Just Once: Teaching Social Skills At Home

I’ve probably taught my seven-year-old son with high functioning autism a hundred times what to do when his little brother is crying: look at your brother, give him a hug, ask him if he’s ok, and finally apologize for any accidental injuries. It’s one of those intuitive social moments that his younger siblings already imitate but that a child with autism requires step-by-step direction. My son with autism does care, but he just doesn’t know what to do and so starts up the goofy act.

So I’m delighted to hear Jacob going through his injured brother script upstairs. But has he mastered it? No, I expect I’ll have to practice this same script in the future. He’s just starting to try out the sympathy script.

Comments

[Steve]

Great important and practical information when dealing with siblings. Like you, I make the same effort for my two sons (one asd 5, one non asd 4) when they have a conflict. I also use social learning stories with both kids, so they graphically see what to do. A social story could be sat on a shelf as an intermediate step rather you doing a walkthough, try guiding for the soical stroy picture book.

btw: I had problems supplying my Author URL in the specified box, so here it is:

www.parentingasdkids.com

Cheers

[Eye Contact Arkansas]

We've also used various books we've found at the public library to try and teach social skills. It's tough though!

[Carole Reynolds]

Another thing is to write a simple story with them as the characters doing the right thing and making the right choices.

[B McKee]

Video modeling is quite effective.

[Eye Contact Arkansas]

The kids actually like playing with a little Flip video camera. They'll record what they're doing and then play it back to themselves.

Thanks for all the ideas!

[MJElliott]

My higher functioning son is 24 now. We have dpne social training for 23 years!! That must be thousands if not millions of lessons. I don't think he will ever understand why he should act a certain way - one that is considered appropriate- but he has learned to copy certain behaviors because that is the way other people respond. When a friend died, he shared with me that he didn't know how to act. He knew that other people were sad. He doesn't understand this kind of sad. So the lessons go on. They get more complicated, I think my heart will always hurt. There are also SUNSHINE DAYS when my son shows me the detail and beauty around me that I would never see except thru his eyes.
KEEP TRYING.