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Use Social Apps to Keep Skills Sharp Over the Summer
Summertime can be a welcome break from school for many students, who will cram as much sleeping in and having fun as they can into a few short months before the school year resumes. But the intrinsic break in routine can also spell disaster for some kids on the Autism spectrum or with other social...
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Understanding Unintentional Injury for Children with ASD
Summer is a time for relaxation and fun, however certain skills acquired during the school year can be lost if they are not practiced consistently over the course of the entire year. One of the first things parents should identify, are IEP goals targeted by school staff to be maintained over...
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Helping Children with Social Skills Difficulties: The Benefits of Extended School Year Instruction
While it may feel like we are still trying to dig out from recent winter storms and stay warm, spring time is fast approaching. Over the next several months, parents and special education teams once again will begin to consider children’s needs for the summer and next school year. Many children...
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Summertime Games and Simple Strategies to Reinforce Social Skills
Summertime is fun time for most children. School routines give way to relaxation, perhaps at summer day or sleep away camp – and there’s no studying. While most typically developing children welcome this, it can become problematic for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). That’s why...
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Summer Vacation: A Prime Opportunity to Develop Social Skills for the Workplace
For many students, the end of the school year represents a time to relax, celebrate the change of pace, and enjoy leisure time. However, each year, there are many individuals who approach the end of the school year and find that this is a time of transition; a time for entering the unfamiliar world...
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Key Elements of Social Skills Groups in Schools
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) are characterized by impairments in the domains of social interaction, communication and behavior. For many individuals with ASDs, especially those with Asperger’s Disorder and high functioning autism, social interaction and communication difficulties can have the...
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Social Skills Groups Benefit Children and Parents
Social Skill Groups with toddlers and parents offer many advantages. These small groups provide parents the opportunity to talk with families who share similar concerns and a place to practice new skills to help their children. In the group, there is a sense of community and understanding. It is a...
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Using Relationships to Support Children with ASD
Working with children, whether as a parent, teacher, or caregiver, is an inherently social process. This is no different when we are talking about children on the autism spectrum. In order to impact children with ASD, the adults in their lives need to employ a set of activities, strategies, and...
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Changing the Mindset of Autistic Children and Adolescents
A major focus of our collaboration has been to elaborate upon the concepts of both mindsets and resilience (Brooks and Goldstein, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2012; Goldstein and Brooks, 2005, 2007). We propose that all people possess a set of assumptions about themselves and others that influence their...
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Training Peers Improves Social Outcomes for Some Kids with ASD
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who attend regular education classes may be more likely to improve their social skills if their typically developing peers are taught how to interact with them than if only the children with ASD are taught such skills. According to a study funded by the...
