My ASD Child

“I’m a 5th grade teacher (Baltimore area) with a challenging 10 year old student diagnosed on the high functioning end of autism. My question is what are some of the ‘social areas’ these special needs students struggle in, and how can I tailor my approach to make accommodations for those areas?” Children with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger’s have several important areas of challenge that can negatively impact their social competence.  Here are the main ones: usually have a desire to be part of the social world, but lack the skills to do so use monotone or stilted, unnatural tone of voice use inappropriate gaze and body language take expressions literally over-eagerness to answer questions or participate in classroom activities often talk at people instead of to them often avoid eye contact misinterpret social cues may not like physical contact may “appear” egocentric lack of control of facial expression inability to grasp implied meanings have well-d

Question Our 10-year-old son is diagnosed with high functioning autism. He is bright and inquisitive, but has great difficulty picking up on social cues and understanding many aspects of friendship. We struggle to coach him in these areas ...our explanations often don’t make sense to him. Any suggestions? Answer High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger's presents kids with a variety of social and emotional stumbling blocks. Due to difficulties understanding implied meaning, humor, and other inferential reasoning skills, these young people are often confused by the rapidly changing landscape of social interaction. Their tendency toward quick and literal interpretation of words can produce significant problems with establishing and maintaining friendships. Preoccupations with narrow, solitary interests can impede their capacity to converse on the range of topics that typically interest peers. Moms and dads of kids on the autism spectrum often help them make sens

“Are there some tips that my high functioning autistic daughter’s teacher could use to help her with things link reading, handwriting, taking notes, staying organized, homework, and so on? She’s currently struggling in several of these (and other) areas. Thanks in advance!” Many students with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and Asperger’s do indeed struggle in those areas you listed. Let’s look briefly at each in turn: Reading— The amount of reading the student on the autism spectrum is expected to complete should be evaluated by the teacher. These “special needs” children (who sometimes read slowly and can’t discern relevant from irrelevant information) spend a lot of time concentrating on facts that will not be tested and are considered unimportant. Highlighted texts and study guides help them maximize their reading time. Educators also should consider identifying the information the student is responsible to learn for an upcoming assignment or test. Handwriting— Handwriting is a con

“Is there a simple method I can implement to teach my son (high functioning) how to be more social in a positive way? Currently, he has problems interacting with peers in a way that does not cause conflict (and resultant rejection from those peers)?” A great technique, the Situation, Options, Consequences, Choices, Strategies, Simulation (SOCCSS) strategy, is relatively simple and is used to help kids who have High-Functioning Autism and Asperger’s with social interaction problems, as well as teach them how to put interpersonal relationships into a sequential form. SOCCSS helps these “special needs” children understand problem situations and lets them see that they have to make choices about a given situation, with each choice having a consequence. The steps of SOCCSS are as follows, and can be used by both parents and teachers: 1. Situation : When a social problem arises, the parent or teacher helps the child to understand the situation by first identifying (a)who was invol