Autism Diagnosis Autism signs Autism signs & symptoms Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism Support Family Family Care Motivation Social Skills

Developing Social Competence in School Aged Children with Autism

School Aged Children with Autism: Developing social competence in children with Autism is imperative, as it significantly impacts their
ability to form social relationships, maintain friendships, and succeed academically. Socially
competent children are better at communicating with peers, working in groups, and understanding
the rules of conversations, including nonverbal cues. However, children with Autism often face
challenges in social communication, leading to various deficits in their social skills.

School Aged Children with Autism: Common Social Communication Deficits in Children with Autism:

A young boy with autism covering his eyes with his hands, a common behavior seen in children with autism during social interactions.- Autism Connect

  • Difficulty taking turns in play or conversation.
  •  Inability to engage in conversation effectively (initiating, maintaining, ending conversation). They
    often use repetitive or irrelevant statements to start a conversation.
  •  Difficulty understanding emotions. They may find it hard to understand that they should
    apologize if someone is upset with them.
  •  Challenges with personal space, often standing too close to others.
  •  Struggling to ask for clarification when they don’t understand.
  •  Difficulty inappropriately requesting and greeting others in various situations.

    Parental Tips to Develop Social Skills:

A woman and her daughter sitting at a table with fruit, promoting social competence in school-aged children with autism.- Autism Connect  A family with a child on the autism spectrum shopping together in a supermarket, promoting social skills development.- Autism Connect

  •   Encourage small talk about topics like weather, traffic, holidays, favourite food, and movies.
  •  Promote initiating conversations through greetings or asking common questions.
  •  Engage in interactive board games/guessing games that emphasize turn-taking, encourage
    asking questions and also improve teamwork.
  •  Hold family conversation time, allowing the child to choose topics that interest them, ask
    questions, and share opinions.
  • Watch movies together and discuss them, asking open-ended questions What was your
    favourite part in the movie? Which character you like the most and why?
  • Prepare the child for social situations like birthday parties, providing guidance on appropriate
    questions to ask, and how to greet others.
  •  Teach the child how to request in their daily routine effectively.
  • Instruct the child on using different greetings for different situations, e.g., “Merry Christmas”;
    during the holiday season, “Get well soon” for someone who is unwell.
  •  Encourage observation of others; conversations to learn social cues (” social spying”).
  •  Use recorded voices with different emotions for the child to identify and understand.
  •  Play dumb charades with different body language cues for the child to interpret.
  •  Teach the child to maintain personal space by standing at an arm’s distance during the conversation.

Comments

  1. Good helpful tips. My name is Victoria Titiloye. I am an occupational therapist based in the US. I will like to maintain professional communication with you. I have worked with children and adult with autism (neurodiverse community) in different settings including public and private schools. I believe we can learn from each other and share information that can further facilitate types of services provided to the people we serve.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *