Autistic Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism is a developmental disorder, which is characterized by a dyad of difficulties in a) communication and social interaction and b) restricted interests and imagination (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Individuals on the Autism Spectrum might find it challenging to understand what other people think or what the reasons for their behaviours are, as their ‘theory of mind’ may not be well developed (Schuwerk, Vuori & Sodian, 2015). It is possible that this is why they might behave in socially inappropriate ways, being unable to differentiate between different contexts, while they might also find it difficult to make friends. Moreover, it is likely that they are fond of routines, repetition and structure (Carnahan, Musti-Rao, & Bailey, 2009), as they might be nervous with unknown, new situations. In addition, some of them might not do eye contact with other people, whereas some others might not endure to be touched and might have a difficulty developing speech (Jordan, 2005). Individuals on the Autism Spectrum might sometimes be prohibited to initiate conversations and might struggle with finding different ways to play and behave, due to the possible deficit of imagination, which in some cases might result in them having a narrow sphere of interests. Nevertheless, it should be noted that this group of people is rather heterogeneous, as characteristics of autism may differ from one individual to another (Gwynette, 2013). Another point is that people with Autism

Results revealed a significant difference between the intervention and control group on social skill behaviors. Specifically, participants who received the intervention S.S.GRIN-HFA significantly outperformed the control group on skills related to awareness, cognition, communication, motivation, and mannerisms Davis et al. (2011). Results also revealed no differences between groups on measures related to self-efficacy and feelings of loneliness. Children with high functioning Autism can develop greater social skill development if they are taught social skills using a broad based approach to social skills training. S.S.GRIN-HFA offers professionals teaching social skills numerous advantages of generic social skill training programs in that it promotes generalization through community exercises and actively engages parents while proving focused social skill training to the participants.

Autism is a spectrum disorder with a wide range of symptoms and degrees of impairment. A person with autism lives for the most part in an isolated world unaware of the impact their behavior has on the immediate environment. Even though some may be high functioning, the majority (around 70-75%) has some amount of associated learning disabilities and about 50% score below 50 on the IQ scale. When there are profound cognitive impairments, adequate speech development is not likely, and additionally the incidence of aberrant behavior increases (Howlin, 1996). Aberrant behaviors are behavioral excesses that interfere with interaction opportunities within an individual’s environment (Matson, et al., 1996). Another high impacting area of deficiency is socialization skills. This area includes decreased responding to verbal initiations of others, inappropriate affect or facial expression during communicative interactions, eye contact and preservation on the same topic even when cues are given by the partner for a topic shift (Koegel, & Frea, 1993). Social skill impairment has some relation to the language impairment. Expressive and receptive language difficulties occur in a high percentage of autistic individuals. Difficulties in expressing thoughts and ideas can lead to outbursts of anxiety, aggression, and self-injurious behavior in those with low ability and therefore it is often incorporated into treatment approaches for

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders with an onset in childhood. They are characterized by impaired communication, abnormal reciprocal social interaction as well as restricted stereotyped range of activities and repetitive behaviors 21.

After eleven intervention sessions, he was interacting, verbally and non-verbally, with his companions seven percent of the time (Gena, 2006). The interventions are not just effective for young children; a physical education instructor in a high school study observed that post-interventions the target children were more likely to, "...socialize with their peers more than with the aide” (Hughes et al., 2013, p.11). Using methods such as peer-to-peer, small group or class-wide interactions enriches the ASD child’s school experience by teaching them social skills in a natural environment and allowing them to make meaningful connections with their classmates while learning which behaviors are appropriate.

Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurological disorder that includes a set of developmental and behavioral features. These features include social interaction, communication, and restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities. Social interaction and communication are difficult for those who have autism. It is considered a syndrome, not and illness, because it is a collection of behaviors, that the child exhibits, not a known biological part. Children with autism may not respond to their names, may not make eye contact and may only interact with others if it meant achieving a specific goal. They may also have difficulty interacting with other children and may have trouble expressing their own feelings

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be portrayed toward critical impairments in social interaction. It also includes restricted repeated behaviors, interests and activities. (Mayo Clinic staff, 2014)

In general, Autism is characterized to have children struggle with social difficulties, communication challenges and a tendency to have repetitive behaviors. One of the ways families struggle with children having autism is that there is parental stress involved. For children to target social skills they are able to work on body basics, participation, wants and needs, and finally beginning a conversation. According to the article “Effects of a Social Skills Intervention on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Peers with Shared Deficits” it mentions how the clinic is doing two clinical trials on two little boys. Therefore, this article shows graphs for the two children that are slowly improving on their social skills. On the other hand,

Some children with autism communicate well to drama and role play activities to help them learn greetings, turn talking in conversations and watching for cues in social groups. Role playing in the classroom gives the child opportunities to observe acceptable social interactions. In a mainstream setting, it is important for the child to work on his pragmatics. An example could be: pairing up the student with a peer to help with social skills and in other settings such as the cafeteria or

This study tested 5 children with autism social impairments and 10 of their peers. They were then put into triad (one child with social impairments and two without). The five target children were all boys that ranged from ages 6-12 in grades 1-5. Each child would then go into the media testing room separately and get tested at baseline (two 10 minutes sessions per week) after which they attended two 30-minute treatment sessions per week, which went on for 15-19 weeks. The study tested and treated for systemic instruction using visual stimuli, social interaction, and self-evaluation using video feedback. After the study was done, it was shown that there was improvement in targeted social communication skills for children with autism and social communication difficulties. This demonstrates that the usage of social stories, written text cues, and video feedback do indeed help increase social communication in children with autism. One criticism on the study is that there was only a usage of male children. This creates a bias towards only male children with autism and the unknown factor if it the treatment positively affects females with autism in the same

Autism has been a diagnoses that has been on the rise for children in the recent years. Children with autism lack social interactions, social reciprocity, relationships, verbal and nonverbal communication, imitation, and play skills(Maione and Mirenda 2006). Effective interactions require a range of specific skills, including watching peers and being curious, making appropriate comments, responding to other children asking to play politely, sharing, taking turns and listening to ideas of peers (Green, Drysdale et al. 2013).

Sterkin (2012) stated, individuals speak with desire to be heard. Typically developing children naturally learn to listen to others and to engage in social interactions from early age as they contact reinforcement or punishment from their audiences (Catania, 2013; Skinner, 1957). They learn to engage in successful social interactions, such as engaging in social conversations and cooperating with other individuals as they contact mutual benefits (Cosmides, 1989). However, many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other developmental disabilities (DD) have shown deficits in the area of social communication and social reciprocity, which results in decreased opportunities to successfully interact with peers to establish friendship (Radley,

Given the many social skills training methods that have been evaluated, practitioners have several considerations when formulating intervention. Although many children with autism attend public schools, attempting to improve social skills simply by increasing their proximity to peers who do not have a developmental disability may be insufficient. Instead, skill acquisition often requires adult delivered intervention that prompts and reinforces desirable social interactions. However, most training research has concentrated on the social responses of children with autism and not their social initiations. This makes initiations toward peers critical because it ensures that children with autism have skills in orchestrating interactions, and not

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.

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.