Issue Tw0: Tom Has Social Blindness
What does the research say about this issue?
Children with ASD have problems using social skills to connect with other people and take longer than other children to learn social skills (Rogers, 2013). Children with ASD generally find it difficult to understand and interpret social cues, sharing, making eye contact and interacting socially and being responsive. Ruble & Dalrymple, 2002 states that it is necessary to teach children with ASD the social skills needed to positively interact with others and how to act in different social situations. Children with ASD can find it challenging to generalise the social skills they have learnt in one context to another, therefore, it is essential that the child has opportunities to practise the same strategies in different contexts (Scattone, 2007).
How Does the Lack of Social Skills Affect Tom and His Experiences at School?
Tom struggles to understand how to act in social situations, both verbally and physically. He is quite awkward in social contexts, as he does not use appropriate body language, facial expression or eye contact. He does not know how to interact with others and often plays alone during break times. Tom does not seem to be developing any particular friendships with his peers; however, he does not seem concerned about this.
When Tom does interact with his peers, he tends to monopolise the conversation with his focused interests. Tom finds it difficult to keep a two-way conversation going when he is not talking about himself. His peers are very compassionate and accepting, however, occasionally he communicates in a way that others think is unusual. Tom struggles to pick up and respond to the social cues of others, and seems unable to understand or consider the feelings and thoughts of other people.
Tom would benefit tremendously from social skills teaching, however, research has revealed that classmates of peers who have an ASD can benefit as well (DiSalvo & Oswald, 2002). Classmates can develop empathy for and an understanding of children with ASD. Their self-esteem is enhanced due to the positive role they play in supporting a friend with ASD learn (DiSalvo & Oswald, 2002).
STRATEGY 1: Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations
Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations, were developed by Carol Gray and grounded upon Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), will be one of the strategies introduced to support Tom in his social interactions (The National Autistic Society, 2016). These visual resources will be used in and outside of the classroom to build Tom’s social understanding.
Social Stories are short, personal stories written from a child’s perspective that use words and illustrations to help children understand social situations (The National Autistic Society, 2016). Similarly, Comic Strip Conversations provide visual representations of the different levels of communication that take place in a conversation, using symbols, stick figure drawings and colour (The National Autistic Society, 2016).
Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations will be created based upon situations that Tom is confronted with, and will use his and his peers feelings and/or thoughts as key elements (The National Autistic Society, 2016). They will be used in a positive way to help Tom understand a social situation or cope with a stressful encounter. Different options can be included in the resources to foster discussion and understanding of socially desirable behaviour in a situation (Delano & Snell, 2006). The aim is to increase Tom’s insight and help scaffold future behaviour.
They will also support Tom to decipher social communication cues such as gestures, facial expression, body language, and voice intonation (Delano & Snell, 2006). They will help Tom to find coping methods and understanding of skills and situations that are confusing and stressful. Examples of Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations can be seen below.
Children with ASD have problems using social skills to connect with other people and take longer than other children to learn social skills (Rogers, 2013). Children with ASD generally find it difficult to understand and interpret social cues, sharing, making eye contact and interacting socially and being responsive. Ruble & Dalrymple, 2002 states that it is necessary to teach children with ASD the social skills needed to positively interact with others and how to act in different social situations. Children with ASD can find it challenging to generalise the social skills they have learnt in one context to another, therefore, it is essential that the child has opportunities to practise the same strategies in different contexts (Scattone, 2007).
How Does the Lack of Social Skills Affect Tom and His Experiences at School?
Tom struggles to understand how to act in social situations, both verbally and physically. He is quite awkward in social contexts, as he does not use appropriate body language, facial expression or eye contact. He does not know how to interact with others and often plays alone during break times. Tom does not seem to be developing any particular friendships with his peers; however, he does not seem concerned about this.
When Tom does interact with his peers, he tends to monopolise the conversation with his focused interests. Tom finds it difficult to keep a two-way conversation going when he is not talking about himself. His peers are very compassionate and accepting, however, occasionally he communicates in a way that others think is unusual. Tom struggles to pick up and respond to the social cues of others, and seems unable to understand or consider the feelings and thoughts of other people.
Tom would benefit tremendously from social skills teaching, however, research has revealed that classmates of peers who have an ASD can benefit as well (DiSalvo & Oswald, 2002). Classmates can develop empathy for and an understanding of children with ASD. Their self-esteem is enhanced due to the positive role they play in supporting a friend with ASD learn (DiSalvo & Oswald, 2002).
STRATEGY 1: Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations
Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations, were developed by Carol Gray and grounded upon Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), will be one of the strategies introduced to support Tom in his social interactions (The National Autistic Society, 2016). These visual resources will be used in and outside of the classroom to build Tom’s social understanding.
Social Stories are short, personal stories written from a child’s perspective that use words and illustrations to help children understand social situations (The National Autistic Society, 2016). Similarly, Comic Strip Conversations provide visual representations of the different levels of communication that take place in a conversation, using symbols, stick figure drawings and colour (The National Autistic Society, 2016).
Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations will be created based upon situations that Tom is confronted with, and will use his and his peers feelings and/or thoughts as key elements (The National Autistic Society, 2016). They will be used in a positive way to help Tom understand a social situation or cope with a stressful encounter. Different options can be included in the resources to foster discussion and understanding of socially desirable behaviour in a situation (Delano & Snell, 2006). The aim is to increase Tom’s insight and help scaffold future behaviour.
They will also support Tom to decipher social communication cues such as gestures, facial expression, body language, and voice intonation (Delano & Snell, 2006). They will help Tom to find coping methods and understanding of skills and situations that are confusing and stressful. Examples of Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations can be seen below.
STRATEGY 2: Modelling of Social Skills
The second ABA strategy to be implemented is modelling of social skills by teachers, peers and short videos that demonstrate a target behaviour, for example appropriately engaging and playing with peers. Modelling is an effective practice to support Tom in learning a behaviour or a skill by watching someone (the model) demonstrating that behaviour or skill (Bellini, Akullian & Hopf, 2007). It is hoped that Tom will imitate the target behaviour that is being modelled.
The model can even be Tom if using video self-modelling (VSM). The iModeling app, a Video Modelling app based on research conducted by Autism SA and the Disabilities Research Unit at the University of Adelaide in Adelaide, South Australia, will be used in the classroom to create videos to teach Tom skills in an authentic way.
Modelling will provide Tom a visual to see the sequence of the targeted behaviour and an opportunity to practice each step before viewing subsequent steps. To intrinsically make the experience more interesting, Tom can then record himself modelling the target behaviour. This strategy will also include prompting and reinforcement, and provide opportunities for Tom to engage in role-playing, and the rehearsing of positive responses to everyday situations with peers.
Graetz, Mastropieri & Scruggs (2009) highlights that modelling has significant and authentic positive effects on the initiation of collaborations and improves respect for others among children with ASD. Additionally, it has been made evident that modelling can be used to teach an individual how to generalise learnt behaviours and skills in new contexts (Graetz et al., 2009).
Below are examples of YouTube clips that you can use in the classroom.
Below is the iPad app for iModelling.