Social Skills Conference

Autism presents with many challenges to both the individual and the facilitator. One of these is the individual’s ability or amount of interaction with others; their social skills. Dr. Tony Attwood and Carol Gray teamed together to present a very interesting presentation dealing with this aspect of autism. Sponsored by Future Horizons, Inc., this conference has proved excellent material to help the facilitator meet the needs of autistic children.

Dr. Attwood, addressed two important topics. First, Understanding the nature of the Social Skills Challenge, and second, Enhancing Social Interaction. These two topics were most appropriate. It is very difficult to know how to help the autistic children develop social skills if the reasons for their non-typical actions are not clear. In his presentations, Dr. Attwood gave seven reasons why non-constructive actions take place. Actions such as rocking, twirling objects, and other similar repetitive actions were discussed. After presenting us with this knowledge, he described eight attitudes for us to use in improving the effects of social impairments.

Ms. Gray introduced Social Stories UnLimited", which is an approach used to teach social skills through the use of visual materials. Two approaches were discussed. First was a review of social stories, followed by Comic Strip Conversations. Both have been found to be effective tools for teaching social and communication skills.

In Social Stories UnLimited", a short story that describes a situation is presented. In these stories, specific information is presented on situations, why they occurred and appropriate responses. These are geared toward the learning characteristics of the autistic person. Comic Strip Conversations, are much the same, except they use visual drawings, color, and a comic book format to show similar situations.

	This website is in no way associated with Quest Educational Foundation of Collier County, Florida that offers tutoring, mentoring and scholarships to students in Collier, County, Florida.	Visitor# 899 since January 11, 1998 Copyright © 1998-2003 by Kathy Waites - All rights reserved