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Skill Acquisition Strategies



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Skill Acquisition Strategies


The strategies on the following pages will assist individuals with ASD in acquiring the skills necessary to engage in social situations. We will discuss Social Stories TM, Video Modeling, Social Problem Solving, Pivotal Response Training, and Social Scripting.

Social Stories TM


A Social StoryTM (Gray, 2000) is a frequently used strategy to teach social skills to children with ASD. A Social Story presents social concepts and rules to children in the form of a brief story and may be used to teach a number of social and behavioral concepts, such as initiating interactions, making transitions, playing a game, and going on a field trip. Gray emphasizes that the story should be written in response to the child's personal need and that it should be something the child wants to read on her own (depending upon ability level). She also stresses that the story should be commensurate with the child's ability and comprehension level. Sansosti, Powell-Smith, and Kincaid (2004) conducted a research synthesis of eight Social Story intervention studies. The researchers concluded that Social Stories is an effective intervention strategy in addressing the social, communication, and behavioral functioning of children and adolescents with ASD.

Case Study: Social Story TM Example


mosaic

What Happens with Art When it Travels from My Mind to My Project?


My name is Catherine. I go to Sunshine Academy. Sometimes at my school we have art.

Sometimes, when children do art projects they discover that their project doesn't look EXACTLY like it does in their mind. My mind may be able to create things, but my fingers are still learning how to create those same things. So, until my fingers catch up with what my mind can do, it's important to be patient.

Patience is important in art. If a child can stay calm, they will be able to make a project that is closer to the one in their mind.

The neat thing about art is that it doesn't have to be "right" or "exact." If a child makes it, and tries their best, and follows the general directions, the way art works, what that child makes is okay!

Many great artists practice many years to learn how to match what they create with their fingers with the ideas and pictures in their mind. If I can learn to stay calm and continue to practice, I, too, will be able to make projects with my fingers that are closer to the ideas in my mind, too! It just takes time. This is okay.

Retrieved from http://www.thegraycenter.org 12/3/10



Video Modeling and Video Self-Modeling

video camera

Video modeling involves demonstrating desired behaviors through active video representation of the behaviors. A video modeling intervention typically involves an individual watching a video demonstration and then imitating the behavior of the model. Video self-modeling (VSM) is a specific application of video modeling, where the individual learns by watching her own behavior. Results of a recent meta-analysis of 23 peer-reviewed studies suggest that video modeling and VSM are highly effective intervention strategies for addressing social-communication skills, behavioral functioning, and functional skills in children and adolescents with ASD (Bellini & Akullian, 2007). Video modeling and VSM effectively promote skill acquisition. Further, skills acquired via video modeling and VSM are maintained over time and transferred across persons and settings.


Social Problem Solving (SPS)


Many children with ASD have difficulties interpreting and analyzing social situations. This is due to a number of factors, including lack of self-awareness, failure to read nonverbal and contextual cues, difficulties with perspective taking, and failure to understand social rules. It is also due to the fact that they lack the necessary skills and strategies to analyze social situations. Social Problem Solving includes activities to help the individual learn how to make sense of social interactions and situations. Research has demonstrated that social problem solving can be taught to children with ASD (Bernard-Opitz, Sriram, & Nakhoda-Sapuan, 2001). A meta-analysis conducted by Beelman, Pfingsten, and Losel (1994) found that SPS strategies were effective in increasing performance on social problem tasks. However, a major limitation noted by the researchers was that increases in social problem-solving ability had no carryover effect to other areas of social functioning, such as specific social behaviors or skills.

Six Steps of Analyzing Social Situations

1. Describe the social scenario, setting, behavior, or problem (What's happening or what has happened?).

2. Recognize the feelings/thoughts of participants (How does he/she/you feel? What is he/she thinking?).

3. Understand the feeling of participants (Why is he/she/you feeling/thinking that way? Ask child to provide evidence).

4. Predict the consequences (What do you think will happen next? What will be the consequences of this behavior?).

5. Select alternative behaviors (What could he/she/you have done differently).

6. Predict the consequence for alternative behaviors.

Bellini, 2006, p. 157

Pivotal Response Training


Based on the principles of applied behavioral analysis, Pivotal Response Training (PRT) (Koegel & Koegel, 2006) is utilized in natural environments where it capitalizes on the availability of naturally occurring reinforcers. PRT targets so-called pivotal behaviors (behaviors that lead to widespread changes in other behaviors), which facilitates transfer of skills to multiple settings and collateral improvements in non-targeted behaviors. PRT directly targets behaviors related to initiation and responding to environmental cues. PRT targets four pivotal areas: responsivity to multiple cues, initiation, motivation, and self-management. PRT teaches children to attend and respond to multiple cues in the environment. Intervention in this area PRT teaches the child to select cues that are relevant in a given context or situation. Intervention in the initiation area teaches the child to effectively initiate interactions with others. Intervention in the motivation area addresses the child's lack of motivation related to social situations. Intervention includes giving the child a choice in activity, using natural reinforcers, and reinforcing reasonable attempts at interacting. Finally, interventions in self-management teach the child to be more independent and less reliant on prompts from others Based on research synthesis of 13 studies that investigated the effectiveness of PRT, Humphries (2003) concluded that PRT is an effective strategy for addressing the behavior, communication, and social functioning of children with ASD. For more information, click here to see the AIM on Pivotal Response Training.

Social Scripting and Script Fading

using legos

Scripting involves presenting a structured "script" to the child that provides an explicit description of what the child will say or do during a social interaction (Mayo & Waldo, 1994). The script may provide a narrative of what to say during a conversation or what to do during an activity. It may contain the entire sequence of the interaction or only the initiation. For instance, the child might be taught a script for initiating an interaction with a peer who is also taught to respond in a scripted fashion. The benefits of scripting for individuals with ASD has been demonstrated in research involving both conversational scripts (Loveland & Tunali, 1991) and play scripts (MacDonald, Clark, & Garrigan, 2005). A major limitation of scripting is that the child may become over-reliant on the script, and be unable to engage in spontaneous, unscripted interactions. Script fading is a research-based practice designed to address this limitation (Krantz & McClannahan, 1998). Script fading involves introducting of script to facilitate an increase in social interactions and then a systematic fading of the script over time to promote maintenance, generalization, and elaboration of the interaction. For more information, click here to see the AIM on Social Narratives.




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