Social Skills Success for Students with Autism / Asperger's: How to Teach Conversation Skills, Prevent Meltdowns, and Help Kids Fit In

An evidence-based program for teaching social skills to adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.

Two nationally known experts in friendship formation and anxiety management address the social challenges faced by adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The book helps educators instruct youth on conversing with others, displaying appropriate body language, managing anxiety, initiating and participating in get-togethers, and more. The book is filled with helpful information on ASD to aid teachers who have received little training on the topic. Extremely practical, the book includes lesson plans, checklists, and sidebars with helpful advice.

• Based on UCLA's acclaimed PEERS program, the only evidence-based approach to teaching social skills to adolescents with ASD
• Contains best practices for working with parents, which is the key to helping kids learn social skills
• The authors discuss the pros and cons of teaching students with ASD in educational settings like full inclusion (good for academics but bad for social skills) and pull-out special day classes (where the reverse is true)

Provides a much-needed book for teachers at all levels for helping students develop the skills they need to be successful.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Our Approach to Social Skills Training

The Knowledge Base Behind This Book

Children's Friendship Training/PEERS

Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies for Emotional Self-Regulation

The Purpose of This Book

How to Use This Book

Part One: Basic Information About Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Chapter 1: What Is Autism Spectrum Disorder?

• Challenges Facing Neurotypical Teens
• Becoming Independent from Parents
• Preparing for a Vocation or Career
• Adjusting to the Physical and Psychosexual Changes of Puberty
• Developing Values and Identity
• Establishing Effective Relationships with Peers
• Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Misleading Aspects of Communication
• Deficits in Expression and Communication
• Easily Corrected Deficits in Understanding Others
• Coping with Anxiety-Producing Situations

Chapter 2: Making Inclusion More Successful for Students with Autism

• History of the Inclusion Movement
• Parent Views About Inclusion
• Types of Educational Placement
• Traditional Teacher Roles in Partially and Fully Included Classrooms
• Research Findings on Inclusion
• Social Integration into School Life
• Mainstream Success of Students on the Autism Spectrum
• Approaches for Social Inclusion with Neurotypical Teens
• Teen Altruism

Chapter 3: Classroom Management and Social Skills Groups

• Classroom Management for Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Segregated Students
• Partially Included Students
• Fully Included Students
• Consequences for Misbehavior
• Organizing Social Skills Groups for Teens
• How to Organize Groups at School
• How to Have Teens Take the Class
• How to Engage Teens in Class Discussions
• Have Some Fun Activities
• Have “Real-Life” Homework
• Involving Parents in Social Skills Training

Part Two: Interventions for Basic Social Skills

Chapter 4: Helping Students Expand Their Interests

• Problems in Conversation Versus Problems in Interests
• Socially Functional Interests
• Interference Due to Anxiety
• Building on Current Interests
• Assessing Teen Interests
• Lessons to Expand Interests

Chapter 5: Improving Comprehension of Figurative Language

• Idioms
• Irony and Sarcasm
• Types of Sarcasm
• Recognizing Sarcasm
• Teaching Sarcasm and Irony

Chapter 6: Improving Conversational Comprehension

• Goals of Conversations
• Ensuring Mutual Understanding
• Conversational Repair Strategies
• Teaching Better Task-Oriented Conversations, Accuracy Checks, and Repair Statements

Chapter 7: Improving Social Conversations

• Potential Understanding of Conversational Goals
• Small Talk
• Parts of Conversations

Chapter 8: Helping Students Choose Friends

• Neurotypical Teen Relationships
• Friends of Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorders
• The Internet and Friendships
• Appropriate Friends for Teens on the Spectrum
• Common Errors Adults Make in Offering Friendship Help
• Requiring Inclusion
• Attempting to Pair Students
• Assigning Peer Buddies
• How Educators Can Help Foster Friendships of Teens on the Spectrum

Part Three: More Intensive Interventions to Help Kids Fit In

Chapter 9: Understanding and Assessing Anxiety

• How Anxiety Works
• Clinical Levels of Anxiety
• How Anxiety Exacerbates Symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Outbursts and Meltdowns
• Types of Anxiety in Students with Autism
• Social Anxiety
• Generalized Anxiety
• Separation Anxiety
• Assessing Anxiety

Chapter 10: Interventions to Reduce Anxiety and Outbursts

• Phase I: Skill Building
• Knowing I’m Nervous
• Irritating Thoughts
• Calm Thoughts
• Keep Practicing
• Phase II: Practicing the Skills
• Lesson Plans

Chapter 11: Preventing and Dealing with Victimization

• Types of Victimization
• Teasing
• Physical Aggression
• Bullying
• Cyberbullying
• Effective Ways of Handling Bullying
• Teaching Safety
• Improving Reputation Among Peers
• Informal Approaches to Head Off Continuing Bullying
• Effective Ways of Handling Cyberbullying

Chapter 12: Working with Peer Mentors

• Commonly Used Alternatives to Mentoring
• Job Description of the Cross-Age Mentor
• Step 1: Selecting Mentors
• Step 2: Selecting Mentees
• Step 3: Mentor Orientation
• Step 4: Matching Mentor and Mentee
• Step 5: The Mentorship Term
• Step 6: Assessment

Conclusion: Helping Kids with Autism Find Their Own Place in the World

References

Index