64th Annual Conference

Friday, March 9

Afternoon Workshops

2:45-6:00 P.M.

Workshop 67

Social Skills Groups for Children and Adolescents with Autism

Chairs:    

Dawn Holman, Ph.D., Clinical Director, Autism Spectrum Consultants, Inc., La Jolla, California

Jessica Postil, M.A., Clinical Director, Autism Spectrum Consultants, Inc., La Jolla, California

This presentation would educate all levels on how to run effective social skills groups for children and adolescents with autism.  We will discuss the evidence based literature to compare and contrast the different styles of groups.  We will also educate on methods that work well clinically in our experience.  Sample curriculum and problem solving techniques will be described. Different examples of reinforcement will be demonstrated to help the audience picture strategies used in such groups. 

sharing of work experiences, experiential, demonstration, didactic

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:
1. Choose group styles suitable to their setting.

2. Differentiate between the different group approaches.

3. Create their own social skills group for children and adolescents diagnosed with autism.

Course References:  

1. Kamps, D., Kravits, T., & Gonzalez, L. (1998). What Do the Peers Think? Social validity of peer-mediated programs. Education & Treatment of Children. 21(2), 107-134.

2. Kamps, D., Leonard, B., & Vernon, S. (1992). Teaching Social Skills to Students with Autism to Increase Peer Interactions in an Integrated First-Grade Classroom. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 25(2), 281-288.

3. Kalyva, E., & Avramidis, E. (2005). Improving Communication Between Children with Autism and Their Peers Through the 'Circle of Friends': A small-scale intervention study. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. 18(3),253-261.