social skills... speech therapist?

[SpecialPreskoo]

I'm trying to get some insight for a former student's mom. He was in my room but is now at a different school in preschool.

He has autism and is in need of social skills. He is in an inclusion pre-s class. The speech teacher has been working with him along with the SPE teacher and the OT. I know speech teachers work on articulation and language skills but is it their job to work on the social skills? Wouldn't the SPE teacher be the main one to focus on that along with the GEN teacher? I can see them working on the communication aspects of socializing but the behavior issues?

I'm just trying to put things together and help this mom out.

[bros]

Yes, SLPs do work on social skills along with School Psychologists.

[SpecialPreskoo]

We don't have a school psychologist that I know of.

What if the speech teacher is resistant to try any ideas the parent suggests? SLP is old school.

[WaterfallLady]

My room is next to the speech room. The SLP is doing social skills a lot of the time.

[bros]

Originally Posted by SpecialPreskoo

We don't have a school psychologist that I know of.

What if the speech teacher is resistant to try any ideas the parent suggests? SLP is old school.

School must pay for private speech therapy if the SLP refuses to help the student.

Or the SLPs supervisor should have a conversation with them.

Tell the parent to call an IEP meeting (must be requested in writing) and submit complaints in writing to the following:
Case Manager
District Special Education Head
SLP's supervisor (if not district sped head)

The reason for calling the IEP meeting should be that the SLP is not providing services.

[bethechange]

I would start by looking at his goals and objectives. What social skills specifically is he needing to work on? What would be the best environment to work on those things in? Could the SLP work on direct teach of those skills in a smaller environment, then work with the SPED teacher to generalize them into the classroom?

I think that sometimes people tend to forget that language is more than just articulation - its also semantics and pragmatics, which are areas we know kids with autism tend to struggle with.

I teach kids with autism at an all-day, every-day kindergarten center. I have worked for years with varying degrees of success on collaborating in teaching social skills with the SLP's we have had. Usually it depends on how much experience they have and how comfortable they are working on social goals. I have had some be receptive and some not so receptive.

Social skills, or rather, social THINKING is difficult to teach and difficult to measure. I have found that often, even with pretty good spoken language skills, kids are missing social concepts that are soooooo basic, such as pointing, showing items to peers, following eye gaze, imitating, etc. It is REALLY important to know where they are at so you can fill in the holes.

Also, I have found that social thinking is hard to generalize across environments. It may be helpful to work on skills 1:1 first, then with a peer, then in a small group, then in the gen ed. class. Visual supports and reminders really help reduce dependence on adults for prompts and cues when working on this.

Another thing to consider is that children with ASD are very likely missing early play skills, and since developmentally, kids learn through play, that is a good place to start. I have had great success with using structured, integrated play groups and activities to teach social thinking.

Some things that might be helpful in planning your social skills instruction, regardless of who is teaching it:

Relationship Development Intervention for Young Children, by Steven Gutstein (this includes a nice assessment tool and fun, play-based activities to work on specific, missing skills)

Peer Play and the Autism Spectrum by Pamela Wolfberg (some great information on forming integrated play groups with typical peers - includes assessment and data collection tools)

Social Skills Solutions by Kelly McKinnon and Janis Krempa (neat developmental breakdown of play/social skills, GREAT examples of social skills groups, lots of cool stuff on video modeling, some visuals to copy/use)

Tasks Galore - Let's Play (this book is AWESOME!! I can't say enough great things about it! There are TONS of great ideas for structuring play and teaching missing skills very visually. I have had great success with ideas from this book, even with my lowest kids.)

[SpecialPreskoo]

Thanks for the input!!!

Also he doesn't like the SLP. Their personalities clash and have since he was 3. When he was in my room last year he had a different SLP and things went fine but now at his new school, things are going down hill.

[bros]

Originally Posted by SpecialPreskoo

Thanks for the input!!!

Also he doesn't like the SLP. Their personalities clash and have since he was 3. When he was in my room last year he had a different SLP and things went fine but now at his new school, things are going down hill.

Could the old SLP be brought back? Or did they move away?

[SpecialPreskoo]

He, the student, is at a different school that is 15-20 min. away and our speech teacher's schedule is so full with our school and the elem. school we share her with. There is another SLP at the elem. school next door to the primary school where he is going to now. I've suggested to mom to request her... try her out to see if that would help matters, but so far the school hasn't tried that.

[bros]

An IEP meeting must be requested then, as the student is not receiving services due to the attitude of the SLP.

IEP meetings tend to make admins perk their ears up :P