

– E.g. Use chalk to play Pictionary

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 Follow the Child’s Lead

• First need to find out what the target students like to

play

• Use preferred activities to create

opportunities to play with peers

• Plan activities for the day with the flexibility of being

able to follow the motivation of the targeted child

– E.g. Student wants to play with a Frisbee so you set up

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Frisbee golf
 Create Opportunities

• Provide opportunities within activity for children to interact with

one another at the level appropriate for that child

– If a child prefers an activity, give that activity to a

peer so the child can initiate with the peer

– If a child wants to play a game, put them in charge of the game so peers
will initiate with that child

– Set up new activities similar to other preferred activities to expand play

• E.g. set up a cooperative arrangement within an activity building a castle in

the sand box

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 Provide Support

• Contact target student within activity as needed

– Within activity provide verbal and gestural prompts as needed to help the
child complete the activity

– Prompt the child to ask others to play a game (e.g. “we need more
people to play, go ask three friends”)

– Provide support to peers teaching them how to interact with peers with
social deficits

• E.g. prompt them to ask a target peer to play

• E.g. prompt a peer to tell a target peer when it is their turn

• E.g. If a targeted peer does not respond to a child’s initiate, provide support
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that child to keep asking until they get a response
 REINFORCE GOOD BEHAVIORS

• Immediately reinforce (provide preferred item/praise, etc)

appropriate social behaviors within activity for both target and
typical students (within 5 sec of the behavior)

• Need to reinforce appropriate behavior of both the typical peers

and the targeted child to increase behavior in the future

• When possible, want the reinforcement for their behavior to

come from each other (natural contingencies)

– E.g. Set up bean bag toss where asking your peer for
the bean bag (behavior) gives you access to the
bean bag (reinforcement)
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 Positive Practice

• Provide prompting for socially appropriate

behavior as needed and set up opportunities to
practice socially appropriate behavior for both
target and typical students

– E.g. If a child is taking a toy from a peer, set up the

opportunity again and tell the child to ask the peer
for the toy. When the child asks, have the peer give
the toy to the child for a turn. Provide praise
immediately to the peer and after the child takes
his/her turn have him/her return the toy to the peer.
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 Intervention

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 Results of Piloting Playground
Program at Schools

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 Pilot Data Pilot Data
Jan.- May 2008
Engagement with Peers during Recess
Time Engaged with Peers Kindergarden through 4th Grade

100

80
Percentage of Time

60

40

20

0
Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4

© 2007 SARRC Baseline Week 2 Week 16

 Pilot Data Pilot Data
Jan.- May 2008
Interactions with Peers during Recess
Interactions with Peers during Recess

1.6

1.4

1.2

1
Frequencyper Minute

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4

Interactions Baseline Interactions Week 2 Interactions Week 8

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 Pilot Data Jan.- May 2008

Initiations with Peers on Playground

Social Initiations Kindergarden through 4th Grade

1.2

0.8
Frequency per Minute

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
Student 1 Student 2 Student 3 Student 4
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Baseline Week 2 Week 16
 Additional Recommendations
and Resources included in
Handout
• Preschool and Elementary
• Middle and High School
• Research articles and Related Books for Social
Skill Development and Communication
Facilitation
• Resources with recommendations for structured
play and activities

© 2007 SARRC
*See Additional Slides
 SARRC Mission

SARRC’s mission is to advance research and

provide a lifetime of support for individuals
with autism and their families.

© 2007 SARRC
 Recommended Readings
Preschool & Elementary School
Bishop, B. (2002). My Friend With Autism. Arlington, TX: Future
Horizons

Edwards, A. (2002). Taking Autism to School. Wilkes-Barre, PA: JayJo

Books

Ely, L. (2004). Looking After Louis. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman
& Company

Gartenberg, Z.M. (1998). Mori’s Story: A Book About A Boy With

Autism. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Co.

Hoopmann, K. (2001). Of Mice and Aliens: An Asperger Adventure.

New York, NY: Jessica Kingsley Publisher

Leedy, L. (1996) How Humans Make Friends. New York, NY: Holiday
House
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 Recommended Readings
Preschool & Elementary School
cont.
Lowell, J. & Tuchel, T. (2005). My Best Friend Will. Shawnee
Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company

Ogaz, N. (2002). Buster and the Amazing Daisy: Adventures with

Asperger Syndrome. New York, NY: Jessica Kingsley Publisher

Staub, D. (1998). Delicate Threads: Friendships Between

Children With & Without Special Needs In Inclusive Settings.
Bethesda, MD: Woodbine House

Thompson, M. (1996). Andy and His Yellow Frisbee. Bethesda,

MD: Woodbine House

Twachtman-Cullen, D. Trevor Trevor. Higganum, CT: Starfish

© Specialty
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 Recommended Readings
Books for Middle and High School
Haddon, M. (2004). The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-
Time. New York, NY: Vintage and Anchor Books

Mukhopadhyay, T.R. (2000). The Mind Tree: A Miraculous Child

Breaks the Silence of Autism. New York, NY: Arcade
Publishing

Prince-Hughes, D. (2004). Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My

Journey Through Autism. New York, NY: Harmony Books

Welton, J. (2004). Can I Tell You About Asperger Syndrome? A

Guide for Friends and Family. New York, NY: Jessica Kingsley
Publishers
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 Recommended Reading
Communication &
Social Skill Development
Bellini, S. (2006). Building Social Relationships. Shawnee
Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Co.

Carter, E.W., Cushing, L.S., & Kennedy, C.H. (2008). Peer

Support Strategies for Improving All Students’ Social Lives
and Learning. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Coucouvanis, J. (2005). Super Skills: A Social Skills Group

Program for Children with Asperger Syndrome, High-
Functioning Autism and Related Disorders. Shawnee Mission,
KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Co.

Winner, M. G. (2008). Thinking About You Thinking About Me,

©2 Ed. San Jose, CA: Think Social Publishing, Inc.
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 Recommended Reading
Communication &
Social Skill Development cont.
Gray, C. (Ed.) (1993). The Social Story Book. Jenison, MI:
Jennison Public Schools

Janney, R. & Snell, M.E. (2006). Social Relationships & Peer

Support, 2nd Ed. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Kluth, P. (2003). “You’re Going to Love This Kid!”. Baltimore,

MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Koegel, L.K. & LaZebnik, C. (2004). Overcoming Autism. New

York, NY: Viking Press.
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 Recommended Reading
Communication &
Social Skill Development cont.
McAfee, J. (2002). Navigating the Social World: A Curriculum for
Individuals with Asperser's Syndrome, High Functioning Autism
and Related Disorders. Arlington, TX: Future Horizons, Inc.

Quill, K. (Ed.) (2000). Do-Watch-Listen-Say: Social and

Communication Intervention for Children with Autism.
Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Smith Myles, B., Trautman, M. & Schelvan, R. (2004). The

Hidden Curriculum: Practical Solutions for Understanding
Unstated Rules in Social Situations. Shawnee Mission, KS:
Autism Asperger Publishing Co.

Wolfberg, P. (1999). Play and Imagination in Children with

Autism. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
© 2007 SARRC
 Recommended Resources
Activities
Kaplan, M. (Producer). The boy inside [Motion picture].
(Available from Fanlight Productions, 4196 Washington Street,
Boston, MA 02131)

Lowell, J. & Tuchel, T. (2005). My best friend Will. Shawnee

Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company

McGinnity, K. & Negri, N. (2005). Walk awhile in my autism.

Cambridge, WI: Cambridge Book Review Press

Sima, P. (2004) Jumbo book of games. Westminster, CA: Teacher

Created Resources

© 2007 SARRC