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Using Technology to Foster Social Interaction
As parents watch today’s children play mindless and solitary video games for hours at a time, they may worry that digital devices are luring children away from social interactions with real life peers. This concern is more intense for parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as...
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Social Interventions: The Importance of Considering Program Design and Instructional Methods
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are categorized by deficits in social interaction and communication (Jordan & Powell, 1995). With scaffolded supports and structured practice in natural settings, individuals diagnosed with ASD can learn to build the critical skills necessary to engage...
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Why Emotional Literacy Is So Important
Social and emotional literacy develop over time and need to be nurtured just like any other skill such as math or riding a bike. Unlike math or bike-riding, however, the teaching of emotional literacy is often overlooked. It has been referred to as the “missing piece” of education despite its...
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Paving the Road to Success
There is increasing interest in helping talented individuals on the Autism Spectrum become more fully engaged in the typical world of work, and establish true independence and self-sufficiency. Autism Speaks has promoted a tool kit for employers, adults on the spectrum and their families, to think...
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Friendship Among School-Aged Boys with ASD
Perhaps the area of challenge most commonly associated with an ASD diagnosis is difficulty with social interaction. Individuals with ASD often struggle to understand and respond to the perspectives of others, and demonstrate differences in their experience of pleasure from social relationships...
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I Finally Feel Like I Belong
I was one of the unpopular kids. I was never invited to birthday parties or sleepovers. I had no friends, and no one wanted to hang out with me. I was a social leper and I hated every second of it. High school was supposed to revolutionize my life. “Students are more mature in high...
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Aspies in the City: Building a More Inclusive Community, One Person at a Time
Since I was very young, I had a fascination with people who had Autism. Although in some ways they seemed different than me, in others there were a lot of similarities. Later as an adult, it was suggested that I might have a lot in common with people who have Asperger’s Syndrome. So, one...
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College Students Empower Middle/High School Students on the Autism Spectrum with a Foundation for Self-Expression and Social Skills
At the AHRC New York City Middle/High School in Brooklyn, New York, students on the autism spectrum are benefiting from a community engagement program called Catching a Dream at Pace University, as part of the outreach goals of the university. The program consists of engaging the high school...
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Using Media as an Effective Tool to Teach Social Skills to Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Media is a powerful educational tool for adolescents and young adults in general; however, for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) it provides a unique opportunity to learn social skills. Popular television shows, movies, YouTube clips, and other social media sites are a vehicle to...
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Just Friends: A Father’s View of His Son’s Relationships
Social service agencies have a good read on my 16-year-old son Alex. Somewhere in the photocopied, crooked lines of one of his service plans, for instance, is the line, “Alex Stimpson doesn’t have a best friend.” Alex does make connections. He does ask for his little brother Ned, for his...
