Social Skill Training
In developing both social and personal relationships, social skills are important. For people with ASD, difficulties in social and communication skills were considered separate in the past. These two domains have been merged recently. An person diagnosed with ASD experiences social/ communication skills problems and repeated or minimal emotional or interest patterns.
What activities can help improve social skills?
- Visuals: Make up a poster with rules to remember when a conversation begins (e.g. use a polite voice, make eye contact, use acceptable greetings, such as 'hello').
- Role play: Practice playground / party scenarios in which no one is known to the child. Model and create a list of various things that you can say:
- To join others (e.g., "Can I play too?") who are playing.
- Sing songs like "If you're happy and you know it" to help teach different emotions to a child.
- Masks: to help increase eye contact, render masks together.
- Turn taking: To allow a child to say whose turn it is in the game (e.g. 'My turn', 'Your turn'), play turn taking games (e.g. board games).
- Games: Enjoy children's board games. Make sure that the child is not always the 'winner' so that they understand in a game about 'losing' and are able to cope better with their peers when this happens.