Autism: A Social Skills Approach for Children and Adolescents PDF
Preview Autism: A Social Skills Approach for Children and Adolescents
Autism : A Social Skills Approach for title: Children & Adolescents A Winslow Practical Sourcebook author: Aarons, Maureen.; Gittens, Tessa. publisher: Speechmark Publishing Ltd. isbn10 | asin: 0863882021 print isbn13: 9780863882029 ebook isbn13: 9780585141770 language: English Autism, Autistic children--Education, subject Autistic youth--Education. publication date: 1998 lcc: RJ506.A9.A37 1998eb ddc: 371.94 Autism, Autistic children--Education, subject: Autistic youth--Education. Page iii Autism A social skills approach for children & adolescents Maureen Aarons & Tessa Gittens Page iv First published in 1998 by Winslow Press Limited, Telford Road, Bicester, Oxon OX6 0TS United Kingdom www.winslow-press.co.uk Reprinted 1999 © Maureen Aarons & Tessa Gittens, 1998 All rights reserved. The whole or part of this work including all text and illustrations is protected by copyright. No part of it may be copied, altered, adapted or otherwise exploited in any way without express prior permission, unless it is in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or in order to photocopy or make duplicating masters of those pages so indicated, without alteration and including copyright notices, for the express purposes of instruction and examination. No parts of this work may otherwise be loaded, stored, manipulated, reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from the publisher, on behalf of the copyright owner. 002-3088/Printed in the United Kingdom/1030 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Aarons, Maureen Autism: A social skills approach for children and adolescents 1. Autism 2. Autistic children 3. Autistic youth I. Title II. Gittens, Tessa 618.9'2'8982 ISBN 0 86388 202 1 Page v Contents Preface vii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 7 Assessment Chapter 2 17 Setting the scene for intervention Chapter 3 21 Pre-school intervention Chapter 4 37 Infant-level intervention Chapter 5 45 Junior-level intervention Chapter 6 55 Intervention with older children & adolescents Chapter 7 63 Further practicalities of running social skills groups Final words 67 Appendix I 69 Forms & handouts Appendix II 87 Useful addresses, sources & resources Bibliography 93 Index 96 Page vi Acknowledgements We are indebted to the adults with autism who have shared their experiences so openly with us, especially Therese Jolliffe, and to the children who have participated in our groups and given us insights and understanding as well as much enjoyment. Page vii Preface Although we use the term parents, we wish to make it clear that the term includes single parents, carers or, indeed, anyone who is acting in loco parentis. Please note that, for consistency of style, the pronoun he is generally used throughout the book when referring to the child with autism. The choice of the masculine pronoun was influenced by the higher incidence of autism in males. Inevitably, some of the organizations and procedures referred to in the text may not be available or practised outside the United Kingdom. It is not possible to provide information about facilities and legislation in other countries, and we have to assume that readers will be able to locate for themselves what is relevant to the needs of particular children. Similarly, we refer to songs and rhymes that are part of British culture. Again, we assume that readers can substitute their own choices and preferences as necessary. MAUREEN AARONS TESSA GITTENS Page 1 Introduction Autism is now known to be a cognitive disorder, with neurobiological associations, affecting all aspects of social development. As speech and language therapists, working in both the community and educational settings, over a considerable period of time, we are in a position to relate our everyday experiences to the research findings that have burgeoned in recent years. These findings underpin our approach to remediation, which is that a disorder affecting social functioning should be remediated through approaches which focus on social functioning. Since social disability is the essence of autism, it would seem misguided to focus on peripheral deficits which exist in many individuals with autism, but are not by any means central to the disorder. This is why programmes such as auditory integration training, sensory integration therapy and behaviour modification techniques, as well as some of the well publicized alternative approaches, will not be effective in the long term. Although many of these procedures may have an immediate appeal because they seem to have something very tangible to offer in the here and now, they do not address the underlying disability. We would argue that progress may be made, however, in the natural history of the disorder; some progress takes place anyway! It must be accepted that there are no short cuts to remediation. It is a slow, painstaking process, but much can be achieved when children with autism have access to a social skills programme, preferably within an appropriate educational setting. The aim of this book is to present practical ideas that will form the basis for programmes of intervention for children with autism. At the outset, we need to make it clear that the content is aimed at children with normal or near normal cognitive abilities, rather than those whose autism accompanies severe learning disability. However, those using the book will be able to ascertain for themselves what is appropriate or what can be adapted to suit the needs of less able children. Many books are available which describe the history of the condition of autism, and it is not necessary for us to reiterate what has already been well documented. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that intervention strategies reflect changing ideas and levels of knowledge about the causes and nature of the disorder. It is therefore necessary to refer to this legacy in the light of current research and what is now regarded as good practice.
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