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Autism and Social Skills DevelopmentSupporting social interaction is an important piece of the student’s educational plan. Student’s with autism often have the … else is standing, you should be too!’). Break social skills into small component parts, and teach these skills through supported interactions. Use visuals as appropriate. Celebrate strengths and use these to your advantage. Many students with … be careful not to turn the peer into a teacher strive to keep peer interactions as natural as possible. Create small lunch groups, perhaps with structured activities or topic boxes. (The group to pulls a topic out of a box and discusses things …
Catching up with Kaitlyn Y.… struggles to problem solve, take in her surroundings, and be fully independent, we have been fortunate enough to build a supportive community around her using the resources available through a variety of agencies. Today, Kaitlyn leads a … to adulthood, working alongside her mom at their do-it-yourself craft studio franchise that offers individual and group classes to create on-trend designs on customizable decor accessories.  Diagnosed with autism at age three, Kaitlyn received services and support that helped her take on more responsibilities as a young adult.  At 21, Kaitlyn shared that she was excited to …
Autism and ‘optimal outcomes’… to rethink what we mean by “optimal outcomes” For years, we’ve been using this term to describe a relatively small group of people with autism who, with therapy and support, experience such a marked decrease in autism symptoms that they no longer meet the criteria we use to diagnose the … re-defining “optimal outcome” as the best possible outcome based on each child’s personal characteristics and available supports . We find this as a much more suitable concept for developing autism services and setting goals for each child, …
Expert Q&A: Dr. Ryan Adams shares tips and resources to end bullying… in the UC Department of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, a member site of the Autism Speaks-supported Autism Care Network . His research focuses on adolescents, peer victimization, bullying and depressive symptoms.   … some examples of strategies you offer in the guides?  We know the most effective way to stop bullying is giving the larger group of bystanders the tools they need to recognize when it’s happening and get involved. A lot of times, people get away … with bullying by saying they were kidding, so we teach kids that doesn’t matter. Then, we give them different strategies to support the person being bullied. For example, the easiest thing to do if you witness bullying in school is not to laugh. …
Bullying Facts & Figures… The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  defines it as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths, that involves an observed or perceived imbalance of power, and either is or likely to be repeated. Common … and bullying. Note:  If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline network is available 24/7 across the United States. It is free and confidential. …
Real world autism interventions… appropriate, with a qualified healthcare professional and/or behavioral therapist. For the last decade, Autism Speaks has supported the highly successful research of psychologist Connie Kasari, of the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. … Autism Speaks’ public health team to develop and deliver the World Health Organization Parent Skills Training program to support the development of children with autism in underserved communities worldwide, including the United States. In this … physically touching the device’s buttons to communicate. We have published several studies from our work with this first group of children. The successful results led to an Autism Center of Excellence grant that enabled us to enroll an …
Improving autism therapies by exploring the roots of social avoidance… brain activity while anticipating the social cue (smiling face) that they’d guessed correctly. And within the autism group, the children with severe symptoms showed greater brain activity when anticipating the non-social cue (upward arrow) than they did the smiling face cue. Support for the social-motivation hypothesis We see these findings as confirming and extending the social motivation …
Autism and taking turns… to process a lot of verbal instruction. In these situations, it’s important to create an environment that encourages and supports turn taking. (More about that below.) Explaining how and why to take turns can work well with many older children and those on the less-severely affected end of the autism spectrum. With these groups, we can also teach higher-level turn taking skills. (Also described below.) To put it another way, learning how to … with turns that involve rolling dice, spinning a wheel, picking up a card and so on. You may find it helps to use visual supports as a reminder or signal for when it’s someone’s turn. For example, consider giving each player a card that’s red on …
Autism and Eye Contact… Is he more likely to look up at you when you engage him on these subjects? This is a wonderful way to encourage him. Visual supports Of course, it may be that your son doesn’t make enough eye contact for you to be able to reinforce it on a regular basis. In that case, you might try some strategies to “catch his eye.” This can be as obvious as us using a visual support or touching the corner of your eye with a motion that starts within his range of sight and then reinforcing. … “ Visual Supports and Autism Spectrum Disorder .” Follow the link for free download. Behavioral therapy and social-skills groups If your son is already seeing a behavioral therapist, eye contact and attentiveness are wonderful skills for them to …