Frequently Needed Answers

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

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex neurobiological disorder, there is no cure for autism and typically the symptoms of autism will be ongoing throughout the autistic person’s life.

Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by varying degrees of autistic impairments often referred to as the triad of autistic impairments or social skills deficits.

These social skills deficits are typically displayed in the development of communication, social, imagination and interaction skills and abilities, and also by repetitive behaviors.

The symptoms of autism range from mild autism which is often called asperger syndrome to severe autism or low functioning autism.

The symptoms of mild autism can vary between individuals on the spectrum. Although all children on the autism spectrum disorder scale may exhibit some similar traits not every child will display all of characteristics associated with autism.

A child with autism on the lower end of the autism scale may never develop speech or it may be delayed and may have other educational disabilities, while a child with autism on the higher end of the autism scale can be high-functioning with average or above average intelligence and attend mainstream school.

Some autistic children have sensory processing issues in some or all of the senses and may display sensory processing issues such as being sensitive to the feel of fabric so much so that all tags must be cut out of clothing before they will wear it. Another child with autism may display no sensory issues at all.

However, all children with autism spectrum disorder will display social skills deficits with communication whether your child has the symptoms of mild autism or severe they will all have communication both verbal and non-verbal communication skills difficulties.

A child with autism will have difficulties relating to other people and will fail to understand non-verbal communication or body language.

Children with autism spectrum disorder are often referred to as having “mind blindness” or lacking the “theory of mind”. This means missing the ability to predict the thoughts, feelings and emotions expressed by other people.

For example we can tell a lot by a person’s posture, we can tell whether they are approachable, upset or happy, this ability to read another person is missing in people with autism.

However there are treatments available to people with autism that can help them learn social, communication, imagination and interaction skills.

The internet makes finding appropriate autism resources that help autistic people learn these social skills much easier. Generally most autistic people have found tremendous successes with autism resources such as social skills stories.

The symptoms of mild autism are such that generally most autistic children or asperger syndrome individuals can use social skills stories efficiently for coping and understanding social skills that they otherwise struggle to comprehend, which can sometimes lead to social blunders and stressful situations.

Sites that offer downloads OF SOCIAL SKILLS STORIES as well as expert advice and support like: http://www.autismsocialstories.com

More often than not autistic people will have social impairments and lack the ability to “mind read” or understand what others maybe thinking. They will not have the ability to understand body language or facial expression. Something we as a whole take for granted.

Social impairments become apparent early in childhood and continue through to adulthood.

Autistic children will pay less attention to social stimuli, they will probably smile a lot less and won’t be interested in engaging with others, they may also respond less to their own name.

You may find your autistic toddler for example, will give less eye contact, may respond less to his/her name, not be as cuddly and is more likely to communicate by pulling on your hand and leading you to what they desire.

By the ages of between three to five years old most normally developing youngsters will understand facial expressions, body language and non-verbal communication skills…and most definitely learnt how to manipulate their parents!…

Autistic children are less likely to exhibit any social understanding, they will almost certainly be less likely to approach others spontaneously, imitate and respond to emotions, and still not grasp the concept of turn taking.

However, autistic children do form attachments to their primary caregivers, parents, and teachers. They will undoubtedly display less attachment than that of a normally developing child though.

Children with less severe Autism Spectrum Disorder, like aspergers or mild autism may be more likely to form stronger bonds, but as they grow older studies have shown they perform slightly less on tests of face and emotion recognition.

Making and maintaining friendships often proves to be difficult for those with autism. For them, the quality of friendships, not the number of friends, predicts how lonely they are.

Autistic children like all normally developing children do need friends…and as a parent or teacher of an autistic child there are ways in which you can help them understand the importance of being a good friend. As well as helping them learn the skill of making friends, something again we take for granted, as an autistic person this skill does not come naturally, but needs to be learnt.

As a primary caregiver, parent or teacher, you can help by introducing the idea of autism social stories as a technique of explaining how we make friends, why we need friends and how to then maintain those friendships in easy to understand language.

These valuable short pieces of text are an excellent tool which you can use with your autistic child to help them understand and control situations.

Appropriate autism social stories are well written in the first person and will have images and or photos showing your autistic child in a clear helpful manner how, why, where and when they should do something. They will give the appropriate responses the autistic person may expect and also the responses they themselves should expect from others.

Studies have shown autistic children respond well to autism social stories and by using them have found an improvement in their social understanding of certain situations, activities and events.

To obtain printable autism social stories which you can download and use visit

www.autismsocialstories.com

www.autismsocialstories.com/school

www.autismsocialstories.com/behavior

www.autismsocialstories.com/family

www.autismsocialstories.com/hygiene

www.autismsocialstories.com/autistic_teens

www.autismsocialstories.com/howto

www.autismsocialstories.com/aggression

Do you know what autism spectrum disorders are?

The Autism spectrum disorders are also called Pervasive Developmental disorders (PDD). This is because they involve delay in many areas of development.

So what is PDD?

Autism is the most severe of the PDD’s

As we have already looked at people with Autism have developmental problems with, thinking, language, behavior and social skills.

To be diagnosed as Autistic, a child will need to have had a certain amount of developmental symptoms in the areas of thinking, language, social interactions and behavior, which is often thought of as stereotypic behaviors.

What is Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)?

PDD-NOS, is refered to as atypical autism or mild autism.

It means that the person has the same differences in their development as autism, but not to such a great degree. 

A child with PDD-NOS does not meet the criteria for any specific PDD. 

No matter where your child falls on the autism spectrum disorder scale they will still have the typical autism symptom: social deficits, communication deficits and imagination and interaction deficits…These can be controlled and managed using something called autism social stories.

For more information on autism social stories and how they will help control and manage autism symptoms and behaviors visit:  www.autismsocialstories.com