Saturday 1 September 2012

Social Behaviours of Children with Autism: Dealing with Challenges 3

In the third scenario of the Social Behaviour series, Henry is a boy who is contented playing by himself. Any attempts from peers and other young children to engage him socially are usually met with non response.

To recap in this case, the child basically has little social awareness and no clear understanding of the benefits in social interaction. Play is also mostly basic and self directed.

What then can be done to encourage more awareness in the social setting and the people around him? And what skills can we help develop so that social interaction becomes more of a natural event for the child?

1:
Joint Attention and Eye Contact
Joint attention is the shared focus of two individuals on an object. The focus can be done through following a gaze or by pointing and gestures. This diagram illustrates simply but clearly what joint attention means.  http://eigsti.psy.uconn.edu/jt_attn.html
As joint attention is shared focus, it also means that there is the intention of sharing with each other, be it in a form of object (a toy), activity (a game) or an idea (let's find a way to get that cookie in the jar!). When there is little or no joint attention, sharing becomes a concept alien to the child.
When someone lacks joint attention, meanings of objects and events could be lost due to the lack of focus on the surroundings. When something does not mean much to a person, the motivation to carry out an activity based on the context of that surrounding will be absent.
Thus it is crucial to teach and develop joint attention skills for children with autism as it will aid greatly in their social growth. Other benefits of joint attention intervention include improvements in language and communication skills.

How Do We Teach Joint Attention?
  • We can teach joint attention in a one to one setting, at the table top by encouraging the establishment and maintanence of eye contact. The purpose of the eye contact is to develop the awareness of the person, the person who is going to share the information of an object or activity with him. There is no need to insist on eye contact by telling the child to look at you. Instead, find ways to engage the child so that eye contact becomes a prerequisite before something interesting happens. For example, in order for you to release the top from the spinner, the child has to at least gaze in your direction. Once the child is able to initiate that gaze consistently, then increase the demand of the prerequisite to a brief eye contact and ETC. Another example will be tickles. Some children who are not sensitive to touch enjoy being tickled. Press your thumb and second finger gently together and then ask the child, "Where is the bee?" Make a flying motion with your "bee" while making a buzzing sound. For the first round, give the child a tickle without any expectation. Subsequently, wait for the child to establish eye contact before delivering a tickle.
  • We can teach the child to respond spontaneously to 'look' at an object that might be of interest. For example, using the tickle example, after you made your "bee", tell the child, "Look! What is this?" or "Look! (Pause and wait for child to direct his attention to your fingers) A bee! Buzzzz....".
  • We teach the child to respond to his name. Once he's able to respond to his name spontaneously on a consistent basis, include the 'look' drill. Make the learning incidental by bringing the drill away from the table top. We can always do this while outside whenever we see something that might be of interest to the child.
2:
Games and Activities
Games and activities are always  a great way for tool to teach social awareness and interaction. Couple these with joint attention intervention and you may be able to see results soon. Children with autism need constant reminder to be engaged with their surrounding and the people around them. Here are some references that may give you some ideas on what activities you can get your child involved in together: 



101 Games and Activities for Children With Autism, Asperger and Sensory Processing Disorders by Tara Delaney is divided into10 chapters covering such areas as engagement, communication and social sense. It is a book that supports learning through play with loads of creative ideas.






Play to Grow! Over 200 Games Designed to Help Your Special Child Develop Fundamental Social Skills by Bryn Hogan provides additional ideas that put fun and education together in an equation. Acquistion of social skills and understanding has never been more exciting! Click on the link for a sample read.




3:
Play Dates
Once your child is at least comfortable with being engaged in activities with you and other family members through joint attention intervention and games play, it is time to introduce some playmates to mingle around with in the child's own turf, that is, in the comfort of his own home. Of course, an adult or two will have to be the facilitator/s for the play date so that the children will not lose engagement. Getting the children involved is fundamental in making the play date a success. Do not fret if the children are not interacting or really playing spontaneously with one another during the first few sessions. Getting them warmed up to the idea of having one another's company is the key priority beofre anything else. I suggest getting more ideas from other parents or professionals on what activities can be organized for the children during the play dates. You can also turn to references such as:


Peer Play and the Autism Spectrum: The Art of Guiding Children's Socialization and Imagination by Pamela J.Wolfberg. This is a comprehensive guide to creating a interactive and fun learning experience for your child and his peers. Lots of ideas for organizing activities in a peer group setting. Click on the link for a sample reading of the book!




Well, that's all for this post on dealing with the challenges in the Social Behaviour series.
Do you have any questions regarding the suggestions listed above? Or do you have any comments as to how to provide some tried and successful solutions to the challenges listed by the above scenario? Please do not hesitate to email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com.

In the next post of the social behaviour series, we are going to carry on providing suggestions for the problems brought up in the fourth and last case scenario. So please do come and visit soon!

Regards,
Daven
www.triumphantkids.com













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