Visual supports in Autism

There are very few physical signs of autism spectrum disorder. So what is it like to be autistic? Imagine being left in a foreign country alone, unable to speak the language, unable to read the signs or gestures of others. Your senses have become super sensitive, and you have nowhere to turn to for help.

This is how the world appears for many autistic children. Our ever changing and fast moving world can trigger anxiety attacks, confusion and stress for those with autism spectrum disorder.

Parents of autistic children report anxieties. Although autism is being diagnosed more frequently with 1:4 being diagnosed autistic, still there is not a lot of information on autism. Parents of autistic children report difficulties such as having to get used to people thinking you are a bad parent that cannot control their child. Parents of kids with autism also report problems from doctors calling them an over-anxious parent, family members dismissing their child as a spoilt brat. Parents of kids with autism also find difficulties with friends, being shunned and not included in events because of their autistic child’s behaviours.

Having a child diagnosed autistic is not going to be easy, experts agree early intervention is beneficial.

Parents of kids with autism also agree that visual supports are a good idea, such as visual support cards, schedules, social stories and PECS communication systems.

All designed to help children with autism cope in an ever changing and confusing world. Generally children with autism are visual thinkers and learners meaning they think in images or pictures and will gain more help from visual strategies rather than spoken or text.

Implementing visual strategies can benefit children with autism greatly. For example many children with an ASD struggle with simple tasks such as tooth brushing, introducing social stories can help with this.

Social stories are short specific visual strategies, pieces of text which use visual images to describe a situation or skills in terms of the relevant social cues. Using first person language with no frills, following a specific pattern social stories are visual strategies that are used to teach and re-enforce social and communication skills as well as give clear coping strategies for sensory processing issues and behaviour difficulties.

Much like a visual plan or role model a social skills story can answer the “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as give an insight into the thoughts and feelings of those around them.

So for example a social skills story for tooth brushing can teach children with an ASD why it is important to brush your teeth, how to brush your teeth and what the consequence of not brushing your teeth might be.

Teachers and parents with ASD children do not need any formal training to use social skills stories, they can be printed, personalized and edited to make them easy to implement and convenient.

ASD children respond well to visual strategies such as social skills stories, visual support cards, schedules and PECS.

For more information on visual supports such as social stories visit:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com

http://www.autismsocialstories.co.uk

http://www.insideautisticminds.com

Or for more information on visual support cards visit:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com/visual_aids

Making friends and social interactions are difficult for kids with autism spectrum disorder; this is due to the social skills deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder.

Many parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder report their child with autism appears to live in their own world, preferring their own company, sameness, and routines plus they appear aloof and detached from others.

This detachment is due to the child’s social skills deficits also. For some parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder this detachment can be upsetting especially if the child with autism is shying away from cuddles and closeness.

As a typically developing child grows they become more socially aware and will want to interact with their peers and others, they will become imaginative and want to explore. However these social skills are not naturally developed in the child with autism, and in most cases kids with autism spectrum disorder will need direct teaching to help them develop socially.

For many parents the idea of their child being lonely and not making friends is difficult, many children with autism especially those with high functioning or mild autism do want to be social but do not know how. Therefore parents are left wondering what autism supports to use; how to make friends social story for kids with autism is the answer using autism social stories as a strategy to help children with autism to make and maintain friendships has proven to be very successful .

Experts agree using autism social stories as a strategy are beneficial autism supports to use. Therefore using a how to make friends social story for kids with autism can help you show your child how they can make friends visually. Most autistic kids are visual learners and will benefit from the visual images and representations in the social story.

Developed twenty years ago to teach social and communication skills autism social stories are now one of the major autism supports used and can be downloaded from sites such as www.autismsocialstories.com The social story is a visual almost comic like step by step plan that shows autistic kids visually with appropriate text added the what, why, where and when helping them understand and feel more comfortable with situations, skills and behaviors they struggle to master or find stressful or confusing.

For example an how to make friends social story for kids with autism will describe and visually show the autistic child how to approach making friends, what they can do, focusing on the key points the social cues, it describes and shows the autistic child what, why, where and when and suggests possible responses the child might like to give. It will suggest possible language for approaching other children, that autistic children can easily understand and use.

Many parents of kids with autism report success after autism social stories are implemented not only for making friends but also for other social skills their autistic child has been struggling with like asking other children to play, sharing, teasing, appropriate touching, personal space and many others.

To learn more about autism social stories and how they could benefit your autistic child visit any of the following sites:

http://www.autismsocialstories.com

http://www.autismsocialsskillsstories.org.uk

http://www.autismsocialstories.org.uk

An autism diagnosis is a huge shock to the entire family. You may have already suspected that things were maybe not quite as they ought to have been, but nevertheless an autism diagnosis will still come as a shock.

There is no cure for autism and there will almost certainly be times the whole family will be affected.

Normal everyday activities like shopping, dentist, getting a haircut even visiting family members; can no longer be spontaneous or without complication or forward planning; even with planning these “normal everyday activities” can still be troublesome and stress filled for not only you but the autistic child and other family members.

Your life and that of your family will change, but there are therapies and treatments available that can help make life a little easier.

All autistic children will have autistic social skills deficits; it is these autistic social skills deficits, sometimes referred to as the triad of autistic impairments that make up the symptoms of autism…

What are the triad of autistic impairments, and how do they relate to my child?

The triad of autistic impairments are: autistic social skills deficits in social, communication both verbal and non-verbal, imagination and interaction deficits, these are the main symptoms of autism and every autistic individual will have them.

A major issue for many parents of kids with autism is that of their autistic child’s social skills deficits in communication and social interactions. It is these social skills deficits that can make everyday normal activities like those mentioned above difficult and stressful.

Many parents of kids with autism have found by using autism resources such as social skills stories they can teach and re-enforce social skills and behaviors which typically developing children learn naturally.

Kids with autism do not learn social skills naturally and need to be taught those social skills and behaviors which typically developing children naturally learn and use. Teaching kids with autism social and communication skills can be done through the use of autism resources such as social skills stories.

Many parents worry and ask questions about how autism will affect my family. There is no set of rules or magic wand anyone can wave, but there a tried and tested treatments and therapies which have been used for may years by other families and professionals that are involved in the care and well being of kids with autism.

Such treatments and therapies like the autism resources available through sites such as: http://www.autismsocialstories.com or http://www.autismsocialskillsstories.org.uk have become a valuable autism resource.

These sites are run by dedicated experts in autism and other pervasive developmental disorders and have good customer support as well as information and excellent professionally written social skills stories.

These answer the question how will autism affect my family…By providing the answer to how will I cope with teaching and re-enforcing to my child everyday living skills, activities, events, situations and circumstances.

Using autism resources such as social stories for autism children, you can teach your child basic skills such as tooth brushing, bedtime, changing clothes etc. As well as other skills such as shopping, buying new shoes, using the telephone, visiting grand parents and so on; all these skills which we take for granted but can be a nightmare for an autistic child, can now be taught efficiently making those tasks like shopping and bedtime more bearable.

Download over 100 social stories for autism children immediately from http://www.autismsocialstories.com or choose from over 1000 social stories for autism from http://www.autismsocialskillsstories.org.uk

Social skills stories were first introduced around twenty years ago by Carol Gray, today social skills stories are used widely to help teach children with autism social skills and behaviors.

All kids with autism will have autistic social skills deficits in social, communication, interaction and imagination skills. The social skills story was introduced to help cope with these deficits.

Social skills stories are written by therapists, parents of kids with autism and teachers to help teach or re-enforce positive behaviors and autism social skills teaching.

The social stories for children with autism can be on any situation the child is struggling to master or understand for example tooth brushing, visiting grand parents, changing school, plus having good manners and even potty training.

Written in the first person from the point of view of the autistic child also using appropriate language and images they describe the situation, skill or behavior being taught or re-enforced giving key focus to the main points or social cues.

The goal being to make the autistic child more comfortable with the situation, skill or behavior being taught or re-enforced, making the autistic child more comfortable can alleviate stress and enforce good positive behaviors.

Quite often social stories for children with autism are written to help promote family skills like for example eating as a family, why people hug, playing with siblings and sharing. Or for interactions within the classroom like lining up, asking questions, recess and lunch times.

Parents of kids with autism report significant benefits in using social stories for autism social skills teaching and re-enforcing social skills and behaviors. Parents of kids with autism also report less stress from autistic social skills deficits once social stories have been introduced to the autistic child.

To download social skills stories visit: www.autismsocialstories.com

This site offers 100 social skills stories for children with autism on varied topics such as tooth brushing, visiting grand parents, getting a haircut and having good manners.

All written by a specialist in autism behaviors with appropriate language and images and for immediate download of social skills stories for children with autism go to: www.autismsocialstories.com