Social Behaviours of Children with Autism 1: The Challenges in Communication

What are some of the challenges faced by children with autism when it comes to communcation and social interaction?

Scenario 1:
Jeff is 7 years old attending primary one. Although he has the desire to talk to his peers, he always has difficulty initiating conversations with them. His peers think that he is weird as he is always talking about things that don't make sense to them or he will be regurgitating the same comments everytime he tries to strike up a conversation with them.

In this case, although Jeff is socially aware of the pleasure in seeking companionship, he does not possess the mental flexibility nor social skills to keep up with the demands of a social setting. Furthermore, his understanding of social interaction is very basic - talk to someone and that person will talk to you. He is unaware of the many intricate details that come along with conversation due to his inability to process abstract concepts. These include emotions and the mental processes of individuals - how do they like being talk to, what kind of things they like to talk about, how they might react to certain topics or people and ETC.

Scenario 2:

John has a couple of friends in his class who would try to include him in their play activities whenever they could. There are times when John plays well with them although he does experience difficulties in catching up with them during conversations. However, John also has many episodes of temper tantrums and meltdowns resulted from various instances such as losing in a game and sudden changes in the games' objectives or rules. As a result of these episodic meltdowns, John's classmates are at times apprehensive of including him in their activities. 

Here, we see a child who is unaware of social rules and having difficulties controlling his emotions when things do not go the way he expects. As discussed in previous posts, behaviour is a reaction. Everyone will have a reaction, but the level of it depends on how we are able to control our actions that may be detrimental to us and the people around us. That being said, learning to express one's feelings calmly is a skill and concept that needs to be taught and practiced. Children with autism may take longer time than others to master such behaviour because the idea of having to put aside the immediate emotion they are experiencing is very abstract as compared to acting out instantly once an emotion is experienced. Furthermore, as above, because a child with autism has difficulty thinking in another person's perspective, they may see little reason in not expressing their immediate emotions through action. Finally, as many children with autism have difficulty expressing their emotions, acting out may be the next best option to show how they are feeling at the moment.

Scenario 3:

Henry likes playing by himself. Whenever other children try to play or talk to him, he would either ignore them or walk away doing his own things. Even if he is within the group, he tends to keep to himself doing his own play instead of joining in. At first, children were intrigued by his lonesome and "hard-to-get" personality. However, as time goes by, they lose interest in engaging him in their activities and go seeking out other more responsive new friends. 

In this scenario, the child seems to not understand the meaning in communication or social interaction. Play is very basic to the child and he is happy to be self engaged. Social understanding is at a minimal as he finds no need to engage the attention of others as long as his interest is fulfilled. He find no meaning in the world of others as he has not been exposed to the benefits of social interactions. Fundamental skills such as langauge joint attention may also be lacking leading to low interest in the world around him through expression of language and social cues.

Scenario 4:

Jessica is often being teased by her classmates for talking weird. Whenever she tries to initiate a conversation with them, they will try their best to shun her. These incidents lead to her possessing very low self esteem . She loses confidence in keeping up with her social skills as she reasons that people are going to make fun of her anyway if she tries. She begins to keep to herself more not just in social settings but also at home. This has resulted in other behaviours such as fear and anxiety attacks to be in new surroundings or when surrounded by new people.

In this case, it will be more of public education that is lacking. Often, students with autism in classroom get little support from the adults because they belong to the minority in a culture where the majority's well-being are being looked after first. Of course, that is not to say that all students with autism are being neglected in the classroom but it does show time and again that it requires substantial amount of resources such as manpower and educational materials in place to provide adequate assistance to the students of the minority. In this scenario, the classmates could be informed about what autism is about and how it may affect the langauge and communication skills of their classmate who has autism. Yet, discussion about autism in open settings remains a stigma to many adults, resulting in a 'don't ask, don't tell' attitude. This in turn allows the children with autism to be misunderstood as misfits within a classroom setting which in the first place, should be supportive and encouraging of learning and equipment of life skills.

In the upcoming post of this series, we will be looking more into these above described scenarios. What can be carried out to deal with the challenges faced by these children? If your child is facing any difficulties described above, what strategies and teaching methods can be put in place to help your child to develop better social and communication skills?

Till then, if you have any concerns or suggestions, please email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com. i look forward to your correspondence.

Regards,

Daven

www.triumphantkids.com

 

How Experience is a Splendid Thing!

How do we let a child know what a dog looks like? Well, by showing him a dog and by telling him that what he is looking at is a dog! However, children with autism may have difficulty accommodating the fact that dogs look differently or that there are many different kinds of dogs.  Showing the child pictures of different dogs may aid in accommodation of the idea that there are more kinds than that one dog he had been exposed to. Thus this brings us back to the importance of categorization- when teaching a child to categorize the different kinds of dogs (for example, big dogs vs small dogs or dogs of different breeds) facilitates the gathering and locking in mentally of information regarding dogs. 

As discussed in the previous post about choice making, information is crucial in the process of choosing. Not just children with autism or other special needs but all children and all adults – everyone – have to rely on their past experiences to retrieve what they know and like about something in order to choose what they prefer. 

Of course, it may be so much easier to make a choice when presenting the items in front of the child. However, the purpose of not presenting the items - if you remember from the previous post – is to encourage thinking. Furthermore, at times it is difficult to present the selection available or allowed within sight due to several reasons such as it is impractical to bring out the items from the pantry and playroom and line them up in front of a child whenever a choice has to be made. Furthermore we want to teach the child to initiate thinking and communication. Yes, a child may get tempted to try a piece of tasty looking candy or she may get excited over a cause and effect toy being demonstrated in front of her. But the real world is a place that, most of the time, demands people to rely on their past experiences to initiate choice making.  

Also, a child’s ability to make use of more complex language in making choices depends on their degree of exposure to various experiences. Think the difference between “I want biscuit” versus “I want to eat chocolate biscuit” or “I want ball” versus “I want to play basketball”.  Thus this leads us to the following formula – 

Experience →Thinking → Choice (motivation) → Language (Communication)

Simply put, positive experiences motivates a child to think on how to get the preferred item or activity that he wants and language is the common tool used to achieve that goal. In other words, experiences that are meaningful play a huge role in eliciting communication from a child whether he is verbal or nonverbal (understanding the fact that nonverbal children always have other options of communication available to them). 

There are so many reasons why we must conscientiously, purposefully and constantly expose our children to various new experiences. The above examples are just a few. It is time we as adults take more responsibilty and action in engaging our children with activities and information we often take for granted as we were growing up neurotypically. We must also not forget that taking time out to enagage our children with activities that create positive experiences helps in the cultivation of positive relationships between the adults and the children. Surely positive relationship is another key to increased positive behaviour towards learning!

If you like what you have read today, please help spread the words around. And please do bookmark this blog and come visit regularly for teaching and autism based content. Also, do not hesitate to email me with any feedbacks or questions. I will also be adding more contents to my website. However for now, you may still want to visit it to find out more about the services that I provide.

Till the next post, I wish you and your children all the best. :)

Encourage Thinking Through Making Choices

This post, I have decided to look at how making choices in our daily lives facilitates thinking and how allowing children to make informed choices about what they enjoy or desire might encourage thinking. 

However, first we have to understand why we think. We think because the result or outcome is meaningful to us. As we get older, the opportunities for us to think increase. We no longer and should not rely on our parents to think for us. To be independent, we have to initiate thinking.

So, how do we encourage thinking? We could do so through everyday events and activities. For example, during art and craft, instead of listing out the things that you want the child to draw, read out a scenerio for the child to think of what could be drawn. For example, instead of saying to the child, "Draw a sun, a boy and a dog", we could say, "It is a sunny day. A boy is bringing his dog out for a walk in the park".  Instead of telling the child what colours to give to the pictures, ask the child to choose what he or she wants the colours to be. It doesn't matter if the sun is green or the trees are black. It is about being encouraged to taking the initiative to make a choice on his or her own.

Thus, making choices is a great avenue to encourage thinking. Life is all about choices -what to eat, what movies to watch, what activities to engage in, when to take a shower, ETC - and this is also why life is all about thinking as well. Simply put, to make a choice, we have to think. Our days are made up of many minor events linked together to make meaning. We wake up, brush our teeth, go to work, get off work, meet our friends, go home, take a shower, brush our teeth then go to bed - all little events linked up together to make a day meaningful. This is why choices are so important because they motivate us to think so as to move our daily life forward.
Making choices does not just involve choosing the things that are available within sight, they are also things that are not within reach at the moment or more abstract concept such as activities not carried out yet but could be if we choose to do them. Encourage or teach your child to make a choice by not offering what are available within sight -

Adult: What do you want to do now? (If child is having difficulty knowing what options are available, suggest, "Do you want to play, eat, read, drink...?)

Child: I want to eat.

Adult: What do you want to eat?

Child: Hmm...

Adult: Come on, think. What do you want to eat? (Offer options verbally if child is really having difficulty).

Child: Potato chips!

Adult: Good! What flavour? We have ....

Child: Barbeque!

Of course, the child must have tasted barbeque flavoured chips before to make an informed choice. It is no use getting a kid to choose the flavour of chips when he or she does not know what flavour means. This brings us to the importance of exposing our children to new experiences. To make choices that we really want, we have to have the information. Without information, we are just making choices for the sake of making them. That will impede thinking. Information allows us to think and then to make choices. With no information, there is no thinking and with no thinking, there is not choice making and even if there is, the choice has no meaning to the child and thus, the event has no meaning to him or her.

And how do we encourage a non verbal child or a verbal child who lacks the capacity to communicate effectively with speech to make a choice from a selection that is not presented before him or her? A communication book with pictures or word cards of what he or she likes and know about may be helpful in allowing him or her to express his or her wants. As above, the child has to be exposed to as much information as possible to make a meaningful choice.

Thus, essentially this post's discussion will bring us to the next topic of discussion - exposing your child to various experiences and information. If you have any prior questions or feedbacks regarding this next topic you need help in addressing to on the blog, please do not hesitate to contact me at davensim@triumphantkids.com. Also, please do visit my wesite www.triumphantkids.com to find out more about the services that I provide.

Social skills and concept: Why Your Child Needs to Learn Them and How

This post, I am going to discuss some of the challenges faced by children with autism during activities in group settings. This is an important topic to address as very often, parents and caregivers are faced with the frustrating question as to why their children are not interacting 'appropriately' with the rest of their peers or classmates.

Very often, children with autism have difficulty coping in group settings that require them to keep up with the social cues and rules accompanying the activities. Various behaviors ranging from non-response to temperamental meltdowns are then observed within the setting. Parents become worried and anxious about the fact that their children not keeping up with their peers or that their children's difficult behaviours are "not normal". Teachers who observe such behaviour over a period of time may also suggest pulling the child out from the group for the benefit of the smooth running of future sessions. This can then result in further frustration and helplessness felt by the parents as they are quite certain for now that their children do not "fit in" with the rest of their peers.

Why Do Children With Autism Behave in this manner?

Many children with autism require time and patience, to be gradually eased into a setting for group activities by being taught the social rules, cues and skills not easily understood by them. Many social skills that are easily picked up by people who are neurotypically developed are often taken for granted. Most adults think that "if  I am able to do this when I was this age, then my child must have no problem doing it too". However, very often, we as adult do not understand autism as well as we should or wish to.

Many children with autism are easily affected by the disruption of routine and group activities usually increase the possibility of such situation as there are many people doing a few different things simultaneously. A child with autism might find that he has little control over the situation as compared to when all the classmates are sitting at their own desk listening to the teacher and following instructions. 

The child may be experiencing  sensory problems or distractions. The noise of an activity group such as children chattering and voices exchanging feedbacks across the room might be too disturbing for the child's sensitive sense of hearing or perhaps too much movement of people around him may cause discomfort and thus a sense of insecurity.

The child may also be experiencing a feeling of inadequacy. Not being able to understand social cues and rules as quickly as the other children do might cause a sense of insecurity within the child leading to frustration and emotional meltdown.

The child might just dislike being in a social setting or a setting that is too crowded for his liking and he does not know how to express his dissatisfaction. It could be a learned behaviour to cry and struggle before saying "No, I don't want to do this" for verbal children but when probed further as to why, their limited range of vocabulary  and the lack of emotion understanding often hinder them in adequately expressing how they are feeling at that moment. In this case, they are being termed as being "difficult" and thus leading to more feeling of frustrations as the adults fail to take further steps in understanding how the child feels exactly. Or for a non-verbal child, crying and struggling would usually be a common way for them to say no. Of course, there are also the non-responsive children who choose non-violence as a form of protest!

What Can We Do to Encourage Learning of Social Skills?

Parents and caregivers can teach the basics at home. Very often, a child can learn effective, basic social concept in the home setting with the participation of his or her parents and caregivers. As the home is less intimidating than an outside setting such as the school, the child can practice following social rules and cues at home before venturing into more demanding settings such as a small size social group catering to children with special needs or bringing the child into the community such as the park so that he or she may have more chances of interaction with other children. However, rememer that patience is key and the child needs to be gradually eased into group settings, no matter how small the size or how casual the nature.

Parents and caregivers can play games with the child at home to teach social skills and concept. Have the child's silings or other children relatives to join in the fun. Have other adults to join in the games. However, please be reminded again to begin slow. Start by playing with one adult, then two and gradually introduce more participants into the play. The increase in people participation could be over a few days, weeks or even months. Do not rush. The most important aspect is to keep the child engaged and interested.

Games are a fun way to teach different concepts to children with or without autism. However, according to the child's understanding level and coping capacity, format and rules of games should be tweaked at times.

Why is playing games important?

1) Teaches the child to follow basic rules and instructions.

2) Teaches basic turn taking which is another essential skill in everyday living for everyone no matter what age. We will discuss more about turn taking for our next topic.

3) Practices concentration skills.

4) Prepares the child for social interaction through understanding of and response to social cues.

5) Trains reaction time and speed of response.

6) Works on visual spatial and receptive skill.

7) Teaches reciprocity such as turn taking and role reversal.

8) Prepares the child towards a routine that is more school structured like. For example in Kindergarten or child care where there are more group based activities such as games and 'music and movement'.

That is all for now about learning and teaching social concepts. I shall discuss more about this in future posts. So do keep coming back to visit to find out more. If you have any suggestions or feedback regarding today's and past posts, please email me at davensim@triumphantkids.com. Please do visit my website www.triumphantkids.com for the services I provide as well.