Social skills interventions for children with autism

Abstract

Autism is characterized by deficits in pretend play, perspective taking, initiating and responding to others, and other profound social impairments. As the incidence of children being identified with autism increases, so does the need for effective interventions that target social skills development. Over the last decade, social skills interventions have become more sophisticated, incorporating video technology and naturalistic teaching procedures. Many of these studies have been shown to generalize across settings, participants, and to individuals not directly involved in these studies. Although the small sample sizes make generalization of findings to the population at large somewhat problematic, continued replication of these studies and the development of increasingly sophisticated social skills interventions may lead to broader interpretation and application. This article reviews critical research conducted over the past 15 years on social skills interventions. To aid in the implementation of these interventions, suggestions for application and a list of references follow the review.

Constructing Healthy Experiences through Human-Animal Interactions for Autistic Children and Their Families: Implications for Research and Education

“…"nimal-assisted interventions ""I) have started to be approached by specialists designing therapeutic programs for children with social impairments, such as "SD children, which appear to perceive and comprehend animal communication beter than the human communication [9,10]. It is generally acknowledged that one of the most important deicits that "SD individuals experience across their life span is the impairment in social abilities [11]. Recently, several authors in the "SD ield suggested that the use of all the possible elements of social environment, including companion animals, should be considered when planning therapeutic interventions for "SD children [10].…”

“…In the case of "SD children, specialists agree that social impairment does not necessarily imply a lack of desire or interest of children to socially interact, but rather a lack of necessary social skills to successfully carry out social interactions [11]. In this direction, several types of interventions are focusing on improving the social skills of "SD children, and among them, Social Story [8] is one of the most popular methods used in special education in general and in the treatment of autism, in particular.…”

“…Over the last decade, several authors have evaluated and validated the efectiveness of the SS method in decreasing the frequency and the intensity of several problematic behaviors, such as aggression, screaming, grabbing toys, and crying [17], and in increasing the frequency and intensity of desirable behaviors, such as greeting and sharing things, playful behavior, etc. [11]. In many of these studies, SS has been used either as a sole intervention [11] or combined with other interventions, such as verbal and pictorial prompts, reinforcement of appropriate responses, robot-assisted programs [19], and various priming strategies [20].…”

“…[11]. In many of these studies, SS has been used either as a sole intervention [11] or combined with other interventions, such as verbal and pictorial prompts, reinforcement of appropriate responses, robot-assisted programs [19], and various priming strategies [20].…”

“…and a higher level of initiations of appropriate social interactions. The following events were considered as appropriate social interactions: a) any verbal, physical, or gestural appropriate response to the presence of a social partner b) any comment or a relevant question addressed to a social partner c) any appropriate response to questions or comments of a social partner and d) any direct eye contact or at least a look toward a social partner [11].…”