WHY TEACH SOCIAL SKILLS?
Typically, children absorb social skills passively, through interaction with their families and communities, and from other children in the playground and the classroom. But Autistic children aren't able to take in appropriate social strategies from their environment in this way.
To be able to learn social skills, children need to have social "antennae". These antennae need to be constantly interacting with the world, and children need the processing ability to organise the incoming stimuli in the brain. The organisation of social data this way allows the child to develop a variety of appropriate responses to a wide range of social situations.
Autistic children's Theory of mind difficulties contribute to their inability to make sense of the stimuli they receive via their social "antennae". They aren't able to recognise the emotional states of others, to see alternate points of view or to guess what others may be thinking. Autistic children usually miss the subtleties of social interplay and as a result can totally misjudge social situations. They use their cognitive abilities, rather than social intuition, to deal with social challenges.
A complex range of social skills needs to be actively taught to Autistic children. The best way to 'teach' social competence is to provide support and guidance in real-life social situations, that allow children to explore and practice social skills with their peers.
SKILLS
Our experienced team of Educators / Facilitators provide weekly social skills programs in small groups of 4-6. The programs aim to improve and develop the following skills:-
Address: PO Box 399 GYMPIE Q 4570
Email: nelle@aspergerchild.com
Google Maps: See our location online.
Phone: +61 07 5481 2754
