what is one strategy that can be used to teach learners to initiate joint attention?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM five) lists 2 criteria for diagnosing autism: restricted and repetitive interests and/or movements, and social deficits. This means social skills challenges in children with autism aren't just mutual, they're a defining feature. Equally a professional person working with children with autism, it's critical you fully understand the challenges your learners face.

Social skills incorporate many component skills that may be hard for children with autism. Teaching these skills independently allows you to break downwardly this circuitous concept into much easier to teach tasks. The following components can exist taught independently to drastically amend the learner's social interactions.

• Joint attention
• Play skills
• Exercise social situations

Contents

Autism and Social Skills

Joint Attention

Play Skills

Practice Social Situations

Autism and Social Skills

Each child is unique in his understanding of and want to collaborate with others. Some children with autism may be virtually unaware of those effectually them, while others will want to engage with others but lack the skills necessary to practice this.

We alive in a customs, and learning how to relate to other people is a necessary skill, fifty-fifty if we don't want to. Basic interaction is too an important footstep to teaching critical self-care and safety skills. While the learner may never want friendships and connections, some level of interaction with others tin't be avoided. Helping learners go comfy in these situations tin can benefit them throughout their lives.

Assessments and Handling

For social skills assessment, professionals pull from a limited trunk of inquiry demonstrating effective social skills interventions. Traditionally, professionals rely on a standardized assessment tool to help them identify appropriate treatment goals. This leads to prescribing the appropriate treatment to help that child reach those goals.

A comprehensive social skills cess would identify these common deficits impacting social skills:

• A child with limited vocal communication skills. An individual with this deficit experiences more than significant challenges interacting with their peers than a child with an intact song repertoire.
• A child with restricted interests. He may struggle with engaging in conversations almost their peers' interests.
• A child who resists sharing toys or taking turns. Some prefer to predict and control the beliefs of others.

Identifying and treating these complex skills can appear daunting to even the nigh seasoned professional.

While many assessment tools include components of social behavior (AFLS, VB-MAPP, ABLLS, etc.), there are a limited number of enquiry-based social skills assessments available to professionals. Of those tools bachelor, many are expensive or complex to employ.

Social Skills Solutions: A Easily-On Manual for Instruction Social Skills to Children with Autism

Depending on the needs of the children you serve, Social Skills Solutions: A Easily-On Manual for Teaching Social Skills to Children with Autism past Kelly McKinnon, MA, BCBA and Janis Kempa, Med, BCBA may help provide solutions for your learners. This comprehensive program offers both assessment and programmatic support. Considering it was written by BCBAs, their model falls easily into ABA programming.

An experienced professional can pick up this manual and quickly understand and implement the assessment. The cess builds to targeted goals that easily lend themselves to hands-on activities for the children. For those less experienced, the authors offer sufficient foundational information to use the manual and implement interventions successfully.

McKinnon and Kempa provide an initial overview of autism and ABA. This overview allows you to share this book with parents and staff to help them understand your rationality as well every bit many basic ABA techniques. There's a brief overview of prompts. The authors explain many other ABA terminology, all in this simple introduction.

Using Modules to Create Scaffolds for Learning

McKinnon and Kempa use a module approach to create a system for scaffolding learning. This means that they have cleaved down complex social skills (i.e. joint attention, self-sensation and perspective taking) into component parts. These parts can and so be taught and strung together to create those more than complex behavior chains.

It's probable impossible to create a fully comprehensive assessment and treatment protocol to teach such circuitous behavior as social skills. The authors of Social Skills Solutions: A Hands-On Transmission for Teaching Social Skills to Children with Autism employ 10 Modules. Each module is then broken down into 3 levels. This allows the assessor to identify the child's relative needs.

Assessors and then determine if the kid displays each skill within the module in a 1:ane setting, in a group, or in a natural setting. The assessment tracks the child's progress through all the facets of the identified social skills.

Skills inside each module are organized so that prerequisite or foundational skills are firsts. This allows a sequential social club to the assessment. Each skill builds on the one before information technology.

Using the Assessment to Guide Treatment

Once the professional person identifies the child's current strengths and deficits, they brainstorm to paint a motion picture of some of the missing pieces in the kid's social skills puzzle. For example:

Within Module 4: Ability to Calm Cocky, Level 2, is the skill: Accepts when things are different than planned. The professional identifies that the child fails to demonstrate this skill across settings (one:1, group, natural environment). The professional then builds programming to teach this skill first in a ane:1 environment equally this makes it easier to contrive situations where the child is expected to demonstrate the skill. Perhaps the kid responds well to social stories to teach self-management strategies and reinforcement for selecting one of those strategies accordingly. The professional and so writes a goal that is both observable and measurable. As intervention begins, staff collect data and the professional continuously evaluates the data to ensure progress.

The professional person repeats this procedure for each of the modules, starting time with the almost foundational skills in that module. Through this process, a comprehensive and concrete social skills program emerges.

Determining Progress

The circuitous nature of social skills makes it hard to determine if the child makes progress. By breaking down the skills into modules, levels and setting, professionals have a tool for establishing meaningful gains for the children they serve.

Professionals should reassess their client's skills regularly (i.eastward. every 3 or vi months) to determine treatment effectiveness and identify new goals. If a child makes limited progress, the professional person must objectively evaluate that child'due south programs and the variables that contribute to the lack of progress. Without this monitoring and constant adjusting of interventions, the child and family suffer.

Although this manual meets the needs of many children with autism receiving ABA programming, it'due south non for all children. When working with children with exceptionally complex needs, this manual captures merely the smallest glimpse into the child's deficits. The same holds truthful for those children with pockets of social skills who may have significant behavioral and emotional needs.

Professionals must carefully consider the full scope of the child's needs when choosing cess and handling programs. Every bit these tools play a significant part in the course of ABA programming, this stride can't be emphasized plenty. A programme that routinely selects the same assessment tools for all of their children fails to provide the most advisable handling for many of those children.

Obtaining Assent

As with whatsoever treatment, the strategies discussed here should only exist used with the assent of the learner. Read our post Understanding Assent and Assent Withdrawal in ABA for more information on how and why to obtain assent.

Joint Attention

Joint attention is a critical component of social skills that may not develop in children with autism without intervention.  Joint attention is the activity of two or more individuals paying attention to the same object at the aforementioned time.  Creating these shared experiences allows us to connect and communicate with others socially.  Through the use of joint attending, we establish shared experiences which builds bonds between individuals.  It begins very early in development, getting more circuitous as a child grows and develops.

This interaction can exist verbal or nonverbal.  For example, a kid saying "Mommy, look! There'south a dog!" communicates the same thing as a kid borer your shoulder and pointing at the dog.  Although these ii interactions await different, they serve the same social purpose.  Children with no vocal advice skills still share experiences with those around them, just in a different way.

Watch Joint Attention – Why information technology's important to teach your child to engage and enjoy the company of others by 1to1 Therapy Services:

This skill usually develops betwixt viii-fifteen months of age.  For children with autism, this skill may not develop independently and oft requires specific pedagogy.

How to Teach Joint Attention to a Learner with Autism

Joint attention can exist broken into two separate skills:

• Requesting joint attending
• Responding to requests from others

For children with limited communication skills, this is specially difficult. Although these skills are related, you will probably need to teach them independently.  Through repeated practice, your learner will brainstorm to interact more than with those around her.

Whether didactics requesting or responding, this volition involve 3 steps:

1. Find your learner
2. Gradually encourage increased articulation attention
3. Continue to discover how your learner initiates and responds to joint attention

Detect Your Learner

Determine what your learner is currently able to do.  Does she answer to verbal requests for attending past turning and looking?  Does she evidence you lot something she is interested in, requesting joint attention?  Or does she ignore you when you endeavour to asking joint attention?

Spend a session or two just observing whether she initiates or responds to joint attending. Write down your observations throughout each session and then that you can place how the learner currently initiates and responds to requests for articulation attention.

Increase Utilise of Joint Attention

Showtime where she is already successful. Identify what she is currently able to do, then start to gradually button her to exercise but a little more than she does on her own. You tin use prompting and reinforcement to increase her employ of joint attention.

For example, if she ignores all requests for joint attending from others and appears only interested in her favorite things, kickoff to wait at some of her favorite things with her.  Help her point to the item then provide her with reinforcement.

If your learner tin show you things that she enjoys but does non look at other things with you, gently aid her await at something with yous and and then immediately provide reinforcement.

Responding to Articulation Attention

In that location are several ways to teach your learner to respond to requests for joint attention.

• If your learner doesn't respond at all when yous request joint attention you tin begin by putting a favorite toy in front end of them, and then moving information technology so that their eyes follow the toy.
• If your learner sometimes responds to requests for articulation attending trying putting a favorite toy a brusque distance abroad and saying "Expect!" in a really excited vocalism. If that doesn't work effort having the toy make a noise that might draw the learner's attention.

Be prepared with a reinforcer when your learner responds to a request for articulation attention. The video Autism and Joint Attention | Fun Minute Tip iii by Into the Spectrum discusses how you lot can practice this:

Initiating Joint Attention

To teach your learner how to initiate requests for articulation attending starting time past prompting her to gain your attention and gradually reduce the corporeality of prompting. Encourage her to show you lot a favorite toy by pointing. In the beginning you may need to teach her to shape her fingers and then utilise one finger to touch the toy.

Piece of work in requests for joint attending throughout the session. Encourage her to request attending past keeping some favorite toys out of reach then that she has to initiation joint attention to enquire for the toy. When offering choices take her betoken to the i she wants.

As higher up, be sure to use reinforcement with your learner. If her favorite toy has an on/off button attempt turning the toy on when your learner points to it.

Observe How the Learner Responds

Go on to observe your learner and make up one's mind what she is doing independently.  Utilise this equally a guide to help you decide what you can teach her next.

Gradually support your learner in using her new-found skills with other people.  It'southward best to begin with other adults earlier moving on to peers.  Peers are less patient than adults and don't e'er empathise how the learner communicates.  Once your learner develops more than constructive joint attending, begin to encourage him to approach peers.  His peers might also need some assist to understand the social interaction at first.

Dorsum to Superlative

Play

Play is an of import style children learn and practice socials skills, nonetheless children with autism oft need to be taught how to play. Depending on where your learner starts you may need to begin by instruction basic play skills before moving on to teach more complex skills that will improve their social skills.

Why is information technology then of import to teach play skills?

Children with autism develop restricted independent and social play skills.  These literal thinkers also struggle with symbolic play. Restricted symbolic play tin lead to difficulties with abstract language. Failure to learn basic play and social skills may likewise lead to a bicycle of decisions that can further inhibit your learner's power to acquire and abound.

Play is an important component of social interactions betwixt immature children. Joining in activities with their peers oft requires specific teaching for children with autism. This form of pedagogy is not available within the general instruction classroom.

Children needing this level of intervention struggle in classrooms with their peers. Exclusion from the general education classroom compounds effects of express interactions with peers. Without the availability of peers to collaborate with, their social deficits perpetuate. They lose the opportunity to practice social and communication skills during school hours. This bike can proceed through a child'south entire education.

Children larn valuable skills from watching their peers. Peer modeling reduces the burden of explicit teaching of every skill. These skills include a variety of social, academic, and leisure skills. Placement in a restricted educational setting negates this opportunity.

Learning Through Play

Children exercise important skills through play: emotional regulation, problem solving, and artistic thinking. They develop and rehearse advice skills. Even when playing lone, children practice dialog or babble.

Immature learners meet challenges during play that promote frustration tolerance. They acquire creative thinking skills when practicing imaginative play, and can learn to use toys or everyday objects in new and creative means. Yeah, using the banana every bit a telephone is actually an of import play skill.

Play encourages social development and interaction. Many children with autism prefer to spend fourth dimension by themselves.This preference for isolation can make their experiences later in life more difficult. Once in schoolhouse or in the workforce, individuals face a variety of social interactions. They need to accept some repertoire of skills to handle these situations, fifty-fifty if it'south the ability to communicate their desire to exist alone.

Play supports exploration and flexible thinking. Children with autism tend to be rigid in their routines and their view of the world. Learning to play in new and different ways tin can expand their ability to exist creative and open to new experiences.

Understanding How Children with Autism Play

Children with autism play in unique ways. They might line up their toys or play in routine, ritualistic ways. Many children with autism savor sensory play.  This includes activities like bubbles, cause and upshot toys or things that lite upwards.  The cause and result human relationship is concrete and predictable. This makes it comfy and familiar for your learner.  Nonetheless, information technology may accept specific intervention to help your learner move beyond this blazon of play.

Why do children with autism line upward toys?

Children with autism oft play in routine, ritualistic means, including playing with toys without the use of imagination. Considering of this, they may line upwardly toys or focus intently on 1 part of a toy. While other children may build a fort out of a pile of blocks, a kid with autism may choose to line them upward in neat rows or in seemingly random guild effectually the flooring. Some children may take a toy truck and apply it to knock over their fort, while a kid with autism might sit spinning one of the wheels or watch the wheel closely as it turns against the carpeting.

Why? Children with autism think concretely, have restricted or repetitive interests, and have difficulty with imaginative play. Every bit a result, children with autism may not use items or objects in unique ways equally other children exercise.

Is ritualistic play a problem?

Typically, playing in routine means is not a trouble. Nevertheless, it becomes a trouble when a child does this to the exclusion of all other forms of play.

A child's tendency to play solitary tin inhibit social interaction. At school or in social situations a child with autism may experience more comfortable playing by himself. Other children may non understand how he likes to play and he may be confused by their games. But with patience and understanding they can benefit past learning to play together.

Additionally, ritualistic play tin limit a kid's ability to develop other play skills. Many children, and even adults, tend to stick to things they are comfortable doing. A child with autism may need some extra help in learning to do things outside his comfort zone.

When attempting to get a learner to engage in other types of play, exist sure to look for signs of assent, as discussed in our post Understanding Assent and Assent Withdrawal in ABA.

Types of Play

Children play in a variety of ways. Young babies and toddlers engage in functional play as they begin to explore their world. This might include touching or squeezing objects, or even climbing on piece of furniture and play structures. Exploratory play allows children to use their senses equally they accept in their environment, closely studying objects to feel their colour, size, shape, experience and smell. With effective play children develop a sense of accomplishment by building, creating and drawing.

While all these types of play are of import, we're going to focus here on two other types of play:

1. Symbolic Play
2. Social Play

These types of play take the closest correlation with social skills.

Symbolic Play

When children engage in symbolic play, they use objects to represent some other object or activeness through play.  This might expect like using a banana as a telephone, using a box every bit a car, or using a towel as a cape.  When children use cushions and blankets to build a fort in the living room they're engaging in symbolic play. Using sheets of newspaper to build a road for toy cars is another example.

Children commonly begin to engage in this blazon of play around the age of iii; nonetheless, children with autism often struggle with engaging in symbolic play.

On the continuum of play skills, pretend or imaginative play is the most advanced of all play skills.  This play requires the ability to separate an object from its truthful meaning and assign it an arbitrary meaning.  Pretend play offers vital opportunities for children to do roles outside of the every day, but too builds a long listing of additional skills including:

• Problem solving
• Artistic thinking
• Perspective taking
• Social relationships
• Abstruse thinking

Social play is a series of skills that children utilise to engage with other children.  Social play looks dissimilar at different ages and stages, just children with autism may not develop these skills on their ain.  It involves children interacting with each other during play.  This play is typically structured and follows rules that have been established past the children.  Many times these rules are established through communication, but even if your learner doesn't communicate vocally, he tin nonetheless develop meaningful play skills.

Social play often includes symbolic or imaginary play, so teaching symbolic play first can assistance build social play skills.

Teaching Play Skills

Play skills can be taught the same way other skills are taught – by breaking down big ideas into smaller, easy-to-understand steps. But play generally develops in set stages. Consider the stages of play as you pattern your task assay to teach these skills.

Stride 1: Understand the Stages of Play

There are six essential stages of play. This short video shows what each stage looks like:

Unoccupied play unremarkably develops from the ages of 0-2. This includes sensory play and manipulating objects.

Lonely play usually emerges between 2-3. At this stage unproblematic functional play such as building a block belfry emerges.

Onlooker play is common among children 2 ½-3 ½. A child may brainstorm watching what her peers are doing and taking in the information even if she's not set up to bring together in on the fun.

Parallel play is also seen between the ages of ii ½-3 ½. This involves the child going across observing to include engaging in the same activity next to a peer with minimal interaction,

Associative play happens as children begin to collaborate during play. They may both piece of work on creating a building just in that location is no discussion about how it should be washed or who should construct which parts.

Cooperative/social play is the final stage. At this level, children volition negotiate and create rules in their play-

If your learner primarily engages in sensory play, it would exist unrealistic to look him to be able to engage in cooperative imaginative play.  You will need to retrieve most your learner's electric current abilities and place how best to inch him further toward more creative play

Step 2: Observe Your Learner

What does your learner exercise when she is left on her own? Does she play with toys the style they are intended to be used (functionally)? Or does she use items creatively?  Does she apply toys primarily for a sensory experience?

Step three: Decide the Next Stage

Play often progresses in stages. Use your observations from watching her play to determine which phase her skills autumn into, then focus on educational activity her skills that will bring her to the next level of play. Recollect that children with autism develop at their own pace. The ages above are guidelines indicating when you lot might see these skills in neurotypical children. Regardless of your learner's age, begin at whatsoever stage they are in, and move from in that location.

Step 4: Place i activity that your learner enjoys

This could include blocks, cars, characters, Play Doh, trains, animals, flags, fans, gears, plumbing, or anything that will concur your learner's interest. If the learner is new to your program, consider asking intendance givers nigh their special interests.

Footstep five: Break downwardly the play goal

For example, if your learner loves water ice foam, maybe the ultimate goal will be a play scenario where he works at an ice cream shop and a peer or sibling is his customer. So create a chore analysis to break the goal into small, concrete steps. This might look like:

1. Pretend that an empty bowl has water ice cream
2. Employ a cardboard box every bit the shop counter
3. A peer is a customer

Depending on your learner's skills, these steps may need to exist broken downwards even farther. For example, yous might need to teach the idea that a box can be something else before introducing the idea that it tin likewise be a shop counter. For example, you could have your learner pretend a large box is a car, and so have him apply it every bit a domestic dog house and and then a bookcase.

Step half-dozen: Reinforce desired beliefs

As you lot teach your learner the play scenario make sure you are focusing on simply one stride at a time. And then employ a high charge per unit of reinforcement when your learner attempts the new skill. Don't expect the play to be the reinforcer.

Ideas to Teach Symbolic Play

Sometimes the all-time education methods take a little inventiveness. Every bit adults we often movement abroad from symbolic play and imagining different uses for everyday objects. These ideas will help go you lot started.

Model the use of objects in flexible means

• Pretend a basin is a hat
• Use a block as a car
• Imagine that a towel is a superhero cape
• Utilise a blanket to build a tent

Teach a variety of scripts for different objects

• Bulldoze the burn truck to the block tower to put out a burn
• Order ice cream at the window, paying for it and give the imaginary water ice foam
• Feed the baby doll and putting her to bed
• Brand dinner in the pretend kitchen
• Create a "store" with some of her favorite items
• Make a eatery where his friends can "order" from the "menu"

Develop and expand play routines using your learner's interests

• If your learner likes the Cars movie, build a garage for Mater to take Lightning McQueen to when he breaks down.
• Are dinosaurs her special interest?  Have other dinosaurs hiding backside table legs as the T-Rex goes on the hunt for dinner.
• Gears and gadgets are your learner'southward thing?  Maybe he is the mechanic fixing an important car!

Back to Acme

Like all of the states, children with autism get meliorate at things they exercise. It helps them larn what to expect from social interactions and allows them to prepare in advance.

One of the most well-known means to exercise this is through social stories. Carol Grayness developed the Social Stories tool that provides the framework that combines personalized text and illustrations or photos that aid children with autism sympathise social situations. Social Stories must meet 10 defining criteria that you tin find in her document The Social Story Philosophy.

Y'all can find 150 premade social stories in her book The New Social Story Book or you can create your own.

Autism Speaks has partnered with the University of Washington READI Lab to create Personalized Teaching Stories. These gratis templates follow Ballad Gray'south social story model. They allow y'all to utilize your own photos and text to develop stories that teach what to expect in various social situations such as:

• Going to a restaurant or store
• Treatment a bully
• Participating in a play date
• Taking turns

Children with autism and other developmental disorders often engage in a diversity of maladaptive behavior. This occurs for several possible reasons, just is oftentimes due to a deficit in adaptive ways to become their needs met. To learn more about identifying why a kid engages in a particular behavior, read our post: Understanding Functions of Behavior. When creating a plan to accost challenging behaviors, professionals must teach adaptive alternative behaviors to have the place of maladaptive beliefs. Social stories may exist i way to teach these replacement behaviors.

Social Stories were created by Carol Gray, author of The New Social Stories Book, to teach children with autism how to answer in unlike situations. These brusk, uncomplicated stories help children understand expectations and acquire coping skills. A Hard Times Board provides one format for accomplishing this. Allow's accept a look.

Hard Times Lath

A Hard Times Lath pulls apart a behavioral result and clearly delineates each component of the Competing Behavior Pathway in a way that children understand. Including children who have the verbal ability in identifying each component improves buy-in and compliance in utilizing strategies.

Competing Beliefs Pathway

Competing Behavior Pathway

The competing beliefs pathway provides a visual depicting the ABCs of challenging beliefs and includes an appropriate replacement beliefs. It provides a roadmap for irresolute behavior.

Include children in the process of creating the social story. Children who feel buying of the programme are more likely to utilize the interventions in the plan. Although it may be difficult, information technology'due south worth the try and provides the all-time outcomes for the child.

Consider the age and developmental ability of the kid to determine what their role will be. For very immature children (i.e. preschoolers), their interest may be more express. For children in early elementary school (i.east. kindergarten and first course), accept them help choose the pictures. As they become older, include them in the whole process to the best of their ability.

Components of a Hard Times Board

When you accept the components of a Competing Behavior Pathway and put them into a social story, you create a Hard Times Lath. How much information you include in the social story volition depend on the individual child's needs and abilities. The basic components include:

• Triggers
• Can't Dos
• Tin Dos

Take a look at this instance where a teacher uses a Hard Times Board to help one of his students:

Triggers

Helping children identify when they are likely to appoint in a particular behavior helps them understand when to apply coping skills. Children often are not enlightened of what triggers challenging beliefs. When creating a Difficult Times Board, guide the kid into recognizing situations during which the beliefs frequently occurs.

Cull your words carefully and so that y'all avoid sounding accusatory. This is a problem solving activity, not a time to betoken out the child's faults. Use phrases such as:

• I've noticed that you seem upset when X happens
• Sometimes when X happens, it looks similar you feel pretty mad
• What are some things that make you aroused?

Can't Dos

Tie the data well-nigh triggers to some of the child'south challenging behaviors past creating a list of behaviors that they shouldn't engage in. Again, exist careful to avoid statements that blame or point fingers. Try phrases similar:

• What are some things you lot can't do when you're mad?
• I've noticed that when you lot're angry sometimes you practise X. I know you lot don't want to hurt anyone, and then let's add that to the list of Can't Dos.

Can Dos

This department is the most important ane as it provides those appropriate alternative behaviors. Many children need help identifying more advisable responses to their triggers. Some children may advise alternatives that are inappropriate. Guide them in creating a list of coping skills that are likely to atomic number 82 to success. Use statements such every bit:

• Since one of the things that makes you upset is existence asked to do something difficult, let's add "asking for help" on the Tin can Dos list.
• I like that yous're coming upward with ideas, only playing on the iPad when yous're angry probably won't change the situation. What if we add 10 to the list instead?

Examples

Not every Hard Times Lath needs to contain all three components and your learner may ask to add something else. If the child says she doesn't desire her triggers listed on the board, respect her wishes. The only component that is non-negotiable is the Can Dos department. Without the coping skills, at that place'due south no bespeak in the social story.

These social stories can be used with individuals from preschool to adulthood, but must be adjusted according to the individual's developmental needs. Permit'due south look at some examples:

This first example is a social story adult with a preschooler who often became aggressive when he heard unexpected loud noises or when the classroom became too overwhelming.

This Hard Times Board contains 2 plans, 1 for at abode and ane for when the child was in the community or at schoolhouse. the young teen that helped create this programme ofttimes became angry when discussing his challenging beliefs and felt strongly that having his behaviors or triggers listed would not be helpful. In add-on, he loved superheroes and wanted a movie on the board to remind him to act like a superhero when he felt mad.

Finally, this social story was created with a 21-twelvemonth-former woman with autism and developmental delays who besides became upset when discussing her behaviors. She came up with all of the components with only a picayune guidance and was allowed to include coping skills that might be inappropriate (watching Boob tube or going on the reckoner) considering she was an developed. Over time, we were able to point out to her that the other coping skills benefited her more.

Encountering resistance

Many children refuse to talk about their challenging beliefs. For others this discussion triggers more challenging behavior. Don't be discouraged if yous demand to guide the chat or work through speed bumps along the way.

Rather than using a direct approach with these children, try having an indirect conversation during a preferred activeness or while driving in the auto. Sitting face-to-face for these conversations can be particularly difficult. Find creative ways to bring up the topic and tell the child y'all merely desire to write down some of their ideas.

Dealing with inappropriate suggestions

When you include children in developing a plan for responding to triggers, you inevitably meet suggestions that are inappropriate to include. This might exist things like "watch TV" or "send everyone else away." You do not demand to include these on the child's plan. The child needs your guidance to select appropriate replacement behaviors.

Always acknowledge their ideas, but be prepared to gently direct them to more appropriate ones. For example:

The kid you lot're working with states that when he gets mad watching his favorite show on TV will calm him downward. While this might be true, it also might reinforce him acting mad and is not an appropriate coping skill. You tin can simply state something like "Hmm, that is one idea. I like that you're coming up with ideas, only when you lot're mad isn't the best time to spotter Idiot box. Yous could listen to music. We could include music in your plan."

It'south not enough to only help the child write the program for the Hard Times Board. You must also teach the child to employ the strategies in the social story. There are 4 steps to teaching your client to use a Hard Times Lath finer: practice, prompt, reinforce and fade.

Practise

During times when the child is at baseline. Ideally include this practise in the kid's schedule and follow it with a preferred activity (for more information about using the Premack Principle, read our posts: Premack Principle and 5 Ways to Use the Premack Principle You Haven't Tried). Read the social story and have the child choose i of the "Can Dos" listed to practice.

Prompt

One time the child has had sufficient opportunities to do, present the Hard Times Board when the child engages in precursor behaviors. Do non read the entire social story during this time. Present the board and prompt the child to cull one of the coping strategies. If the child chooses a coping strategy, provide reinforcement in the form of social acknowledgment and access to the coping skill.

Reinforce

As the child begins to employ the coping strategies in their social story independently, provide reinforcement. This reinforcement should exist of value to the private kid. As with all tangible reinforcement, pair it with social praise. At this phase, you should reinforce simply contained use of the coping skills. When you demand to provide a prompt to the child (either in the form of presenting the social story or a verbal prompt to choose a coping skill), reinforcement should only be in the grade of access to the coping skill.

Fade

Over time, begin to thin the schedule of reinforcement for independent utilise of the coping skill and reinforce remaining exposed to triggers without maladaptive behaviors on a denser, richer schedule. Look at this instance:

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Source: https://masteraba.com/autism-and-social-skills-complete-guide/

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