Social Skills Training Built for Real-World Transfer

In a recent online chat, Jed Baker advocates for ASD social skills training that addresses relevance and motivation, matches language ability, and ensures generalization. Participant: If a participant were to remember or put into practice only one idea from your session, what would that one key takeaway be? Jed Baker: Perhaps the most important issue that is often overlooked is generalization. What you do in a session may not transfer unless you prime, coach and review systematically. Participant: How you ever experienced pushback from a school about incorporating non-physical activities during recess time for all students? If so, how did you overcome that? Baker: It is crucial to get an administrator on board, maybe to guide them to feel like it was their suggestion in the first place. Outdoor recess can look like indoor recess, just outside. Participant: Does video modeling of successful play interaction help children with ASD understand play and conversation, or should there be supported dialogue or commentary that points out the successful parts? Baker: I do think video modeling should be supported with highlighting crucial points. In addition, students may still need visual cues and reminders to use skills in natural settings after they see videos. Videos represent the learning of skills but not necessarily the generalization, unless supplemented with cues. Participant: I am finding that many members of my team (me, aides, teachers, even some peers) are more invested tha...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Health Care Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology autism Autism Spectrum Disorder communication sciences and disorders social communication disorder social skills Source Type: blogs