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One common misconception that people have about children with autism or developmental delays is that if you expose them to typically developing peers, they will naturally gain play and social skills. This kind of idea might lead a parent to put their child with autism in a preschool with the hope that that will be enough for them to learn. But actually, teaching a child with autism play and social skills involves a lot of work, and much of this work begins with teaching language skills.
Today I want to share some resources and ideas about how to build the foundational language skills that a child with autism needs. Before you can get to the point where you teach a child about taking turns, having manners, and saying “I’m sorry”, you have to make sure you’re building on a foundation. I explain some of the basic skills, like pointing, that need to be mastered before further social skills, like sharing, can be developed.
The book Play Time Social Time can help you with scripts or activities to help you teach social and play skills. I like to use this book for scripts to systematically teach social skills to small groups of children. I like two major parts of this book, on pages 92 and 136 because I think it is a great, free resource for parents, educators, and therapists.
Autism is characteristically diagnosed with a failure to socially communicate. By recognizing both the communication and social piece to this diagnosis, we can meet these children where they are at, and then add to their learning.
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Resources