A Case Study Course Of 10 Group Sessions With Eight Children

Asperger’s syndrome is becoming more and more common as time goes by. Each year, more children are being diagnosed. This paper focuses on Asperger’s Syndrome and developing social skills in various social settings. By looking at the etiology, diagnostic procedures, how the condition effects development, daily challenges, current social/cultural views, and relevant social interventions, a better understanding on how to develop social skills for children with Asperger’s Syndrome can ensue. The world revolves around social situations. This is how people are hired for jobs, ask for things, make new friends, meet their future spouse, etc. At the moment, social skills training and social support is minimal compared to where it potentially

Autism spectrum disorders are a class of developmental disorders that impair social skills, behavior, and communication (Center for Disease Control). ASDs are considered ‘spectrum’ disorders because each patient has a unique experience in the nature and severity of their symptoms (Center for Disease Control). Under the umbrella of ASDs, there are three types of disorders, including Autistic disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (Center for Disease Control). Autistic disorder is the most severe of the three, and patients exhibit significant problems with language, communication, and behavior (Center for Disease Control). Furthermore, people with Autistic disorder often have some intellectual impairment (Center for Disease Control). Asperger Syndrome is a milder form of autistic disorder where patients have some developmental delays, but their language and intellect are not affected (Center for Disease Control). The mildest of the ASDs is the pervasive developmental disorder. These patients usually don’t meet all of the criteria for autistic disorder, but do show some signs of social and communication problems (Center for Disease Control). The number of children diagnosed with ASD is growing, and currently 1 in 88 children fall somewhere on the spectrum (Mari-Bauset et al., 2013). Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism, and while the exact cause of these disorders is unknown, both genetic and

In the article, “How to Speak Asperger’s,” by Fran Goldfarb and Guthrie Devine, the authors contend that learning to communicate with people with Asperger’s Syndrome is an important skill. The authors introduce the article by providing a narrative about Goldfarb’s son. The point of her narrative is that communication is misunderstood with people with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS). The author, Fran Goldfarb, explains how her son misunderstands communication with his teachers, and how punishment is ineffective, because of his Asperger’s. The authors start by explaining why communication is very complex. To begin with, people with AS struggle with communication, because of their lack of social cues. They tend to miss irony, humor, and they take everything literally. That’s why people with AS don’t understand communication and everything is a struggle for them.

A few sets of parents underwent training in order to correctly teach their child the most effective way possible. The dependent variable being measured was the language skills their children learned over the course of a few months. months. This study reported, “that a group training model for the parents is beneficial in targeting language deficits observed in children with ASD” (Minjarez, 98). The children from the study presented enormous growth in their language skills as well as behavioral and emotional. These experiments as well as others currently being conducted help provide beneficial evidence that focus on other ways to provide education for children with ASD. Overall, while PRT itself has tremendous benefits, the fact that it can be brought into the home with evidence that it is effective is even better. This method has continued to be revised and studied for many years since the 1970’s and making it available to everyone who has a child with ASD is the overall

If students with ASD are not taught social emotional skills they will be greatly effected as adults. Research done has suggested that adults with ASD will often experience social isolation. Approximately one-half to two-thirds of these adults have no close friendships, and in the cases where friendships do occur they are often less close and less supportive than friendships had by adults in the general population (Orsmond, Shattuck, Cooper, Sterzing, and Anderson 2013). Studies have been done in Canadian and European populations and have found that fewer than half of adults with ASD participate in social events in the community such as attending church or special interest groups that would provide social opportunities (Orsmond, Shattuck,

From the presentation, the risks that I consider the most important are; the medication side effects, the drug accountability, and the data collection.

Autism is categorized by deficits in maintaining social relationships and difficulty communicating. The number of children being diagnosed with autism is steadily increasing. Therefore the need incorporate effective interventions that focus on the development of the individual child has become an imperative component for their success. The key for children with Autism to achieve academic and social success depends upon the collaborative effort that is shared among all parties involved: family, teachers, peers; mental health professionals and the community.

Communication is one of the hardest challenges with Asperger's. People with Asperger's have a limited area of interest, resulting in the excessive discussion about this area of interest. They often do not realize that someone has lost interest in the topic of discussion ("PubMedHealth"). "Most treatment efforts focus on enhancing communication skills and reducing problem behaviors. For children with Asperger's syndrome, most therapy should consist of school education combined with special psychological supports for communication and socialization problems "("Magill's Medical Guide"). Fortunately, people, like Jacob, have tutors or teachers to help them converse and behave in a calm and collected manner. Jess, Jacob's tutor, teaches him how to order food politely, how to greet people, and overall, how to carry on a conversation without delving too deep into a certain subject. Being in a school environment gives one with Asperger's a sense of belonging or recognition. Jacob goes to a public school that allows him to use a "get out of class" pass if it gets too overwhelming for him.

When reflecting, it is important to consider how children with ASD communicate with adults or people in authority, as well as their peers. It is known there is a power relationship between teachers and students, which has a direct effect on the children’s development (Hayes & Matusov, 2005). In fact, the way in which teachers communicate with children has been found to have direct consequences on children’s language development (Dangel & Durden, 2010) and social interactions (Stanton-Chapman, 2015; Irvin, Boyd & Odom, 2014) both of which are important for those with ASD due to their specific deficits in these areas. It is possible that due to deficits in ToM and executive functioning, which are commonly recorded in ASD (Llaneza, et al.,

Asperger’s disorder (AD) is a disruption in the formation of the child’s physical and or psychological development and recognizing these, the disorder was separated from Autism in 1944, to provide a basis for each child to get the proper care. All children with Asperger Disorder will show some traits in these three categories; impaired social skills, trouble communicating with others and a pattern of behavior, interest, and activities’ will be limited and recurring; they become obsessed with a single theme. Usually the child will have the normal communication skills in the beginning years. They will be using single words by age one. They just will not be using them in the normal way. When doctors are testing for this disorder, they are looking for specific behaviors or skills that are either present or absent. If the right services are available, Asperser’s children will show significant improvement in language

To encourage the development of social skills students are encouraged to interact with one another throughout the day in a variety of methods, including partner work, small group activities, and large group activities. These teaching techniques enable autistic children to relate to their peers. As autistic children relate to their peers more they are more accepted and in turn continue to learn and acquire new and improved social skills.

Some of the children were identified as autistic, so reinforcing social skills was especially important. Children who self-isolated in a corner were asked to join in play groups of other children. I noticed with the autistic children,

Tytherleigh and Karkou discuss a case study of six weekly sessions of drama therapy with a group of two 11 year old children with ASD, who are students in school for

(Hayes & Casey, 2002) This is because when children are interacting, the learning process is more enjoyable. The fact that the children were engaging in a shared experience made it easier for them to create longer narratives because they were having fun. In addition, Wright, Diener, and Kemp (2013) studied the link between storytelling dramas and the sense of community in the early childhood classroom. Specifically, they found that storytelling dramas creates a sense of community which encourages social interaction for children who had existing social issues (Wright, Diener, & Kemp, 2013). Preschooler’s with existing social issues have a hard time entering play and engaging with others because they are still learning how to do so. For this reason, creating a sense of community in the classroom through storytelling establishes a feeling of belonging for children who have less social skills. Children are more likely to engage in these shared activities if they feel comfortable and valued in the environment they are doing so (Wright et al., 2013). Similarly, storytelling encourages children to have respect for each other by being an active member of the storytelling process. During storytelling, children take turns and collaborate with each other (Kim, 1999). This reciprocal back and forth interaction creates a sense of unity and allows children to identify that their ideas are valued by

I am very passionate about working with kids with autism. They have such amazing personalities and I feel like people don’t see past the disability to the unique person they are. For several years I worked at a residential facility for kids on the spectrum. I was a direct care staff that worked one on one with them to work on their goals their treatment plan was focusing on. My passion to help kids with autism comes from my previous experience working with these kids and watching them grow and learn new skills. This transformation that I watched happen and helped be a part of with these kids made me want to help more kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are a lot of skills that need to be taught to these children. Socialization, communication, and positive behavior are just a few kids with autism need help improving. I believe that the earlier that you teach a child these skills the more successful they will be. Early intervention has had a positive outcome within many research experiments that professionals have done. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) also requires schools to teach kids with disabilities alongside typically developed kids as much as possible.