Frequently Needed Answers

ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurological disorder that affects an individual’s ability to interact, communicate both verbally and nonverbally, relate to others, play, imagine, and process information and learn.

Generally individuals with autism spectrum find the world around them confusing and interactions with other people difficult.

Communication difficulties are common to all children with autism spectrum disorder. A child with ASD may also display obsessive, repetitive behaviours and can become anxious and distressed over changes in routines.

For parents of children with autism spectrum using visual strategies for improving communication skills as well as teaching social skills can be beneficial.

Predominantly visual learners and thinkers children with autism spectrum disorder respond better to visual information and supports like autism social skills stories, P.E.C.S communication boards, flash cards, visual schedules and so on.

A Visual Strategy for Kids with Autism can be introduced to support and teach skills like making friends, improving communication skills, social interaction skills, imagination and play skills.

Typically developing children will naturally learn social and communication skills from their parents, peers, teachers and those around them. This ability is missing in children with autism spectrum disorder this is due to social skills difficulties, which are always present in autism.

Visual strategies help an autistic individual overcome their social skills difficulties. A Visual Strategy for Kids with Autism such as autism social skills stories are implemented easily and need no formal training to use. They can be edited, printed, personalized and are suitable for all ages and abilities.

Autism social skills stories break a skill or situation down into relevant social cues and answer the important “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as give an insight into the thoughts of those around them. The autistic social skills story is always written in first person text from the autistic individual’s point of view and follows a specific pattern of four main sentence types.

Developed originally for improving communication skills in autistic children, autism social skills stories are now probably one of the major autism tools used to help teach and support social, communication, imagination and sensory processing issues in autistic children.

Autism social skills stories act as a role model teaching specific skills and situations that the autistic child is struggling with, each autistic social skills story can be used on its own or with other stories and is portable making them convenient to use.

Research suggests visual strategies for improving communication such as PECS, flash cards and autism social skills stories can be easily implemented and work.

To learn more about visual strategies such as social skills stories visit: http://www.autismsocialstories.com

Autism Spectrum Disorder social skills stories were first developed around twenty years ago as a method for teaching and communicating with individuals on the spectrum.

They were developed to aid communication in both verbal and nonverbal autistics, the goal being that individuals on the autism spectrum were able to use the Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism Social Skills Stories as a tool to help them clarify and understand information and directions.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism Social Skills Stories provide the child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder explanations and possible behavior suggestions for situations, skills and behaviors that they may find difficult or confusing.

Used effectively as a tool to teach social and communication skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder the  autistic social skills story uses visual cues to show the child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder what is expected of them as well as what they can expect from others.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have social skills impairments which make social and communication skills difficult to master.

ASD social skills stories therefore help to teach social and communication skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder, visually almost like a comic strip script, the skill or behavior in terms of relative social cues and prompts making it easier for the child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder to understand the “wh” question (who, where, When, what and why)

Research shows us that teaching social skills to children with autism spectrum disorder is made easier when visual aids are used.  

Consequently, parents with autistic children and teachers use visual tools such as social skills stories for teaching social skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. The social skills story is visually rich and is used much like a step by step visual plan detailing the skill being mastered.

Showing the child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder visually possible outcomes, giving focus to the key points, showing the child with autism spectrum disorder how another person may re-act or feel in the situation by describing another’s point of view.

The autistic social skills story can also be used to help with routine changes, teaching skills and behaviors, explaining rules and so on…

ASD social skills stories use a specifically defined style and format. They are mainly written by experts in autism.

Many parents with autistic children, teachers as well as other professionals use social skills stories for autistic children to teach even the most basic social skills such as tooth brushing to complex social skills like attending a wedding, a birth even explaining how to make friends, have conversations, ask questions and more.

To download Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism Social Skills Stories for autistic children on a variety of issues visit any of the following sites:

http://www.autimsocialstories.com

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/school

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/sensory

http://www.autismscoialstories.com/social_skills

Autism social stories are normally short, descriptive, visual stories written to help children on the autism spectrum navigate specific situations or skills that they struggle with.

The idea of autism social skills stories is to provide the child on the autism spectrum with an opportunity to rehearse social interactions, for example asking questions, having a conversation and making friends – which will help reduce anxiety and confusion.

Looking at how will autism social stories benefit my child with autism

Research suggests that autism social skills stories which follow a set format can really make a difference to children on the autism spectrum, helping them cope with situations, social skills and behaviours that they do not understand or find stressful.

Developed almost twenty years ago to help with communication issues in autistic children, autism skills social stories have grown in popularity and use, today social stories are one of the major autism intervention strategies used to teach social and communication skills.

Parents and teachers need no formal training to use autism social stories, which can be implemented fairly easily.

Autism social stories can act like a role model or visual plan to the child on the autism spectrum. By breaking the skill or situation down into smaller sections, using first person text and visual images or pictures the social story describes the important “wh” questions  – who, where, why, when and what as well as “how” and gives an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others.

Autistic children struggle to see things from another persons perspective, which can cause hurt feelings and misunderstandings, a social skills story can help the autistic child see the other side of things.

For example a lot of autistic children do not recognise the need to respect personal space this can be uncomfortable for other children, a social skills story can help explain the need for personal space and the consequence of not respecting another persons personal space i.e. the person may avoid contact etc.

Therefore looking at how will autism social stories benefit my child with autism is important with studies showing good results when social skills stories are implemented many parents USE these autism intervention strategies with positive effect.

To learn more about autism social stories for a child on the autism spectrum visit: http://www.autismsocialstories.com

Other appropriate social stories for a child on the autism spectrum can be found at:http://www.autismsocialstories.com/school

Verbal communication can be an issue for a lot of kids with autism spectrum. This is mainly due to communication deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder is a pervasive developmental disorder affecting the brain of the individual, there is no known cure for autism, but there are ways of helping kids with autism spectrum find coping methods to help their characteristics of autism.

All individuals on the autism spectrum scale will have the triad of autistic symptoms. These characteristics of autism are:

·         Social,

·         communication,

·         imagination

·         and interaction deficits.

The inability to properly communicate verbally can make the interpretations and interactions within the autistic child’s world much more difficult, which may then lead to social isolation from their peers.

The communication problems experienced will undoubtedly vary from child to child, the degree of communication deficit will depend largely on the child’s own social and intellectual development.

The characteristics of autism vary from person to person, on one end of the autism spectrum scale; low functioning autistic may not be able to speak at all.

While on the other end of the autism spectrum scale; High functioning autistics may show an extensive vocabulary and be able to express themselves adequately, generally high functioning autistics are of average or above average intelligence and will be able to express themselves perfectly regarding complex topics.

However, generally kids with autism spectrum will all experience some form of communication deficit usually with the appropriate use of the language. For example they may have difficulties with intonation, rhythm, and word and sentence meaning.

Sometimes autistic children will pick up on scripts from the T.V like commercials, or shows that are of interest to them, they may repeat a line from a book, radio show or song and continually want to repeat this phrase.

Other autistic children may have phrases that they use in situations, for example some autistic children will introduce themselves at the beginning of conversations, or introduce their parent each day at the start and end of school.

A lot of parents look for conversational skill strategies for children on the spectrum to help address these issues.

Generally kids with autism spectrum will have a pre-occupation with a topic and will be able to speak extensively about the topic, but have difficulties expressing this with others, the conversation will be one sided and they will probably miss the hints that the other person is bored or want to move the conversation on.

There are methods to help conversational skill strategies for children on the spectrum, which will enable the autistic child to better his or her verbal communication skills.

Undoubtedly your first step will be to consult a speech and language pathologist to have your child’s communication skills evaluated.

There are specific treatments available and your speech and language pathologist will be able to point you in the right direction.

At home you may want to begin with suitable conversational skill strategies for children on the spectrum like autism social stories, PECS cards and so on, which can be of tremendous relief once they have been implemented giving your autistic child a means of communicating effectively.

A good place to start with these resources that can help alleviate some of the characteristics of autism is:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com

A normally developing child learns in several different ways:

Visually…through sight

Auditory…through hearing

kinesthetically …through touch or manipulation.

Mainstream schools will normally include a variety of learning techniques, the children will learn visually through reading books and texts. They also learn through listening to their teachers, and through touch or manipulation…for example tech., art, textiles etc…

Kids with autism spectrum special needs students they will nearly always be visual learners. However some kids with autism spectrum may also be kinesthetic learners and may well benefit form their teacher or helper actually guiding their hand while they undertake tasks.

So with that in mind an autism special needs teacher or assistant will need to asses each autistic child individually to determine which method of learning they appear to prefer.

The special needs teacher or assistant will then be able to steer the lesson planning for that child to suit their particular method of learning and therefore build on their individual strengths.

One very important thing to remember when planning lessons for the autistic child is their need for repetition…Autistic children like repetition and sameness. So this needs to be kept in mind when setting lessons.

As with a normally developing child autism learning difficulties, can be enhanced by the introduction and implementation of autism social skills stories…

Autism social skills stories are used as a tool for teaching kids with autism spectrum and special needs vital social information and skills.

By introducing autism social skills stories you will enhance learning skills in the autism special needs student.

Autism learning difficulties…can be helped by these excellent visually rich autism social skills stories. They are easily implemented and can be adapted to suit all children.

To obtain school related autism social skills stories or social stories for all situations, events and abilities. Which can be downloaded immediately and used for teaching kids with autism spectrum please visit:

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

For all other autism social stories visit:

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocailstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/asperger_adolescents

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

Generally when looking at the behavior characteristics of autism it shows us that typically before the child’s third birthday the behavior characteristics of autism will begin to become apparent. Parents of kids with ASD will normally have noticed something is not quite right, their child may be displaying odd behaviors and may not have reached milestones.

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder which affects the brain in individuals. Generally all kids with ASD will have autistic social skills deficits these deficits commonly make up the symptoms of autism.

These autistic social skills deficits are social, communication, imagination and interaction skills deficits and will always be present to a certain degree.

All kids with ASD are different and the degree of autistic social skills deficit will also be different some kids with ASD are low functioning and may never develop speech they may also have other educational disabilities. While at the top end of the autism scale is high functioning and asperger syndrome these individuals are often average or above average intelligence and have often been referred to as “geeks”.

The symptoms of autism can be severe in some cases while in others mild to moderate.

Generally looking at the behavior characteristics of autism WILL also SUGGEST sensory issues in all or some of the senses, sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound.

Kids with ASD view the world in a different way to typically developing children they do not process sensory information in the same manner. The child on the spectrum will not naturally learn social, communication, imagination and interaction skills unlike a typically developing child that will learn naturally the skills needed to function normally. The typically developing youngster learns social skills through their environment and their own senses.

The child on the spectrum does not do this and will need direct teaching of behaviors, social and communication skills. This can be achieved through the use of autistic visual supports such as PECS cards and social stories for autistic children.

Many parents of kids with ASD as well as teachers and other professionals are already using autistic visual supports around the home, school, college and anywhere the individual with autism needs extra support or help to understand or cope.

One of the most significant autistic visual supports available to help kids with ASD is social skills stories. Developed almost twenty years ago social skills stories for autism are now probably one of the best known resources for teaching and re-enforcing social, communication, imagination and interaction skills to children with autism.

Reports suggest children with ASD respond very well to social skills stories for autism because they represent the skill being mastered in a way that children with ASD can understand and remember using appropriate language, and visual representation of the skill.

The internet now makes it easier for parents of kids with ASD as well as teachers and others involved with the care of an child on the spectrum to find and source expertly written social stories for autistic children.

Sites such as www.autismsocialstories.com offer immediate download of social stories for autistic children as well as support for all those involved in the care of an autistic child.

Social skills stories for autism are used to teach behaviors and social skills effectively. They are used to help with the looking at the behavior characteristics of autism by providing concrete support and visual representation of the skill or behavior the child with autism is struggling to master.

Download social skills stories from www.autismsocialstories.com and see for yourself how easy they are to use and how affective they can be.

Other sites offering downloads are:

www.autismsocialstories.com/sensory

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

Autism Social Stories are used as a tool when teaching social and communication skills to children with ASD. Autism Social Stories were first developed around twenty years ago by therapist Carol Gray as a tool to help her communicate and teach the autistic children she was working with.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder Social Stories provide the child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder explanations and possible behavior suggestions for situations, skills and behaviors that they may find difficult or confusing due to their individual autism symptom.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder Social Stories are used by parents of children on the spectrum and teachers to effectively teach social and communication skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Social Stories use visual cues that show the child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder what is expected of them as well as what they can expect.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder have social skills impairments; it is due to these social skills impairments that a child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder has difficulties with social and communication skills and behaviors.

As with typically developing children no two autistic children will ever be the same and therefore the severity of autism symptom will vary. Autism Social Stories can be adapted to suit individual needs and abilities.

Research shows us that teaching social skills to kids with autism spectrum disorder has been identified as one of the best indicators of positive long-term outcomes in the child’s development.

Consequently, parents of children on the spectrum and teachers use tools such as Autism Social Stories to teach and re-enforce social skills. The social skills story will help the child with autism identify the important cues in a given situation.

The social skills story will show the child with Autistic Spectrum Disorder visualize possible outcomes, giving focus to the key points, showing the child with autism spectrum disorder how another person may re-act or feel in the situation by describing another’s point of view.

It will also explain rules, routines, situations, upcoming events or abstract concepts; and how the child with autism spectrum disorder can understand expectations, cope with changes to routines and learn appropriate skills and behaviors.

Autistic Spectrum Disorder Social Stories use a specifically defined style and format. They are mainly written by experts in autism and are usually visually rich. Most kids with autism spectrum disorder are visual learners making visual social skills stories an ideal teaching tool.

Many parents and teachers as well as professionals use social skills stories for autistic children to teach even the most basic social skills such as tooth brushing to complex social skills like attending a wedding, a birth even explaining how to make friends, have conversations, ask questions and more.

To download Autistic Spectrum Disorder social skills stories for autistic children on a variety of issues visit any of the following sites:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/school

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/sensory

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/social_skills

Astonishingly up to 50 percent of kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder will never develop speech, whilst the others will develop some form of early communication skills.

Typically autistic children rarely engage in effective communication and may struggle to read “social and communication cues”

To fully appreciate how difficult it must be for many Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder to engage in effective communication first we must look at communication on the whole.

Speech – language we refer to the body of words, the formations of sounds, as well as the structures and forms used to construct speech. 

Communication on the other hand can occur either verbally through speech or non-verbally through the use of spoken words, gestures, signs, or by pointing to printed words or symbols.

To communicate effectively, we must firstly be able to understand why we need to communicate with others, have the desire to communicate, have somebody to communicate with, have something to communicate about, and have a means of expressing ourselves.

Consequently as typically developing children develop, they begin to explore their environment and start to understand the cause and effect around them. For example when they are thirsty they can point to the fridge or a cup…When they are wanting a cuddle or are tired they may raise both hands to picked up.

With autistic children sometimes this inquisitiveness is missing, the lack of interest in their surroundings and the lack of effective eye contact make learning communication and the need to engage in effective communication very difficult.

By the time a non-verbal autistic child starts school, they may already have seen a speech therapist to establish a program to aid with the development of effective communication. The speech therapist will need to determine some appropriate objectives and goals, a base level of communication will be established by carefully observing the non-verbal autistic child within the school setting. 

In certain cases it may be necessary for the non-verbal autistic child to learn a new form of communication. For example the child may cry or scream when they need something and this is their form of communication. But this is not going to be effective in a classroom full of children. Therefore new forms of communication will need to be established.

Social skills stories can be used as a form of autism communication tools for children on the spectrum.

Autism social stories are short but descriptive pieces of text with appropriate pictures and images to support the story – or instruction.

So for example if the new skill is to help the autistic child understand the need for quiet reading at school, the appropriate autism social story would be selected and implemented.

These autism communication tools for children on the spectrum will pictorially show as well as the text the reason why the children are expected to be silent, who is expecting them to be silent, and what the consequence of not being quiet is as well as the consequent or reward for being quiet.

Autism social stories answer the “wh” questions – who, what, why, when and where as well as “HOW” an offer an insight into the thoughts feelings and emotions of others which is an area of considerable weakness for most kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autistic children tend to be visual learners, which is why studies have shown that autism social stories are an excellent aid in developing good foundations for behavior and social skills for autistic children and adults. A good place for autism communication tools for children on the spectrum can be found at:

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

In a study of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder it was found that this set of children were disadvantaged in the way they play.

Characteristically preschool children with autism spectrum disorder find it difficult to play as a normally developing child would. This lack of play skills can aggravate the child’s social isolation from their peers, and only underline their differences from other children.

So what is play?

• Play should be fun and enjoyable.
• Play should have no set goals imposed on it from outside influences; it should be imaginative and sometimes impulsive.
• play should be spontaneous and voluntary
• play should involve some kind of active involvement on the part of the player
• play can be solitary or enjoyed with friends

The Development of play

Children’s play should go through a number of developmental stages

• Sensory motor play, stimulation from objects, for example a baby gym.

• exploratory and manipulative play, for example Lego
• physical play including rough and tumble
• social play, playing with their peers, playground play
• pretend play or make believe

Why do children need to play?

Play allows our children to learn new skills and practice them in safe supportive surroundings.

Sensory motor play teaches babies and young infants about their own bodies and about objects in their immediate surroundings. The bright colored toys stimulate the babies mind and he/she will reach out to grab and explore the toy.

Manipulative and exploratory play teaches older infants about various objects, what they do; sound like, how they react together and how they influence the world they are living in.

Physical play, rough and tumble play, teaches toddlers and pre-school children some gross motor skills, which will provide them with the experiences of whole body interaction with others.

Social play is vast right from the mother and baby interactions to children’s make believe play, for example, playing mummy’s and daddy’s, which teaches children about social relationships in the world they live in.

Typically the autistic child on the other hand likes repetition and things to stay the same, and may display stereotypical, repetitive and stimming behaviors, mostly their play will be solitary.

Preferring their own company to that of others, an autistic child will find interactive, make believe play strange and may not understand the reasons for this kind of play.

So how do you help your Autistic child play?

One method it through direct teaching, typically children on the autism spectrum do not learn play skills naturally and like social and communication skills direct teaching is often needed.

One method of direct teaching for children on the autism spectrum is the use of social stories for autistic children.

Significantly social stories for autistic children can be implemented to help teach and re-enforce play skills and other skills the child with autism struggles with.

Social stories are short explanations using visual images, much like a comic script to detail the skill or situation from the child’s own point of view and in a manner that they will understand.

Social stories for autistic children follow set patterns, are generally easy to use and implement need no training to use and will be editable making them ideal for all.

To view and learn more about how social stories visit:

www.autismsocialstories.com

For most children on the spectrum, Printable Autism Social Stories for Children with Autism can really HELP make skills and situation that they are not comfortable with easier to understand and cope with.

Printable Autism Social Stories for Children with Autism ARE used to help prepare children for new situations: For example:  Transitions, Going to the Dentist or even getting a haircut.

The social story uses visual images and first person text to describe the situation in terms of the relevant social cues, in a way they can understand.

Printable Autism Social Stories for Children with Autism answer the “wh” questions – who, what, why, when and where as well as “HOW” and should also offer an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others which is an area of marked weakness in most autistic children.

The social story is easy to implement and needs no formal training to use, they can be adapted to personalize them, printed and used again and again.

Printable Autism Social Stories for Children with Autism need to be visual, as the majority of autistic children ARE visual thinkers and learners, which means that they think in images/pictures and that language is secondary.

Visual Social Stories

Visual social stories are easy to use and can be implemented in the same manner as social stories.

The visual social story uses small laminated cards approx. 8 x 11cm in size. The visual social story is broken into small sections and each piece of the social story is printed onto one side of the card.

The visual social story can be used to help teach social and communication skills and behaviours for example: brushing teeth, recess, break time, moving house and so on…

To view Printable Autism Social Stories for Children with Autism visit: http://www.autismsocialstories.com/stories.html

As well as visual social stories visit:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/visual.html

For most children with autism lacking social interaction skills is common. Many children with autism will want to make and have friends but will find this process confusing and stressful.

Lacking social interaction skills is often referred to as the autism triad of impairments but those autism triad of impairments will vary from child to child.

The actual degree a child is affected with the autism triad of impairments will generally depend on the individual’s social development.

Some children with autism on the lower end of the autism scale may have little or no language and may have other related disabilities. On the other end of the autism scale those children with asperger syndrome will often be schooled in mainstream schools and be of average to above average intelligence. This set of individuals will probably desire friendships.

Those children with asperger syndrome or mild autism will probably want friendships but making and maintaining those friendships will be a struggle, unfortunately it is believed around 40% of autistic children in mainstream education will at some point be a victim to bullying.

For most typically developing children recess and break times are a time of fun and a chance to run around and interact with their peers, this is “normal behavior”

However this is not the case with an autistic child, often the sound of the bell can fill them with fear and dread. Autistic children prefer structure, routine and dislike surprises, noises and the unstructured chaos of free time. They find choice making difficult and can sometimes be overwhelmed by recess and break times.

A lot of autistic children find recess confusing, there are a lot of choices to be made, what to play with, who to play with, what to do, so many choices a “typical child” will take for granted and enjoy, this is not the case with an autistic child.

For example a simple game, the autistic child may choose to join in with their peers, but may find comprehending the rules confusing, they may not understand the need for the rules, and then just as they start to understand the rules may change or the game may stop.

The other end to this is those children with autism that will stick rigidly to the rule and this can sometimes take the fun out of the game for the other normally developing children, they may loose interest and unfortunately the autistic child may not understand why this is and become distressed.

Some autistic children can become overwhelmed by noise, which can make recess or break time a painful and stressful time, you may find them pacing up and down in their own little world until recess is over and they can return to the routine and structure of the classroom.

All these factors can make autism and finding friends difficult to say the very least.

So how can you help with the problem of autism and finding friends?

Generally as we discussed earlier kids with autism prefer structure and routine, this can be achieved by the use of autism visual supports such as autism visual schedules and social skills stories, these resources are used in the classroom to add structure and routine the child’s day.

These autism visual supports can also be used to help kids with autism cope with recess and break times taking away some of anxieties they may feel around this time of the day.

The autism visual supports can also be used to help autistic children understand how to maintain friendships, by teaching the autistic child how to use conversation, how to pretend play, how to be kind, respect peoples feelings and personal space, how to share and make choices and so on, all social skills we take for granted, but an autistic child will need to be taught these social skills directly.

Therefore the perfect place to start with autism and making friends is with autism visual supports such as autism visual schedules and social skills stories to teach the autistic child the social skills necessary for making and maintaining friendships and dealing with recess and break times.

You can find appropriate social skills stories and other autism resources for kids with autism for download at:

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/stories.html

www.autismsocialstories.com/sensory.html

For the vast majority of autistic children social skills ARE either missing or NEED improving.

This is due to the triad of autistic impairments or social skills deficits, which ARE common to autism to varying degrees

The triad of autistic impairments or social skills deficits affect how the child on the spectrum acts, re-acts, thinks and behaves.

Methods for enhancing social skills in autistic children ARE generally visual. This is because most children on the spectrum ARE visual learners and thinkers and will tend to use language secondary.

Visual supports for autism such as: social skills stories, picture communication cards, visual schedules and flash cards etc ARE visual supports which can be introduced simply and need NO formal training to use.

Characteristically children on the spectrum find visual supports for autism beneficial. Social skills stories ARE short descriptive visual supports which describe a skill or situation in terms of the relevant social cues.

The social story looks much like a comic script, using images/pictures and short precise pieces of text. The social story is always from the point of view of the child on the spectrum, using first person text in short sentences.

The social story answers the “wh” questions: who, what, Why, where, and when as well as “HOW” and should also offer an insight wherever possible into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others which is an area of marked weakness in most autistic children.

Social skills stories CAN be used for a wide variety of situations or skills such as: asking questions, calming down, hygiene issues, self-help skills and so on…

For many children on the spectrum visual supports for autism ARE invaluable and can be treated like visual plans or frameworks to help them cope with and learn skills and behaviours which cause stress and anxiety.

To learn more about visual supports for autism like social skills stories, picture communication cards, visual schedules and flash cards as well as other visual supports visual http://www.autismsocialstories.com

Looking at Communication Difficulties in Autism - USING VISUAL SUPPORTS

Children with autism have difficulties with communication skills, and will often not develop effective communication . It is believed that up to 50% of children with autism spectrum will NOT develop speech, while others will develop speech slowly.

When we think of speech we are thinking of the body of words and the formation of sounds, as well as the structure and forms used to allow speech.

However with  communication this can be either verbally through speech or non-verbally through gestures, signs and pointing to printed words or symbols.

Typically children with autism spectrum WILL struggle with all forms of communication verbal and non-verbal and will use speech as a secondary language. Children with autism spectrum ARE generally VISUAL thinkers this means that they
think in pictures / images, this is their first language.

It is therefore beneficial for teacher and parents to consider visual information as a means of communication and use speech / words less. Visual communication supports for autism can be in many forms - social stories, visual social story cards,
PECS, flash cards, visual timetables and so on.

As children develop they begin to explore their environment and learn cause and affect - for example a thirsty child may point to his cup, a tired child may raise their arms to be picked up, this is cause and affect.  This inquisitiveness for exploration to learn this cause and affect is typically missing in children with autism.

By the time a non-verbal autistic child starts school chances are they will already have been seen by a  speech therapist. In many cases it will be necessary for the autistic child to learn a new form of communication -  a child that screams and tantrums to
get what they need is not going to “fit in” at school. A new means of communication will be needed to control the need for the screaming - for example visual communication supports for autism such as visual social story cards, PECS and flash cards can be introduced.

Visual social story cards are small laminated cards approx. 8cm by 11cm that can be introduced to help the child learn new skills or understand behaviours that they find difficult to master, for example break time, using the potty, time out and so on.

The social story cards are short visual stories much like a comic script that are used as a visual plan or framework of the skill or behaviour, always from the autistic child’s own perspective and in first person text. The social story cards will describe the skill or behaviour and give possible outcomes.

Visual social story cards answer the “wh” questions - who, what, why, when and where as well as “HOW” and provide an insight into how others may be feeling, which is an area of marked weakness in most autistic children.

To learn more about how social stories can be used to help autisitic children and communication difficulties in autism visit: http://www.autismsocialstories.com

The Festive Season is here once more, for the majority of us it is the season of fun and festivities, but for many families with an ASD child Christmas can be fraught with stress and anxiety.

For many children on the spectrum Christmas time is more likely to be filled with difficulties, stresses and anxiety. Their routines can be disrupted and the stability they rely on can go out the window, and be replaced by the sheer chaos of Christmas.

And as any parent of an autistic child knows no matter how small the changes are they can be difficult for the ASD child to cope with.

For many families with an ASD child Christmas and all its sensory overloads is dreaded. However there ARE Intervention Strategies designed to help children on the spectrum deal with many of the issues surrounding Christmas.

Intervention Strategies such as social skills stories, visual social story cards, flash cards, PECS and other strategies ARE used to help children on the spectrum at Christmas time.

These Intervention Strategies can help with skills, behaviours and activities such as decorating the Christmas tree. Many autistic children fail to understand why a tree is decorated.  Consequently Intervention Strategies like social stories ARE used to explain why in a way the child on the spectrum can understand.

For many families Christmas with an ASD child is stressful, intervention strategies can HELP remove some of the stress by helping the autistic child gain a better understanding of Christmas.

Social skills stories are short descriptive pieces of text, written from the point of view of the child on the spectrum, and using visual images or pictures to show the situation or skill much like a comic strip.

Using visual images is known to work with children on the spectrum as they are mainly visual thinkers and learners, meaning they think in pictures, making visual intervention strategies like social skills stories excellent resources to use.

Many situations and skills can be addressed using social skills stories, a good social story will act as a role model or visual plan, breaking the situation down into smaller sections showing in a concise manner the “wh” questions – who, where, when, why and what, plus “How” as well as giving an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others all helping to reduce anxieties, stress ad confusion.

A social story may be edited and personalized for convenience, to learn more about Christmas with an autistic child and how social stories for Christmas can help visit:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/christmas

Other social stories can be downloaded from:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com

where you will find information and a selection of social stories for Christmas with your autistic child. Other social stories can be found at: http://www.autismsocialstories.com

Social stories are a Visual Intervention Strategy that can be used to help teach children with autism social, communication and imagination skills and behaviours.

Typically children with autism lack the “Theory of Mind”, which means that they do not have the ability to see things from another person’s perspective or understand their beliefs and emotions. A child on the spectrum will also struggle with social awareness skills and will lack the ability to read situations and decide what is going on.

The majority of children with autism ARE visual thinkers and learners, this means that they think in pictures. Consequently, using a Visual Intervention Strategy to help them overcome their social awareness deficits and lack of Theory of Mind…

Visual social stories for children with autism are Visual Intervention Strategies that use images/pictures to describe a skill or situation from the autistic child’s own point of view.

As “normally” developing individuals we have the “Theory of Mind” we can predict what another person may be feeling or thinking by reading their body and facial expression.

For a child on the spectrum a social story can act like a visual framework or step by step plan of the skill or situation that they are struggling with. The social story WILL help guide them and teach them in a gentle reassuring manner how to act in the situation.

Visual social stories for children with autism answer the “wh” questions – who, what, where, when and why as well as “HOW” and will offer an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others which is an area of marked weakness in most autistic children.

Many parents of autistic children report their child shows improvement in social awareness skills and communication difficulties once social stories are introduced.

There is no need for any formal training to use social stories, downloadable social stories can be edited and personalized. No two individuals on the spectrum are ever going to be the same and we all use different terminology with our child, therefore the ability to edit social stories is beneficial.

Visual social story cards are also used with autistic children with great effect. These are ready made and laminated small cards. Each card has a section of the social story on it and can be presented either on a key ring or in a small 8×6 inch folder.

To learn more about social stories for your child on the spectrum visit: http://www.autismsocialstories.com

Here you will find various social stories for download, as well as visual social story cards on key rings and in folders as well as visual flash cards.

Other sites offering downloadable social stories are:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/social_skill

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/school_resources

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological disorder affecting the autistic person’s brain; this can affect how the autistic person thinks, re-acts, acts and behaves.

Autism impairs the autistic person’s social interactions and communication skills and can cause restricted and repetitive stereotypical behaviors.

Typically kids with autism have difficulties with verbal and non-verbal communication this can impact on their abilities to socially interact.

Autism is characterized by several developmental challenges. The autism symptoms can include:  Language may develop slowly or not at all. The autistic child may use words without attaching meaning to them. They may use echolalia, and have poor attention spans.

The child with autism will probably prefer to spend time alone rather than with others, shows little interest in making friends, and be less responsive to social cues such as eye contact or smiles.

These autism symptoms impact on the autistic person’s ability to interact effectively and can cause isolation and social blunders. Consequently, when deciding on autism spectrum disorder goals for interactions these autism symptoms should first be looked at.

Typically developing children learn social skills such as social interactions naturally through play, from their peers, parents and those around them. This ability is missing in kids with autism and social skills should be taught directly.

Generally kids with autism are visual learners and will better understand any social skills teaching when taught and re-enforced visually; This is achievable using visual supports for autism such as social stories.

Using visual supports for autism can make the implementation of autism goals for interactions much easier. By careful observations parents of autistic children can determine which social interaction skills their child is finding difficult and an appropriate social skills story can be put in place to help them overcome this.

Many parents of autistic children use social skills stories to help teach social, communication, imagination and interaction skills with great success rates.

The social skills story is visually rich with short appropriate pieces of text set out in a specific format. Developed almost twenty years ago social skills stories are probably the most significant autism tool used to help kids with autism overcome social interaction difficulties.

To find appropriate autism spectrum disorder goals for interactions social skills stories as well as social skills stories for other social skills teaching such as making friends, answering questions, appropriate touching and many more visit any of the following sites and gain immediate downloads:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/school_resources

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/school

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/preschool

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/Halloween

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http://www.autismsocialstories.com/Halloween

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Generally children with autism are visual thinkers this means that they think in pictures (pictures being the first language and speech/words the second language).

Consequently, for the majority of children with autism using visual information and teaching is far easier for them to understand.

Avoid long strings of verbal instructions. People with autism have problems with remembering the sequence. Instead use smaller sentences and visual prompts, like visual flash cards and visual social story cards.

Nonverbal autistic children and adults will find it easier to associate words with pictures if they see the printed word and a picture like for example on the visual flash cards.

Therefore, when looking at ways to teach children with autism social behaviours it is probably a good idea to consider visual strategies.

There are many forms of visual strategies available to teach social behaviours: visual social story cards, visual flash cards, PECS and social skills stories are a few on offer to parents, caregivers and teachers of autistic children and adults.

Visual strategies like social stories use visual images and short pieces of text in a manner that people with autism find easy to understand. The social story and visual social story cards use appropriate first person text and are always from the autistic individual’s point of view.

Many autistic individual’s use social stories to help with social awareness skills and behaviours as well as an aid for communication difficulties which are also a common issue for many people with autism.

Commonly autistic children and adults have communication difficulties, therefore social skills stories are implemented to help them overcome many of the difficulties that face.

A social story answers the “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as HOW and will give an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others which is an area of marked weakness for most autistic individuals.

The social story and visual socials story cards follow a set pattern of sentence type and are generally written in word format making editing easy. No two individuals are ever the same and we all use different terminology with our youngster, therefore editing is on essential.

To learn more about visual flash cards, visual social story cards and social stories visit any of the following sites:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/visual_aids

ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is a pervasive developmental disorder that affects how the individual processes information, thinks, acts and reacts. Autism Spectrum Disorder is normally diagnosed in early childhood.

After a diagnosis of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) many parents are left confused and anxious, wondering how the diagnosis of ASD will affect their child and family life.

No two people on the spectrum will ever be the same, and so the symptoms of autism will vary between individuals. However generally kids with autism will display social awkwardness lack imagination skills and communication difficulties, this can cause issues with maintaining friendships and so on.

Kids with autism generally find it hard to make any sense of their environment.

Studies show that in some kids with autism symptoms may not present themselves until the child is between 1 -2 years of age.

What is autism? Here is a list of some of the possible symptoms of autism you may have noticed in your ASD child:

• An ASD child may lack the ability to direct an-other  person’s  attention to what they want or need. Unlike a normally developing child, who will point or gesture towards the object in question.
• Kids with autism rarely adjust their gaze to look at objects, and lack the inclination to look at something they are being directed towards.
• An ASD child may have communication difficulties and find sustaining or beginning conversations difficult.
• Sometimes kids with autism will be slow developing speech and sometimes speech may never actually begin.
• They may engage in repetitive behaviours…for example repeating a TV commercial or rhyme etc.
• They may confuse simple language terms like wait a minute, or hold on a second and take this as literal. The ASD child may also  use language in the wrong context, for example they may refer to themselves by name in a conversation or sentence, not by saying “I”; i.e. rather than saying “can I have a biscuit”, they may say “Ben wants a biscuit” and so on…
• On occasions an autistic child may prefer to communicate by gesture rather than using speech.

Many autistic children struggle with social situations and may therefore prefer solitary play. The ASD child may have difficulties  maintaining and starting friendships with peers difficult. Autistic children and autistic people in general have difficulties in making eye contact which can make encounters difficult!

Generally an autistic child will struggle with interactive games and pretend play, failing to see what the point of the activity or game is.

Autism what is it? Understanding your ASD child and forming appropriate ASD strategies is very important and will make the difference in helping your autistic child reach his or her full potential

There are many ASD strategies to help kids with autism understand the world they live in…

One very effective way of accomplishing this is by the introduction of visual support tools such as autism social stories

Autism Spectrum Disorder is being diagnosed far more these days. Research into pervasive developmental disorder has suggested that using visual support tools such as autism social stories has impacted on the lives and families of those diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder such as ASD
(Autism Spectrum Disorder)

ASD strategies such as autism social stories are used for all situations and activities the ASD child may be confused by or struggling with, for example: Going to the dentist, the death of a loved one, a new car, brushing their hair.

Social stories answe the “wh” questions - who, where, why, when and what as well as How and give an insight into the thoughts and feelings of others which is an area of marked wakness in kids with autism. Autism Social Stories act like a role model or visual support plan detailing the skill or situation in a manner the autisti child will understand and will give appropriate direction to help the ASD child cope with and dela with the situation or skill.

For immediate download of autism social stories visit: www.autismsocialstories.com

Or alternatively visit any of the following sites for more information and social stories.

Looking into Autism communication and what it means for your child on the spectrum

All children with autism will have communication difficulties with both verbal and non-verbal communication this is a common symptom of autism.

Did you realize that up to 50 percent of children with autism may never develop speech! And that many others will only develop early communication skills.

Research shows us that autistic children rarely engage in effective communication.

Looking at communication….

When we think of speech – language we refer to the body of words, the formations of sounds, as well as the structures and forms used to construct speech. 

Communication on the other hand can occur either verbally through speech or non-verbally through the use of spoken words, gestures, signs, or by pointing to printed words or symbols.

To communicate effectively, we must firstly be able to understand why we need to communicate with others, have the desire to communicate, have somebody to communicate with, have something to communicate about, and have a means of expressing ourselves.

With typically developing children we will no doubt notice them go through some stages of communication. For example as a typically developing child grows he/she will begin to explore his/her environment and start to understand the cause and effect around them.

For example when they are thirsty they can point to the fridge or a cup…When they are wanting a cuddle or are tired they may raise both hands to picked up.

However this is not the case with a child on the spectrum. So taking a closer look into autism communication, a child with autism spectrum is rarely inquisitive, and typically will show a lack of interest in their surroundings.

A child with autism spectrum will also lack effective eye contact which will make learning communication very difficult.

By the time a non-verbal autistic child starts school, they may already have seen a speech therapist to establish a program to aid with the development of effective communication.

The speech therapist will need to determine some appropriate objectives and goals, a base level of communication will be established by carefully observing the child within the school setting. 

In certain cases it may be necessary for the child on the spectrum to learn a new form of communication. For example the child may cry or scream when they need something and this is their form of communication. But this is not going to be effective in a classroom full of children. Consequently, a new form of communication will need to be established.

Research shows us that the vast majority of both verbal and non-verbal autistic children are visual thinkers and learners, and will respond better to visual communication and information.

Consequently, visual intervention strategies should be introduced, such as visual support cards, PECS, flash cards and social skills stories. These visual intervention strategies can be used as a form of autism communication with verbal and non-verbal autistic children.

Autism social stories are short but descriptive pieces of text with appropriate pictures and images to support the story – or instruction. So for example if the new skill is to help the autistic child understand the need for quiet reading at school, the appropriate autism social story would be selected and implemented.

The autism social skills story can be used as a role model and visual step by step plan. Using images or pictures the autism social skills story will show the reason why the children are expected to be silent, who is expecting them to be silent and why, as well as the consequence of not being quiet and the consequent or reward for being quiet.

In other words the a social story gives the answers to the important “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as “HOW” and will also give the child with autism an insight into the thoughts and feelings of others, which is a marked area of difficulty in most children with autism spectrum.

Autistic children tend to be visual learners, which is why studies have shown that autism social stories are an excellent aid in developing good foundations for behavior and social skills for autistic children and adults.

Social skills stories are considered an excellent tool for helping develop communication skills in children with autism spectrum.

A good source of this excellent tool for helping develop communication skills in children with autism spectrum can be found at:

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/howto

One of the biggest problems that children with autism face are difficulties with social interactions and communication skills.

Common to all individuals with autism ARE difficulties with non-verbal communication as well as with speech and language.

For the autistic child the ability to predict, or read others thoughts, feelings and emotions “the ability to mind read” is also missing this is often referred to as “mind blindness”

Typically developing children learn naturally through observation and interaction how to predict or guess, through watching a combination of facial expression, tone and body language, which helps them to decide what the other person may be thinking or feeling.

However, due to “mind blindness” individuals with autism lack this naturally developed skill which can lead to social mistakes and blunders even for those individuals with high functioning autism and asperger syndrome.

And of cause social mistakes and blunders can lead to hurt feelings and asking inappropriate questions. The autistic child may also act oddly or generally open themselves up to hostility, teasing, bullying and social isolation.

Sometimes the autistic child may appear not to hear what has been said to them, they will often fail to respond to their name and can sometimes be indifferent to any attempts of communication with them.

This can be upsetting for parents and educators of children with autism.

No matter where on the autism scale your child is, by careful observation you may determine which way your child communicates, this will enable you as the parent or educator to build on this strength.

For example, if you child with autism is non-verbal, rather than communicating with them using words, try using visual methods of communication such as gestures. 

Typically children with autism are visual thinkers and learners meaning they think in pictures rather than through oral or written information.

Sometimes a child with autism may use some of the following to communicate: crying, taking the adults hand to the thing they want, looking at what they want, reaching, using pictures and echolalia. 

Echolalia is the repetition of other people’s words and is a common with the autistic child. Some autistic children will constantly repeat a rhyme or something they heard on TV.

Echolalia is a good sign it means speech is developing, in time the child may repeat something that was said to them, like drink or toilet.

Developing communication with your autistic child will be a slow process, but eventually you will make progress.

Autistic children tend to be visual learners, using pictures and images is a good way to communicate what you are expecting of them or wanting from them.

For, example at dinner time a picture or image of the family sitting around the table and a plate of food will tell the child it is time to eat.

You can introduce autism social skills stories used for autism social training to help with this…A good well written social skills story will have high pictorial content as well as text.

These short pieces of text, normally one page long will have pictorial cues as to what is happening and what the child can expect from others as well as what others are going to expect from them.  In time the autistic child will recognize the social stories and will naturally re-act in the manner the social story depicts. 

For example…At dinner time a social skills story may have a picture of the family sitting around the table…a plate, cutlery, maybe a cup, some food…The adult can show the autistic child the story with the colorful images and they can then read the short descriptive pieces of text will pointing to the appropriate image.

…These autism social skills stories used for autism social training are normally editable and printable so they can be used time and time again, in-fact they can be used for every situation you need help with.

These social skills stories act as a role model or visual plan and can become like a best friend to the autistic child giving the clear and precise instructions on how to act in all situations. Plus they are a fantastic communication device for a parent-giving you the tools you need to help communicate with your autistic child.

To obtain downloadable autism social stories, visit:

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com/howto