Groups for Autistic Children Help Remove Barriers

 

The development of social skills is a deficit common among children and teens with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, this challenge doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t wish to socialize with their peers and other people around them. The goal of autism social groups is to provide autistic individuals with the tools and support they need to develop the ability to interact with others in a meaningful way. 

Common Social Challenges

Social skills are essential for everyone, including people with autism. Failure to develop these skills early can lead to consequences that range from poor academic performance, peer rejection and depression. 

Those that facilitate social skills groups can attest that children and teens with ASD benefit from peer-to-peer groups. Some common social challenges that autistic youngsters face: 

• Initiating conversations and taking turns
• Processing others’ thoughts, emotions, facial expressions, and body language
• Addressing disagreements
• Recognizing and understanding unwritten rules of various social situations
• Sharing interests with other people within their age range

Ways To Learn

Today, many social skills groups for autism exist to help children and teens with ASD acquire or hone their social skills. A typical intervention strategy begins with understanding someone’s current social functioning level and identifying which skills they lack or they have but don’t exhibit or perform well. These assessments allow facilitators to choose and implement the most suitable intervention strategies. Because social skills can’t be developed overnight, continuous evaluation, monitoring, and modifications (whenever needed) are essential. 

Here are some of the strategies used to remove social barriers among autistic children and teens: 

Peer-mediated interventions. Autism social groups provide a specially structured environment where participants can experience successful social interactions — from initiating talks to responding to conversations. Experienced and trained mentors facilitate these interventions to oversee activities appropriate for the participants' age group and level of social functioning. 

Thoughts and feelings activities. One key to successfully having social interactions is by having the ability to understand and process the other person’s thoughts and feelings. These activities are designed to enhance these very skills. Besides helping participants identify different emotions (e.g., happy, sad), mentors also teach the "why" behind them. 

Social stories. Storytelling is one of the most effective ways to impart social concepts and rules. But for it to be effective, it must be done in a way that matches the audience’s ability and comprehension level. 

Role-playing. Also referred to as behavioral rehearsal, role-playing activities provide autistic youngsters with opportunities to practice the social skills that they’ve previously learned. In this type of intervention strategy, the scripts can be pre-developed, impromptu, or a combination of both. 

Video modeling. Considered by occupational therapists in Princeton who closely with kids with ASD agree this is the most effective strategy, this involves letting the participants watch a particular behavior-demonstrating video. After it is shown, the child or teen must mimic the behavior displayed by the character in the video. 

If you’re a parent or a guardian seeking social groups for high functioning Autism, know that there are many ways you can help your autistic child learn social skills. Apart from finding trustworthy groups that offer social skills intervention programs, you should be a role model and show them how to act in social situations appropriately.

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Occupational Therapy For Kids That Don't Want OT

If you are observant, some children would frequently say "no" to what their parents (or other adults in their surroundings) ask of them. Sentences like "No, I don’t want to do it" or "No, I find it too hard to do" are a staple in their conversations. In science, this condition is called Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), and one way to help address it is through occupational therapy for kids. 

What Is Pathological Demand Avoidance

Professionals who specialize in pediatric occupational therapy in NJ often have kids with PDA as their patients. 

PDA is a profile of autism, and it’s a condition where a person has a high level of anxiety that causes them to avoid situations that they perceive as threatening, overwhelming, or frightening. 

Children express PDA through various behaviors — from shouting, crying, hiding or running away to remaining silent. In worse cases, PDA can cause them to have panic attacks, agoraphobia, social phobia, and other mental health issues. In the long run, kids who suffer from PDA are often unable to function properly at home or school. 

What Is Occupational Therapy For Children And How It Can Help

Pediatric Occupational Therapy (POT) is a field that focuses on helping children develop their physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication skills through a carefully planned set of exercises, activities, and techniques. 

POT is a kind of professional intervention that addresses an array of conditions, including PDA. But apart from that, it can also fix problems surrounding sensory receptions, failing to quickly learn new concepts, developmental disorders, and birth-related injuries obtained after birth or while growing up. 

An occupational therapist for kids offers lots of benefits:

They help children handle everyday routines (e.g., brushing their teeth, going to the bathroom, wearing their clothes) 

They resolve sensory perception and process-related problems

Therapists guide kids on how to communicate better and engage with other people around them 

They facilitate exercises that can stabilize children with motor skill problems

They help kids relearn previously known activities

Ways to Address PDA In Kids

Professionals offering pediatric occupational therapy follow a certain framework when resolving PDA in children. This is called PANDA, which stands for 

• Pick battles, 

• Anxiety management, 

• Negotiation and collaboration, 

• Disguise and manage demands, and 

• Adaptation. 

Occupational therapists find the most suitable "challenge" and help their patients accomplish it through activities that follow this framework. 

For instance, if a child needs sensory support, the therapist can recommend activities that will help the child exercise their senses (e.g., carrying a bag, jumping on a trampoline). If a youngster has trouble communicating their thoughts, the use of a puppet (or toy or a pet) has proven to be beneficial. Such an aide can be used to demonstrate a particular task or be used by an adult to help the child accomplish a task. 

Addressing PDA in kids also requires flexibility. Occupational therapists generally advise parents to offer a choice when asking a child to do something. For example, instead of simply asking, "Shall we brush our teeth?" You could instead say, "Would you like to brush our teeth before or after breakfast?" This way, you can engage with your kid while exploring their preferences and interests. 

When a kid completes a task, occupational therapists also recommend giving praise and rewards — and explaining to the child the benefits of accomplishing that task so that they can be motivated to do it again.

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