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4 Simple And Effective Techniques For Building Social Skills In Children With Autism

8th April 2024

Schools are the best place for children to build their social skills, which not only helps them to make connections with other children but also helps them to understand other’s emotions, and thoughts, learn new hobbies, and develop new interests which pay dividends in the long run of their lives.

However, the scenario for the children with autism is not the same.

Do you know that 1 in every 100 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in 2022?
 

Source: ambitionsaba.com

Children with autism have a hard time getting along with other children which makes them feel excluded from the group of students.

If you are willing to help your children with autism develop their social skills, we have got you covered.

In this blog post, we will be sharing helpful strategies to help children with autism develop social skills.

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So, without any further delay. Let’s get started.

What is Social Skills?

Social skill is a skill that helps individuals communicate with other individuals to get along with each other. Social skills involve-

Communication skills- This helps children to express their feelings verbally or non-verbally like through body language

Emotional Skills- This skill helps children to manage their emotions and also understand other’s emotions

Play Skills- This skill helps children to play together with other children and share toys with each other.

Problem-Solving Skills- This skill helps children to deal with any conflicting situations and it also helps them to come up with problem-solving ideas and make the right decisions during social situations.

Why Social Skills Are Important?

Below we have shared some points that will clarify why social skills are important to develop for children with autism:
 

• Sense of Belonging: Social skills help children with autism to make friends, play and learn with other children, and develop different interests and hobbies. It also helps them to form a stronger relationship with their family which ultimately leads to making them feel included and gives them a sense of belonging.
   

• Proper Behaviour: Social skill also helps children to behave and act properly according to the different social situations. Like- talking to someone older, socializing with friend’s circle, etc.
   

• Improve Quality of Life: Social skills not only help children with autism to socialize but bit it also improves the overall quality of their life and their mental health.
   

4  Effective Strategies To Teach Children with Autism Social Skills

Any child with autism can learn social skills. Use the below-mentioned effective strategies to help them learn social skills with ease:

Play Activities

Playing activities is one of the best ways to teach social skills. When children with autism engage in any playing activities like-Simon Says, Hide and Seek, Uno Card game, Connect Four, or Tag with other children they will get the opportunity to learn practicing
 

• Taking turns
• How to deal with winning and losing?
• Obeying game rules and orders, and many more skills, which not only enable them to enjoy playing activities but in the process of learning to socialize and learn important life skills too.

Role-Play Activities

You can encourage children with autism to engage in role-playing activities before any social events or playdates. You and your children with autism can engage in:
 

• You can organize the game which they can play with other children together
• You can even ask them- How they spend their weekends.

You can also consider giving them social situations like- there is only one apple left and there are two people. This will give them the opportunity to role-play in this situation like cutting the apple in two-half for two individuals.

Visual-Aid Activities

Visual aid activities help children with autism to learn new skills and go through already learned social skills that they have learned. You can consider using visual aids like- pictures, videos, words, prompt cards, and checklists.

For example- You can consider using pictures for different conversation topics like a picture of a dog can remind them to discuss with their friend who owns a dog.

Or,

You can show a picture that has instructions to play a particular game like- a board game or do certain activities like- cleaning the table. This will help children with autism to participate in that game or activities with full understanding.

Praise Them

One of the best and most effective ways to help children with autism develop their social skills is by praising and encouraging them more when they are interacting with others positively.

For example- If they share their favourite toy then you can tell them that’s a lovely and friendly gesture.

Make Social Skill Learning Journey Easy For Them

Learning social skills for children with autism is not an easy skill to learn. However, with the above-mentioned simple yet effective techniques you can make their learning journey of social skills easy.

If you are looking for more effective methods and techniques to help your autistic children thrive in their lives, then consider pursuing courses like Online Special Education Courses in Malaysia, where you will get guidance from top expert trainers, who will also help you to become one of the effective special education teachers in the education industry.

We believe education should be accessible for everyone. That’s why we don’t charge for our blogs. Find the right course that will help you in your career with us, contact us at - +6531631068. You can mail us at act@asiancollegeofteachers.com.