Social Thinking Skills for Students with Asperger Syndrome/High Functioning Autism Welcome & Overview Asperger Syndrome (AS)/High Functioning Autism (HFA) Social Skills, Social Thinking Social Thinking and the TEKS Becky Bilyeu ESC 18 rbilyeu@esc18.net Evidence based Teaching Strategies Exploring Your Resources Pervasive Developmental Disorders Asperger s Syndrome: DSM IV TR Diagnostic Criteria (2000) A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction. B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities. C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning. D. There is no clinically significant delay in language (e.g., single words by age 2 years, communicative phrases used by age 3 years). E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive development, self help skills, adaptive behavior (other than social), and curiosity about the environment in childhood. F. Criteria are not met for another specific Pervasive Developmental Disorder or Schizophrenia. Asperger Syndrome Social differences considered to be the defining characteristic Identical social and repetitive behavior criteria as Autism Communication differences may be evident but not defining factor Communication Social Restricted Interests Repetitive Behaviors Let s Go to the Movies Adam: A story about two strangers. One a little stranger than the other. 1
Think Think/Pair/Share Jot down some of Adam s social skills problems Find a partner who has shoes most like yours sitting at another table Discuss and exchange your thoughts Today s Message 1. Teaching social skills is more complicated than we have accepted. 2. Social learning impacts our academic learning. 3. Social learning is key to being a productive and active member of society. Be prepared to talk about your partner s responses 8 Social Thinking What is Social Thinking? The ability to actively consider the perspective of others Involves social adaptability and the social interpretation of others thoughts and desires What are social skills? The skills necessary to adapt effectively based on the situation and what you know or don t know about the people in that setting sharing space with others effectively, or adapting to others effectively across contexts www.socialthinking.com Silent Write 1. Sit in groups of 4 5 2. Each group needs one piece of paper 3. I will give you a question 4. Respond with one answer 5. Pass to next person 6. They respond and pass on.. 7. Continue until I say stop 9 Evolving from Behavioral to Cognitive Interventions Moving from script and rote social skills training to social thinking. For persons with social cognitive deficits, interventions often have been strictly behavioral based, emphasizing helping students t learn to behave neurotypically. Rather than teach superficial rote social codes, actions, and patterns of response, the cognitive behavioral approach involves teaching students about the thinking process Garcia Winner, M. (2007) Neurotypical Brain First week of life babies start matching other s facial expression. 9 12 months old: Joint attention Along with joint attention babies start to read other people s plans (physical intentions) Use gestural communication (pointing) as baby moves towards the abstract. Language then emerges to request, comment and question, however 11 12 2
Social Cognitive Challenges some babies do not switch into an abstract mode. Rather than point, they take people to what they are thinking about and then bang on it. Difficulties in shifting into abstract social thought are related to why they have significant language disorders such as pronoun shifts, etc. Garcia Winner (2007) Neurotypical Toddlers and Social Skills Pretend and abstract play Imitation Synchronicity of body movement/body presence. Making guesses about other people in play. Sharing an imagination rather than a singular imagination. Listening to and expressing related ideas. Cooperating and negotiating through actions and language. 13 14 By 4 years old Let s take a look Children are engaged in group, imaginative cooperative play. These play skills are critical for the later development of conversation, reading comprehension, class relations, personal problem solving, etc http://autismspeaks.player.abacast.com/as dvideoglossary-0.1/player/firstsigns 15 Social Software Students do not always enter school with social software. Typically they should be observed engaging in some group play, social jargon, joint attention etc. These skills equip students for success not only with a standardized curriculum and assessments, but life in general. Social Thinking is the Infrastructure for Many Educational Standards Teaching social thinking and related skills is not an extra bonus to education. Social thinking INCLUDES the ESSENTIAL elements of our language arts standards of education! Table Group Activity To print ELAR TEKS documents go to http://www.englishspanishteks.net/ 18 3
Weak Ability to Relate to Other People s Perspectives Impacts Academic and Vocational Success Reading Comprehension Written Expression Working as part of a group or team. What Social Thinking Skills are Needed? Students will 1. analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about themes and genre in different cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts. (K 12) 2. write expository and procedural or work related related texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes. (K 12) 3. understand the function of and use the conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. (K 12) 19 20 Weak Social Development Also Impacts Skills as Adults. Self advocating Success in higher education. Getting, keeping, and advancing in a job. Developing independent social relations. Organizing one s home, coursework and recreational time. Theory of Mind (ToM) Challenges A. The capacity to recognize the thoughts, beliefs, and intentions of others and understand that these mental states are different from our own. B. Using this understanding to predict the behavior of others Empathizing extends recognizing and predicting to having an emotional reaction appropriate to the other person s mental state 21 ToM and Social Understanding: Students with ASD May Have difficulty understanding the motivation or emotions of characters in a text or social situation Have difficulty making predictions and inferences. With your table group look at your ELAR TEKS Vertical Alignment Document. Find your grade level. With what TEKS might your ASD students have difficulty? Reading pg 6 9 Writing pg 34 42 Listening and Speaking pg 64 65 Executive Function (EF) Challenges A. EF refers to the set of skills or abilities that are important for maintaining a mentally specified goal and for implementing that goal in the face of distracting alternatives (Fisher & Happe, 2005) B. Crucial for planning and carrying out goaldirected behavior while tuning out unnecessary distractions or information. C. Planning and initiation, working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and fluency. 4
EF, AS/HFA, and Social Understanding Access background knowledge but struggle to determine background knowledge that is relevant. Have limited ability to integrate what they see or read with previous experiences. With your table group look at your ELAR TEKS Vertical Alignment Document. Find your grade level. With what Student Expectations might your AS students have difficulty? Central Coherence (CC): Weakness or Strength An individual s attention to details An individual s drive for meaning Typically developing individuals focus on meaning or the big picture of events at the expense of small details il (Frith, 2003; Happe) Research pg 57 60 CC, AS/HFA, and Social Understanding Focus on small details with little regard for the overarching idea. Have difficulty connecting information The ability to identify relationships between words, concepts, and/or experiences may lead to missed connections. As complexity of text or social situations may increases the ability of individuals with ASD to integrate information for meaningful purposes may be challenged. CC, AS/HFA, and Social Understanding With Your Table Group Discuss how a strength in Central Coherence will benefit your student with ASD. Look at your ELAR TEKS Vertical Alignment Document. Find your grade level. With what Student Expectation might your ASD students having success. Oral and Written Conventions Pg. 45 54 What Steps Do You Take To Engage in Social Interaction 1. With your table group list all steps you take to engage others in a social interaction. 2. Choose a specific grade level child 3. How would you teach the rules of engagement to that child? Teach a Social Thinking Vocabulary Expected vs. Unexpected Think with your eyes! Physical presence Is your body in the group or out of the group? Zone of comfort Whole body listeing Just ME/ Thinking about YOU, etc. (See posters) This vocabulary can be used in teachable moments by all teachers across the day. 29 5
Published Research on Teaching with Social Thinking Vocabulary Crooke, P.J., Hendrix, R.E., Rachman, J.Y., (2007) Brief Report: Measuring the Effectiveness of Teaching Social Thinking to Children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Online publication: DOI 10.1007/s10803 007 0466 1 Intervention I LAUGH I = Poor Initiation of Communication or Action L = Listening with Eyes and Brain A = Abstract and Inferential U = Understanding Perspective G = Gestalt Processing: Getting the Big Picture H = Humor and Human Relatedness 31 I LAUGH Developed to create a framework for social cognition Incorporates issues related to Central Coherence Theory, Executive Dysfunction, and Theory of Mind/Perspective taking A tool to break down the student s challenges Remember Students with social learning challenges have to be explicitly taught how to think and participate as part of a group! They have to be taught to share their thoughts and read people s plans. These are not lessons needed by the majority of mainstreamed students, but you will find that you will have students with social deficits that are not on the autism spectrum. 34 Social Skills Legal Considerations www.esc18.net Addressing Social Skills Your Students IEP s Sample goals and objectives Goal Joey will develop age appropriate social language skills. Objectives (1) Joey will demonstrate appropriate eye contact during greetings and farewells in eight out of ten observations (2) Joey will demonstrate turn taking during conversation in five out of eight observations 6
References Garcia Winner, M., (2007) Thinking About You Thinking About Me Kluth, P., (2008) Joyful Learning h G C hg C The Gray Center www.thegraycenter.org Texas Statewide Initiative for Autism (2009) Asperger 101 Training Module 7