Hi all, I'm teaching a 4th grade social skills group for kids with moderate autism. Any ideas of any good social skills curriculum to use? I was using power-solving but I think it's a little too convoluted for them. Thanks!
Not curriculum per se but when I was an aide last year in a self-contained autism class (1-5), a group of gened 5th grade kids would come every week and do a buddy activity. The teacher would put out puzzles, coloring sheets, crafts and each gened kid would do these with our students and we as aides could encourage both parties to talk and interact with each other. Good luck, the sub
Skillstreaming is cheap, easy, and research-based. It can get a little dry so I often introduce new skills with supplemented activities, but it is very behavioral, which is good for kids on the ASD spectrum.
I came up with an idea that I think might work for some kids with autism. Often, the high functioning ones will want friends but don't know what to do to make them. I think it would help many of them to keep a log of confrontational interactions. After they get teased, picked on, or yelled at from a confrontational encounter with their peers, have them write down exactly what happened in their mini journal along with exactly what they did and said before that. Often, you'd think people would know if they said or did anything that might push buttons, but people like me with autism generally don't, and most behaviors we engaged in prior to a fight are all hindsight, and most of it is trivial to us. Another important note I would make is that generally they aren't going to typically be conversation starters or know how or what to do to try and make small chit chat with people. I'm 27 and I still don't know how to do this. What helped me make friends is joining groups with others of similar interests. They love to talk about their hobbies and interests a lot, but they often can get made fun of for talking to people who don't share those interests. When I was is 4th grade, I bored people with the details of the history of Elvis Presley. Teaching social skills to people with autism when you don't have the first hand perspective of what it is like being autistic can be tough. If you use any kind of programs, make sure you check to see if the scientific research shows positive results from. I was in a group in 5th and 6th grade for kids with social and behavior problems, and it was horrible and laughable. If you have a question about inside the mind of an autistic child, you can always send me a message and I'll try to answer as best as I can.
Our school psych uses this one and I love it for some of our kids! She also uses "why try" which is based on motivating kids. They ended up using that one with our entire 6th grade last year and the teachers said it really helped. She really likes Social Detective, from Social Thinking, for many of our students. This one is helpful because it has little easy to remember/understand phrases that all teachers can use with the students who are in it to remind them of what they're supposed to be doing (body in the group, expected/unexpected behavior, think with your eyes, etc.) I think the expected/unexpected behavior part is really good for our kids with autism because they don't realize what regular social skills are "supposed" to look like- they need to be directly taught.
We get the curricula from the school psych. The ones I like explicitly teach certain skills like problem - solving, entering a conversation, self-calming, and considering others' feelings. Unfortunately, I don't know the names off the top of my head.
Elevator speeches are good too. Teach the kids to tell someone else the most important characteristics of themselves in 45 seconds or less. I still have a tendency to tell people more about myself than they need to know, so I'm actually working on this one too.
I use the Superflex program and love it so far. We are finishing up the Social Detectives book (what is suggested to front load concepts before starting superflex). Students will make their superhero capes next week to wear during our social skills group.
We use 2nd Step in our building K-5. Most people really seem to like. The lesson are quick, easy, not a lot of prep and do a great job teaching the skills. I think it is very helpful. I see on their website they go up to middle school. http://www.secondstep.org/
